| Section |
The Good |
The Bad |
 |
Product Tour |
Comfortable mid-size body with pivoting LCD screen |
Not many buttons for direct access to settings; plastic feel |
 |
Color |
Very good color accuracy and long exposure results |
Some color shifting with reds and oranges |
 |
Noise |
Outperformed all cameras in our comparison group; noise reduction filter unusually effective |
Nothing significant |
 |
Resolution |
Low distortion with kit lens; wide dynamic range |
Image sharpness is disappointing |
 |
White Balance |
Extensive selection of presets including multiple fluorescent options |
Less accurate than others in our test group |
 |
Playback |
Nice variety of info displays; extensive in-camera editing options |
Rudimentary slideshow capability |
 |
Hardware |
Articulated LCD allows shooting from varied angles using Live View |
No autofocus motor in camera |
 |
Controls |
Highly customizable Picture Controls; lots of scene modes; sophisticated autofocus system |
No depth of field preview |
 |
Design & Handling |
Nice combination of comfort and portability; extensive online tutorials |
Few buttons to access shooting settings directly |
| |
| |
| Video Section |
The Good |
The Bad |
 |
Video: Color & Noise |
Very low noise levels |
Color accuracy was only average, overall image was too bright |
|
Video: Motion & Sharpness |
Natively progressive 24p frame rate limits trailing and blur |
Sharpness is limited by 1280 x 720 maximum image resolution |
|
Video: Low Light Performance |
Good low light color, decent low light sensitivity, excellent low light noise results |
ISO adjustment isn't avialable for video |
|
Video Features |
Multi-angle LCD is a lifesaver for shooting video |
Many controls don't work with video mode |
| |
Exclusive - Video testing on the Nikon D5000 is provided by CamcorderInfo.com, the leader in camcorder reviews. |
The Nikon D5000 is one of a handful of sub-$1000 video SLRs. Overall we found the Canon XSi did a better job shooting video, with higher definition and smoother video motion, but the Nikon was superior for still photography.