Nikon D5000 12.3 MP DX Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Lens and 2.7-inch Vari-angle LCD

The Nikon D5000 12. 3 MP DX Digital SLR Camera is the best digital camera Ive ever used. The picture quality is Fantastic and all the controls are easy to use. I used this to take photos of celebrities in Hollywood at several Movie Picture Premiers and Hollywood Walk of Fame events. All of the celebrity photos I shot were the best quality pictures Ive ever seen. I know this is a older model Nikon camera, but its worth the price.

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I received the Nikon D5000 - VERY QUICKLY - via an Amazon.com dealer and was able to hit the ground running. I knew NOTHING (and I mean NOTHING) about photography (F-stops, aperture size, and shutter speeds meant nothing to me 4 weeks ago), but with the great documentation provided with the D5000 (along with lots of great web-based tutorials) I was able to have intelligent conversations with much-more experienced photographers within the first week. Indoor pics are a challenge for the beginning (because its all about light, light, light) but close attention to the features for the D5000 will help to make this much easier. Pictures that I thought would be difficult to make good-quality (like late night, long shutter shots) ended up being the easiest to create and the starter lens that comes with the D5000 takes great pics out of the box. Do yourself a favor, and use cambridgeincolour.com along with the (multi-lingual) Users Manual provided. You will be taking great shots in no time. Ive learned how to take advantage of both deep and shallow depths-of-field easily with this little wonder, and the quality of pics taken with the Portrait-Setting will make any novice happy. Any photographer will need some patience, but be sure (if you first buy only the body) to get the 18-55mm and 55-200mm Nikkor lenses at a minimum. The long lense will expand your creativity several-fold. Youll find the D5000 runs seemingly forever on a charge of its modular Lithium-Ion battery (the battery is a real workhorse too, rated at over 1 Ah). You will love how the D5000 feels in your hand as well as the multiangle LCD display (that can be rotated to face into the camera to protect it, or rotated to sit inside the body, but facing out for easy continuous use). Im told they sell LCD protectors so do yourself a favor (as I plan to) and get one, as well as UV filters (if not for utilitys sake, then to protect your expensive lenses, since a $20 filter is a lot cheaper to replace than a $200 - or more - lens). The best advice I can give is, practice with this thing a lot, read the manual through (its enjoyable reading though this is a complex little device) and share your shots with others to get an idea of how well youre doing. Oh, yeah, and get a tripod - it opens up a whole new level of picture-taking. Your photographer friends (if theyre anything like mine) will be mostly helpful and encouraging, and will offer advice (even without being prompted). Avoid those who offer destructive advice but listen to everyone else. Take from them what you need and keep learning on this greater teaching camera !

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I recently purchased (June 6,2010) the Nikon D5000 and have already taken about 500 plus pictures with it. I have for years(the last two) used a Canon Rebel XTi, all with severe disappointment. Not that Canon makes a bad product, its just that this model didnt hold up to the Canon standard and was loaded with exposure problems. Those problems were verified on numerous forums. Now enter the Nikon D5000 and Ashton Kutcher in the Nikon fashion runway ad. I was immediately impressed with the drop down monitor and was curious as to how well it worked. Nikon is synonymous with quality on all fronts, how could you go wrong? Thats what I thought about the Canon. So this time it was going to be research, research. Long story short, this is a great camera. Easy to use, a tad bulky to hold, but you get used to it, and great photos. I also ordered the 55mm-200mm telephoto lens. This camera is all they say it is and more. While I understand the Nikon D90 is a little more high end, this D5000 has a few more options than its D90 cousin. If you are looking for your first serious Digital SLR camera, this is it. The monitor display is true in color, and the picture quality is phenomenal. The multiple settings are an amateur photographers dream. Talk about taking the guess work out of a photo shoot. So if you are in the market, and cant make up your mind, give the D5000 a trial run at your local photo shop reseller, or wherever you physically shop, thats what I did, and that clinched the deal. Seeing is really believing when it comes to making such an investment. The end result....shear pleasure. Nikon D5000 12.3 MP DX Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Lens and 2.7-inch Vari-angle LCD

