Nikon Rumors broke the rumor about a Nikon D5000 being introduced at PMA in a few weeks.The D5000 is expected to be positioned between the D60 and D90 in price and features. Most people are guessing the D40 will be discontinued and the D60′s price lowered.
Rumors slash reasonable assumptions are that the D5000 will be the size of the D40 and D60, seeing as how the next size up is already occupied by the D300 and the still-new D90. That would likely mean it won’t have an autofocus motor, a top LCD, or the option of a portrait grip. If you want those features, or a second command wheel or Nikon’s Creative Lighting System, you’ll probably have to pony up for a D90. The advantage over the D90 would be size, weight, and price.
The main upgrade over the D60 will be the sensor, which will almost certainly be the same excellent sensor as the D90. That would mean 12 megapixels with fantastic ISO performance, LiveView, video, and dust control. If the D5000 has the D90′s 3″ 920,000 pixel rear LCD that would be even better.
One feature I’d like to see move down to the D5000 is exposure bracketing. That’s a pretty basic digital camera feature which the D40 and D60 lack. Heck, my point and shoots had exposure bracketing. Without it HDR photography is all but impossible.
P.S. Nikon ran out of numbers in the DX0 line, so they had to go to DX000. How dumb would it be, then, to go straight to D5000? Any model number below that would be assumed to be a lesser camera. They should go with D1000 to prolong the usefulness of that namespace.
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While I’m all for moving better imaging lower down in the line, I’m not sure how much sense this makes commercially for Nikon.
The D90 has only been commonly available a few months; and the D40 and D60 both still sell very well.
Chris Byrne´s last blog post..A grave lack, that must immediately be corrected
The D40 sells well because of price, but even though you and I know the magic of 6 megapixel cameras, they’re considered obsolete for most buyers. At this point the D60 – with more megapixels, dust control, and a VR lens, probably makes more sense than the D40 for an extra hundred bucks or so. For the average consumer megapixels are everything.
I think Nikon definitely needs to offer good value in these economic times for the D5000, particularly with the strength of the Yen vs. most currencies.
As far as general availability the D5000 is two or three months out at least. The camera industry is heavy on FUD and vaporware.
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I have been using a cheap $200 camera for a long time and can’t believe the difference this camera has made. I like to take picture of triathlons and the 4 pictures per second allows me to shoot several photos almost ensuring that I get a great shot. Video is also very good but I haven’t worked with it much yet. Now I want a good telephoto to go with it!