On August 27, Nikon changed the landscape of photography by introducing the first D-SLR camera that can shoot movies.  Is that exciting?  Not really to me, but I can see the advantage of having on-demand ability to shoot 720P HD movies.  Before I get into that, let’s see what the D90 really is - an upgrade to the existing D80.

 
:: Nikon D90 - Click on image to enlarge ::

Logically, the D90 inherits the same (or very similar) 12.3 megapixel CMOS sensor from the pro-level D300.  This in itself is a significant improvement, in my opinion, as the D300 outperformed the D80/D200 in terms if dynamic range and high-ISO performance.  The D90 inherits the D80’s polycarbonate body, however this time it’s weather sealed.  As expected, continuous shooting performance is up from 3 to 4.5 FPS, however the RAW buffer’s 7-frame capacity is disappointing.  The D90 keeps the D80/D200 Multi-CAM 11-point 1000 autofocus system, which in my experience works very well for action/sports photography.  The final major improvement is the addition of the D300/D700/D3 3-inch, 920,000 pixel LCD, which is a beautiful display that shows far greater detail in images than the previous LCD.

:: Nikon D90 - Click on images above to enlarge ::

Aside from the many consumer-friendly features added that I will not bother mentioning here, D-Movie seems to be the show-stopper for this camera.  Shooting HD movies with the advantages of the large SLR sensor is an appealing prospect, but there’s a caveat with this camera - there’s no autofocus in movie mode.  Yes, you read right - this one confuses me, since the D90 can autofocus in Live View mode, however the user must manually focus in D-Movie mode.   Further, while the D90 shoots in 720P HD, the movies are limited to 24 FPS.  I know this isn’t a camcorder and it’s not designed to take the place of one, but I think at the very least it should do what even consumer point-and-shoot cameras can do while shooting movies - automatically focus.

Will I buy a D90?  Maybe as a backup camera, especially if its image quality is on par or close to that of the D300.   Canon also introduced their update to the 40D - not surprising called the 50D.  I’ll post more on that model later.