The Nikon D90 = dSLR + Video

By Rico, 9:09 am Sat Aug 30 2008 - Rundowns - 2 Opinions

It’s about time someone thought of integrating video into a dSLR, since an image sensor is an image sensor is an image sensor; it will capture whatever’s presented to it. The kicker, as reported by international affiliate The Gadget Blog, is that:

The D90 promises to merge video capture capability with the high-def visual quality allowed by all those fancy SLR lens. Nikon does a great job advertising this on their new D-Movie website, touting the sensor’s ability to capture at 320 x 216, 640 x 424 or 1,280 x 720 pixels in AVI format.

The Nikon D90 currently costs $1,000 in the US—for only the body—or $1,300 when bundled with Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR kit lens. Here’s a spec summary:

• 12.3-megapixel CMOS sensor
• Movie function (AVI format)
• 3-inch TFT LCD, with Live View shooting mode
• Up to 4.5 frames per second
• 11-point autofocus
• ISO sensitivity 200 to 3200
• Built-in Sensor cleaning system
• HDMI HD video output [meaning it plugs into HDTVs! w00t!]
• Support for GP-1 GPS unit
• File formats: JPEG, NEF, AVI
• Estimated battery life: 850 shots

Any guesses on how much this game-changing digital camera cost once it hits local shores? We’ll try to find out ourselves, so stay tuned.