Nikon D5000 Hands-on Preview Richard Butler, April 2009

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Nikon D5000 Hands-on Preview Richard Butler, April 2009

Preview based on a pre-production Nikon D5000

The recent boom in DSLR sales has seen all the major manufacturers adding bulked-up or stripped-down entry level models, repositioning their offerings to make sure that anyone willing to put up with the size and weight of a DSLR will look at one of their models. The whole thing has often left existing DSLR owners a little lost - 'why isn't there a direct replacement for my camera?' - but has undoubtedly meant there are many more attractive, accessible cameras on the market just waiting to entice first-time DSLR owners.

And its into this maelstrom of DSLR proliferation that Nikon launches its latest baby DSLR, the D5000. The name will come as no surprise to anyone within earshot of the rumor mill but the camera itself may present some more surprises. Having confused many people but made huge ground with its simplified D40 and D60 range, it appears Nikon has again decided that simply replacing models isn't the best way to address the market. So here we have a camera that genuinely seems to sit above the D60 (rather than continuing in parallel until the stock runs out), and below the D90. Like the baby Nikons, the D5000 doesn't have an autofocus motor built into the body but does gain a tilt-and-swivel LCD, as a series of leaked images that have made their way around the internet would have you expect.

The idea of an upper-entry-level DSLR (for want of a better term), that sits below the 'enthusiast' grade D90 (with its twin control dials, big battery and pentaprism viewfinder), is hardly a radical one - the Canon 500D and Olympus E-620 seem to cater to a similar market. So what does this new Nikon have to offer either the tech-savvy first-time DSLR buyer, or the owner of an older entry-level model wanting newer features but unwilling to slavishly follow the manufacturer's 'upgrade path'?

Nikon D5000 Key Features

12.9 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor (effective pixels: 12.3 million)
2.7" tilt and swivel LCD monitor (230,000 dots)
Movie capture at up to 1280 x 720 (720p) 24 fps with mono sound
Live View with contrast-detect AF, face detection and subject tracking
Image sensor cleaning (sensor shake)
11 AF points (with 3D tracking)
IS0 200-3200 range (100-6400 expanded)
4 frames per second continuous shooting (buffer: 7 RAW, 25 JPEG fine, 100 JPEG Normal)
Expeed image processing engine
Extensive in-camera retouching including raw development and straightening
Connector for optional GPS unit (fits on hot shoe)
New battery with increased capacity
72 thumbnail and calendar view in playback

Nikon D5000 vs D60: Key Differences

The D5000 could easily be seen as a D60 with a tilting screen added, and most of a D90 stuffed into it. As such it offers quite a few feature improvements over its little brother:

12.3 MP CMOS sensor (D60: 10.2 MP CCD)
Tilt/swivel screen
Live View with contrast detect AF
Movie Mode
Wider ISO range
11 point AF system with 3D tracking (D60: 3 point AF)
Control of Active D-Lighting intensity
Automatic correction of lateral chromatic aberration
Choice of JPEG quality in RAW+JPEG shooting
Extra retouching options
More scene modes
Faster continuous shooting
Bracketing

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Nikon D60 (with 18mm-55mm lens)

There was a time when the idea of an entry-level dSLR was a bit of an oxymoron. Even the least expensive SLR was a large step up from the digital compacts at the time, but these days entry-level SLRs are being made to be entry level, and their prices line up closely with the most expensive compact cameras. Nikon's D60 is a good example of the current breed of these dSLRs. It checks in with a healthy 10.2-megapixel CCD sensor, a slightly small-by-comparison 2.5-inch LCD, and an upgraded, optically stabilized kit lens. While those features are nice, the D60 falls behind the competition in several areas in terms of its specifications. For instance, Sony's DSLR-A200 also sports 10.2-megapixels, but has a slightly larger 2.7-inch screen, body-based image stabilization, similar in-camera editing and dynamic-range optimization features, and costs less than this Nikon. Its performance numbers were slightly worse than the D60, but not by very much. Meanwhile Canon's Rebel XSi, which we haven't reviewed as of this writing, offers 12.2-megapixels, a 3-inch LCD, 14-bit digital-to-analog conversion, and also comes with an optically stabilized lens, though its list price is higher than the D60. The main issue with this Nikon is that it doesn't feel like a major upgrade over the D40x, while Sony's and Canon's upgrades over their predecessors are easy for consumers to understand, such as the Rebel's shift from 10.1MP to 12.2MP.

