Summary:
- Outstanding (absolutely stunning) image quality, especially in low light and difficult lighting (high dynamic range) situations
- 19 point-and-shoot auto modes great for beginners new to D-SLR
- Extremely easy-to-use menu system
- No compromises feature set not stripped of high-end features
- Bright vari-angle screen with LiveView for hard-to-reach shots, but don't consider this a replacement for the viewfinder for most situations
- Nice compact body easier to travel

D5000 vs. Nikon D60:
- Dramatic improvement in low-light and difficult light image quality
- Improved auto white balance (but still not perfect)
- Slightly bigger (taller and deeper) body, slightly heavier
- 11 autofocus points, 3D matrix metering, Auto D-Lighting
- Faster continuous shot performance (4fps vs 3)
- Up to 63 JPEG/11 RAW images in continuous burst mode (the D60 can capture up to 100 JPEG/9 RAW images)
- RAW+JPG with choice of JPEG compression
- Full feature set including bracketing
- 13 additional auto / scene presets
- Additional in-camera editing including perspective control and fisheye
- Slightly smaller viewfinder, but adds optional grid line support
- LiveView with HD Movie Mode
- Multi selector supports diagonal movement instead of 4 directions
- Quiet shooting mode reduces shutter noise in quiet situations
- support for optional Nikon GPS unit
- HDMI output
- same outstanding 18-55VR kit lens

D5000 vs. Nikon D90:
- Equivalent image quality, altho D5000 tends to underexpose capturing all detail vs. D90 tendency to overexpose high contrast shots
- D5000 LiveView mode adds subject tracking
- Easy to use auto / scene presets along with context sensitive help
- More sophisticated interval shooting and time-lapse mode
- Additional in-camera editing including perspective control and fisheye
- Significantly more compact, lighter body
- No autofocus motor in body for older or more professional lenses
- No top LCD; must use back display to review settings
- No depth of field preview
- Lower resolution screen than D90 but vari-angle allows you to compose hard-to-reach shots
- Slightly slower continuous shot performance (4fps vs 4.5)
- Up to 63 JPEG/11 RAW images can be captured in continuous burst mode (the D90 burst is limited to 25 JPEG/7 RAW images)
- Quiet shooting mode reduces shutter noise in quiet situations
- .78x Pentamirror viewfinder vs. the D90's brighter .94x Pentaprism
- Single command dial means more access to Menu for changing settings
- Built-in flash cannot command external flash units with Nikon Creative Lighting System
- No option for extra battery grip
- Kit lens only 18-55VR vs 18-105VR
- D5000 adds Airflow Control System in addition to dust reduction system
- Better value, especially body only

Detailed Review:

Having bought my first D-SLR (a Nikon D60) last November, I was intrigued with the announcement of the D5000. At the time of my D60 purchase, I was considering the D90, but after holding both in person, I chose the D60 for its the much smaller form factor, lighter weight, and much lower price tag. I have been largely happy with the D60, although its low-light performance while dramatically better than my old point-and-shoot camera still wasn't fantastic.

Given the D5000 uses the same sensor and imaging sensor as the D90, but in a smaller lighter case, I decided to upgrade. And I must say I'm exceptionally pleased with the D5000.

What is to like over the D60?
1) Stunning Image Quality even in Low Light, without a tripod or fast lens

The D5000 takes exceptional pictures, especially in low-light and in challenging lighting scenarios. The D5000 is the first camera I've owned that can take a picture at night and capture everything (and in some cases more than) my eye sees. And this is in Automatic mode (flash off), without a tripod, using an average-speed (f3.5-f5.6) Nikon VR lens. Truly impressive.

I went back and took the same night shots in the same settings with the same Nikon 16-85 VR lens and the results are noticeably better on the D5000 vs my D60. The difference between the D5000 and D60 is almost as dramatic (in low light) as the difference between my D60 and point-and-shoot camera. I've posted a few example images to illustrate.

Images captured even at ISO 1600 have exceptional detail and very low noise. Even when you zoom to 100% the D5000 renders these tough shots beautifully.

Highlights are controlled and not blown-out, while even low-contrast areas of the picture are captured.

2) Ability to capture details in challenging light, automatically

The D5000's ability to capture all details of an image, even at night, with areas of highly contrasting lighting is even more impressive than it's low-light performance. As some have noted, the D5000 has a tendency to slightly underexpose these pictures to preserve detail. (The D90 tends to over-expose these shots, illustrating that the D5000 is not entirely a "D90 in a small case".)

In one example (posted to the customer images), a night-shot of the famous Castro Street theater the D5000 captured the bright neon signs, architectural lighting of the facade, and even the mosaic tile and billboards in the very dimly-lit entry. All again in automatic mode, no tripod, F3.8 ISO 800. When I post the sample pictures they will tell the story better than I could ever describe.

