Nikon D5000 12 3 MP DX Digital SLR Camera with 18 55mm f 3 5 5 6G VR Lens and 2 7 inch Vari angle LCD

A remarkable blend of simplicity and highly advanced D-SLR capabilities, the compact and powerful D5000 offers breathtaking 12.3-megapixel image quality, along with a flexible, Vari-angle, Live View monitor for fresh picture-taking perspectives. Nikon’s EXPEED image processing further enhances performance, contributing to split-second shutter response and continuous shooting at up to 4 frames-per-second to capture fast action and precise moments perfectly.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star Serious reliability problems
When I got this camera, I was thrilled. It was light, easy to use, and took great pictures. I missed the top LCD that my D70 had, but it was mostly great.

Just recently, after about six months of ownership, but only maybe 20 or 30 days of use, the camera broke. Well, not broke exactly. It still takes pictures, but the mirror seems to be locked up or something. When you look through the viewfinder, you see what looks like a focusing screen with the blurry out of focus image and several focus points clear. It takes clear pictures, but is unuseable because you basically can’t see what you’re pointing at.

I discovered this problem the day before a three week trip to Australia. My local camera guy says this is a common problem with the D3000 and D5000.

I live overseas. I can’t bring back the camera. I’ll have it repaired when I get a chance to return it in the U.S. (this warranty is not international).

But the damage is done. I won’t be buying another Nikon. I’d only bought this camera over the Canon d500 (Ti1) because of my previous investment in lenses, etc. (turns out you can’t use lenses from the D70 in auto-focus anyway).

When I get my camera repaired, I’ll use it and probably take reasonable pictures with it until it possibly breaks again. But I won’t be investing in any more lenses, etc. My next camera will be a Canon.

5 Stars AWESOME DSLR!!!!!! GET YOUR MONEYS WORTH!
I was looking at the Canon T1i and this. I ended up buying the D5000 because I heard image quality was better. This camera is much cheaper than the T1i by like 70-80$. That’s great if your on a budget! The video is pretty good for 720p but the mic is bad, cause it does mono audio, which sounds horrible. I don’t know why they didn’t add on a external mic jack. Video to me was just the extra, also theirs no continuous focus during video recording mode. I really like the vari-angle screen, its very useful and fun to play with when taking self portraits. Also the 4 frames per second is great when taking action shots. Overall I really like the D5000, it’s a great camera for 1st time DSLR owner and I think you will definately love it!

5 Stars Better than I had expected!
There are many features to what this camera can do, and I was a little hesitant when I started to read all of the reviews on Amazon about this camera. I stepped away from Amazon.com and started going through what real professionals thought about this camera. I started at [...]. This website goes through each of the cameras settings, gives you an in-depth detail of the camera, what the Pros & Cons are, how to use it, what type of pictures it can take, compares it to other cameras and so much more. This website really helped me decide because reading some of these reviews on Amazon.com scared me quite a bit.

After I got the camera I was playing with it for hours trying to figure out if I could recreate some of the issues these people had. I found an issue that I read earlier in one of these postings about the Autofocus feature turned off. There is actually a setting that I personally changed that affected the camera’s autofocus even when the AF was switched to on, on my lens. After reading the book I had it fixed in just a couple of seconds!

I then compared the camera to a Cannon RebelXLT that I had purchased a couple of years ago. I know the technology has changed, but when I was on the hunt for a new digital camera I wanted to look at all angles of brands. One of the first things I liked compared to the Cannon was the view finder. I’m not too sure why but my eyes always had a hard time trying to Manual Focus with the Cannon. With the Nikon the viewfinder is tinted slightly and that is just enough tint for my eyes to recognize what is focused and what isn’t. Not only did the Nikon beat the Cannon in the focusing arena but more so in photography studio shooting as well. I work for a company that manufactures aftermarket parts for the Hot Rod & Street Rod Industry. I have been using the old Cannon for all of my shots until I received my Nikon. I took one shot of our products with both cameras and the Nikon by far and hands down took a better more clearer picture.

I am very pleased with my purchase and I can’t wait to try all of the other lenses that are made for this camera. If your having issues with your camera my best advice is to read the book and possibly purchase another book about the camera so you can learn the in’s and out’s of what this Nikon D5000 is capable of.

1 Star $800 down the drain. Nikon does a switcheroo to customers
If you buy your Nikon online you may not be able to have it serviced. They may tell you it is ‘grey market’ and not honor the warranty. I always thought grey market meant that you bought it off the back of someone’s truck or in some other sort of illegal way. NOT SO! If you buy your Nikon online, you have no way of knowing where the seller purchased the camera. If they purchased it outside the US (for example, from a Japanese wholesaler with lower prices than in the US which is the case) their profit is greater/camera cost is lower to them. However NIKON will NOT service that camera for you! They call them “Grey market”. Nikon obviously makes less money on these cameras and won’t service them. My husband paid $799 for my camera and it is money lost.

It gets worse…I sent my “grey market” camera in for repair and not only did they call it grey market, they switched it with another customer’s “Sigma” branded cheap product and sent it to me. Can you believe that?? They must not have an investory control system and someone else has my Nikon camera. 6 months into this, I have sent them the serial number, pictures of the box, original receipt, etc. and they keep saying my camera was a different brand (Sigma, which I had never even heard of). I got someone else’s ugly, cheap camera sent to me by Nikon and they won’t take responsibility for it.

I suggest you take a look at comments about Cannon and how they stand behind their products. Lots of people onlne/blogs, etc. are complaining that Nikon does not.

Be careful when making such a significant investment. This is criminal behavior on Nikon’s part. And we thought Wall Street was a problem???

I never got my camera back from Nikon and they won’t respond to my repeated requests to have it returned to me! $800 down the drain! If you go online you will see tons of complaints about the Nikon service. Nikon seems to make good products, but does not stand behind them whatsoever.

5 Stars Better than I hoped!
I did a ton of research before buying this camera, and I am really happy I did. It does everything really well. It takes beautiful still photos and great video. Video is manual focus only. Some people consider that to be a disadvantage, but feel that is a big advantage if you want interesting video. Once you get the hang of the focus, it can be really exciting to control focus, and depth of field. I highly recommend a video light for this camera if you are interested in using video, in anything but direct sunlight. The in-camera retouching features are quite fun, and build quality of the camera is good. The articulating live view is quite handy for odd angle compositions. Great Camera!!

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