Nikon's D5000 up for pre-order at Amazon
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Apr 18th 2009 1:35PM
posted Apr 18th 2009 1:35PM
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FIRST!
OH MAN YOU'RE MY HERO
I WISH I COULD BE COOL LIKE YOU
Second!
BANNED! Oh, damn, beat me to it.
So tempting to replace my D50 body with this one, but I should really invest in better glass.
However, I find in some of my crops that I wish I had a bit more than 6MP on rare occasions.. plus the low-light sensitivity would be key (got a VR lens on my D50, but still).
So many toys, so little time.
Get a second hand D80, much better value.
Don't listen to the crap about "oh but you're buying into old tech" - do the photos suddenly become rubbish because your camera is old? My uncle is a professional photographer (does lots of weddings, etc) and he does loads with a D70 which is frankly ancient.
My advice would be pick up the D80 from eBay and use whatever you have left to buy some older AF lenses. These are the ones that don't have the wave motor - and thus won't autofocus on your D50 (i've got a D40 btw). However, they'll autofocus just fine on a better body and you'll save a ton of cash over the AF-S lenses.
No don't get a D80. I have one and as KenRockwell.com pointed out, it has horrible, horrible matrix metering for highlights. It's so true when I look at my pics.. it's annoying to say the least. I'm going to get rid of it and get a D90; although Ken also points out all you ever need is a D40. Hmm....
Yes you're better off with some nice glass. I have the 18-200 VR, amazing lens, and also have the 50mm F/1.4 Prime. Both amazing lenses.
The D5000 is a substantial upgrade over the D60. Its essentially a miniature-D90 with swivel screen. It even adds the D90's 11-point AF system (the D60 has a 3-point AF).
I wouldn't buy the D80 since it uses the old 10MP CCD, the D90/D5000 sensor is derived from the D300 sensor which produces very good quality images. If you have the D50 and lenses already I would merely get the bod-only which is $730 MSRP.
Been using a D50 with the 18-200 VR for a while now, I have the itch as well.
The 1/8 50mm is a pretty decent, fast lens to be had for low coin too.
There's that. VR lenses are nice, but depending on the features you need a fast prime could be much more useful. The VR lens might let you shoot at f3.5 @ 1/4 or 1/8, but that's motion blur territory. Plus, a nice fast prime makes your feet the zoom, and moving around helps a lot of people find different angles than just twisting the zoom.
But other than value medium range primes, a lot of lenses are based on need. Do you really need tele? Wide-angle? Or a new-fangled many times zoom? What new pictures will they let you shoot?
The big thing about the D5000 is the very clean ISO3200 which it should inherit from the D90. That opens up a lot of low light possibilities. The D80 is hardly as good here. If you need that (e.g. you're a night owl) a new body could be in order.
I own the a D40, D80, & D90. The D90 wins hands down in terms of image quality. Not because of the pixels as much as the better colors & contrast. I disagree that the glass will improve your pictures more than a camera body. The better way to say it is that the glass is a better investment.
They will improve your shots about the same amount, but the glass doesn't depreciate nearly as fast as your camera body. Of course any improvement will be modest at best. Your shot may be sharper, or have better contrast. That doesn't make it better, just sharper or more in focus.
The best way to improve your shot is to work on your composition, which is free, but not very easy.
Personally, If I were shooting a D50, I'd pass on the D5000. The D50, can auto focus with older non-AFS lenses that the D5000 can't. For about $100 more, you can buy a D90. You could also pick up some nice primes for about the same amount of money. Personally, I prefer zooms because they help me get the composition I want. If I were shooting in a studio I'd use a prime for the extra sharpness. If I were shooting in low light, I'd use a fast prime out of necessity. Otherwise, I'd rather use a zoom. The problem is that upgrading your zoom past the kit lens is an expensive proposition, especially if you think you might shoot FX.
D80's can be had pretty cheap, but I think the real steal right now is a used D200. I've seen them in stores (not craigslist) for $600 in the Seattle area. Weather sealed body, better controls/button layout (IMO) than the D80.
Just for the record, I shot a friends wedding a year ago with my D50 and a burrowed D80. I had an 80-200 2.8 on the D80. The shots with the D50 turned out, to my eyes, much better. Also, in order to keep shutter speeds up, I had the D80 at 640 ISO for a while, and was shocked at how bad the noise was compared to 800 ISO on my D50. Just my experience, but I thouhg it was interesting.
All this D5000 buzz got me obsessed with SLRs. Being broke but with a tax return, I found a good deal on the low end refurbished Canon Rebel XS at buydig.com with lens for $420. Looking forward to finally having an SLR!
Is it just me, or are cameras really expensive?
if you don't know how to use every feature they provide i'd agree
The digital sensor in a camera like this, which is several times larger than the one you'd find in a typical compact, isn't cheap.
