Nikon D90

When I bought my Nikon D40x last year I don't recall receiving many comments or questions. However since buying my Nikon D90 I've been getting quite a few so I thought I'd bore you with my opinions/experience. Email me with any questions, arguments or juicy rumors about your love life.

Unlike lenses, digital camera bodies follow the rapid depreciation curve of other electronics as technology makes rapid progress. If you can wait to upgrade your camera you will surely get a better one in the next generation - quite likely at a lower price. If you're debating better glass vs. a new camera body I'd go with the glass unless your current camera actually prevents you from accomplishing something important.

I have an engineering mind so I do a lot of spec and review comparisons for major purchases. Nikon has a very handy spec comparison for its current models. I used dpreview's evaluation of the Nikon D90 as my primary review. From these I came up with a longish list of advantages in the D90 vs. D40x. Here's my list along with my brief comment based on my usage. The first group, in green, are the ones that have proven of real value in practical shooting.

• Much improved CMOS sensor [shared with D300, great high ISO at this price]
  
• Built in dust removal system [so far no visible dust on real or test images]
  
• Exposure and white balance bracketing
  
• Records HD video with audio [a bit tricky but can produce some cool video]
  
• 12 MP vs 10 MP [more is better...]
  
• 4.5 fps [didn't realize how much faster 4.5fps is compared to 3fps until I tried it...]
  
• Can autofocus lenses lacking built in focus motors [wider choice of used lenses]
  
• 3" high resolution LCD [provides great in camera review]
  
• More buttons and other methods to quickly changes settings [handier than I expected]
• More autofocus points (but still only 11) [don't see much improvement in practice]
  
• High speed flash sync
  
• Wireless commander for flash
  
• Custom Picture Controls (can save and export)
• Live View for composing via LCD
• Depth of Field preview button [haven't had much luck with this one]
  
• Active D-Lighting to help with shadow areas [don't use it]
  

From all this the tipping point in my decision to upgrade so soon was the video capability. It is well known the D90 will not replace a camcorder. Lack of autofocus while shooting is one of several major limitations. However I got tired of juggling cameras at kid events. My main love and vehicle of visual communication is photography. But there are definitely times as a parent I want to capture motion and audio. Last year this meant taking two bulky devices (D40x and camcorder) to concerts etc and trying to juggle between them. Cumbersome, makes you look a bit like an obsessed fool, and in the end results in missed shots/video. With the D90 it is possible to instantly switch between photography and videotaping plus you can take advantage of the variety of lenses available on a DSLR.

As a photographer there are definitely things to love about the D90 (over a D40/40x/60). Near the top of the list is the high ISO performance (i.e. ability to take good looking photos, low in noise, even in darker conditions). I created a set of simple shots over on Flickr to illustrate the camera's capability. The D40x was OK up to 800 and pretty marginal at 1600. The D90 looks very good at 1600 (as long as you're not planning poster prints) and up through 6400 is still definitely usable. This sort of performance really opens up the world of indoor natural light photography. This is a great thing for me as I love using natural light for indoor candids and portraits. When you couple the high ISO performance with a fast prime lens (in my case the 50mm f/1.8D) you have a powerhouse on a budget. I think this is a feature even casual users can take advantage of (though they may not know they want it...).

Hope the above info and insight into my twisted decision process is of help to someone. Now back to having fun!