Nikon D90
Sometimes the mere notion of being “number two” can light a motivational fire under your keister. Look at some famous folks who, despite being considered numero dos, went on to dominate their respective fields and even eclipse their predecessors: A pupil of Socrates, Plato opted not to go the hemlock-chugging route and instead helped lay down the foundations of Western philosophy. Tom Brady was destined to be a career second banana until Drew Bledsoe's internal bleeding set him on the path to three Super Bowl wins. Jean-Luc Picard played second fiddle to Kirk only to become the greatest captain in Star Trek. Ever. (Watch TNG's season 3 finale if you don't believe me.) And in the world of DSLR cameras, Nikon has been toiling to one day escape from the shadow of a certain photo-manufacturing giant whose name rhymes with "Danon." And with its newest shooter it looks like that day may have finally come.
Nikon's latest offering, the 12-megapixel D90 is a feature-packed fistful of photo fury that’s sure to help pave your way to full-fledged Flickrati status. Straight from the box and out on the street the D90 shows off its picture-making prowess. Our testing unit came bundled with a (bordering on) superwide 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 lens that we used for all of our evaluations.
The 11-point focusing system with the face priority speedily locks onto subjects while the automatic Active D-Lighting (a feature that optimizes details within shadows and high contrast subjects) is a noticeable step forward in on-camera illumination. The flash images show off a pleasing balance between the strobe and the ambient light even when just shooting in the full Auto and Program modes. Nikon’s also got a convergence hit with the integration of a movie mode that makes three flavors of video, the yummiest being up to five minutes of 720p HD in a cinematic 16:9 aspect ratio. Owing to the size of the sensor and the higher quality optics, video clarity and depth of field are on par with the D90’s stills. And when it comes to checking your work, Nikon’s made it easy, loading the D90 with the same high-res 3-inch LCD found on its $5000 D3. If that’s not big enough just plug it straight into your HDTV with the built-in HDMI connection. All told this camera has scads of grin-worthy features that will continue to feed your frenzy-filled lifestyle for some time to come. That is until another camera comes along to usurp its throne. __ —Jackson Lynch__
WIRED Enormous image sensor blows open the door to some of the finest 12.3-megapixel images we've produced yet. Nikon’s top-of-the-line high-res 3-inch LCD is prettier than looking at a supermodel with beer goggles. In-camera dust reduction is spot on at removing spots from the sensor. One-touch info button and simple, descriptive help screens clarify deep, detailed menus. Toss out your camcorder; the 720p, 24 fps video capture on the D90 will trump its performance — especially in low lighting. Face facts: Face-detection system works quickly, accurately, and effortlessly.
TIRED Only manual focus in the video mode. Seriously, this is really the only problem we had with the D90 and even that was a stretch.
$1300 (as tested), nikon.com
Top photo by Nikon. Bottom photos taken with the D90 by Jackson Lynch [age unknown] and Lola Lynch [age 4]. See the D90 is so simple to use even a 4-year-old can handle it.