Maybe you'd like a nice value Hasselblad H3 kit for $30,000? XD
Its all about what you're using the camera for. Well, that and supply/demand.
What, $730 for a new digital SLR? That I can afford; not so much the $8000 price tag on the D3X with 24.5 MP.
Cameras are dirt-cheap. New-release DSLRs can be (relatively) expensive. So can lenses, which can make buying the body laughably cheap. But give it 6-8 months for the Early Adopter Tax to subside on this one, or look at current not-just-released models.
Sorry, don't really see the point in this camera. If you want a cheap Nikon DSLR, the D40 will do just fine and cost half as much. You'd be much better off putting the difference between the two cameras into a nicer lens as opposed to going with the D5000. If you want a step up from the D40, choosing the D5000 over the D90 makes no sense. D90 is more robust, works much better than the D5000 with many of Nikon's best lenses (af motor), has a better viewfinder, better LCD, better burst rate, etc. Until this cam comes way down in price, it just doesn't make sense to me.
I think you may be right. And this interesting statement from DPreview's preview of the 5000:
"In many respects, the D5000 harks back to the D50 - it's a surprisingly large compared to its peers and, unlike recent little Nikons, has a feature set that will prompt many a debate about whether to buy this camera or the model above."
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/nikond5000/page4.asp
You surely must mean the D40X with 10.2 MP that costs less than the D40 with just 6.1 MP.
@Gerrg
The D40x has a slower flash sync speed though. And in any event, it's a discontinued model.
It's almost all about the glass... though some of it is the body features.
I'd take a old used Canon 1D (4MP) with a 24-70 2.8 L lens instead of a 15MP rebel/D5000 type camera with the kit lens.
Another benefit of spending most of your money on the glass is that if you buy used, you don't even really lose any resale. I've sold many lenses for about what I paid, which means I've gotten to try out lots of lenses to see what worked best for what I'm shooting.
It's never one or the other, the combination of many factors (lens, sensor, processing) MATTERS...
1d vs 5000d argument is flawed, as one camera will obviously be superior for one set of scenarios (bigger sensor = better bokeh), 5000d will easily outresolve the 1d (with double vertical and horizontal resolution) in ideal conditions even with the stock lens. 1D has significantly more noise (especially for long exposure with some ugly purple effects) and the high iso banding (ugly horizontal lines that appear in dark areas). I think you forgot the kind of shitty image problems that first cameras had (even the nice ones).
"It's ALL about glass" argument is old. It comes from the old film era and really doesn't translate to the digital era. When you buy a camera, you're practically buying one kind of film, and you're stuck with it for the life of the camera.
Don't forget the canon rebel T1i (500D) is available for presale too!
I work at best buy, and unless I misread this morning, it seemed like they said we'll be getting our first shipments like April 24th. I don't know how that could be sine it's not in our system yet (new yamaha receivers are in the computers and we don't get them til May), but I guess we'll see
It doesn't mean its not in the system yet, just cause you cant see it at a store level. I would expect these in your store around that date
It's in the Best Buy system as of today.
If the 35mm f1.8 was any indication, Amazon may have this on "pre-order" for well over a month after the release date.
Looks like the Sony Alpha 300 or 350 might be a much better deal at 200-300 less and two kit lenses, plus in-body stabilization. The only thing the Alpha doesn't have is video.
In body stabilization is a double edged sword. On one had it allows you to stabilize any lens you have attached. On the other, it doesn't stabilize the viewfinder or autofocus sensor, and isn't as effective as the best in-lens solutions.
Anyways, there are a few other potential drawbacks to the A350, Because of the way Sony implemented liveview, the viewfinder is tiny (even compared to Nikon's low-end). It's still using the old Sony 10MP CCD, which isn't as good at high ISO as the 12MP CMOS that Nikon is using now. It only has a 2.5FPS continuous shooting (compared to the D5000's 4 fps). And this may be a minor thing, but the screen can't be rotated so that the screen faces the body when closed (to offer some additional protection).
why Nikkon Aus... why are you *ing up pricing on this model? 849 USD = 1165AUD... why price this at 1699? the D90 is 1699 lol... i'm interested but at the same price as a full fledge D90 i know what i'm getting :)
way to punish them by…still giving them your money?
Get it only with a decent lens of say 17 - 80 f 2.8 and it will more than likely outdo anything Canon has to offer at twice the price. I think it's a pretty smart move for not only the nooob, but us older punks as well.
Even though I have over 15K in Canon, why handicap myself. If I want a flip out mirror, than damit so be it.
never mind what what any one says here. Listen to what a professional photographer says:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/recommended-cameras.htm
Did you just call Ken Rockwell a professional photographer? O_o
Would it be better to spend the extra and get the D90 over this new D5000 ?