Nikon announces D90 Digital SLR with movie mode

[deckcadet]

Nikon has just announced the D90 DSLR- the first DSLR in the world with a movie mode built in. It features a 12.3mp DX format CMOS sensor and a 3" 920,000 dot VGA resolution LCD, Live View, and continuous shooting at full resolution at 4.5fps, a big boost from its predecessor, the D80.

Standard ISO range is 200-3200, with Lo boost to 100 and Hi to 6400 and also features built in sensor cleaning. As usual, it features the Expeed image processing system, Active D-Lighting, and Picture Controls, plus an 11 point AF system. In camera editing has grown more still, with distortion correction, straightening, and a fisheye filter in the retouch menu.

The really groundbreaking feature here is Movie Mode. Since the sensor is much larger and higher resolution than that found in most video cameras, you get shallower depth of field for the same angle of view, as well as very clean images. DX sensors are just the same size as 35mm (vertical travel) motion picture film! Add to that the Nikon lens system and you have a truly versatile feature here. Nikkors are very popular for use in high end video and even motion picture cameras, such as the revolutionary RED One camera which has an optional Nikon mount. The D90 has a microphone and a powerful speaker for playback.

The D90's video mode offers up to 1280x720P high definition at 24 frames per second, the standard motion picture frame rate. It can also record at a reduced size of 640x424 or 320x216 pixels. It will record for 5 minutes before stopping to cool the sensor. Videos record to motion-jpeg .AVI files that can be imported to most editors without any transcoding or conversion. They are rather large files, however, which is to be expected.

What the D90 lacks in video mode is autofocus, Auto White Balance, Aperture adjustment, and stereo audio. There is no support for an external mic and the internal mic is mono only.

The viewfinder is a 96% coverage pentaprism, while live view has three contrast-detect AF modes including face detection, just like the more expensive Canon 50D announced yesterday. The other two modes are Normal area, which is for tripod use with high accuracy, and Wide Area, which uses a larger focus area for handheld shooting. Live View has its own button. Contrast AF speed is greatly improved, as is the live view refresh rate. Face detection AF can even do basic tracking if the person's face begins to move.


Nikon has not only increased the speed to 4.5fps, but they have put in a shutter tested to 100,000 cycles, given it a quick reaction time (0.15s startup, 65 millisecond shutter lag), and they've changed the AF system. Though still based on the Multi-CAM 1000 system first seen in the D200 then the D80, it now implements a variant of the 3D tracking system found on the high end Multi-CAM 3500 system from the D3 and D300, while also increasing speed over the earlier versions of the module. The buffer capacity is specced at 25 JPEG Large/Fine or 9 NEF files.

Other features include HDMI output (up to 1080i/720P, HDMI type C small connector), GPS geo-tagging, low power consumption, uses the same grip as the D80, plus numerous new playback features. GPS is achieved using the new GP-1 GPS unit that slips onto the hotshoe, with a cord going to the camera. Nikon has also announced a second cord will be included that allows it to work with cameras using the 10-pin connector for GPS like the D300/D3.

Like the D80, D60, D40x and D40, the D90 uses SD cards for its storage format, but Nikon has been working with SanDisk and Eye Fi to get the most out of the SD-HC format. SanDisk has updated the Extreme III SD-HC 4/8GB cards to 30MB/sec up from 20, to better handle the high data rates from the D90. This is technically beyond the SD-HC spec, so thus far these speeds will only occur in the D90. Otherwise the cards, including a new 16GB 30MB/sec model, will only work at 20MB/sec in other cameras.
EyeFi wireless transmitter SD cards are detected by the D90 and will display a menu for the card on the rear LCD.


Nikon has announced the expected street price at $999, shipping in September. With the new 18-105mm VR kit lens, the price is $1299. All in all, a great price for this groundbreaking offering from Nikon.
I'm a pro shooter and rely on quality gear, and I'm tempted to get the D90 for a light walkaround body and to try the video features.

[deckcadet]

Update:
Nikon also rates the buffer at 100 JPEG Large/Normal images.

Sample "D-Movie Mode" video.
Two more video clips and some sample images can be found here on the D90 page at Nikon USA.

[Frog]

Aside from the movie mode and technical, I'm very impressed by price.
This one is going to be HOT!

[Griggs]

I'm very excited about this camera. In my opinion, the Canon XSI features don't stack up, which is probably why its a less expensive camera. I think Nikon will have free rain in this market! WOOT!

[Kajuah]

The fact that they ship by september is 1 month ahead of the canon 50D which came out on the exact same day

[Frog]

I've never done any movies with a digital camera. How long a clip out of a 2gig, 4gig, etc. can you get?

[starriderrick]

Loved hearing the news! Thanks Deckcadet.
Great price...
YouTube will explode with HD quality work...Radical!

