Nikon D5000 DSLR Camera Review

Introduction

After the significant buzz that surrounded last year's D90, Nikon has released its second DSLR camera that can shoot HD video—the D5000. As far as video performance is concerned, the D5000 ($729.95 for body only) showed similar results to the D90. The camera still tops out with a 1280 x 720 video resolution with a 24p frame rate, and records monaural audio via a built-in speaker. Bigger improvements were expected. The new camera does offer some refinements with handling, including a flip-out LCD that makes both handheld and tripod-mounted video recording much more comfortable. So, does this second-generation video-capable DSLR camera have what it takes to compete with a high-end HD camcorder? Want to find out how well the D5000 stacks up against Canon's newest DSLR with a video mode, the Rebel T1i? Check out our full review for answers to these questions.

Exclusive - Read the full review of the Nikon D5000 at DigitalCameraInfo.com, including complete, comprehensive video testing and analysis by CamcorderInfo.com.

Color & Noise Performance

The Nikon D5000 captured a decent bright light image in our testing, but its overall color performance wasn't exceptional. The main thing we noticed was how bright the camera's image was compared to the Canon Rebel T1i and the two HD camcorders we compared it to. Click here to read our full color performance review, including color swatches and crops.

Color Accuracy Performance
Color Test Chart (above), Color Error Map (right)
The Nikon D5000 produced a color error of 4.15 and a saturation level of 88.06% in our bright light color testing. (The map on the right is a diagram of the color error. The length and direction of each line indicates how the camcorder processed each particular color.)

With its huge CMOS sensor (1.12-inches diagonal), it should come as no surprise that the Nikon D5000 scored exceptionally well with noise. The camera put up far better numbers than your average consumer HD camcorder and it even bested the Canon Rebel T1i in this category. Click here to read our full noise performance review, including crops and comparative analysis.
 

Motion & Sharpness

The Nikon D5000 records all video using a 24p frame rate, which results in the camera producing an entirely different motion aesthetic than a traditional HD camcorder. The 24p rate is slower, choppier, and more film-like than the standard 60i rate at which HD camcorders generally record. Just like the D90, the D5000 still has major issues with a rolling shutter—resulting in a significant amount of wobble whenever you pan or move the camera while recording. Click here to read our full motion performance review, including video clips.

Since the Nikon D5000 has a maximum video resolution of 1280 x 720, it isn't able to capture the same amount of sharpness or detail that a full HD, 1920 x 1080 camcorder is capable of. Still, its video sharpness scores are decent for 720p recording. Click here to read our full sharpness performance review.

Low Light Performance

The Nikon D5000 did very well with our low light testing. Its low light sensitivity was good, as the camera only needed 11 lux of light to produce 50 IRE on our waveform monitor. Despite this solid effort, we expected the camera to be even better because of its large sensor and 24p frame rate. Click here to read our full low light sensitivity performance review.

Required Illumination *

* the lower the lux required, the better the performance

The Nikon D5000 maintained a strong, bright image in our low light testing. The camera's color accuracy was about the same in low light as it was in bright light, but its saturation level went up significantly. The camera also recorded a far brighter image than the competition in our low light test. Click here to read our full low light color performance review, including comparative images and analysis.

Auto Low Light Color Performance
Color Test Chart (above), Color Error Map (right)
The Nikon D5000 produced a color error of 4.07 and a saturation level of 96.84% in our low light color testing. (The map on the right is a diagram of the color error. The length and direction of each line indicates how the camcorder processed each particular color.)

The best thing about the Nikon D5000's video performance was its low noise levels. The camera added to its strong bright light noise results with equally impressive low light noise measurements. Again, the camera averaged lower levels of noise than the HD camcorders we compared it to and it also produced less noise than the Canon Rebel T1i. Click here to read our full low light noise performance review, including crops and comparative images.

Conclusion

The Nikon D5000 ($729.95 for body only) suffers from many of the same setbacks that the D90 experienced before it. The camera doesn't capture full HD video and its 1280 x 720 footage simply won't cut it in today's market. The rolling shutter issue doesn't appear to have improved at all, which leads us to believe DSLR manufacturers have a lot of work to do before this problem is fully solved. There's also the same quirky manual controls that make both the D90 and the D5000 a frustrating camera to shoot video with. That being said, the Nikon D5000 also offers a number of features that consumer HD camcorders aren't capable of—a removable lens system, extremely low noise levels, and true progressive 24 frames per second recording. Nikon's inclusion of a flip-down, rotatable LCD screen also makes the D5000 a much better handler than the D90 or the Canon Rebel T1i—both of which have stationary LCDs. The reality is, however, that Nikon still has a lot of kinks to work out before its DSLR models can really compete with any high-end HD camcorder.

Exclusive - Read the full review of the Nikon D5000 at DigitalCameraInfo.com, including complete, comprehensive video testing and analysis by CamcorderInfo.com.