Digital cameras

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

Comment:

I use this primarily to photograph my two daughters. We also travel occasionally and I like photographing food! I love this camera, it consistently takes great pictures. The modes available cover just about any kind of photos you may want to take if you want to use auto mode. I do wish I had realized though that the mechanical focus is in the lens, not in the camera body. My husband won't use it without manual focus and the lenses that have the capability to manually focus with this camera are more expensive. If you're going to stick to a single lens then that doesn't matter as much but I have been itching to get a couple different ones and it requires more budgeting than if the focus mechanism was in the camera.

How long have you owned it:

Bottom Line

Yes, I would recommend this to a friend.

Comment:

Great for the user upgrading from point & shoot to DSLR photography, or for the intermediate to pro user needing a lighter weight DSLR. There's plenty of ability to customize to individual needs. Auto mode works great in most situations especially if you need to grab a shot quickly, tho it does tend to hunt in low light especially in auto - a problem mostly overcome if you adjust it to a manual setting. All in all, a great camera especially for the price! (Mine was a refurb that looked brand new and has performed flawlessly - making it even better deal for my money!)

How long have you owned it:

Bottom Line

Yes, I would recommend this to a friend.

(5 of 5 customers found this review helpful)

Comment:

The D5000 can be set to essentially a point and shoot auto-everything mode but allows you to control everything if you wish. There is a learning curve for all the features, but there is an Auto mode (and several refinements of auto) that make it easy to use.<br /><br />The ability to select file format (JPG, RAW, JPG+RAW)and file size (small, medium, large)as well as the ability to shoot video in various resolutions makes this a very versatile camera, but when buying memory cards be aware that they are speed rated, and if you want to shoot large files or RAW format you'll probably want the fast (more expensive) cards (class 10 rating). Slower cards can result in a lag time while you wait for the image to be saved from the camera to the memory card. The camera has enough memory to hold 6 or 7 shots in the largest file sizes. After that you can continue to shoot only as the prior shots are saved to the memory card.<br /><br />The image stabilization technology used in the VR (vibration reduction) lens helps keep the images sharp. I've had a hand held vacation landscape shot enlarged to 20 x 30 with great results - good enough that I had it professionally matted and framed. The pixel count of the D5000 is not as high as some other cameras in this price range, but that is in part because the sensor pixels are larger, and respond better in low light. If you do lots of low light shooting you'll probably want a faster lens than the kit lens (one with a lower f number rating, and more expensive as a rule).<br /><br />I use the auto bracketing feature nearly all the time. Once set, you hold the shutter button a little longer and the camera will take 2 additional shots: one over exposed and one under exposed compared to the initial shot. Here again you may want the faster class 10 memory card if shooting RAW and/or large format images, because every shot becomes 3 shots with bracketing.<br /><br />It takes some time to learn the features and options available, and more time to get comfortable using them. I have come to appreciate the ergonomics of the well placed controls on the well designed camera body. I find that the more I use the camera the more second-nature the controls become. But it does take practice.<br /><br />I have shot a few videos and uploaded them via my PC to file sharing sites without any problems. I started using the higher resolution but found that for web viewing, the lower resolution was fine. I'm not well versed in video, so my only other comment here is that the swivel LCD made it very easy to shoot video with this camera.<br /><br />I generally use the viewfinder for still photos, but for some very low or very high angle shots, the swivel LCD is really helpful. It is hard to see the LCD in daylight, and impossible in bright daylight. I come from a film camera background and am told that most former film users prefer the viewfinder, while most people without film camera experience (baggage?) prefer using only the LCD. I personally find using the LCD very difficult in most outdoor setting, and sometimes simply impossible. I don't know if that is a particular problem with the D5000 LCD, or a common problem with all LCDs. The LCD is good enough for viewing shots at the end of the day. You can zoom, pan, and scroll fairly easily and get a pretty good idea of which shots are 'keepers' and which to delete.<br /><br />I bought a second battery, and have used it, but have not in fact needed it. Not even on vacation, when I was taking hundreds of large format RAW+JPG shots each day.<br /><br />The extra I spent on the class 10 memory cards was well worth it. They are faster when copying the shots to your computer too.<br /><br />I'm serious about photography and will someday use this as a backup camera, but this camera is good enough that I expect to be happy with it for several years. Overall, I think this is a great camera for the price.

How long have you owned it:

Bottom Line

Yes, I would recommend this to a friend.