The fact that the D60 looks almost exactly like the D40x probably doesn't help Nikon's public perception on this model. In our first briefing on this camera, Nikon even said that it has the exact same form factor as the D40x. Of course, that's not a bad thing, since the design is good. At 19.4 ounces with a battery and an SD card, and without a lens, it's lightweight enough to shoot comfortably for a day, and the kit lens is one of the lightest Nikon lenses I've worked with, so it doesn't add much weight. The body is also quite small and will fit well into smaller camera bags, though the grip will leave your pinky finger dangling off the bottom of the body--something that tends to bother me, but doesn't bother most people. As has become the trend, many of the camera's controls are accessed through a virtual control system on the LCD instead of physical buttons on the camera body.

When Nikon first switched to this system, I was a bit hesitant, but I am now pretty quick with it. I can see why users that are used to a compact camera might find this system more familiar than trying to learn the layout of a hard-button-based system. Nikon also includes a nice visual representation of aperture and shutter speed to underscore the fact that the aperture blades make a smaller opening for light in the lens as you make the f/stop a higher number, while showing bars that wrap around those virtual aperture blades as you make the shutter speed faster. They still make you press the "i" button to get into the control system, which wasn't intuitive to me the first time I encountered it, though there's so little space on the camera back, and the button doubles as a zoom control in playback mode. That double functionality was my biggest gripe about this system though, since I ended up zooming in during the automatic image review quite a bit and had to first press the shutter button halfway to exit that before getting into the control system. I could have turned the automatic image review off in the custom function menu, but I don't think that is an adequate solution to this issue. One thing Nikon could do is relocate the playback button above where it is now, to the left shoulder of the camera, behind the lug for the strap. Then they could shift the other three buttons up one and give the control system its own button.

Given that Nikon prices the D60 higher than some competitors, notably Olympus's Evolt E-510, Pentax's K200D, and the aforementioned Sony A200, you'd think that they would include more than this camera's three autofocus points. Even more so since the Pentax and Sony offer 11- and 9-AF points respectively and, along with the Olympus, offer sensor-shift image stabilization systems that work with all lenses for their respective mounts. Of course, the big benefit of optical image stabilization is that you'll see the stabilizing effect while you frame your shot, which becomes more useful when your lens' focal length becomes longer. However, this shouldn't be a major issue until you reach focal lengths in the range of 300mm and higher, so if you don't plan to get a very long lens, the edge provided by lens-based stabilization may be moot compared with the sensor-shift alternatives.

Nikon's menu system in the D60 hasn't changed much from the D40x, but it now includes a retouch menu, so you can tweak your images in the camera after you shoot them. In addition to the tweaks included in the D40x, such as D-Lighting (to fix minor exposure issues and bring detail out of shadow areas all in one-step), red-eye reduction, and cropping, Nikon has added a couple of new filter effects with the D60. Red, green, and blue Intensifiers let you add some saturation to those colors, while the Cross Screen filter mimics a traditional Cross Star lens filter, adding a twinkle to small light sources and highlights in an image. The Cross Screen can look cool, and Nikon includes controls for the angle, length, and number (4, 6, or 8) of points, as well as the intensity of the effect. Be careful to use this filter in moderation though--it can have a digitally enhanced look to it if taken too far.

Nikon has also built an NEF (Nikon's RAW image file type) to JPEG converter. While this makes up a little bit for the fact that you're limited to shooting basic (highly compressed) JPEGs when shooting RAW+JPEG with the D60, I'd rather Nikon include this and let me shoot fine (lowest compression) JPEGs in RAW+JPEG mode. Still, it's nice to be able to do a basic conversion on the fly if needed.

More fun than the RAW conversion is the D60's Stop Motion Movie mode, which lets you convert a series of JPEG files into an AVI movie up to 640x480 pixels at a frame rate of up to 15 frames per second. The process is really easy, and you can even change the start and end points, remove specific frames from the middle, and change the frame rate before finalizing. A preview option lets you confirm you've got it right before committing. I made a short clip of a couple of subway trains moving through Penn Station, but I got conversion errors whenever I tried to upload it to YouTube.

