Digital SLR – Nikon D90

I’ve been harping on about film for a few posts now, and I think that it’s only right that I spend some time praising my digital SLR. No matter what I say about how good film is, digital allows me to test things and see the results in real-time (which is good for a hack like me that still really needs to learn a lot about photography).

Up until September I was shooting with a Nikon D5000. It’s a great camera, and has some really cool functions. Plus it was just awesome to cut my photography teeth on. But I found myself lacking when I needed to get functions changed quickly (and I seem to always be shifting from MONOCHROME to VIVID) the D5000 wasn’t terribly helpful. Changing simple things like ISO, ADR and white balance was time consuming and a little annoying.

The D90 with an AF-S 35mm f/1.8G lens

When a school friend (who is also pretty serious about photography) said he had a Nikon D90 for sale my ears pricked up, and a little research later had me saving up my shekels for it. And I am glad I did. For starters, it has buttons for specific tasks (like ISO, WB, flash and exposure compensation) that the D5000 didn’t have. It also has a spiffy little LCD screen (with a light) on top of the body that shows everything you need (and thus saves battery on top of being ergonomic), two dials for quick setting changes and a depth-of-field preview button (which is something I have become used to with my film cameras). The VIVID setting is – if anything – too vivid (but really good at making things ‘pop’). The picture size and quality are the same as the D5000, it’s got a bigger body but the viewfinder is teeny compared to my Nikon FE. Overall, it’s a wonderful piece of kit.

The D90 with an AF-S 35mm f/1.8G lens – Top view

With saying that though, I don’t think you should just go out and get one. If you’re going to be using the SLR every so often and don’t mind/need to flick through menus all the time the D5000 is what you’ll want because it does almost everything the D90 will do. Everyone is different, and has different requirements. A more expensive camera will not take better photos for you – it will simply allow you to change how the picture is taken more quickly and efficiently.

This was from the D90 yesterday when I was shooting with the FE. This maidenhair fern was being whipped about by the wind too much for the ISO100 Velvia to take an un-blurred shot so I spent a bit of time snapping with the D90. The result? Something that I like a lot!