Even though I’m not ready to buy a camera right now I was looking forward to the new Nikon D5000. It was pitched as a replacement for the D40 (which is what I use ) and D60.
The appeal of the D40 and D60 is that they’re small, lightweight, and inexpensive – perfect for someone like me who wanted something more than a point and shoot but less than a pro DSLR. Yet in size and weight the D5000 is much closer to the D90.
The D5000 is also much closer to the D90 in price than I’d like. Where the D5000 is similar to the D40/D60 is mostly in the negatives:
- No focus motor for older AF lenses
- Cheaper pentamirror instead of a brighter pentaprism
- Lower resolution rear LCD
- No top LCD
- No second command wheel
- No battery grip/portrait grip option
I like my D40. I like the size, the weight, and the fact that it didn’t cost an arm and a leg. What I really want is a D40 with one of the third generation sensors and a few more features. This isn’t that camera. This is a cheaper D90 with some nifty features like the swivel LCD, but without many of the D90 features that would actually help me take better pictures. I’ll pass.
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I have a D90. Unless you’re taking a lot of low light pictures, I don’t think it would really help you that much. In fact, your D40 lets you do something much more easily than I can: take digital infrared pictures. With a Hoya R72 filter on, what would be a 1 second exposure for you would take my D90 almost a minute.