Well I Just Did It. D90 here I come.

[curritch]

<p>I've been debating this quite a while but I have decided to upgrade (?) from my D50 to the D90. The deciding factors were the increased resolution and the video mode.<br>

We recently went to the Ellis County (Texas) Opry where our grandson Eliot (12 years old) was performing. We were maybe thirty feet from the stage with good lighting and I took a lot of photos with my D50 and my 50mm f/1.8 lens. I set the D50 to shutter priority at 1/500 and let the lens choose the aperture which it chose close to the limit.<br>

The photos turned out pretty good (see attachment) but even under these conditions the resolution was still driven by the sensor.<br>

And I sure could have used the video mode here. A great event but no video coverage. So I'm looking forward to the D90.</p><div></div>

[johnw63]

<p>No way in Hades could I get up in front of people to play my guitar at 12.</p>

<p> </p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Let us know how that D90 performs for this type of event photography, Curtis. I'm tempted by the D90 myself for the low light performance and compact size and light weight. The D2H ain't as much fun to lug around these days and really struggles above ISO 1600. The D50 already surpasses the D2H at high ISOs.</p>

<p>I'd also be interested in your impressions of AF performance of the D90 compared with the D50, after you've had a shake-down period.</p>

[seanbreadsell]

<p>Thats a great photo Curtis and thumbs up to your Grandson, it would be hard getting up in front of all those peoples at the age of 12...I admire him.<br>

John, you share the name of a great country singer here in Australia......not sure what age he started with his guitar but he sure as anything gets up in front of HUGE crowds now haha....just google your name + True Blue, still my favourite song of his, makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up</p>

[Matthew Brennan]

<p>Congratulations Curtis, may it (D90) bring you much joy and pleasure. Eliot is far braver than me too.......!</p>

[jack flannery]

<p>I have a friend who has a D90. Although I have extremely limited use (none) for video, I've seen some stuff he did with his. It was great. Post some video of young Eliot playing. You will enjoy your new "toy". It takes some great stills too.</p>

[curritch]

<p>Does anyone know how large an SD Card that the D90 will accommodate? Nikon doesn't say on their website. Also does anyone know what the video data requirements might be? I know that mini DV rates are 12.4 GB per hour and the max resolution of the D90 is larger than mini DV. So that implies the need for a VERY large card. I see that 32 GB cards are available, which would be OK, but I don't know that the D90 can accommodate them.<br>

I understand the comments about Eliot. When I was 12 years old it was "don't speak until spoken to". But this guy is a real ham. He sings and "strums" the guitar with gusto. One of his favorites is Merle Haggard's "Momma Tried". It's kind of unusual to see a 12 year old sing that particular song.</p>

[johnw63]

<p>Wow. I have an alter ego on the other side of the world ! I think it's a really common name of Scottish origins.</p>

<p> </p>

[tsypkin]

<p>I have just made the big jump from my D50 and got my D90 two hours ago. The two good things I've noticed: better low light performance and better low light focusing compared to the D50. </p>

[curritch]

<p>I got the D90 today. No real impressions yet except that even at 12MP the sensor still limits image resolution. I've seen people comment that 6MP is better than their lens. They must own a pretty poor lens.<br>

The manual answers my questions about SD card compatibility and memory usage in the video mode. The D90 does accomodate 32GB SD cards. The manual states that the max video file size is 2GB which holds only 5 minutes of video at the highest resolution and 20 minutes at the lower resolutions. So a 32GB card could accommodate multiple 2GB files which would translate to 80 Minutes of high resolution video and 320 minutes of lower resolution video. The medium resolution is close to miniDV resolution so that's not bad except that 32GB cards are fairly expensive. I don't think the D90 will replace my miniDV camcorder but it will be very useful in many situations.<br>

But I learned something today. While the new battery was charging I installed a lens so see how the viewfinder looked in the manual focus mode. It didn't look good at all. I couldn't get any lens to focus properly. I was about to conclude that my D90 was defective. Then it occurred to me that maybe the battery was needed for proper manual focus even with the camera off . So I removed the battery from my D50 and it wouldn't focus properly either. What gives here? As I recall my old film SLR's didn't care whether a battery was present as far as manual focus was concerned.<br>

All in all after a few hours everything is OK with the D90.</p>