The short version: The new Nikon D5000 is a D90 in D60 clothing. It shoots high-definition video and has a swiveling LCD screen on the back.
The long version. Nikon’s new 12.3 megapixel D5000, announced this very morning, brings most of the $900 D90’s features into a $700 camera, based on the chassis of the already excellent entry-level D60. This isn’t the first time Nikon has seemingly cannibalized its own market — The D700, for instance, is almost identical in function to the top-end D3, only around $1300 cheaper. Our prediction? The D5000 will be a winner.
The headline features are video and that new swivel-screen. The movie mode is the exact same one that you’ll find in the D90, shooting 720p video at 24fps. It even saves in the same annoying motion-jpeg format rather than a proper movie format like the Canon 5DMkII.
The sensor, at 15.8 x 23.6mm, is the same as you’ll find in the D90. See what we said about this being a D90 squeezed into a D60 body? We weren’t exaggerating. With that you can shoot at sensitivities up to ISO 3200 in “straight” mode and push to 6400 if you don’t mind things getting noisy (at the other end you can go as low as 200, or 100 at the “Lo-1” setting). You can also access the Live View setting with a dedicated rear button, making this a more useful mode than it is on, say, the D3 and D700 where you need to twist the shooting mode dial.
Next up is that 2.7-inch screen, a first in the Nikon DSLR lineup. It has more in common with the D60 LCD, with just 230,000 dots against the high resolution 920,000 of its bigger brothers. But that’s not the point. The point is that you can swivel it, which — in conjunction with the dedicated Live View button — is incredibly useful. Not only can you take pictures in tight spots, you can also hold it over your head or use it as a waist level finder for stealth street shooting.
The D5000 also gets the 11-point autofocus sensor from the D90 (the Multi-CAM 1000, for those that like the numbers). This is way better than the rather limiting three-point setup in the D60. The camera also uses color information to help with the focussing (in the face detection mode, for example) which lets it track subjects when they move outside the area covered by the focus points and then lock on again when it returns. If it works anywhere near as well as it does in the D700, when you first experience it it will feel like magic. One other note on autofocus: The D5000 lacks an internal motor, so it will only focus with AF-S or AF-I lenses which have their own motors. Any other lens will fit but you’ll be focusing manually.
Being more of a consumer-level camera than the D90, the D5000 has more auto-modes (19 vs. 5 in the scene-mode section alone). These are the usual nonsense for the most part (Pet portrait, Blossom) but the addition of a new in-camera editing feature is actually quite useful. Perspective control will allow you to correct for perspective, squeezing the image to straighten converging lines. This is something you usually need Photoshop to help with.
So, what doesn’t the D5000 do that the D90 does? Aside from the lack of a focusing motor, there is no depth-of-field preview (which is somewhat pointless anyway in the days on digital and instant-review), no ability to remotely trigger multi-flash setups using Nikon’s Creative Lighting System, no way to add an external battery pack, and a dimmer pentamirror instead of a pentaprism. The D5000 also shoots bursts slightly slower, at 4fps against 4.5fps. It will, however, keep at it for longer, for up to 63 frames with jpegs or 11 in RAW.
It’s an interesting camera, filling the gap between entry-level and enthusiast DSLRs. But like the D700, it has a few features that its big brother doesn’t, the screen being the standout here (the D700 has a built-in flash and a sensor cleaner — the D3 doesn’t). That feature alone is enough to set it apart, and for the non-savvy buyer, it’s an obvious difference from both Nikon and Canon cameras. If all works well, Nikon probably has a winner on its hands.
The D5000 will cost $730 body-only, or $850 bundled with the ƒ3.5-5.6G 18-55mm VR lens, and be in shops later this month.
Product page [Nikon]
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