Foreword:

As a descendant of the D90 line, the D5000 shares the same 12.9 MP APS-C (DX in Nikon’s language) sensor with the EXPEED processor as well as the diamond-shaped 11 point AF system with colour and distance tracker and viewfinder gridlines. The similarities stop there as the D5000 has a tilt-and-swivel LCD for status display and a higher-capacity EN-EL9 battery pack and the optional MC-DC2 remote cord.
With similar ISO ranges (200 to 3200 nominal with 100 to 6400 available) and the proprietary shadow-detail boosting Active D-Light system, this is a dSLR that follows a path well trod.

+Ves:

• With HD video capture of 1280×720 at 24fps, this dSLR joins an elite list of HD-video capture dSLRs.
• The articulating LCD makes it very easy to capture video and images in varying angles.
• Subject-Tracking AF locks on to a moving subject and remembers if the subject leaves and enters the frame, Face-priority AF tracks five faces, focusing on the closest, Wide-area AF covers a large area while Normal-area AF gives you one AF point that you can move around the screen.
• With a 420 point exposure system and the 11-point AF array, the D5000’s focusing system is robust.
• GPS Geo-tagging can be done easily with a GPS-device port built into the D5000.
• The D5000 has excellent image quality even with the kit-lenses. The speed is pretty good as well.

-Ves:

• The camera is complex and you need to read the manual properly to thoroughly enjoy the camera.
• Live-view AF is pretty long, averaging 2.3 seconds as is multi-point AF in low light conditions.
• D-Movie mode has no Auto Focus or manual exposure or aperture controls.
• Magnification in live-view mode is not great and makes it harder to focus.
• No external audio input ports.
• 1/200 second x-sync with the flash is pretty slow compared to its market rivals

Final Word:

As an excellent image-taker, the D5000 is one of the best available for its sensor range. Though its HD video recording will not raise any eyebrows beyond its existence, the image quality certainly will deserve applause. The articulating LCD and the sub $900 price tag will certainly rope in enthusiasts and amateurs.