Since the Nikon D90 is “Now Shipping“, I decided to head down to my local Wolf Camera to see if they had one in stock.  They did.

I stuck in a SanDisk Extreme III SD card and snapped the following sample shots.  All images are Fine JPEG shot in Program Mode.  Click the images to see the original file – they’re big files though.

Nikon D90 ISO 1600

Nikon D90 ISO 3200

Nikon D90 ISO 6400

One more at ISO 6400

See my initial impressions and a video sample after the break.

The Nikon D90 feels a lot like the D80 in hand, which is a good thing . . . unless you want to shoot video, then it feels awkward.

As nice as the big LCD and live view are, it is very difficult to determine when you’ve obtained critical focus with the video. You can’t peek at the video through the viewfinder either because the mirror is up and the viewfinder is blacked out. Maybe I’m getting old, but that was a problem for me.

Additionally, manually zooming while recording video just doesn’t feel right. Focusing manually was a bit difficult as well due to the position of the focus ring on the 18-105mm kit lens, which is near the mount behind the zoom ring. This location really seems to mess with stabilizing the camera in your hands. I think I could handle the focusing mechanics a little better on a lens that had a focus ring on the end.

One more thing.  The video files are HUGE.  My short 2:02 minute video chewed up 271.6MB!  I can’t see this being a practical option for many folks.

Kudos to Nikon for breaking the DSLR video barrier; however, they’ve got a way to go before its truly a valuable asset to the camera.

Ok, here’s the short video demonstrating my fine videography skills:

If you’ve got the bandwidth and desire, you can download the full resolution version of the above video from this link. Just right click and choose “Save Link As”.