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Compared to the D3100, which I also considered: - this has the remote feature which was essential to me (astro-photography with a telescope) - But if you opt for the Nikon Camera Control Pro software that is really the best option. - this has the Vari-angle LCD, which is handy - this has several scene modes - its almost comical how many it has. There is a specific mode for almost everything you would ever want to take a picture of. - Price is not that much more - Only 720p video (3100 and 5100 have 1080p) Other notable observations: - Ive accidentally forgotten to turn the camera OFF before putting it back in the carrying case... didnt drain the battery after ~4 hours. Seemingly not at all. Seems like the camera is very energy efficient. - Being somewhat of a nerd, the amount of customization and control in this camera is very impressive. The software seems very evolved and detailed. - The pictures are of course fantastic. - Ive had it for about 3 weeks now. I didnt think I would want a tripod, but when you have a camera like this, a tripod really allows you to get more out of such a nice camera.

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Ive been using the D5000 for 2 months now. Two areas impress me the most: exposure accuracy and backward compatibility. Love the control over exposure options though sometimes navigating menus is tough outside in below freezing temps wearing gloves. Got the 18-55 and 55-200 VRs right off the bat, work well for relatively slow lens in reasonable lighting but thats not where the magic images are for me. Too many times when using autofocus the delay slows me down, gives up or worse locks on to something other than what I intended. Love the articulated display but hate the puny view finder. Bought a used 75-300 Nikon FX CPU lens for some long shots and converted my old Tamron AdaptAll 28-80mm FX manual lens from Pentax to Nikon. No issues, all work great. Using my trusty Sunpak TTL flash for off camera illumination with excellent results especially at distance. Even reversed my old Pentax 50mm f1.2 FX for a macro. Nice to know all modes and manual options needed to make these accessories/investments work with new tech are there and are excellent. Battery life has been amazing with 1500-2000+ images between charges. But as you might have guessed I prefer to control the composition and generally shoot with autofocus off and use the display with Liveview to focus. And I usually like a flash from almost any angle other than parallel to lens so I use an independently powered off camera flash. Im not sure if it has any impact on battery life but I shoot in RAW and post process outside the camera in Photoshop. The D5000 is a very capable starter digital camera for me. Learned that I need faster lens and an FX format camera. Still not convinced that technology can make up for the half-frame DX APS-C format. I give it 5 stars because it does perform as advertised and beyond my expectations. Now, if Nikon only made a D3 with the articulated screen.....

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Afer much research and being partial to Nikon from the old film days with a number of bodies and lenses from them, I went with the D5000 over the Canon and some others. I like this camera. It is more complicated than I realized but then again I am making the transition from film-takes me a long time. Once I got a few things figured out, like the fill flash and my hat bill tipping down the flash and having to set it on P to adjust, pics came out much better than I had hoped. I spent about 2 plus hours on a plane just reading the manual. Now I knew all it could do, still didnt know how to do it though. After another three or so hours scrolling through all the settings etc with the book in hand, I had a better idea what all the buttons do. After first day of shooting and still playing with all the settings and becoming more familiar with what works what I finally had enough figured out to shoot simple shots. It will take some time with this camera. It is not as hard as I first thought, just a lot more to it. This camera has a lot more than I realized and the pictures are extremely sharp and excellent color rendtions. Finally stumbled on a screen where I can even adjust the colors just enough to get a little different tint to them. Nice feature. I am sure there is a lot more I will find in this. Camera was shipped from Electronic Expo with expidited shipping so I could have it before I left on a trip. Camera arrived right on schedule. Overall, I am happy I got this camera. The D90 was a lot more than I wanted or needed so this was a good choice.