I can only think that this performance is related to a combination of improvements over the D5000: 11 autofocus points, 3D matrix metering, next-generation Active D-Lighting, latest Nikon EXPEED processor.

3) No-compromises feature set that is still easy to use for the beginner

One thing that annoyed me about the D60 was its lack of some features (eg. bracketing) intended to "dumb the camera down". The D5000 has every control you would ever want, yet its menu system remains extremely easy to use even for a beginner.

Example features the D5000 offers that are not available on the D60:
- RAW-JPG ability to select JPEG quality (Std,Basic,Fine)
- bracketing (useful for HDR post-processing)
and I'm sure there are many others I have missed.

The D5000 also includes a number of additional SCENE modes (a total of 19) for the beginner used to point-and-shoot simplicity. Everything from Night Landscape, Sunset, Food, Pet Portrait, Sports, and more.

4) Useful Live View and Vari-Angle Display for those hard-to-reach shots

A first for Nikon, the D5000 includes a "vari-angle" articulated LCD. Despite the specs on paper (230,000 pixels vs the 920,000 pixels on the D90) the screen quality is outstanding - very bright and easy to see even in sunshine.

Using the Live View mode, you can take pictures in hard-to-reach angles such as above a crowd, or looking up from a low angle, or taking a self-portrait. What doesn't work so well in Nikon's implementation is that the hinge is on the bottom of the camera, so if you're using a tripod your choices are limited.

New to the D5000 LiveView (not on the D90) is subject tracking, which keeps focus on a moving subject within the frame.

As others have pointed out, the D5000 LiveView autofocus performance is very slow. The more that I have used it, I must say that LiveView performance is probably worse than your point-and-shoot camera. Some other owners on the Nikon forums have reported complete failure of LiveView autofocus, although on my D5000 it works.

As it is, I compose 99% of my shots in the viewfinder, which gives you the super-fast response of a DSLR in the first place. For me the ability to use LiveView in hard-to-reach situations is a nice feature.

What could be improved?
- Well, first of all, the video is more of a marketing idea - the sound is monoral, you can't change auto-focus once you start recording, and the video has the infamous "jelly effect" when moving from side to side
- Although the case is much smaller than the D90, it's still over 1/4" taller than my D60, and doesn't feel nearly as comfortable in my hands.
- The tilting screen is great, but the bottom-hinge design is of limited effectiveness when using a tripod.
- Live View autofocus is very slow for a D-SLR (even worse in some situations than a compact digital camera)
- Auto White Balance just doesn't get it right with certain lighting. But it's easy enough to correct with a custom white balance (if you have the time when taking the shot) or post-processing the RAW image. I just don't understand why my $300 Canon SD870 does auto-white balance so much better.

All in all, however, the outstanding image quality especially in low-light, and features offset the very minor areas that could be improved. For that, the D5000 gets my 5-star vote.

I got this camera back on July, its serial number is inside the range of the recall. But mine havent failed yet after 2 months of full time use.
So I just wont send it to repair until it fails, crossing fingers here though. Anyway if it ever presents a problem I will just send it to Nikon since it has full warranty and Nikon's policies are to repair the unit no matter the time or when it fails, could be a lot of time, they will repair it fast for free.

Ok now to performance, this camera performs as good as the D300 or D90 step up brothers IQ wise. High ISO performance is top notch, a few reviews over the net show that it has less noise than D300.

This little consumer grade camera will do just about everything than other more expensive DSLR's. Like full manual settings, high exposure shots, D-Lighting, in camera editing, etc, etc.

The little screen is just perfect, the size and weight too. The menu is user friendly, everything it has looks like a true 2009 model. 5 stars, cant find a flaw.

This camera lacks an integrated autofocus motor, but that feature is for use of older lenses and some exotic ones. So it has 87 variety of Nikon and aftermarket lenses to choose from,
that is one of the reasons I bought this camera, saving money discarding a feature that I wont ever use since Iam new to phootgraphy and Iam just starting making my own lens collection, with only new AF-S type of lenses that come with their autofocus motor. It doesnt have a top LCD display but I really dont like them, they look old. They are usefull, but really not a need.

It has the video feature, wich it isnt as a camcorder quality but way better than a Cybershot, and its a DSLR so I wont go deeper about its video performance, wich anyway is HD 720p, for short clips is perfect.

The 4FPS continuous shot is quite good, not professional but works pretty good, almost no different or noticeable than the 4.5FPS on the D90.

The thing I like most, is the lightweight, coupled with my 70-300vr its ironic how light it is next to a ton of weight from other cameras with heavier lenses.