Rick

[erikzen]

There is an article in today's New York Times about this camera. Makes me have some second thoughts about going with Olympus. But then again it was Olympus's work on the live view that allowed for the development of video on a DSLR.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/te...rssnyt&emc=rss

Since I'm probably not going to go out and switch horses in mid-stream and buy a Nikon, I'm more excited about what this means for the future of consumer level camcorders. Can you imagine a camcorder that shoots high definition that allows for interchangeable lenses for less than $2000 and lenses that don't require a second mortgage? I can see it coming in the next 5 years.

[Photo-John]

Originally Posted by starriderrick

[YouTube will explode with HD quality work.

Except YouTube doesn't show HD quality video. They compress the hell out of everything. However, the PhotographyREVIEW.com video section can show much higher quality than YouTube. So hopefully we'll get to see lots of D90 video samples once it gets into the hands of the masses.

[Franglais]

Originally Posted by Frog

I've never done any movies with a digital camera. How long a clip out of a 2gig, 4gig, etc. can you get?

On my point-and-shoot Fuji F40 I can get about 30 minutes of 640x460 MJPG video onto a 2GB card. I think the battery would run flat before getting to the end of the 30 minutes.

The D90 can do 1280x720 which is almost 4 times more pixels so I guess you would get 8-9 minutes on a 2GB card. 1280x720 is an awful lot - a DVD only does 720x586.

I guess this is primarily aimed at father-of-the-family who wants to do stills AND pictures and not have to carry around two systems.

I think the releases of the Canon 50D and Nikon D90 have just maintained the status quo with each manufacturer slotting in at a certain price point without competing directly. Right now it looks like Nikon have had more impact with the movie thing against Canon's oh-great-even-more-pixels leap to 15Mpix. Now if Canon have really made a leap forward in image quality that would be interesting.

[Dylan8i]

it says video will only record for 5 mins before stopping to cool the sensor though to. just something to remember.

looks like a grat camera though.

[deckcadet]

That's at 1280x720.
I think I read from one of the hands on previews that for the 640x424 video recording mode it can record for a longer time...less data to wrangle I guess.

[Kajuah]

Contrary to coming out on the same day, the d90 and the canon 50D can't be compared on the same level (at least I don't think). The d90 just seems like the d80 with a video camera in it.. which is really very disappointing because it shows that nikon is targeting the sports-dad and soccer-mom consumer market and not the adv. amateur/enthusiast budget photographers. It's like a DSLR point and shoot hybrid

[Frog]

How many minutes can you record on a 2 gig card?

[photophorous]

Originally Posted by erikzen

...Makes me have some second thoughts about going with Olympus....

No fear. I suspect Nikon will have competition in the video department before long. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th iterations of this kind of thing always make leaps and bounds in quality and/or usability, so give it a year or two and it will be better and more common. Lack of autofocus or ability to change aperture during recording kinda sucks...also the 5 min limit (I think it's 20 min for lower rez). These issues will be overcome.

Paul

[Franglais]

Originally Posted by Frog

How many minutes can you record on a 2 gig card?

Just seen an article on Herald Tribune saying it's 400MB per minute which would mean about 5 minutes on a 2GB card.

2GB is quite small nowadays. I have 8GB and 16GB SDHC cards to watch films on my ARCHOS - I think the 16GB one cost me 50 Euros (about $70)

BTW the 5-minute limit is for continuous shooting. On any normal subject that would be very boring to watch. Usually you do shorter sequences of now more than 20-30secs and splice the interesting bits together to make a movie.

[oldgearhead]

I think you are going a bit overboard on the video mode. The real advances for the D90
are the 3 inch display, a bit better high ISO performance, and a few more focus options. Mine will be here tomorrow, and I've already put its 18-105mm up for sale on ebait.
I really don't want to wait another month for the body only. This is a big upgrade from
my old D70. Lots of D300 features at half the price....

[godwell]

Nikon announces d90 digital SLR is very good digital camera and more futures like audio,videos.etc. So i like this type of digital cameras.

[rutherford]

This information is useful to me . It is a very good digital camera.

[godwell]

wow, This camera is useful to me and very good futures, I think one of the best.

[SmartWombat]

I've seen examples of the video showing vary bad wobble artefact form rolling shutter.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KcycneFY9lw
http://s477.photobucket.com/albums/r...t=DSC_0012.flv
I don't know if it's only on pre-production cameras but it looks awful.
Fine if you pan slowly, but for action (cars, skiing, MX etc) it's not going to work.

It's also half the resolution of the Canon video (740p instead of 1080p).

Biggest disadvantage to me seems that the Nikon has no external microphone input !
Canon have a mic socket so you can use shotgun, or a tieclip on your subject.

What has let down the videos I've shot with digital cameras so far is:
1) audio quality
2) no focus during filming (not even manual)
3) no zoom while filming (not even manual)

Nikon manages 2 out of 3, Canon 3 out of 3.

[SmartWombat]

This looks quite useful http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=146661

[isnapshots]

nice input

[starriderrick]

Thanks PAul...very usefull indeed.

Rick

[nikonshopping]

Great DSLR. I like it.