Nikon D40 vs D5000 vs D90
Nikon D40 vs D5000 vs D90 (Review)
By admin on March 24, 2010
Note: This is not a full review of the D40, D5000 and D90 but rather a hands on impression from using all 3 cameras. This article does without the technical mumbo jumbo when possible and describes the practical differences of using one camera over the other. For full blown reviews, refer to your respective favourite photography sites. Read this if you :
1) Are looking to buy your first Nikon DSLR
2) Own a D40 and looking to upgrade to either D5000 or D90
3) You own a D40 you wonder if 6mp is stopping you from becoming the worlds no.1 photographer
Now on to compare the main differences of these cameras….
Specification D40 D5000 D90
Sensor 6mp CCD 12mp CMOS 12mp CMOS
Autofocus 3 point 11 point 11 point
Weight No battery: 471 g
With battery: 522 g No battery: 560 g
With battery: 611 g No battery: 620 g
With battery: 703 g
Focus with older lens No No Yes
Image quality
As far as I can tell by comparing and zooming in countless D40, D5000 and D90 images, they all produce equally stunning pictures. If anyone tells you that a 12megapixel camera produces better picture quality than a 6megapixel D40, stop taking photography advice from said one. The D5000 and D90 shares the same sensor as such both cameras produce identical image quality. If you still think a 6megapixel camera is inferior, have a look at Ian Bramham’s gallery, taken with a D40. Besides, how often have you re-sized pictures smaller so it wouldn’t take forever to upload?
Lets have a look at the same scene taken by all 3 cameras at equal settings (zero sharpening, contrast, etc) . Do ignore the camera shake with certain images, that’s what you get for using a $20 unbranded tripod. Images are taken in RAW format and then converted into JPG using ViewNX.
Take 1 ( Warning – Large pictures!) Taken with 35mm f/1.8 at f/8 ISO 200
Left to right – D40, D5000, D90
Take 2 ( Somewhat large picture) Taken with 18-105mm at f/9 ISO 800
From the shots we can see that the D40 is amazingly sharp even with ZERO in-camera sharpening. The D5000 and D90 shots look identical, no surprise there as they share the same sensor. Now lets see the benefits of the the 12mp CMOS sensor in the D5000/D90 at higher ISO settings.
Take 3 (Noise Comparison Between D40 and D5000/D90) Taken with 35mm f/1.8 at f/8 ISO 1600
Once again the D40 came out with the sharpest image without any in-camera or post processing. Colors are slightly oversaturated and noise is very apparent at ISO 1600. The D5000 crop on the other hand came out much softer. With a slight White Balance adjustment in ViewNX and the unsharp mask in photoshop (crop #3), the resulting image closely resembles the actual subject with noticeably less noise compared to the D40′s original image . Crop #4 gave the best edge sharpness with the in-camera sharpening slider set to 5. Take your pick between in-camera sharpening or post processing sharpening. No noise reduction have been applied at any point of this comparison.
Is D5000 Worth Upgrading From D40?
The D5000 and D40 are about the same size and grip. The weight difference isn’t all that noticeable. Both take brilliant pictures and are great cameras to learn with. After a while or so you may feel like you’ve outgrown your D40 (except for image quality) and this is where the D5000 comes in. Here’s why:-
1) Usable ISO range up to 1600. With D40, ISO 1600 is a hit or miss and often noisy – I try not to go above ISO 800 on my D40. If you do low light photography or often take indoor shots, a D5000 will allow you to double your shutter speed say from 1/10 secs to 1/20 secs. That’s enough to dramatically increase usable shots under poor lightning conditions.
2) Better autofocus system. With the D40, the autofocus brackets [ ] through the viewfinder are relatively large and sometimes inaccurate. Sometimes its frustrating as images don’t turn up sharp even if the subject is aimed perfectly in the middle of the bracket. D5000 doesn’t suffer from this and on top of that, it will autofocus on low contrast subjects (e.g lightly textured walls). My D40 can’t do that. Oh, you also get 11 autofocus points over 3 with the D40 and that gives you more flexibility in composing your shots.
3) Faster processor. This is most noticeable during playback. Viewing images is fluid even when navigating a fully zoomed image. Try doing that with the D40, its a pain in the ass to review sharpness of your shots.
4) Finer ISO adjustment. With D5000, you get access to ISO 250, 320, 500, 640, 1000, 1250 etc. Nuff said.
5) 12megapixel sensor gives you more cropping power.
6) Live view and articulating screen can be handy when a shot needs to be taken at a tricky angle.
7) Self sensor cleaning. Its not a perfect sensor cleaning solution, but good to have regardless.
Is D90Worth Upgrading From D5000?
Holding the D90 you’ll immediately notice the difference in weight and size. The answer is no if you’re talking image quality since they share the same sensor and yes if you like what D90 has to offer :-
1) Dedicated function buttons (ISO, shooting mode, white balance, image quality, metering mode, autofocus mode) as well as a aperture dial in addition to the standard shutter dial. In D5000, you change all of your settings via its interactive shooting info screen.
2) Built in autofocus motor. You get to use non AF-S lenses such as the 50mm f/1.8.
