Quality & Size Options

Three image sizes are available; large, medium and small. The D5000 will shoot in JPEG or RAW (in the Nikon NEF format). There are three available JPEG compression settings. Fine uses approximately 1:4 compression, Normal 1:8, and Basic 1:16. When shooting RAW+JPEG, any of these JPEG compression settings can be selected.

Dynamic Range (7.93)

The Nikon D5000 offers an impressive dynamic range, meaning it will handle high-contrast subjects well, without blowing out the highlights or losing detail in the shadows. We test dynamic range by photographing a 20-patch Kodak Stepchart at all standard ISO settings and a range of aperture settings, shooting at a bright 3000 lux illumination. The resulting images are then analyzed using Imatest to determine how wide a range in the white-to-black chart progression was captured.

The dynamic range starts at a solid 7.46 stops at ISO 200, and while this inevitably diminishes as the ISO setting is raised, the progression is smooth and scores remain high throughout, maintaining nearly 6 stops even at ISO 800. By contrast, the Canon T1i was down to a 3-stop dynamic range at ISO 800. More on how we test dynamic range.

Shooting at ISO 200, the two Nikons produced nearly identical results. The Canon T1i result was acceptable at this level, but plummeted at ISO 400 and beyond. The D5000 stacks up well against the competition here. It’s worth noting that the least expensive camera in our test group, the Pentax K2000, offered the widest dynamic range across the full range of ISOs.

Image Stabilization (4.48)

We test image stabilization at two levels of shake intensity, producing interesting results when shooting with the D5000 and 18-55mm VR lens. At our low shake setting, the stabilization system produced minimal benefits. Crank up the movement to a higher rate, though, and the VR lens delivered a significant improvement at most shutter speeds, even the higher-speed settings where most image stabilization systems we’ve tested are ineffective or even have a negative effect.

To test image stabilization, we mount the camera in a custom-designed computer-controlled rig that produced carefully controlled movement patterns and shoot a slanted-line chart at a range of shutter speeds from 1/500 second down to 1/8 second, analyzing the sharpness of the photos taken using Imatest. More on how we test image stabilization.

The low shake setting is meant to approximate the movement you might experience holding the camera two-handed while standing still. As shown above, the image stabilization system had minimal effect in this relatively quiet shooting situation. On the plus side, it didn’t hurt resolution results at any shutter speed, which has frequently occurred with other cameras we’ve tested.

At the higher shake level, roughly what you’d find when shooting one-handed or while moving around, the VR lens produced a nice improvement at most shutter speeds, though at the really slow 1/15 and 1/8 second shutter speeds the effects were minimal.

Image Stabilization Comparison Table			Expand
	Low Shake IS Off	Low Shake IS On	High Shake IS Off	High Shake IS On
1/500
1/250
1/125
1/60
1/30
1/15
1/8

Compared to the two other cameras in our test group for which image stabilization data is available, the Nikon scored nearly the same as the Pentax K2000, which uses in-camera image stabilization. This is an area where the Canon Rebel T1i produced a higher score, but this is in part due to the fact that the base resolution figures for this camera were quite low, so the gain from using image stabilization enhancements represented a greater percentage improvement.