It rocks. Have sold my Canon Digital Rebel XT (two generations old), and was tempted by the Nikon D90, what with a couple hundred bucks of xmas cash burning the hole, and Costco carrying that D90 + two lens + carrying case bundle that has been wearing me down.

It does 720p video, which is the feature that I think worked me over the most, in trying to decide on this camera. That’s just a nifty feature, a video camera that will take whatever DSLR lens I wish to throw at it. The video quality is amazing.

The two lenses that came with it are decent enough: the kit 18-55 Nikkor lens is worlds better than the kit Canon lens, which is a POS. The SVGA preview screen on the back is very nice. The feature set blows the old Rebel away: the controls at my disposal are a class above.

It doesn’t feel quite as well put-together as my sister-in-law’s Canon 30D, nor the 40D or 50D that have succeeded it, but it still feels solid, the controls are well placed, and I like some of the functions just a bit better. With the Canon, Program mode will choose whether or not to use the flash unless you use the “disable flash” UI option. On the Nikon, there’s a “open flash” button that will flip it open, and Program mode will use it or not according to whether or not it’s open or closed: that’s much easier to comprehend, and easier to deal with in practice (because the “open flash” button is very well placed, relative to how you hold the camera).

Anyway, I’ve got a new toy, and I’m not afraid to keep using it.

posted 9:58 pm | 1 Comment