Introducing The Nikon D5000
Nikon has done it again: it’s introduced another easy-to-use digital SLR onto the marketplace called the D5000 that can take fantastic photos with little fuss. Oh, I almost forgot, it shoots high-definition video, too.
In fact, the ability to shoot high-def video is soon going to become a standard offering on digital cameras. Consumers want the convenience to do everything in one unit, if they can have it all. The D5000 will allow you to shoot excellent video with 1280 x 720 resolution at 24 fps, but there are drawbacks. You cannot zoom in or out while shooting video for instance, and there’s no auto focus. Considering what you’re getting, however, it may not matter to you.
In terms of bells and whistles the Nikon D5000 uses a 12-megapixel CMOS sensor to capture still images as well as video, the same found in its wiser, pricier (by about $300) sibling, the D90. And like the D90 it also has live view, meaning that you can see a preview of the subject before you snap the photo, essentially the same thing that you would find on a point-and-shoot digital camera. But this live view technology is fairly new to SLRs and thus makes them much more exciting, not to mention very user friendly.
The D5000 is not the smallest camera in the Nikon digital SLR lineup, but it is certainly not the most cumbersome. The Nikon D40/D60 body is still more compact, but nevertheless considering all that you are getting in one package, including a tilt-down swiveling 2.7 inch LCD screen, size should not be an issue for Nikon fans and especially for people who are all about simplicity. David Pogue of the New York Times has more to say about that.
“Nikon has packaged all of these professional features into a much smaller, lighter camera that’s obviously aimed at amateurs. For example, the new camera is loaded with scene modes to make the thing less intimidating to novices canned presets for Sunset, Pets or Beach/Snow, each with a sample photo on the screen.
As on other recent low-end Nikon models, the D5000 also makes photography easier to understand by displaying a visual representation of the actual aperture (lens opening) inside as it grows and shrinks. The screen also indicates your shutter speed both graphically and with a fraction 1/25, for example, rather than the “25″ that appears on most S.L.R. screens.
In terms of speed, the Nikon D5000 can take continuous shots at four frames per second with a buffer of 25 fine JPEG or 7 RAW files. To take those shots in rapid succession it employs an 11-area auto focusing system, the same found on the D90. Speed is clearly not an issue with this camera.
There’s also a fair share of nifty accessories that are available, the most exciting of them being a GPS attachment called the GP-1 which enables “geotagging” meaning it will mark the exact location that a photo was taken. There are also several genuine Nikon lenses that are mountable on the D5000’s body. And the Nikon batteries being offered just keep getting better and better, the included one can snap as many as 510 shots on a single charge.
The going rate for the Nikon D5000 with an 18-55mm kit lens is around $850 at retail outlets but you may be able to do a little better if you shop around online.
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