Zoom-in Online

Yesterday, I reported on the new Canon 50D. Nikon announced their new bid for a DSLR at the same time, the D90. Compared to the 50D, this is a smaller camera, both in price and resolution (12.3vs. 15.1 megapixels), but it does have a couple of unique and interesting features.

My personal favorite is the GPS, which allows you to geotag your images. This is especially cool for press coverage and vacation photos, where pinpointing the exact location can prove useful later. Though I doubt the D90 is good enough for actual press work. In the end GPS is mostly a gimmick and a toy, although a fun one.

The big news is the camera's ability to shoot video. Everyone seems to be raving about this, and for the average person, this could be a major selling point. Imagine only having to bring one camera on vacation! But for those of us who shoot stills 90% of the time, it's mainly fluff. If I really wanted to shoot video, I'd want a specialized tool for it.

Like the Canon, the D90 also has HDMI output for viewing your photos on a HDTV. Like I said with the Canon, I prefer retouching my photos first and viewing them via my Apple TV. Live view is another added feature, letting you use your DSLR in much the same way as you would a point-and-shoot, but with a nice 3" screen. No doubt though, that this will drain the battery pretty quickly.

I'm a Canon shooter, but I am not fanatic about it. I love Nikon too and always recommend those who ask to try out both brands and see which one suits them better. Qualitywise, they are really too close to call these days, which is a compliment to Nikon, who in the early days of DSLRs were a step behind Canon. Comparing the 50D and the D90 however, I think it's Canon for the win. Smaller size RAW files is way more useful to me than GPS. And video? Just another thing that can break. I fear that the competition between these two giants will end up bloating the cameras with more and more stuff, ultimately sacrificing quality to one-up each other on features.

That said, the D90 was not designed for me or people with my needs. Loads of hobbyists will enjoy the video and GPS, I'm sure, and for families who just want a camera to document their lives, kids and so on, this is pretty much the ultimate gadget. But for money-making purposes, it just doesn't do it for me.

You can read the official press release from Nikon here.

Rasmus Rasmussen is on loan from iStockphoto, where he is part of the image inspection team.