D90 Official - 720p HD video DSLR!

[JoePhoto]

New Nikon Swag! Nikon D90, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, & GPS GP-1 unit for geotagging.

Nikon's D90 DSLR upgrade to the D80 is the first DSLR capable of 720p HD video. Take advantage of unique perspectives and selective focus of your SLR lenses and use them in video. The still specs are a solid upgrade (nothing really new here) basically a D300 lite as it uses the same processor & sensor found in the D300, but retains the AF system from the D80 (though Nikon claims it has been vastly improved). The image pipeline is 12bit only. Looks like an amazing mid-level offering. The hi-ISO noise is similar to the D300 so it's very good, but doesn't quite make the low noise level of the new EOS 50D, it's nearest competitor.

I think I found my wife's Christmas gift! She would love the HD video feature along with the quality stills for our son... plus I would deffinitely dig doing some creative video.

Price:
Body: $999US
Body & new AF-S DX Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR: $1299

The key specs:
12.9 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor (effective pixels: 12.3 million)
3.0-inch 902,000 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 (buffer: 7 RAW, 25 JPEG fine, 100 JPEG Normal)
Expeed image processing engine
3D tracking AF (11 point)
Short startup time, viewfinder blackout and shutter lag
Slightly improved viewfinder (96% frame coverage)
Extensive in-camera retouching including raw development and straightening
Improved user interface
New optional compact GPS unit (fits on hot shoe)
Same battery and vertical grip as D80
Vignetting control in-camera
72 thumbnail and calendar view in playback

Sample Production Movie with video and stills Click the D-Movie demo button
Sample Movies & comparrisons
Sample Photos
16-page PDF D90 Brochure
Check out Rob Galbraith's Preview for more info.

[JoePhoto]

Check out the D90 launch commercial! Anyone who is not excited by this groundbreaking DSLR must have no pulse!

[mattchase]

Looks like a nice camera all around, I'm not so interested in it's stills capabilities but WOW, I love the HD video feature! I nearly bought an HD video camera last year and was looking at getting a lens adapter for it so I could use my 35mm lenses on it, which is one of the things needed to getting that more professional / film look when recording (think greater aperture / DOF control, bokeh, etc). But the camera itself was about $800 plus another $300-$400 or so for the lens adapter, and then you have a kind of bulky, out of balance camera / lens combo. I hope they start to merge the two mediums even more in future offerings (come on Canon!). The only concern I have is with file compression quality, the best quality is still with tape whereas many cameras are going to solid state (hard drive, CF cards, etc). The sample videos looked pretty darn good though, so the future for this looks bright.

Do we have any info about video record time / storage space requirements, compression ratio?

[JoePhoto]

See the Rob Galbraith link in the original post for all kinds of details. Max video clip length is 5 minutes at 1280 x 720 or 20 minutes at 640 x 424 or 320 x 216. Not sure about compression ratio, but the compression type is Motion JPEG in .AVI format.

I'm super excited by this not only for personal use but for business as well. I do several different types of slideshows for clients and this will allow me to add some motion to the shows! Should be a big hit.