Another nifty new feature is the Rangefinder function. The feature converts the exposure/exposure compensation scale to a distance-based focus assist when you're in manual focus mode and not shooting in full manual exposure mode. Since the D60, like the D40 and D40x before it, can only autofocus with Nikon's AF-S and AF-I lenses, the Rangefinder feature offers a nice bit of help when focusing with a non-AF-S or AF-I lens, such as Nikon's relatively inexpensive AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D prime lens. That 50mm Nikkor uses a coupling pin to rely on the AF motor built into Nikon's more expensive SLR bodies. Be warned though, in low light, the Rangefinder function may get a bit confused, just as the camera's AF system tends to.

I'm not entirely certain why, but while the D40 had a flash sync speed of 1/500 second, the D40x and now the D60 have a sync speed of 1/200 second, as does the Canon Rebel XSi. Both the Pentax K200D and the Olympus E-510 sync at 1/180 second, while the Sony A200 and Panasonic Lumix L10 have sync speeds of 1/160 second. If you don't know what a sync speed is, it's the fastest shutter speed you can use with the camera's built-in flash. Since there are times when you need a fast shutter speed to stop the motion of a subject, but still might need to use the flash as fill flash (perhaps for a backlit subject in motion, such as a soccer player running toward you down the field), the general rule is that a faster sync speed is better. As such, the Nikons' and Canon's sync of 1/200 second is the best of the budget bunch, but it would've been even nicer if Nikon would've kept the 1/500 second speed of the D40.

The D60 performed well in our lab tests, showing a slight improvement over the D40x in its low-light shutter lag and RAW shot-to-shot times, but was a tad slower on start up, though it's still plenty fast. The camera took 0.4 second to start up and capture its first JPEG and took 0.5 second between subsequent JPEGs with the flash turned off. With the flash turned on, that stretched to 0.8 second, while the camera took 0.5 second between shots when shooting RAW. Shutter lag measured an impressive 0.4 second in our high contrast test and 0.7 second in our low contrast test, which respectively mimic bright and dim shooting conditions. However, in my field tests, the camera did get confused on several occasions when shooting in dim light. Sometimes, it would fail to achieve focus in situations where a lot of cameras were able to achieve focus. When it was able to focus in dim situations, it locks rather quickly, but it just isn't quite as reliable as some more expensive Nikons, or as reliable as I remember the D40x to be. In our continuous-shooting test, the D60 was able to capture an average of 2.8 frames per second (fps), putting it extremely close to Nikon's claim of 3 fps.

Image quality from the Nikon D60 is very nice, though our numerically based color accuracy test, and close side-by-side scrutiny with images from other very accurate (and more expensive) models, showed that its images aren't quite as color accurate as competitive cameras we have tested so far. However, most people won't be able to tell a major difference in this area. Unless you're completely fanatical about colors being represented absolutely exactly as they exist (something most consumer-oriented film rarely did back in the day), then it shouldn't be a major issue for you. This is especially true since the D60 turned in pleasing, if slightly oversaturated, colors and in other ways its image quality is nice for a camera of its class.

The D60 includes Nikon's 3D Matrix Metering II to determine exposure when not using center-weighted, or spot metering. Nikon's Matrix mode does a very good job of determining the best exposure for a given scene. Generally, it seems to make the most logical compromise between preserving highlight or shadow detail. For example, if faced with a high contrast scene and the area of highlight detail is significantly smaller than the main area of shadow detail, the camera will likely sacrifice the highlights to hold onto the shadows. However, since the system also compares the given scene with a database of images, the camera should notice if you're shooting a portrait, or other scene, in which a simple compromise wouldn't be best. I have to say that I am impressed with the camera's metering.

As has been the case with other Nikon SLRs recently, the D60 does a very good job of keeping noise in check. At ISO 100 and ISO 200, noise is virtually nonexistent and only starts to creep in at ISO 400, though it doesn't take away any significant amount of sharpness or shadow detail. By ISO 800 a minor amount of grain is present, a very minor amount of sharpness becomes softened, and an equally small amount of shadow detail falls away. Even at ISO 1,600 there is a decent amount of shadow detail and a ton of sharpness given such a high sensitivity in an entry-level SLR. At ISO 3,200, which Nikon calls Hi1, noise is quite heavy, a large amount of shadow detail is lost, and while noise obscures a lot of sharpness, there's still quite a bit. Still, I suggest sticking with ISO 1,600 and below whenever possible.

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Thursday, June 11, 2009