After months of rumours the cat is out of the bag: Nikon D90 Hands-on Preview
I so want one, and probably will. 
NO way! I’ve been dying to get this. Got to check out that review in depth and see what these limitations are. I may have to ditch Pentax. 
Things are getting ridiculous in the DSLR world now. If you’re the kind of person that always needs to have the latest thing, then you pretty much need to upgrade every year. Good for the manufacturers bottom line, I guess.
I don’t need the latest thing, but a DSLR that doubles as a decent movie cam would save all kinds of grief capturing the action at the rink.
My comment was a general observation not directed at anyone.
Jaboney, it’d probably be great for hockey if the video quality is decent. And if it’s easy to switch between still and motion modes, because I assume that taking frame grabs from the video would still be fairly low quality, especially with the lighting at the rink.
It might actually be worth waiting until Canon, Sony, Pentax introduce their versions of this camera before making any purchase decisions. I don’t think Canon will be doing it for at least 6 months as they just announced their newest offering yesterday (replacing the camera that they released this time last year). Not sure about the other companies, but if Nikon can do it, I’d guess the others wouldn’t be far behind.
Yeah, you’re right. I’m just indulging in a bit of irrational exuberance. The first piece of new technology (and the second, maybe third) are typically crap. Still, a couple of years ago I asked if it were possible to get something like this, and was told no because of the mirror and sensor. Now that that’s been fixed… wow.
I haven’t begun buying decent lenses yet, but will probably stick with Pentax. I like the feel a good deal more, and they’re using similar chips, so perhaps in a year, year and a half, they’ll have a better version of the same.
Now listed on the Nikon site, too: Nikon D90 Presentation and Nikon D90 Specifications
Wouldn’t hold my breath for many other cameras to spot a movie mode soon, Canon for example just released the 1000D and 50D. Preview of the latter is also available at the site linked in my post above.
I wonder how much memory you need for a couple of hours of HD video.
I guess you could calculate or estimate the memory requirement based on the compression and frame rate (Motion-JPEG @ 24fps), haven’t seen any “real-life” data yet. But note that the specifications in the dpreview article mention that HD clips are limited to 5 minutes in length (others 20min) for some reason.
I don’t have a DSLR yet and generally appreciate that products are improved (as long as they don’t get too expensive as a result) or that new ones are developed, and who wants to buy a 2 year old product when something new lurks around the corner? It benefits the manufacturer and the consumer IMO.
I have been looking around for a DSLR for quite a while now and was recently considering the Canon EOS1000D (initially the 450D until the 1000 came out, offering nearly the same for less $$$) and the Nikon D60; higher range models from either manufacturer are either too old or too expensive & heavy / overkill for my needs.
Couldn’t make up my mind regarding the lens as I only want to carry a single lense, and one that offers a better zoom range than the standard 18-55 model that is part of the basic Nikon and Canon kits. So I decided I would buy the body only (not a problem) plus a suitable lense (the problem); while Nikon has a 18-200mm lens it is quite expensive and cheaper 3rd party products from Sigma or Tamron don’t fare so well (ok though if you consider price and zoom range I guess). Canon had nothing comparable in the program but now announced an IS 18-200mm lens with the new 50D, but it’s going to cost around the same as the similar specced Nikon lens.
Other lenses of either manufacturer either don’t have image stabilizer, don’t cover the range I wanted or they are too expensive / big & heavy.
So I think I will settle for the D90 as the new VR 18-105mm lens that is bundled with it is sufficient for my needs (or rather wants 
), the list price of the kit is cheaper than the Canon 50D kit (which includes the new IS 18-200mm) and the D90 does have some cool features like the movie mode.
It’s a tad above my budget but I hope that the street price here in HK will be lower than the announced list price.
Oh, and another shameless plug, this guy provided some or all of the images and videos on the Nikon website and supports my decision: Chase Jarvis RAW: Advance Testing the Nikon D90 (Seems he is pretty impressed with the movie function!)
Those movies linked to are very cool.
Rascal, that sounds like a good plan you have. An 18-105mm lens will be a lot better quality than an 18-200mm.
And Chase Jarvis rocks. I regularly browse his site, lots of cool stuff on there.
Worthless … video you do with a videocam … images you take with a camera with a sensor designed for the job …
A photographer takes stills … a videographer makes videos … if you want to do both you get confused and will be angry when you miss the opportunity to make the perfect still because you where doing video … and don’t tell me to just take a frame from your video because the quality is just HD … far from today’s image quality …
Techno-conservative.
Why the barriers? It’s all image making. Moving and still have been divided by technological limitations, if this helps lower/eliminate those limitations “videographer” and “photographer” may have to be retired, along with the confusion. Less baggage, greater ease of use… where’s the bad?
No it’s not just image making … a good photographer doesn’t make a good videographer … and vice versa …
And yes there are technical limitations … if you take video for let’s say 5 minutes your sensor will heat up and when switching to still you’ve more noise than you would want …
I’d never buy a dslr with both functions build in …
and, it’s not about techno conservative … it’s pure logic
This NIkon is a gadget for the poor wanna be that can’t afford both …
That’s me!
I’m a little too poor though. And I’d like to get the Pentax version when what bugs there are get ironed out.
Fuck Canon. I spent thousands of dollars buying into their lens system because they were the market leader, but the past year Nikon has been kicking their asses. While Nikon has been releasing the D700, D300, D3, and now the D90, all of which are technical innovations, Canon’s been releasing glorified consumer cameras (1000D) and also-ran megapixel updates of “ancient” cameras (50D). I’d sell switch brands in a heartbeat if it didn’t involve taking a bath on selling and buying new lenses.
As someone who does both, this would appeal to me, but I understand BP’s concerns; they are two different media and are enjoyed in different ways. The mono audio might be a concern to some. The only video capability I need for most things is delivered with my Canon 800IS already, though, so I don’t really need a D90. If I want a serious video camera I’d look into the upcoming SCARLET cam, but that will be the next project. I’d be interested to see if Canon has something like this on the next iteration of the 5D, though. It does seem like Canon’s being kicked around by Nikon lately, though, but that’s the way things go, a few years one’s ahead, then the other may or may not take the lead. If there’s no new 5D coming out at Photokina I may consider going over to Nikon myself, though.
[quote=“Belgian Pie”]Worthless … video you do with a videocam … images you take with a camera with a sensor designed for the job …
A photographer takes stills … a videographer makes videos … if you want to do both you get confused and will be angry when you miss the opportunity to make the perfect still because you where doing video … and don’t tell me to just take a frame from your video because the quality is just HD … far from today’s image quality …[/quote]
I see it as a nice-to-have option on what is mainly a camera for stills, just like on the non-SLR digital cameras.
Thanks, good to hear from a pro that I am on the right track.
It’s all cyclical. Nikon were the leader in the film SLR days, and then Canon jumped ahead in the early digital days. Now Nikon seems to have a bit of a lead. I’m sure Canon will respond in time - remember it took Nikon a few years to respond to Canon’s monopoly of the full frame market.
That said, it’s not like older cameras stop working when something better comes out. I still use my 20D as much as I use my 40D and get good results. I regularly interpolate images for stock up to 5000px with no quality loss from both cameras. 5000px is a lot bigger than most people will ever need.
The 1000D was a response to Nikons D40/40x/60 that dominated the lower end of the DSLR market. The 50D might not be innovative in bringing something entirely new that the competition doesn’t have, but there are quite a lot of changes compared to the 40D, see here.
Edit:
Just found the following article that tells more about the movie mode (pros and cons), and it gives you an idea about the memory required. New Nikon Holds a Secret