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There are many features to what this camera can do, and I was a little hesitant when I started to read all of the reviews on Amazon about this camera. I stepped away from Amazon.com and started going through what real professionals thought about this camera. I started at [...]. This website goes through each of the cameras settings, gives you an in-depth detail of the camera, what the Pros & Cons are, how to use it, what type of pictures it can take, compares it to other cameras and so much more. This website really helped me decide because reading some of these reviews on Amazon.com scared me quite a bit. After I got the camera I was playing with it for hours trying to figure out if I could recreate some of the issues these people had. I found an issue that I read earlier in one of these postings about the Autofocus feature turned off. There is actually a setting that I personally changed that affected the cameras autofocus even when the AF was switched to on, on my lens. After reading the book I had it fixed in just a couple of seconds! I then compared the camera to a Cannon RebelXLT that I had purchased a couple of years ago. I know the technology has changed, but when I was on the hunt for a new digital camera I wanted to look at all angles of brands. One of the first things I liked compared to the Cannon was the view finder. Im not too sure why but my eyes always had a hard time trying to Manual Focus with the Cannon. With the Nikon the viewfinder is tinted slightly and that is just enough tint for my eyes to recognize what is focused and what isnt. Not only did the Nikon beat the Cannon in the focusing arena but more so in photography studio shooting as well. I work for a company that manufactures aftermarket parts for the Hot Rod & Street Rod Industry. I have been using the old Cannon for all of my shots until I received my Nikon. I took one shot of our products with both cameras and the Nikon by far and hands down took a better more clearer picture. I am very pleased with my purchase and I cant wait to try all of the other lenses that are made for this camera. If your having issues with your camera my best advice is to read the book and possibly purchase another book about the camera so you can learn the ins and outs of what this Nikon D5000 is capable of.

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This is my first DSLR. I took some photography classes when I was young and consider myself reasonably proficient in the use of a traditional SLR. For the last 6 years my main camera (and first digital camera) was a Nikon Coolpix 5400, which I bought because it offered some of the features of a DSLR (exposure controls) at a more affordable price. When upgrading, I briefly considered going for another Coolpix model, which undoubtedly would have performed better than my old one in many ways, and would definitely be less expensive than a DSLR, but I decided I really wanted lens interchangeability. I also considered the other non-SLR, interchangeable-lens options in the same price range as the D5000, such as Micro Four Thirds and the new Samsung NX-10. Those would have offered basically everything I was looking for, in a slightly lighter and more compact package, but ultimately I decided to go with the D5000 because its based on a proven design and has a lot of lens options. I couldnt be happier with my decision. The most obvious differences compared to my old Coolpix are the outstanding battery life (hundreds of pictures with and without flash and I still havent run the battery down all the way yet), and the fast autofocus and quick turnaround time. In the past Ive missed many good shots of my kids because of the sluggish autofocus on my old camera. Even if you never learn how to use all of the features on this camera and just leave it in auto mode, the picture quality is well worth the extra cost and bulkier camera compared to a compact. Update, October 2010: About two months after I bought the camera, the built-in flash quit working. My experience with Nikon tech support was good, and they were able to repair it. (Nikon did not charge for the repair, but I did have to ship it to them at my expense). Ive had no other problems since and I still dont regret buying this camera in any way. I understand that I am probably the rare exception, but nonetheless it was a small disappointment to run into a reliability problem like this.

