Still, it works very well if you're not in a hurry, and by its very nature, is never subject to the front- or back-focusing that can plague phase-detect AF systems if they're even a tiny bit out of adjustment. There is some evidence of lost data in the Rebel T1i, especially in the curls of the letter A in the Mas Portel bottle above. Hold down this button with your right forefinger and spin the control wheel on the top-rear of the camera with your thumb to adjust its settings - simple and intuitive. Nikon continues to push the edges of digital SLR camera design, not only adding features, but consistently improving image quality. A 4fps burst shooting mode, 11-point autofocus system with 3D Focus Tracking, 100,000-cycle shutter unit, quiet shooting mode, Active D-Lighting and 19 Scene Modes complete the Nikon D5000's headline specs.

The result is a versatile and unobtrusive little DSLR that is very well suited to a broad range of photographers and photographic tasks.New to the D5000 is a rubberised thumb rest on the back of the body, which is a welcome improvement over the D60. Naturally a higher resolution sensor will capture more detail, so long as the camera's noise suppression software doesn't obliterate it. It can be quite annoying to get the camera back from the lab with this mode enabled, but at least it doesn't reset itself after each shot. As with the D90, each uninterrupted movie shot at 720p is limited to 5 minutes duration and 20 minutes for all other resolutions (the D7000 can do 20 min movies). The Nikon D5000's LCD screen appears to have a roughly 4:3 dimension, but the frame is built larger, to hold a wider and slightly taller screen, suggesting that we may see this same assembly on future Nikon digital SLRs, perhaps with a 3:2 screen.

No DX camera, regardless of rated ISO, is anywhere near as clean as any of the FX cameras like the D3, D3X and D700. Live View doesn't work very well; get a point-and-shoot like a Canon SD880 if you want better response while viewing through the LCD. Sitting between the D60 and D90, the D5000 appears to go head-to-head with Canon's EOS 500D, aiming at upgrading DSLR owners and experienced compact users.It's like pianos: a 9-foot Bösendorfer may be better piano than the upright at the local bar, but if you can't play the piano, you won't get good music out of any of them. You won't read this on geek sites that can't get beyond pixels, but in actual shooting, the D90 lets me shoot faster and more conveniently than the D40, D5000 or even D300. The D5000's Quiet Mode is a shutter release mode selected in the Info Screen in the same place you choose Single, Continuous, Self Timer or Remote Control. Anyone can bang on a piano and anyone can shoot a camera, but it takes an artist to get decent results from either one.

However, it appears Nikon has again decided that simply replacing models isn't the best way to address the market. HD movie mode is the second major feature of the Nikon D5000, capturing 1,280 x 720 resolution movies at 24 frames per second. The difference with the Nikon D5000 is that you can only focus in Contrast-detect mode, whereas the Nikon D300 and D700 allowed a choice between Handheld (Phase-detect) and Tripod mode (Contrast-detect mode). SD cards are also somewhat more robust, less prone to bent contact fingers in the camera or card reader jamming the card connector while also rendering the camera useless. Not only is it the replacement for a cable release, it gets you Time exposures and is small enough to carry everywhere.Press it and the mirror flips up, the shutter opens and the rear screen displays the scene as seen through the lens.