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Nikon D5000 In Depth Review

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Posted by Patrick on Oct 5, 2009 in Cameras, Featured Content, Reviews

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Performance

When it comes to camera performance, Nikon engineers have done a great job at making the D5000 more “enthusiast” than “entry-level”. Start up times are practically instantaneous, flip the switch to the on position with your finger on the shutter, and the D5000 will fire off a picture immediately. Frame rates too leave little to complain about, especially at this price point. The D5000 will shoot at a brisk 4 frames per second, taking in 11 RAW files before the buffer fills and shooting slows down to a still very respectable rate of about 2.5 frames per second.

Autofocus speeds were generally snappy and we had virtually no issues with accuracy, leaving me impressed with both the D5000 itself and the surprisingly adept 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR AF-S DX Lens. In virtually all environments the combination was well up to the task, even in very low light situations, helped in large part by the AF assist illuminator.


The D5000 offers 4 different AF area modes: "single point", "dynamic area" for erratic subjects, "auto area", and "3-D tracking" which uses all 11 points to keep a subject focused after it moves.	Most metering duties will be covered by Nikon's Matrix metering mode which uses a 420 pixel RGB sensor to meter the entire frame and set exposure in accordance to tone, color, and composition. Spot metering and Center-weighted metering options are also available.

Focusing options include Single-servo AF for stationary subjects, Continuous-servo AF for moving subjects, Auto-servo AF, where the camera decides between the previous 2 options depending on the subject, and of course Manual focus. And again, for beginners, the D5000 helpfully provides appropriate images to help make distinctions between the various options. While I personally tend to be a center focus and recompose type photographer, the D5000 did perform quite well in Continuous-servo AF (AF-C) and combined with a wisely chosen AF-Area mode (see above illustration), I was easily able to capture dynamic subjects in relatively sharp fashion.

Unfortunately, Live View performance was disappointing. Like nearly all DSLRs today, the D5000’s contrast AF is just too slow to be preferred over the viewfinder, which is a shame given the design of the D5000 with its flip out LCD, is begging to be used in Live View. To be fair the LCD retains other benefits, and works great for shooting video, an extension of Live View, but still photography in Live View is best relegated to tripod use, and in that context it works splendidly with the ability to zoom in on subjects to manually acquire critical focus. In the end however, it’s frustrating to not be able to use a camera as it appears intended to, but it appears that Live View performance in a DSLR camera is still a hurdle too high to leap for most camera manufacturers.


4 different autofocus modes are available in Live View: face priority, wide area, normal area, and subject tracking.	There are several display options in Live View: from full screen, to complete information overlay.

Users can move the focus area to a selected area...	...and then zoom in to acquire critical focus.

Support this site by purchasing the Nikon D5000 at B&H Photo Video. Check the following links for the best prices on the Nikon D5000 camera body and kit lens configurations.

Nikon D5000 Digital SLR Camera (Camera Body)
Nikon D5000 Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm VR Lens
Nikon D5000 Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm & 55-200mm VR Lens

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