Fast forward to this year when I decided to update some of my skills with all the new toys on the market and took a new photography class another university where I became good friends with my new professor. This was also her favorite camera.

So…even though I’d owned 4 Nikons and bought a d80 not long ago, the more I read about this one and the more I compared the differences not only in the other Nikons but the other cameras on the market to choose from, I bought myself a little present and all I can say is…WOW!

It amazes me how the Nikons actually are becoming more and more lightweight and compact but are doing more at the same time.

More importantly, this allows amateur photographers to easily enter the realm of the professionals with its ease of use, but to allow those who study photography to play with so many toys that they learn something new they can do every day.

I will add that I called the Nikon help department when I had accidentally changed a setting without knowing it and needed help. They were great, fast, and stayed on the phone with me to answer any and all questions so that I was up to speed and my camera was as well.

Even someone who has only operated a Poloroid camer before can pick this up and amaze themselves…but those who love photography will be, in my opinion, equally amazed.

Looking in relevant forums, one can see that this is quite common and many people are reporting problems with the D90. in many cases it’s related to bad contact of the lens, in other cases bad contact of the memory card, in other cases nothing helps…

I was about to get it back and have it fixed or replaced, when it was stolen from me – now I debate with myself what would be the next one.

There are problems in any such hi-tech gadget, but it seems like there are too many with the latest Nikon model – ?

BTW When the camera was working for me, it produced excellent pictures.

These are the three best cropped sensor DSLRs in order. If you can’t afford the first two, number three will still make you very, very happy. The Nikon D90 is phenomenal. It’s speedy, it’s accurate, it has brilliant high iso performance for low-light shooting, excellent dynamic range for fixing up pictures that may be under or over-exposed, excellent auto-focus, and just feels good in your hands. The images I get from the D90 impress me time and time again. Couple this camera with the Nikon 35mm 1.8 DX(low light, portraits, semi-wide shots) and the Nikon 55-200mm VR DX(sports, birds, butterflies, nature, surfing) lenses and you will have an awesome set-up that won’t break your bank.

The only downside to all of this is the “HD” video mode. DO NOT BUY THIS CAMERA IF VIDEO IS A FEATURE HIGH ON YOUR LIST, GET A DEDICATED VIDEO CAMERA INSTEAD(I recommend the Canon HF100). Some DSLRs are capable of taking “HD” video now; The Nikon D90, Nikon D300s, the Canon 5d Mark II, and the Canon 7D, but guess what? They all suck. Why? They cannot automatically focus while taking video. What does that mean for you? That means you will never be able to film sports or any moving subjects. You will never be able to move the camera out of range without insane levels of care to keep your subject exactly in the distance from were your pre-focused it. You will have rolling shutter aka “jelly video” if you pan the camera too quickly. Yes, you can manually focus while filming to get a professional film look, but that requires a lot of skill and patience. You will never be able to just point the camera and capture your sons football game, or daughters dance lessons. You will have to pre-focus every shot, and keep the camera on a tri-pod or buy expensive steady-cam equipment. The video modes in DSLRs just are not worth it, not yet at least.

Don’t let that deter you from getting a D90 though, the images are astounding! Pictures, remember the reason that you should be wanting a DSLR in the first place, not video.

The D90 menus are easy to learn. I don’t see myself replacing my D90 with anything other than a full frame camera body like the D3 or its replacement. My D90 is going to allow me to capturing wonderful images the precious first years of my sons life when he is born next month. My only complaint is the money it’s going to cost me buying lenses and gear as I get sucked into photography.

Body and Handling

Unlike its main competitor Canon 40D, Nikon D90 is not built from magnesium alloy, but it is still very solid and sturdy. There is no rubber grip like Nikon D300 or Canon 40D either. But texturized plastic is not bad either.

I feel the size of the camera is ideal for DSLR, it is not big, but not small. It fits in my hand like glove (I have average male hand). It is not heavy but substantial enough and well-balanced when you shoot low shutter speed without tripod or when you mount it with a heavy/long lens.

Nikon D90 has two dials, one to set aperture, the other to set shutter speed or any other setting. Unlike Canon or other cameras handling, Nikon camera requires you to press and hold the button and at the same time dial the setting that you like. This might be annoying if you are not used to it. It is made so to avoid user changing setting accidentally.

It also has four way controllers which function to change auto focus points or choosing options in the menu. D90 also has dedicated live view button to activated live view for either still photography or for movie recording. There is a dedicated info button to activate various important setting for the camera. By pressing the info button twice, you can view and change setting of some useful setting such as picture control, noise reduction setting, active d-lighting, assign function and AE-L/AF-L buttons.