Cant go wrong with this little camera. This is a great choice if is your first DSLR, or if its your 2nd body. Because if you are serious about photography, for more money u can get a more solid, body with more features, that are usefull for the professional photographer. But for everyone else, this 12.3 MP sensor is the same as the D300 or D90. The Image quality brings a tear to the eye, Period!

Despite the fact that Amazon has sold recalled serial numbers in the past, I assumed I was safe to order it from Amazon since it has been a few months since the last problem order as noted on previous reviews. However, I was extremely disappointed to have received not only a recalled serial number product, but the box itself seemed to have been opened previously. Just a warning not to order it from Amazon if you believe that they no longer sell recalled products because clearly they still are.

I'm excited to own such a cute camera. The LCD moveable screen is a HUGE plus for me. I'm becoming VERY advanced in photography and the practice of checking after EVERY image is becoming a thing of the past for me. I like to focus on photography while I'm working so closing up that LCD screen helps me to concentrate on the job at hand. The resolution is blowing my mind. Simplicity is awesome. I love simplicity. The MAJOR reason I got this camera is for good low light performance and it REALLY stands out there. I don't see any noise in my images even at ISO 3200. I can't wait to create a few 20+ inch canvas prints from this camera's images.

Having had the D5000 for a few months now, and having used it with a few different lenses, I figured I'd better chime in here, in hopes of pushing this one's rating just a bit higher. It's certainly deserving. One of the reasons this camera got a bunch of bad reviews all over the place at first was because of the recall. Definitely a bummer. But by the time I received mine, the problem had been dealt with, and I received a perfectly working model. So how is it?
In a word: fantastic. I've owned one other dSLR in my life, and it was a Canon, and it was a while ago. Needless to say, this was a HUGE step up for me.
In getting truly serious about my photography, this camera has been the tool I've dreamed of having for a long, long time. It's fast, light, takes wonderful pictures, and is reasonably priced to boot. The menu system is well laid out, and there's a very useful info button if you want the quick-and-dirty of what a particular setting does. I've used this camera with Nikon, Sigma, and Tamron lenses, and with all of them it has just performed seamlessly. Of course, now that I know everything there is to know about this camera, it only makes me want a D3X that much more. But parting with 7k for a camera is more than a little crazy, especially at my level.
So my parting advice is this: if you really, really know what you're doing, you'll probably be a little disappointed and somewhat limited by this camera. While it does an admirable job at higher ISO's, it's no $7000 camera. In fact it's no $3000 camera. Meaning that you will see noise at the higher settings, plain and simple.
But if you're not expecting miracles, then this little gem of a camera might just surprise you with a few.

I did a lot of research before I decided to go with D5000 - including going to BestBuy and other camera stores and handling the camera to make sure it feels right. In the end I got the best deal through Amazon (even though a D5000 kit at Costco had an unbelievable deal). I choose not to buy a kit because I wanted specific lenses with the camera. I wanted one lens that I can travel with without the need to change lenses and another that I can use primarily in doors in low light conditions. I got the Sigma 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS HSM IF Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras and Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras lenses. I also got a Nikon SB-600 Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras and an Eye-Fi 4GB Pro SDHC Wireless Flash Memory Card EYE-FI-4PC to wirelessly upload pictures to my laptop (D5000 has built in support for Eye-Fi SDHC cards). Last week Eye-Fi came out with Eye-Fi 8GB Pro X2 SDHC Class 6 Wireless Flash Memory Card EYE-FI-8PC that has more features and almost the same price (bummer!). I also got UV filters for both lens to protect the expensive lens glass.

The cameras I compared before buying were, Nikon D90, D60, Canon Rebel iTL, xTi, etc.

I have used it for two weeks now with great results. Camera is very easy to use, I still have not looked through the manual and have been able to find advance setting easily. The auto-focus with both the lenses is very fast (faster if using the view-port than using LiveView). I still have not been able to find a camera case that I feel good with - that is compact enough to easily carry around and I can get my essential accessories in.

One big factor for me for selecting this camera was the swivel lens. Being a big guy, I run into scenarios where I do not have clear line of sight to the subject I am capturing and have always wanted the ability to move the camera higher or away from my body to take great shots and the swivel LCD does a great job at it. My tipod mount has not had any problem with restricting the swivel movement, but I have seen it at a store, where the tripod mount was huge and restricted the LCD movement.

Again - overall highly recommended camera.

I bought D5000 from Amazon after Nikon announced the D5000 recall. When I received the camera and check with Nikon website, the camera matched the defect serical number. Therefore, I had to ship it to Nikon for repair the same day. Hope I get it back in one week. Then my D5000 will be a repaired model or refurbished model before I used it.

Two comments,
1. If I bought it from local store, I can return it right away and buy D90 instead. Sad things for online shopping.
2. If Amazon is really a responsible vendor, it should check the serial number and don't ship the defect models.
3. If Nikon is a responsible vendor, it should ask resellers to stop seling defect models and send them for repair first. Shame on Nikon!

