The Nikon D90 may not be Nikon’s top-of-the-line, but the press and reviews almost seems like it.  This is mainly because it’s the first DSLR with a full 720p HD video capability.

The video has a 4GB limit, which translates to about 5 minutes of HD video.  This is not a camera limitation, but a limitation of the solid-state drive’s file system.  These camera SSDs are all using a file system called FAT (FAT16 or FAT32 depending on the flash drive size).  The largest file a FAT32 file system can write is only up to 4GB.  On regular-sized video this would have been good for 15 minutes.  But for HD, this is good for only about 5 minutes of video.

Note, though that when watching video straight from the camera, there would be some stutter, because of the difference in frame rate.  The D90 captures video at 24fps, while standard NTSC video is at 23.976fps.  The HD video would be better if it was pre-processed with a video editing software.  However, Nikon seems somewhat remiss in creating a good enough software for the HD video.  Unfortunately, coming up with great post-production software is not something Nikon is well known for.

For all of that, the combination of Nikon lenses, and HD video would be great, specially if it was edited and output as HD quality.

The D90 does not come with a full-frame sensor but rather it uses the same size sensor as its predecessor, the D80, but it delivers a larger picture with 12 megapixels (compared to the formers 10 megapixel).  This is nothing to scoff at.  Specially considering that Nikon has always had smaller sized pictures (in terms of pixel size) than Canon (or even Sony).

The camera has a 3-inch LCD with Live View with face recognition (maximum of 5 faces).  Additionally, the image stabilization is in the lens and not in the camera.  The D90 also has the same dust-prevention system as the Nikon D300.

Priced less than $1000, the price point is aggressive for the features list.  This camera has a lot of sensibilities because of the pricing and the HD potential.  Most point-and-shoots already have video, but HD video is still around the bend for most.  Videographers would insist that this is not a serious camera for shooting video.  However, the Nikon advantage has always been their lenses.  It’s important to remember that only high-end pro video cameras have interchangeable lenses.  There are a lot more things a videographer can do with interchangeable lenses.