The function button can be assigned to many useful setting such as particular metering mode, ISO speed, central focus point, RAW+JPG and some others. The AE-L/AF-L buttons can be assigned to be AF-ON, AE lock only, AF lock only, and some others.

D90′s viewfinder is not the best because (95% coverage). But it is big enough for me to manual focus accurately in many situations.

Least but not all, It has very good top LCD screen that shows a great deal of information: ISO, aperture, shutter speed, metering, picture quality, auto focus mode, battery, continuous shooting, white balance and also the current auto focus point position.

The only complaint about handling and control is there is no dedicated button for ISO. The position of ISO button is too low in the bottom of the camera, thus making changing ISO is painful and slow.

ISO and Auto ISO

Image quality in high ISO is very good, but it is best to shoot at ISO 800 and below. The great image quality in high ISO is due to Nikon sensor and software that control the chroma/color noise out of the image. The noise in Nikon looks more natural compared to camera of other brand.

What I like most is the Auto ISO limiter. You can effectively limit the ISO and minimum shutter speed. The Auto ISO works very well and accurate most of the time. My favorite way to use this is to set the camera to Auto ISO, and then use Aperture mode and let the camera adjust the rest for me.

LCD Screen

It is 3 LCD Screen with 920k res which is standard for mid range camera in the late 2008 and 2009 camera. It is very detailed and relatively good in bright light condition.

Menu

Like other Nikon cameras, I feel Nikon menu is pretty confusing because they throw all over items regardless if the item is popular item or not. Therefore, it might take you some time to find some of your favorite menu items. To be fair, Nikon has my menu tab, where you can choose and put the menu item in this tab. Overall, I feel menu could be improved. Canon cameras menu for example, is easier, more logical and simple to navigate.

Auto Focus system & Continuous shooting speed

Nikon D90 has 11 AF points. Not the best compared to older brother D300, 51 AF points, but it has 3D tracking that is pretty accurate. The AF speed also depends on what kind of Nikon lens you use. Old Nikon lenses usually slower in AF, same as customer grade AF-S lens like 35mm AF-S f/1.8G lens.

D90 has continuous shooting speed above the entry level camera (4.5 fps) but it is still not very ideal for sports photography or bird photography (6 fps or better).

Creative Lighting System & Lens Compatibility

Unlike lower class Nikon cameras such as Nikon D3000 and Nikon D5000 or older models, Nikon D90 have built-in wireless commander/trigger for Nikon flash units. The CLS system is not perfect because it won’t work in certain position and situation, for example in bright daylight, in a great distance, or if the line of sight to the flashes are blocked. But, CLS is fun to use and save you money. Nikon D90 also has built-in AF motor so it is compatible with older Nikon AF-D lenses which we often found in fixed focal length lenses / primes.

Video Mode

Nikon D90 is the first DSLR that has video mode. It record 720p quality video. Although it is not as practical as camcorder, because you need to manual focus and it is hard to stabilized the camera, It is great in low light situation and you can create truly creative video with very shallow depth of view with this camera (using appropiate lenses).

Competitors

In 2009, the competitors of Nikon D90 includes Canon 40D. Their price is almost similar, but the function is a bit different. 40D has tougher magnesium alloy body and faster continuous shooting speed, so 40D is best for sports. But in other aspects, Nikon D90 beats Canon 40D. Read: Nikon D90 vs Canon 40D.

The new Sony A550 also threaten the Nikon D90 position. Sony A550 claims to improve their image quality in high ISO and have up to 5-7 fps continuous speed (AE/AF lock situation).

Conclusion

Sold slightly below $900 body only now, the Nikon D90 is the best digital SLR camera in mid-range category. Like Nikon D70 and D80, I bet this camera will remain very popular for the next few years. It is great for backup camera for your full frame camera as well. If I have to choose to keep only one DSLR camera for play and work, I will choose to keep this camera.

Subjective Rating – Relative to crop sensor DLSR cameras

* Image Quality: 5/5

* Features: 5/5

* Performance: 4/5

* Body and Handling: 4/5

* Value for money: 5/5

Visit my website for sample images and more reviews (click my name for the link).

The video is fine and although I have only used it in a pinch, the quality was fine. It does not auto focus but this has not been a problem for my limited use. I think the next incarnation will have this feature.

Image quality is great and I can even use some of my film lens from my older Nikons.

Autofocus is fast and exposures right on. Once you get used to the dials, most changes do not require you to go to the menu. This allows for faster shooting and less chance of missing the shot.

I am very happy with the camera and highly recommend it to any advanced amateur.