3) Much better kit lens with the 18-105mm compared to the 18-55mm that comes with the D5000. Doesn’t matter if you are looking to buy only the camera body or you already have the 18-105mm.
4) Larger and clearer viewfinder (pentaprism) viewfinder with 0.94x magnification. D5000′s is 0.78x.
5) Some other benefits that you can do without like a higher resolution screen (not much difference between 2 screens) , depth of field preview and a secondary display LCD on the top and the ability to custom set white balance value instead of using presets.
TOO LONG DIDN’T READ
Buy the D40 if you’re on a low budget (even if its second hand). Its a great little SLR to learn with and it has amazing battery life to boot (easily >700 shots in a single charge). Images are very sharp and usable up to ISO 800. No doubt its lacking some features but nothing that it can’t do under competent hands. I doubt there is a better camera at its price range. 6mp is not plenty but sufficient for most people. The one DSLR that smacks you in the face if you dare say more megapixels = better.
Buy the D5000 if all your lenses have built in motors (AF-S) and you’re looking to upgrade from D40 but don’t want a camera that’s too bulky. Snappy image playback and the 11 point autofocus are nice improvements to that of D40. Sharing the same sensor as D90, its simply a cheaper D90 with a smaller body. Lovely high ISO performance.
Buy the D90 over the D5000 if you are looking to get your first (enthusiast level) SLR. The kit lens saves you money on upgrades as it comes with the wonderful 18-105mm, brilliant as an everyday walkabout lens. The D90 also support a wider range of lenses with its built in motor. People with large hands may enjoy the larger body and grip of the D90.
Personal Opinion
Looking at the soft images, I’m actually finding it difficult to suggest that the most advanced 12mp sensor that sits in the D5000/D90 produce better images than the D40′s 6mp sensor at the same printout size. In fact, I slightly prefer what I’m getting out from the D40. Does the 12mp sensor capture more details? Probably, I don’t know, I’ve not used the D5000 or D90 long enough to start noticing image quality improvements under normal usage. It does however allow me to thread on ISO 1600 or even 3200, handy especially when I’m indoors without external flash. Despite having all 3 cameras, the D5000 goes into the bag most of the time. I like its its smaller size/weight and I’m not too bothered with the lack of built in motor since all my lenses are AF-S. I don’t foresee needing any other lenses since the AF-S lens selection already cover most if not all types of photography (thanks to the recent introduction of the 35mm f/1.8).
Also worth considering the Canon T2i/550D if you’re looking to buy D5000/D90
Posted in Hardware | Tagged d40, d5000, d90, dslr
By admin on March 24, 2010
Note: This is not a full review of the D40, D5000 and D90 but rather a hands on impression from using all 3 cameras. This article does without the technical mumbo jumbo when possible and describes the practical differences of using one camera over the other. For full blown reviews, refer to your respective favourite photography sites. Read this if you :
1) Are looking to buy your first Nikon DSLR
2) Own a D40 and looking to upgrade to either D5000 or D90
3) You own a D40 you wonder if 6mp is stopping you from becoming the worlds no.1 photographer
Now on to compare the main differences of these cameras….
Specification D40 D5000 D90
Sensor 6mp CCD 12mp CMOS 12mp CMOS
Autofocus 3 point 11 point 11 point
Weight No battery: 471 g
With battery: 522 g No battery: 560 g
With battery: 611 g No battery: 620 g
With battery: 703 g
Focus with older lens No No Yes
Image quality
As far as I can tell by comparing and zooming in countless D40, D5000 and D90 images, they all produce equally stunning pictures. If anyone tells you that a 12megapixel camera produces better picture quality than a 6megapixel D40, stop taking photography advice from said one. The D5000 and D90 shares the same sensor as such both cameras produce identical image quality. If you still think a 6megapixel camera is inferior, have a look at Ian Bramham’s gallery, taken with a D40. Besides, how often have you re-sized pictures smaller so it wouldn’t take forever to upload?
Lets have a look at the same scene taken by all 3 cameras at equal settings (zero sharpening, contrast, etc) . Do ignore the camera shake with certain images, that’s what you get for using a $20 unbranded tripod. Images are taken in RAW format and then converted into JPG using ViewNX.
Take 1 ( Warning – Large pictures!) Taken with 35mm f/1.8 at f/8 ISO 200
Left to right – D40, D5000, D90
Take 2 ( Somewhat large picture) Taken with 18-105mm at f/9 ISO 800
From the shots we can see that the D40 is amazingly sharp even with ZERO in-camera sharpening. The D5000 and D90 shots look identical, no surprise there as they share the same sensor. Now lets see the benefits of the the 12mp CMOS sensor in the D5000/D90 at higher ISO settings.
Take 3 (Noise Comparison Between D40 and D5000/D90) Taken with 35mm f/1.8 at f/8 ISO 1600
Once again the D40 came out with the sharpest image without any in-camera or post processing. Colors are slightly oversaturated and noise is very apparent at ISO 1600. The D5000 crop on the other hand came out much softer. With a slight White Balance adjustment in ViewNX and the unsharp mask in photoshop (crop #3), the resulting image closely resembles the actual subject with noticeably less noise compared to the D40′s original image . Crop #4 gave the best edge sharpness with the in-camera sharpening slider set to 5. Take your pick between in-camera sharpening or post processing sharpening. No noise reduction have been applied at any point of this comparison.
