Nikon D5000 review

Assuming you're not upgrading from another consumer-level Nikon, picking between the Nikon D5000 and the Canon EOS 500D is tricky. The D5000 is a fraction cheaper and has a 12.9-megapixel Cmos sensor compared with the 500D's 15.1-megapixel sensor.

Like its more expensive stablemate, the Nikon D90, the D5000 features an accurate 11-point focus system - a clear upgrade from the D60's three-point system and better than the Canon EOS 500D's nine-point AF. It's also faster than the 500D, offering a maximum of four frames per second (fps) in continuous-shooting mode against the 500D's 3.4fps, although this impressive speed is only maintained for the first 10 shots. The D5000 also includes auto-ISO, which allows you to set the slowest permissible shutter speed at which the ISO should be raised, as well as Nikon's effective D-Lighting, which makes images appear to have greater contrast.

The D5000 takes gorgeous images and Nikon's experience in the sub-£1000 DSLR market shows: the D5000's high-ISO performance has to be seen to be believed. At its highest extreme, it can be pushed to one stop over ISO3200 - ISO6400, in other words. Performance at ISO3200 was superb, and we'd be happy to use the D5000 at ISO800 for nearly every kind of shot. For noise-phobic users, the D5000's lowest ISO is 200, and can even be pushed a stop below that.

The kit lens - Nikon's budget 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR - isn't going to set anyone's pulse racing, although we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of distortion at wide angles. There was occasionally a lack of sharpness, although nothing that a few minutes in Aperture wouldn't fix. Of slightly more concern was the lens' all-plastic construction - even the mount that connects the lens to the camera is plastic. The zoom motion is less than perfectly smooth, and purists will lament the lack of distance numbers on the focus ring.

We have no similar concerns about the body itself. Weighing 884g including the battery and lens, the D5000 is solid in the hand and feels like it will take the odd knock well. Nikon has attempted to set it apart from the crowd of consumer DSLRs by adding a hinge to the 2.7in LCD on the back. We found little practical use for it, though - it's theoretically handy for shooting over the heads of a crowd or taking shots low to the ground, as the screen can be angled up or down, but there's no way to shoot around corners, for instance. The screen also suffers by comparison to the gorgeous 3in LCD on the Canon EOS 500D. Not only is the D5000's LCD 0.3in smaller, but it also has four times fewer pixels than the 500D's - 230,000 compared with 920,000.

Like the D90, the D5000 records video at a maximum of 1280 x 720 - 720p in HD terms - at 24fps. The quality of our test video was stunning, showing all of the D5000's still image quality with the benefit of sound and motion. There are obvious drawbacks for anyone who wants an all-in-one device, though. The integrated mono microphone isn't particularly good and there's no option to attach an external mic. This means the D5000 picks up every last bit of handling noise - adjust the camera angle, zoom or focus while recording and you'll probably hear it. There are also the problems shared by the Canon EOS 500D: adjusting focus while shooting is a manual affair, and you can't adjust shutter speed or aperture before shooting, which means you're stuck with whatever the D5000's exposure meter picks for you. This means you lose full control over depth of field. Nor can you adjust focus automatically during recording: if your subject moves closer or further away, you either need to stop recording to adjust or grab the manual focus ring. Finally, the rolling shutter of the Cmos sensor meant we occasionally noticed that objects moving quickly from one side of the frame to the other appeared skewed.