Nikon D90 - How Good is It Really?

First off, I have a confession. Yours truly is a Canon user.

"OK," you might ask, "what's up with the article about a Nikon D90?"

"Excellent question," I might respond. It's actually about an admiration I have for Nikon and Canon in general.

The fact is, both Canon and Nikon are great digital SLR camera manufacturers, and no matter which one you have, it is probably a fantastic unit. Both companies are heavily into improving technology and providing photographers with a first class experience.

Competition is wonderful, especially when the results are as obvious as they are in the recent improvements in DSLR equipment.

So, enough with the double-speak. Most photographers are true to their brand. If they own one major brand, they will uphold the virtues of that brand and many times degrade the other. Not so for me. I like 'em both, and I have used 'em both.

Here's my question of the day: "What makes a good camera great? In particular, what makes a Nikon D90 great?"

I will give you my best answer below, but first a little insight into why I think the way I do about this subject.

I am a high school yearbook adviser for a small private school. This is my first year doing this gig, and I am learning as I go. One of the major hurdles that I am becoming painfully aware of is that there are not enough "picture takers" at my school. I have struggled getting photos of events.. no, not true.. I have struggled getting photos that are "good enough" to print in the yearbook.

I can't go to every event myself, so I have asked many students, parents, and staff members to help out. The results are disappointing. Mostly there is no photo coverage because the people are just not interested in getting them. And when they do take pictures they are not of good enough quality.

That is until this week. I encountered a student in the hall who said, "Hey, I have some pictures of the track meet. Do you want to use some of them?"

Obviously, I said I did. However, I was not all that enthusiastic about getting them considering what I had seen in the past from students and parents.

Boy, was I surprised when I uploaded those 210 photos to my computer. They were excellent! And some were just downright amazing.

So I went to find this budding young photographer to find out how she did this. "Oh, I really like taking pictures with my Digital SLR," she told me. "I have a Nikon D90, and I have been getting a lot of really cool pictures with it. The more I use it the more I'm getting to like photography. I love this camera."

I was so impressed with her that I enlisted her as a "Certified Yearbook Photographer."

She was thrilled, but not as much as I am.

Now, the answer to the burning question of the day: What makes the Nikon D90 a great camera? It's user enthusiasm. Pretty simple, huh?

If that student leaves her camera at home, it's not worth anything. But, armed with her beloved DSLR and a passion for the results she knows are sure to come when she views her photos on the computer, she IS a Certified Yearbook Photographer.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the features that most photographers are impressed with in the Nikon D90

• 12.9 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor (effective pixels: 12.3 million)


• 3.0-inch 920,000 pixel (VGA x 3 colors) TFT-LCD (same as D3 and D300)


• Live View with contrast-detect AF, face detection


• Image sensor cleaning (sensor shake)


• Illuminated focus points


• Movie capture at up to 1280 x 720 (720p) 24 fps with mono sound


• IS0 200-3200 range (100-6400 expanded)


• 4.5 frames per second continuous shooting


• Expeed image processing engine


• 3D tracking Auto Focus (11 point)


• Short startup time, viewfinder blackout and shutter lag


• Extensive in-camera retouching including raw development and straightening

Just a little note about the movie mode. The D90 was the first camera to have it, but now several others have added this handy feature with improved technology. But the terrific thing about this mid-level DSLR is its awesome image quality.