Hands-On With the First Digital SLR/HD Video Camera

Rich Colors The Nikon D90 captures rich colors Theano Nikitas

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It’s ironic that the first digital SLR with video capabilities comes from a company that has never made a camcorder. But that didn’t stop Nikon from breaking new ground with the 12-megapixel D90, the long-anticipated successor to the popular D80 prosumer SLR.

Selling for $1,000 without a lens or $1,300 with an 18–105-millimeter image-stabilized zoom lens, the camera will probably draw photographers with a wide range of skills. DSLR novices will feel at home with familiar features such as face detection and scene modes, and advanced shooters will appreciate trickle-down technology from Nikon’s higher-end cameras such as the D700’s long-exposure noise-reduction controls, Active D-Lighting (which prevents blown-out highlights while maintaining detail in dark parts of the photo) and a gorgeous three-inch LCD.

The D90 retains the look and feel of the D80 (which will continue to be available—at least for a while), and current Nikon DSLR users will transition easily to the new model. Others will appreciate the camera’s on-board help system to guide them through unfamiliar features and functions.

A newly developed 12-megapixel CMOS sensor provides expanded light sensitivity, which the D90 handles brilliantly even at high ISOs up to 6400 (the D80 maxed out at 3200). At ISO 6400, you can shoot under extremely low-light conditions and still obtain a shutter speed fast enough to alleviate blurry pictures. Or you can bump up the ISO to get a really fast shutter speed to stop the action of a tennis match or a racecar whizzing around the track.

Naturally, image noise—a grainy look associated with high ISOs—will be present. But with the D90 you can control how much noise reduction is applied (which softens the image to hide the graininess). The sensor also provides a wide dynamic range, so your pictures will capture a broad swath of bright highlights and deep, rich blacks.

Control freaks will love the D90’s multitude of fine-tuning features, such as the ability to adjust sharpness, contrast, brightness, saturation and hue—and save custom combinations of those adjustments. SLR newbies stepping up from a point-and-shoot can start out using the camera’s enhanced automatic options like Auto, Program Auto or Scene modes and then ease into advanced shooting. If you’re not happy with the results, you can retouch the images in playback mode. You can brighten dark exposures, adjust color, remove redeye, straighten a crooked picture, and more. But image quality is very, very good even at the default settings.

The camera is fast in all aspects; even its startup time is a negligible 0.15 second. Paired with SanDisk’s new, high-speed Extreme II 30MB/s SDHC memory card, the D90 fires off 4.5 shots per second for up to 39 images (you may get only about 3 fps with other cards). Granted, Canon’s rival 40D and 50D beat that by almost 2 fps, but the less-expensive D90 is speedy enough for almost any situation.

While you’re at it, add the new Eye-Fi card to wirelessly transfer images to your computer or upload them straight to photo-sharing sites such as Picasa. The D90 has a special menu setting for the Eye-Fi that lets you turn the wireless function off to save power or for traveling by plane. Eye-Fi also uses data from Wi-Fi hotspots to add approximate geotag data to your photos for displaying them on an online map at sites like Flickr or Nikon’s MyPictureTown. For more precise geotagging, you can attach Nikon's GP-1 GPS accessory.