The Nikon D5000 DSLR camera was announced today and is available for preorder by all the retailers. The D5000 is the latest in the line of "baby" Nikon DSLRs. Its feature set is between the D60 and the D90. Like the D60 and the older D40, it does not come with a built in autofocus drive. This limits your lens choices to AF-S and AF-I type lenses unless you want to shoot without autofocus. You'll save money up front for the cheaper camera body compared to the D90, but you'll pay for it with more expensive lenses.

The D5000 is a 12.3 Megapixel DX DSLR. 12.3 megapixels ends up capturing an image at 4,288 x 2,848 pixels. A RAW image at 75 pixels per inch before resampling it in Photoshop to 300ppi would thus produce a print up to 57" x 38" in size. Of course, since most prints aren't made this large, it's great when cropping and doesn't require any resampling for an 8x10 or 8x12. DX refers to the size of the image sensor.  It's smaller than a 35mm frame which effectively multiplies the focal length by 1.5 times. This is typical for all but the most expensive models.  The D5000 has a movie mode with sound like the D90; however, the D60 doesn't have this feature.

The D5000 is priced at around $730 for the camera body and around $850 for a basic lens. The D90 runs about $1000-$1200 depending on lens options, and the D60 runs $500-$700 depending on lenses purchased.

If you're in this price range, I'd purchase the D90 because of the built-in autofocus drive. It'll give you more options down the road in terms of lenses. If the choice was between the D60 and the D5000, I'd choose the D5000 because the increase in megapixels and the movie mode. The difference between $700 and $850 isn't enough to justify buying the older D60.

The D5000 helps fill the gap between the $500 and $1000 price points, which allows people to 'step up' their camera much easier.  I think many people ready to purchase a D60 will be able to be talked into the slightly more expensive but more feature-rich D5000.  At least, I'm sure that's what Nikon is banking on.