Nikon D3000

Lately, more and more digital SLR cameras shoot high-definition video, but the new Nikon D3000 bucks this trend to focus purely on photos.

The D3000 replaces the D60 at the bottom of Nikon’s range. Its body is clearly derived from those of the D60, D40x and D40. It’s impressively small and light with a small protruding grip for the right hand and very little bulk to the left of the lens.

This small body necessitates a relatively small optical viewfinder, but it’s still better than composing images on the screen.

The controls are simple with only one command dial – the D90, a couple of models up, has two. It offers a mind-boggling array of scene modes including Guide, which explains how to pull off simple effects such as soft backgrounds or sharp pictures of objects in motion.

Nikon is selling the D3000 body in a kit with an 18-55mm lens that includes its vibration reduction stabilisation technology. Like all previous versions of this lens it’s hard to focus manually but works fine with the camera’s autofocus system.

With no motor in the body the D3000 can autofocus only AF-S lenses, but its 11-point focus system was more than adequate.

We were happy with the 10-megapixel photos produced by the D3000, and the Automatic mode produced decent results.

The kit lens is not perfect, with some very slight colour fringing near the edges of a few test shots, but the results are generally sharp and well exposed.

Those looking to move up to an SLR from a compact camera will be impressed.

But is it good value? At the recommended retail price of £500 this kit looks like a stretch, but it was easy to find online at around £400 in most shops.

Around £150 more will get you the video-ready D5000, but for those looking to move up to an SLR for stills only, this is a great rival for Canon’s EOS 1000D.