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The announcement of Nikon D5000 in April 2009 is quite unexpected for many people. D5000 is quite different than other Nikon beginner cameras (D40, D60), and it also does not resemble Nikon D90, a mid-range Nikon DSLR line. Nikon D5000 is an unique camera in Nikon line. It has swivel LCD screen (None of other Nikon DSLR has this feature), and it has movie mode (the second camera that has this feature in Nikon line after D90). Along with Nikon D3000, Nikon hopes that D5000 will be a huge success in this holiday season. D5000 will compete against Canon T1i / 500D. BODY & HANDLING Nikon D5000 weights 588g (with card and battery). The dimension is 127 x 104 x 80 mm which is a bit bigger and taller than D3000. From the top, Nikon D5000 looks exactly the same as Nikon D3000. It has info button, exposure compensation, shutter button and shooting mode ring. Nikon D5000 has a thumb dial which you can use to change aperture or other settings. It also has AE-AF lock button, live view button, four-way controller button, playback button, menu button, trash bin button, magnifying buttons (+ and -) and info button. On the left side, you have self timer (function) button which could be customized. I usually customized it to ISO setting. The layout and available buttons are very similar to Nikon D3000. If you are coming from higher end Nikon D80-D90 line, you might miss the image quality button, ISO button, AF release mode button, and White Balance button. BUILT QUALITY & ERGONOMIC D5000 like all other Nikon beginner camera up to Nikon D90 has rugged plastic interior with textured "rough" finish. I like the textured finish more than smooth finish (like in Canon T1i camera). Ergonomically, it is good to hold, but the space between lens mount and the grip is pretty tight. If you mount bigger lens or if you have big hands, then you might not feel comfortable. However, I feel D5000 has slightly better ergonomic because it has a taller grip than D3000 or D60, so all of my fingers can rest on the grip, instead of hanging loose. LCD SCREEN D5000 has unique vari-angle LCD screen. This swivel LCD is a little bit awkward because it swivel to the bottom not to the side like many other digital cameras. You can swivel the lcd screen down to 90 degree and then rotate it to left o right up to 270 degree. It is quite versatile for overhead or low angle shot. It is also very helpful when you are in live view mode or movie recording mode. However, I personally prefer if the lcd swivel to the side rather to the bottom, but I can understand why Nikon design it that way. Nikon tries to keep the layout / body interface as similar as other Nikon beginner cameras. Unfortunately, unlike D90, the LCD screen resolution is limited to 230k (the same as D3000). So you will be never able to check if your photos are in focus or not. Additionally, there is no top LCD screen like Nikon D90. LENS COMPATIBILITY Nikon D5000 comes with Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens. This lens has a plastic mount, but the image quality and the light is recommendable. It never get super sharp like pro grade lens, but pro grade lens might costs more than ten times, so 18-55mm VR is one of the best value lens out in the market. The lens has image stabilization feature which is called Vibration Reduction (VR). It works well and quietly up to 3 stops. If you hold the camera tight and still, you can shoot up to a quarter second without motion blur. Unfortunately, D5000 does not have built in focus motor in the camera. Therefore, it cant auto focus older lenses such as the venerable Nikon 50mm f/1.8 or the legendary Nikon 85mm f/1.4D. If you need AF function, you need lens that has auto focus motor in it (AF-S lenses). If you are looking at third party lenses, look for HSM (Sigma lens) or motorized Tamron lenses. IMAGE QUALITY & ISO Nikon D5000 employs 12 megapixel sensor which is very similar to the one with Nikon D90. It produces better image quality than other Nikon beginner camera up to date. In low light situation, D5000 delivers clean image up to ISO 1600, and usable image at ISO 3200 if you expose it correctly. Image quality in high ISO setting is very satisfactory. Like other Nikon DSLR cameras, D5000 also has Auto ISO limiter. You can effectively limit the ISO and minimum shutter speed. The Auto ISO works very well and accurate most of the time. My favorite way to use this is to set the camera to Auto ISO, and then use Aperture mode and let the camera adjust the rest for me. AUTO FOCUS AND RELEASE MODE D5000 has the same AF system as D3000 and D90. This AF system are quite reliable for everyday use. It comes with dynamic tracking and 3D tracking which is great for