| If you are upgrading and already own Canon or | | | | resolution and bigger, nikon's can swivel out. I |
| Nikon lenses, you should stick with your brand, | | | | prefer the higher res and bigger size to the |
| the differences between these two cameras | | | | swivel. The higher res is very important as you |
| should not be enough to cause you to switch, | | | | will be able to tell if a shot had problems that you |
| otherwise read on. | | | | couldn't at lower res. This is really an important |
| | | | factor that is hard to emphasize in words but |
| First I will list the commonly wrong reasons to | | | | makes a huge difference once you see it. |
| pick one over the other: | | | | 2) movie mode differences: Nikon D5000 is fully |
| 1) Image Quality - Not because image quality is | | | | manual here including for the focus. the canon is |
| not important, but because the image quality | | | | fully auto here including a pretty slow and |
| difference between these two cameras is too | | | | disruptive auto focus. For an SLR you WANT |
| minimal to have it be a reason. They are | | | | manual control, especially of aperture so you can |
| essentially equally great with respect to image | | | | control the depth of field to make videos that are |
| quality. | | | | less home video looking and more 'artsy'. If you |
| 2) Megapixel Count - 15 megapixels is indeed | | | | wanted full auto, get a point and shoot that does |
| qualitatively better than 6 megapixels, but 15mp | | | | video. Fortunately for canon, there are |
| (Camera 500D) and 12mp (5000D) from similar | | | | workarounds to be able to control aperture, but |
| sized sensors is again not much real difference. | | | | they are a hassle. But my opinion is to get the |
| There are point and shoots with higher megapixel | | | | Canon based on the auto focus. |
| counts on tiny ccd sensors, doesn't mean they | | | | It is not really useable during movie capture (loud |
| are better. Again, image quality of the D5000 and | | | | slow and disruptive), but you can atleast use it |
| Camera 500D are both great and is no reason to | | | | before hand to get focus. It brings quite a bit of |
| pick one over the other. | | | | convenience. And you can look on the web for |
| 3) 1080p video - The Camera 500D has it at | | | | hack ways to manually control the aperture. The |
| 20fps, the D5000 doesn't have it at all. But the 20 | | | | Canon is also 30fps at 720p compared to 24fps |
| fps on the Camera 500D renders this essentially | | | | at 720p for the nikon. You can get a 25% slow |
| pointless. The human eye needs about 24fps for | | | | motion effect with the canon without going under |
| the illusion of smooth continuity. If you will be | | | | 24fps, where as with the nikon doing any slow |
| using video, you can consider both 720p. | | | | motion will mean choppy frames (under 24fps). |
| Now for what I believe are valid but minor | | | | Everything else I feel comes down to personal |
| reasons to pick one over the other: | | | | factors like form factor, feel in hand etc. |
| 1) LCD difference: canon's is almost double the | | | | Check for Best Price Now!... |