Nikon D5000

If there's one thing I would always recommend Nikon DSLR cameras for, it would be their high ISO performance. The Nikon D5000 is a perfect example of that. Night shots taken with higher ISO settings gave negligible noise, even though I was using the 18-55mm kit lens for most of the tests.

The contrast levels were spot on in the pictures I clicked from the D5000, which made a lot of the images shot usable without even the basic touch-ups in post processing. The colors looked a lot better as well because of this.

When it came to landscape shots, I was pretty impressed with how well the Nikon D5000 captured the minutest of details without over-sharpening the results.

The power off to shot time was completely negligible, and probably a lot faster than your finger would take to move from the power switch to the shutter-release. In burst mode, the D5000 shot at a pretty good 4fps.

At its price of Rs. 49,000 (MRP Rs. 57,995) the Nikon D5000 gives you a great bang for your buck with a range of features that would immediately escalate an amateur into the serious photography territory. The camera boasts a great feature set, produces excellent results, and has the little bells and whistles that makes it friendly to the casual user as well. It's pretty hard not to recommend a camera like this.