Nikon D5000 SLR camera review

Posted by on Tue 26 May 2009

Just a poor man's Nikon D90?

Nikon's brand-new D5000 camera is essentially a Nikon D90 re-packaged in a cheaper camera body, with a funky yet lower-resolution screen added. Within Nikon's camera family, the D5000 lives snugly between the Nikon D60 - their £400 entry-level snapper - and the D90 - Nikon's photographic weapon for the more serious amateur market.

With this new chunk of photo-tasticness, Nikon are gunning for Canon's similarly-positioned 500D camera, and - it has to be said - it's doing a pretty convincing job.

Full of gadgetry

The swiveling 2.7-inch screen is a a first for Nikon's SLR range, but it's neat little feature. It has two different hinges, enabling you to turn it around so the sensitive bits are facing towards the camera body. This little trick has you shooting just as you would with an old-fashioned film-based camera. Swivel the display back into place, and tilt it to take photos while holding the camera low to the ground, or high above your head - it's surprisingly useful to be able to do this with a SLR camera.

For the gadgeteers among us, the optional GPS unit is a funky add-on: Slot it onto your hot-shoe and plug it into your camera, and whenever you are taking photos, it'll tag your files with where they were taken - great if you like to upload it all to Flickr, or if you just like to be reminded where you were at the time of the deed. We're still pining for the day when all cameras have GPS built-in, but for now, this is a nifty little stop-gap.

If you fancy yourself as a bit of a film maker, the D5000 has a couple of treats in stock for you as well: The camera can be used as a video camera, and allows you to film 1280x720px clips (the observant among you will have noticed that that's the 720p high-def video standard) up to 5 minutes in length, and lower-res video clips for up to about 20 minutes - both with amazing quality.

One trick we completely fell in love with was the HDMI port: Plug your camera straight into your telly for showing your photos and videos on your 50-inch juggernaut in your living room in glorious, picture-perfect high resolution.

Taking photos

While this camera has more bells and whistles than a fun-fair salesman, it's still a digital SLR camera at heart, and a very fine example of one at that. Sure, it's not as sturdy-feeling as Nikon's own D90, but it's not exactly flimsy either.

The viewfinder is a little bit darker than we're used to from Nikon's cameras, which means that focussing manually can be a little bit tricky at times. Luckily, the autofocus is quick and very good indeed, so most of the time it's safe to trust the electronics to get it right.

The Live View photography mode lets you use the display instead of the viewfinder to see what you are taking photos of. Live View might sound great, but when using it, it makes the camera feel like a bit of a 1990s throwback (Think Haddaway 'What is Love' - fun at the time, but embarrassing now). Live View suffers from noticeable shutter lag, and the auto-focus so slow it's practically useless. Both of these are problems that most camera manufacturers - Nikon included - have solved in digital compact cameras costing half of what the D5000 costs, so it's not really excusable. Sort it out, guys.

Picture quality

Picture quality on the D5000 is just about identical to that of much more expensive cameras: It's a sign of maturity in the Digital SLR market, perhaps, but if you're shooting at low ISO, the crisp 12.9 mpx sensor will give you the same image quality as you can expect from much more expensive snappers.

Just like on the D90, this camera will take brilliant photos under most conditions: The light meter is fab and will help you out of even the trickiest lighting situations. Shoot in RAW mode, and you get photos with glorious dynamic range, enabling you to 'save' shots in post-processing, even if they are slightly mis-exposed.

All in all, the D5000 is honest about its heritage and intentions: It's a mighty fine camera for people who are in need of a solid performer at a reasonable price.

Link: Nikon

Buy one here: Amazon | John Lewis