I have been using Nikons for over thirty years. I am a great fan of Nikon although the price point of some of their products does not alway reflect actual quality compared to other vendors and Nikon has the same problems with production quality control as everyone else.
I knew this camera had a tiny, dim pentamirror viewing system but based on its size and sterling reviews of its D90-like auto-focus I purchased it anyway assuming I could rely on the autofocus.
The D90 is a nice size compared to larger body dSLRs and once you get used to the controls handles well. The video function is quite useful; I have never been a fan of live view. The low noise of the sensor is very impressive compared to just the prior generation of Nikon/Sony image capture devices.
Nikon now has the camera only in part because of the recall based on potential early failure of the on-off switch. I commend Nikon for taking pre-emptive action. However potential buyers of this camera should be aware of reports that virtually every D5000 currently in the reatil chain is subject to a recall for this problem.
I hope it is only my particular specimen but this camera could not reliably autofocus and systematically underexposes.
Exposure issues are partly a matter of taste and can be easily compensated.
However the execrable viewing system forces one to rely on autofocus and this particular unit needs bifocals.
As I said, your mileage may vary.

Out of the three Nikon's I own this one requires way more light than any of the others. That means that the shutter speed is way slower and your subject must hold still much longer to try to get the picture. Indoors the flash needs to go off all the time which my D70 did not.

The same light issues go for the video recording.

The only other issues I have noticed is that the flash has a much lower profile than some of the other configurations, meaning when shooting with certain lenses at certain fields of view there will be a dark ring on the picture where the lense has blocked the flash.

Everything else seems to be working as expected but these two issues are a lot to contend with if you like shooting indoors or with lower light, moving objects and longer zoom lenses. My lense of choice is the newer 18-200 but does block the flash.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy the camera.

I'd been thinking about moving up to a DSLR for over a year, and actively researching brands and models for about four months. I started out looking at the Canon offerings including the Rebel XSi, T1i and D50 then extended my search to the Nikon D5000 and D90 and also the Sony 4/3rds Alpha offerings. After reading a lot of reviews and comparing full-sized sample photos from each camera I concluded a number of things:

1. I probably couldn't afford the lenses that would do justice to more than about 12 megapixels
2. Nikon and Sony sample photos were the best. The Canon photos showed more aberration, possibly from the kit lens but it was hard to say
3. The entry-level Sony models were just a bit too small for my hands and the range of lenses (I could afford) was somewhat limited

That left the two Nikons. I liked the "hand feel" of the D90, and the much higher resolution of its LCD was really nice as was the top information LCD screen. Its only real drawbacks were weight and whether the high-res LCD was worth the extra money (which I could otherwise apply toward a lens). Then, too, the D5000 had a few features the D90 lacked - features I actually thought I could use. (Interval timer, in-camera image corrections, etc.) Since I didn't have any old Nikon lenses the internal focus motor in the D90 was not useful. And, while obviously lower-res, the D5000's LCD is quite adequate.

So, I went with the D5000. Since I didn't want the usual kit lens I bought the body only and bought a Nikkor 35mm f1.8G prime lens initially. (My previous film camera was used mostly with a 50mm f1.4 Zeiss lens so the Nikkor was a reasonable replacement.) I then bought a refurbished Nikkor AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR zoom lens (the kit lens for the D90, and a much better "walking around" lens than the D5000's kit lens in my opinion). I ended up spending a bit more, but I got the lenses I wanted (the 35mm is really sharp and is great for low-light work).

So far, it has produced terrific photos. My previous digital cameras were various point-and-shoot compact models (some of them work very well, but the small sensors have their limits) and a Fuji S9000 (also a small sensor, but is rather DSLR-like otherwise and I did some good work with it). The first few photos I took (with the 35mm lens) really knocked my socks off - the sharpness was astonishing (and without tweaking the default settings). The out-of-the box settings aren't bad at all, and there is a selection of "scene" settings (some on the mode dial, some available through menus) to fine tune things. (You can modify or design your own scene settings as well.)

To really get the full benefit of this camera be prepared to put in some time with at least the manual. I found the menus easy to navigate after a little exploring, but there are a lot of options you can adjust especially if you want the camera to do some of the kinds of processing you might otherwise do with after-the-fact software.

Cons: Not many. I wish it had the LCD of the D90 (or Canon's T1i). I also wish Nikon included more software - you pay extra for the computer control software on the Nikon while Canon provides it for free (not a dealbreaker for me, I don't expect to really need it for the foreseeable future, but ...)

Summary: It's a lot of bang for the buck, lots of features to play with, and it makes great pictures. Can't really ask for a lot more than that.