Nikon D5000 Preview

fro mthe e-mail blast:

Good evening! As of Midnight tonight, Nikon just launched the new D5000 Digital SLR, which delivers advanced photo features and an easy to use, yet exciting DSLR experience to a wide range of consumers! Below, please find the press release. For high resolution images, please visit Nikon’s online press room at: http://press.nikonusa.com/gallery/category.php?c=nikon/Digital_SLR/

Highlights of the D5000 include:
· 12.3-megapixel DX-format CMOS image sensor
· High Definition D-Movie Mode with sound
· Vari-angle color LCD monitor
· 19 Auto-exposure Scene Modes
· One-button Live View
· Continuous shooting as fast as 4 frames-per-second
· Low noise ISO sensitivity from 200 to 3200
· 11-point autofocus system with 3D Focus Tracking
· Available late April 2009 for $849.95 (camera outfit with 18-55mm VR lens) or $729.95 (camera body only)

Nikon also announced a new ultra-wide angle 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 DX lens which appeals to enthusiast and those looking to creatively explore challenging wide angle photography with their DX format camera.

Images for this lens can be found here:
http://press.nikonusa.com/gallery/category.php?c=nikon/Lenses/
The press release can be found here:
http://press.nikonusa.com/

Thank you, and have a great night!

An important spec missed here: the viewfinder is a small pentamirror like D60, and not pentaprism like D90.
I was thinking of upgrading my D40, but not to D5000 because of this viewfinder.

No CLS commander mode. Watch: this will be the ugly "woops" moment for a lot of purchasers. The no-internal-AF-motor thing isn't nearly the issue it used to be. But since off-camera strobe use is becoming downright maintream these days, this is one that will sting a lot of uneducated buyers.

Matt, the D5000 is in the same lower-end consumer DSLR line as the D40, D40x, and D60, although Nikon has moved to a 4-digit product number (well, there are already D70, D80, and D90). All DSLRs in that series have neither an AF motor nor any CLS commander mode in the flash. And they are the only DSLRs that use the EN-EL9/EN-EL9a compact batteries.

If you want more features, you have to pay a little more for a higher-end camera such as the D90 or settle for remaining stock of an older model. In these days the discontinued D80 and D200 are still available new at very reasonable prices. All of those have the CLS commander mode built in.

Matt, I wonder how many D5000 buyers would even own an external flash or even know what an off camera strobe is or how to use it. I know that some people love all the wireless flash stuff but I can count on one hand the number of times I've used it and that was just to play around with. I just don't use flash much for the type of pics I like to take. One person's must have feature is another one's never use feature and vice versa.

Shun, Walt: of course to each their own, and of course you get what you pay for, and no, it's not a must-have feature for lots of people (welll, until they need it, anyway!). My point isn't that Nikon should have included CLS at the D5000's price point (though I can't imagine it would drive the costs up much - it's more a matter of keeping the simpler cameras simple for those users, I expect). No, I suppose that I'm just expecting another wave of "Help me!" postings from the I've-just-started-taking-portraits crowd. You know - they spend a few minutes watching YouTube vids about the joys of an off-camera Nikon speedlight without radio triggers (and those joys are, indeed, numerous) - but then must then engage in the painful process of finding some other way to scratch the remote flash itch, or get a lecture from people who tell them they should have purchased a D90, etc.

Even USA Today ran a recent article about strobe lighting being a hot (re)new(ed) trend, and mentions the untold thousands of visitors that a handful of web sites dedicated to the how-tos on the subject are getting from newbies. I just think that it would serve Nikon better to make a louder distinction between the D40/60/5000 and the D80/90/etc when it comes to this important feature. It's one of those features that people don't know they don't know about, if you know what I mean. Lots of traffic on this here very web site comes from people who clearly sandbagged themselves on that front when they bought a D60.

Matt, at least to me, the D5000 is already way too close to the D90 for comfort. If you start adding even more features to the D5000, it'll quickly kill D90 sales. It is not a matter of cost; it is how to run a profitable business.

While I have an SU-900 controller, I don't use CLS remote flash all that often. I seriously doubt that the target market for the D40, D60 and D5000 type cameras will miss that feature all that much.

Before the D5000, the D40/D60 series cameras always had a 3-AF-point Multi-CAM 530 AF module. The D5000 is a major departure using the higher-end 11-poing Multi-CAM 1000 previously found on the higher-end D200. Once again, I think the D5000 is placed a little too high already.

I'd assume the D5000 is an answer (more likely a parallel development) to the new Canon T1i. I'd assume they've both been in development for quite some time.

Basically an entry level camera with video. Video is now the "sine qua non" of DSLRs. I don't think anyone will be releasing a DSLR without it by the end of the year, and in fact cameras in development that don't have it will probably be held back until it is added.

The Canon has a higher pixel count, higher ISO settings and higher resolution video, but the D5000 has a tilt/swivel LCD (though low resolution) and a slightly lower price point, so I'd say (as usual) they are pretty well matched. Since every Canon EF and EF-S lens has an internal motor, Canon don't have to worry about lens compatibility. I guess Nikon can save a few bucks by not putting a focusing motor in the body to operate their early AF lenses which require it.

I assume we'll be seeing entry level Sony, Olympus and Pentax DSLRs with (HD) video pretty soon too.

I can hardly wait for the shall I upgrade my D5000 to the D90 threads.