moving objects and sports. The auto focus is very fast and responsive. D3000 has 4 frame per second continuous shooting. It is neither fast or slow. For sports, dances or plays you might hope for faster burst. Quiet release mode: This is a new release mode unique to Nikon D5000 and later D300s. When you shoot in Q mode, you can full press and hold the shutter button to keep the mirror up. Then, when you release the shutter button, the mirror will flip down. I dont think this feature is quite useful because it does not really make the shutter release quieter, it just divides the shutter release into two steps. The beep sound that indicate the auto focus lock will be automatically turn off when you use this mode. INTERFACE Despite the lack of dedicated buttons for many important setting such as ISO, release mode, white balance etc, It is relatively easy and quick to change those setting. What you need to do is hit the INFO button twice and toggle to setting that you want to change and change it with the main thumb dial. It is not the most efficient interface around. (The best interface will be Olympus super control panel), but Nikon is showing some progress. MOVIE RECORDING MODE Movie recording in D5000 is quite basic and easy to activate but tough to handle. To activate, you need to press lv (live view) button once, and then after you focus (you can half press the shutter button or manual focus) then you pres OK button to start and end recording. Them, you can now record the movie up to 5 minutes. The countdown will be displayed in the screen. It is tough to handle because there is no built-in stabilization so in order to stabilized the video you need a tripod. You will need to focus manually too to keep track of moving object because live view contrast-based auto focus is very slow and unreliable. However, compare to a regular camcorder, the movie mode are excellent in low light condition and able to create a very shallow of depth of field. You can also switches lenses to create different effects. COMPETITORS Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3-Inch LCD and EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens Canon T1i is D5000s arch rival in 2009. It has high-res fixed LCD screen, 15 megapixel image resolution, compatible with all Canon EOS lenses, and bigger viewfinder. It can record movie up to 18 minutes. For direct comparison, check out [Canon T1i vs Nikon D5000] Pentax K-x 12.4 MP Digital SLR with 2.7-inch LCD and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL Lens (Black) Pentax Kx is the best value camera in 2009. With only $550 this holiday season, you can get full featured beginner camera with movie recording mode, built-in image stabilization, and solid image quality. Check out our Pentax kx review and Pentax kx vs competitors. Sony Alpha A380L 14.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with Super SteadyShot INSIDE Image Stabilization and 18-55mm Lens Sony A380 has a very good image quality especially in bright light situation, fast AF in live view mode, tilt-able LCD screen and built-in image stabilization but no movie recording mode. Olympus Evolt E620 12.3MP Live MOS Digital SLR Camera with Image Stabilization and 2.7 inch Swivel LCD w/ 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 and 40-150mm f/4.0-5.6 ED Zuiko Lenses Olympus E-620 is the smallest beginner camera that has built-in image stabilization, swivel LCD screen, back-lit buttons but no movie recording mode, smaller image sensor and has smaller viewfinder. Check out our own Olympus E-620 review. Nikon D3000 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX VR Nikkor Zoom Lens If you are interested in Nikon camera, you might want to consider D3000 too. It is cheaper, lighter and smaller, more user-friendly but has inferior image sensor, no live view and no movie recording mode. Check out our own Nikon D3000 review. CONCLUSION Nikon D5000 is a feature-packed Nikon beginner camera that sits in the middle between beginner and advanced Nikon camera. It is a solid product with excellent image quality. The swivel LCD screen could be helpful for many situations. From features and image quality stand point, it matches Nikon D90. What hold D5000 back is its body interface and lack of built-in AF motor. Overall it is a good camera for your money. But before you get one, you need to check out its limitations especially about its lens compatibility and movie mode. Subjective Rating - Relative to entry level DSLR cameras 2009 Image Quality : 5/5 Features : 5/5 Performance : 5/5 Body and Handling : 4/5 Value for Money : 4/5 For sample images, ISO comparison and camera body pictures, please visit my blog. You can find the link from my profile. Thanks for reading