Is D5000 Worth Upgrading From D40?
The D5000 and D40 are about the same size and grip. The weight difference isn’t all that noticeable. Both take brilliant pictures and are great cameras to learn with. After a while or so you may feel like you’ve outgrown your D40 (except for image quality) and this is where the D5000 comes in. Here’s why:-
1) Usable ISO range up to 1600. With D40, ISO 1600 is a hit or miss and often noisy – I try not to go above ISO 800 on my D40. If you do low light photography or often take indoor shots, a D5000 will allow you to double your shutter speed say from 1/10 secs to 1/20 secs. That’s enough to dramatically increase usable shots under poor lightning conditions.
2) Better autofocus system. With the D40, the autofocus brackets [ ] through the viewfinder are relatively large and sometimes inaccurate. Sometimes its frustrating as images don’t turn up sharp even if the subject is aimed perfectly in the middle of the bracket. D5000 doesn’t suffer from this and on top of that, it will autofocus on low contrast subjects (e.g lightly textured walls). My D40 can’t do that. Oh, you also get 11 autofocus points over 3 with the D40 and that gives you more flexibility in composing your shots.
3) Faster processor. This is most noticeable during playback. Viewing images is fluid even when navigating a fully zoomed image. Try doing that with the D40, its a pain in the ass to review sharpness of your shots.
4) Finer ISO adjustment. With D5000, you get access to ISO 250, 320, 500, 640, 1000, 1250 etc. Nuff said.
5) 12megapixel sensor gives you more cropping power.
6) Live view and articulating screen can be handy when a shot needs to be taken at a tricky angle.
7) Self sensor cleaning. Its not a perfect sensor cleaning solution, but good to have regardless.
Is D90Worth Upgrading From D5000?
Holding the D90 you’ll immediately notice the difference in weight and size. The answer is no if you’re talking image quality since they share the same sensor and yes if you like what D90 has to offer :-
1) Dedicated function buttons (ISO, shooting mode, white balance, image quality, metering mode, autofocus mode) as well as a aperture dial in addition to the standard shutter dial. In D5000, you change all of your settings via its interactive shooting info screen.
2) Built in autofocus motor. You get to use non AF-S lenses such as the 50mm f/1.8.
3) Much better kit lens with the 18-105mm compared to the 18-55mm that comes with the D5000. Doesn’t matter if you are looking to buy only the camera body or you already have the 18-105mm.
4) Larger and clearer viewfinder (pentaprism) viewfinder with 0.94x magnification. D5000′s is 0.78x.
5) Some other benefits that you can do without like a higher resolution screen (not much difference between 2 screens) , depth of field preview and a secondary display LCD on the top and the ability to custom set white balance value instead of using presets.
TOO LONG DIDN’T READ
Buy the D40 if you’re on a low budget (even if its second hand). Its a great little SLR to learn with and it has amazing battery life to boot (easily >700 shots in a single charge). Images are very sharp and usable up to ISO 800. No doubt its lacking some features but nothing that it can’t do under competent hands. I doubt there is a better camera at its price range. 6mp is not plenty but sufficient for most people. The one DSLR that smacks you in the face if you dare say more megapixels = better.
Buy the D5000 if all your lenses have built in motors (AF-S) and you’re looking to upgrade from D40 but don’t want a camera that’s too bulky. Snappy image playback and the 11 point autofocus are nice improvements to that of D40. Sharing the same sensor as D90, its simply a cheaper D90 with a smaller body. Lovely high ISO performance.
Buy the D90 over the D5000 if you are looking to get your first (enthusiast level) SLR. The kit lens saves you money on upgrades as it comes with the wonderful 18-105mm, brilliant as an everyday walkabout lens. The D90 also support a wider range of lenses with its built in motor. People with large hands may enjoy the larger body and grip of the D90.
Personal Opinion
Looking at the soft images, I’m actually finding it difficult to suggest that the most advanced 12mp sensor that sits in the D5000/D90 produce better images than the D40′s 6mp sensor at the same printout size. In fact, I slightly prefer what I’m getting out from the D40. Does the 12mp sensor capture more details? Probably, I don’t know, I’ve not used the D5000 or D90 long enough to start noticing image quality improvements under normal usage. It does however allow me to thread on ISO 1600 or even 3200, handy especially when I’m indoors without external flash. Despite having all 3 cameras, the D5000 goes into the bag most of the time. I like its its smaller size/weight and I’m not too bothered with the lack of built in motor since all my lenses are AF-S. I don’t foresee needing any other lenses since the AF-S lens selection already cover most if not all types of photography (thanks to the recent introduction of the 35mm f/1.8).
Also worth considering the Canon T2i/550D if you’re looking to buy D5000/D90
Posted in Hardware | Tagged d40, d5000, d90, dslr
