Nikon D90 Review and Specification
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The D90 is much more than a replacement for its predecessor, the D80. It also inherits many upgraded features from its big brother, the D300, making the D90 a formidable contender in the DSLR arena. Retailing at $999.95 (body only) the D90 is competitively priced given its rich set of features and it’s quite a bargain when compared to the D300 or Canon’s EOS 50D digital SLR.
The D90 boasts a 12.3-megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor with Live View and - a world first - 720p HD video recording (1280 x 720 pixels) with the D-Movie mode. It features the same bright, 3.0-inch, 920,000-dot LCD as Nikon’s D300, D700 and D3X. It also has ultrasonic sensor cleaning, 3D auto focus tracking, face recognition, and Active D-Lighting. The D90 uses the same Nikon EN-EL3 lithium-ion battery as other Nikon DSLR bodies - good news for anyone using the D90 as a backup to another Nikon DSLR (or vice-versa).
The D90 inherits the Live View (LV) mode from its higher-priced Nikon siblings. Until recently, Live View has been mostly a compact digital camera feature. It allows the photographer to use the LCD to compose and shoot. Although LV uses a slower contrast-detect auto focus system, the D90’s face detection feature leads to accurate exposure and white balance when people are in a scene.
Nikon also introduced high-definition video recording with the D90 - a world first for DSLRs. Those wishing to flex their creative muscle will certainly enjoy the flexibility of using interchangeable lenses the D90’s D-Movie mode. And the D90’s wonderful sensor captures clean video in low-light/high-ISO conditions. The Live View feature is the basis of the D90’s HD video mode, essentially capturing whatever the sensor sees as video. Shooting video is as simple as turning on Live View with the dedicated button and then pressing the OK button.
