You can always pay more money and get better. Yes the D90 is a better camera, but the D300s is better than the D90. So you have to decide what is good enough for what your looking for. What attracted me to the D5000 was the quality of the photos it takes, it is capable of taking the same quality photos as the D90 since it has the same sensor, autofocus, and other important issues, but it cost less. If the D90 took better photos, had a better sensor, and autofocus, I would of went with the D90. However I was able to get the very 18-55 and 55-200 VR lens option for only $900. Of course by the time you get the SB 600 flash, bag, memory card, and additional battery things add up pretty quick.
Besides the lower cost, there are two things that attracted me to the camera. First the size of the camera was smaller than the D90 and it's lighter. So going on vacations having a lighter camera is a welcome. The flip down screen is very handy. My son when in school plays, and concerts and I want to take a photo, sometimes, you will get the better shot if you put the camera over your head to block out the people in front of you. The last thing is I was coming from using a Nikon Coolpix 5700 camera. So the D40 was really good enough for me...what a huge improvement it offfered over my camera. I was ready to get the D60 when I heard about the D5000. With it's improvements over the D60, now it was a huge huge improvement over the camera I was using. So simply it was sooo good enough for me, that I decided not to bother with the more costly D90. But hey if you like the D90, it's a great option too. I would never say not to buy the D90, but for me, the D5000 will be able to meet all my needs.
