Less than a month after Canon EOS rebel T1i or 500D was announced, Nikon released the competitive digital SLR, Nikon D5000. What are the differences of the two camera, which is a better buy for you?

Updated on May 17, 2009:

Camera labs just posted out the ISO noise comparison of Nikon D5000 and Canon T1i / 500D.  Clearly, Nikon D5000 is better than Canon T1i in ISO performance, although T1i has the higher sensitivity setting of 12800.

Perhaps, the most significant feature of Nikon D5000 is the 2.7″ tilt and swivel LCD monitor. This is the first ever LCD on a digital SLR which can rotate 180 degrees. This kind of novel LCD enables you to compose stunning photographs in angles which you can not take with any other digital SLRs.

On the other hand, Canon T1i or 500D has better HD video recording. Nikon D5000 has video recording at 720p at 24 fps with a limit of 5 min. May be the worse part of HD recording on Nikon D5000 is the lack of AF during the video capture. Canon T1i or 500D can record 1080p videos at 20fps and 720p video at 30fps with AF.

These two features are the key differences of the two cameras and could be the factors for you to consider which is better for you. If you prefer the swivel LCD to compose some artistic photographs, Nikon D5000 is the one for you. On the other hand, if you prefer to take some HD videos with exciting shallow depth of field, Canon is the one for you. Even through Canon T1i and Nikon D5000 have many other different features, I believe you can not go wrong with either cameras.

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