Nikon D5000

A couple of years back, the Nikon D40 pioneered the budget DSLR camera segment. With its great performance at a low price point, more and more consumers got interested in this segment, which caused a flurry of launches from Nikon as well as other manufacturers. But what about the enthusiast consumers who need more than the basic features that are provided by the likes of Nikon D40 and D60, but don't want to invest in a semi-professional model like D90? With the Nikon D5000 that gap was finally bridged.

The body design is quite similar to the Nikon D60, with a few major changes. The similarities lie in the button placement, single wheel operation and its use of AF-S lenses, which means that the autofocus motor is inside the lenses instead of the body. The biggest and the most apparent physical distinction lies in the inclusion of a tilt-n'-swivel live-view screen in the D5000.

The poly-carbonate body feels a bit plasticy, like in lower-end Nikon DSLR cameras, but at the same time, it seems quite sturdy. It's adequately sized at 127x104x80 mm and heavier than the lower-end alternatives at 590 g. Since the D5000 is at heart a consumer model, most of its features are accessed via the shooting menu. It's pretty obvious that if direct-access buttons are such a big requirement for you then you should be considering the higher-end options like the D90 instead.

Inside, the D5000 uses the same 12.3 megapixel CMOS sensor that the D90 uses, which makes a marked improvement in the picture quality when compared to the CCD sensors in the lower-end Nikon DSLR cameras, but more on the image quality later.