Having been announced by Nikon on 28th August 2008, the Nikon D90 Digital Camera was made available to the general public on 19th September 2008, along with a new kit lens, the AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR.
Probably the most surprising feature of this new camera is the ability to record 720p HDTV quality video, the first Digital SLR to offer this facility.
Nikon claims the new 12.3MP CMOS sensor, with Image Sensor Cleaning, will produce D300 quality output at up to ISO 6400. Other features which have been ‘borrowed’ from the D3/D700/D300 range are Live View, Active D-Lighting and the super 3” LCD.
Nikon’s exclusive EXPEED technology promises to offer outstanding image quality with high speed image processing. EXPEED is also a contributing factor to the exceptional performance of features like Live View and the new Face Detection System.
Those people who are thinking of changing from the D80 will be pleased to hear that, along with the EN-EL3E battery, the D90 will still use the MB-D80 as the battery grip option. It also uses SD memory cards as the storage media.
The new Nikon D90 has the ability to accurately read the colour and brightness information of each scene from its 420 pixel RGB sensor and apply this to auto focus, auto exposure and white balance. The D90’s new Face Detection System provides greater definition and accuracy of human faces and enables the use of face priority AF in Live View mode and immediate zoom into people’s faces in playback zoom.
Continuous shooting has been increased from the D80’s 3fps to a very useful capability of upto 4.5 fps.
The D90’s Picture Control System is similar to the D3/D700/D300 and offers new options for Portrait and Landscape settings for more vibrant customised colours.
The versatile and practical 11-point AF system provided by the Multi-Cam 1000 autofocus module offers fast and precise AF coverage across the frame.
In addition, the Nikon D90 offers versatile AF-area modes to cope with most situations: Single-point AF for still subjects, Dynamic-area AF for moving subjects, Auto-area AF for spontaneous shooting and 3D-tracking (using the 11 point AF system) for when you need to alter composition after focusing on your subject.
The D90 features Advanced Scene Modes (Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports and Night Portrait) for superior image quality. In addition to adjusting exposure and image processing the Nikon D90 also optimises Active D-Lighting and Picture Control settings to get the best results. It will also recognise if VR is being used and minimses noise even in dimly lit scenes.