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This is my first DSLR camera, and I can say right off that its very easy to use and takes amazing photos. I chose the D5000 because a friend who is a professional photographer recommended it saying I should invest my money in lenses not the body. I believe this is true, but there is a consideration to make when purchasing the D5000, or the other Nikon entry-level cameras such as the D40/D40x/D60/D3000, and that has to do with the auto-focus motor. The D5000, which tops Nikons entry-level line, does not include an auto-focus motor in the body, instead it relies on a "silent wave" auto-focus mechanism in the lens (AF-S). This is supposed to be very quiet and fast, though I dont know if thats true compared to the screw-drive motors used in other camera bodies. Its also supposed to be more cost effective and allow for a smaller/lighter camera body, but again Im not sure if that is quite true or exactly why Nikon chose this option for their entry level line (if anybody knows more about this please feel free to comment). However, this option will limit users who already have a collection of Nikon AF lenses (not AF-S), as well as those purchasing a Nikon for the first time. The AF lenses will work fine but have to be manually focused. That said, more experienced users would probably not be purchasing an entry-level model; a more appropriate starting point would be the D90. So as far as lens compatibility? The first lens I sought to purchase was a fast prime (FFL) unit for indoor/low-light and portraits. I looked at the low-priced 50mm f/1.8D AF, but the auto-focus is not compatible. Same with the faster and more expensive 50mm f/1.4D AF, as well as the 35mm f/2D AF. Also, no luck with the Tamron or Sigma FFL units, though I did see some Tamron zoom lenses with AF-S compatibility. I became very concerned that my options would be severely restricted, and perhaps I would need to return the camera and upgrade to the D90 or go with the Canon T1i. However, I discovered the 50mm f/1.4G SIC SW, which came out last year, and also the more moderately priced 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX which currently sells for about $200. That unit came out earlier this year (I havent chosen yet). I also went to the Nikon homepage, and noted that 30 of the 50 current auto-focus lenses listed were AF-S, so while the options are limited, the average non-professional user shouldnt have a problem finding an appropriate lens for the occasion - including many professional level models. I also suspect that Nikon will include AF-S in more if not all future auto-focus lenses. Users will find the least options with Nikons wide-angel, standard, and telephoto models. Most of the super telephoto, wide-angle zoom, standard zoom, high powered zoom and close up lenses include AF-S. PROS of the D5000 1. Has virtually the same image sensor as the D90 and D300. This puts the D5000 in good company, and one could argue its more of a prosumer or mid-level class camera than its entry-level predecessor, the D60. Its almost a D90, but just lacking of a few options and the D90s ruggedness. The difference is about $300. 2. Flip LCD; I considered the Canon EOS Rebel T1i, and while both the Canon and Nikon have their advantages, both are very similar with the exception of Nikons flip LCD. I consider this more than just a novelty. It not only protects the screen but is practical in some situations, such as shooting photos overhead. The D90 does not have this function either. 3. Easy to use; I got fantastic pictures right off using the auto mode as well as the pre-set scene selections. However, users are not restricted to these options and experienced photographers should enjoy the camera alike. Just like the D90, the D5000 has scene modes on the dial, but it also has 13 additional modes from the menu which adds benefit to novice users. I tried the night landscape and sunset with excellent results. 4. The lens is very good for a kit, and includes Vibration Reduction (VR). The lens by itself currently sells on Amazon for about $185 new, as appose to the model without VR which is currently priced at $110. Users may also want to pick up a fixed lens and/or higher power zoom, but the kit lens should be fine for most users. That said, Im sure this camera could be taken to another level with the right lens. 5. Long Battery Life 6. Compact / Light weight CONS 1. Price; the D5000 may be priced a little high for an "entry-level" camera, but again its $300 less than the D90, and in many ways comparable. Its also slightly less than the Canon EOS Rebel T1i. 2. Ruggedness; some may say its a little "toyish" with the plastic finish, and being light (which isnt a bad thing), but overall it looks sharp and is well built. I handled the D90 and some of the pro lines, they felt a little more rugged, but of course are designed for more abuse (and cost much more). 3. AF-S auto-focus (see above) Bottom line, if youre looking for a great camera with the ability to produce real quality photos, but you dont want to spend a small fortune, the D5000 is a great choice.

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