D90 arrives

[bfitzgerald]

Right or wrong I decided to give it a bash and I went for the 18-105mm lens with it as it was really not much at all over the body cost. I also though buying new wasn't a bad idea with a 2 year warranty to back that up.
Just a quick run down I'll update it with further use.

I can say straight off this is a very nice camera, though it is going to take me a while to adapt to things. Layout controls etc are all quite different from what I am used to with Minolta and Pentax. This ins't a grab it and be comfortable with it in field use until you've spent a bit of time working with it. Body nice build solid feel, VF is a big step up as I'm used to the entry ones this is much brighter and bigger it makes me wonder why I was using smaller VF's on DSLR's for so long. This will be much more fun for me!

The 18-105mm well what can I say I'm not normally into bigger zoom ranges with less speed, but this is a very useful range to have for a general all purpose lens. I'd said to myself if I didn't want to keep it, easy to sell on a brand new one for a decent price. But.. surprisingly it's a very good lens optics wise bar distortion wide and tele end (not unexpected for this range) it's usable WA wide open, and very good even at full aperture across the range. It's a keeper for sure and it absolutely tears the old Pentax kit lens to pieces (which wasn't bad WA but poor tele end wide open) Nikon have a real winner with this lens were it not for the plastic mount you'd be pretty happy to not call it a kit lens, overall nice feel and build double thumbs up for a lens like this (it's not going to replace a 17-50mm f2.8 for speed reasons) but a good all rounder to have.

I won't ramble too much as I've not had enough time to play with it. I'm going to have to get used to using a top LCD again, the menus are quite easy to navigate the controls are logical, it's just all a bit different to what I'm used to using. But so far I like it, and I like it a lot

Matrix meter, tried that on the D80 and was unimpressed big time (lots of major overexposure). The D90 one is much, much better and improved and seems quite well balanced between highlights and shadows. The Pentax bodies I used were poor for lower light metering (way off usually well over a stop under in some light) this seems much more on the mark, but it's early days.

AF is fast, so far I've no reason to have any doubts with it. Accuracy seems good to.
I still like the old 5d (yes it's dated and clunky v more modern cameras) I've another 5d on the way for sentimental reasons (and it was cheap)
Right now though I think I'll get along very well with this, and after a bit of time it should be a good camera for me and what I do. Can't say I miss Pentax at all right now, though this is a step up body class so it's bound to be better.

[Dr. Harout]

Congrats Barry. I hope this will finally satisfy you.

[bakubo]

Sounds good. Let us know how it works out after you have had it awhile. A friend in Hawaii has a D300 and D90 and he likes them both a lot. The D90 is a bit smaller/lighter than the D300 so he used it when he didn't want to carry a brick and also when he used both he would keep a small 20mm lens on it while the D300 had the 70-200mm on it.

[Greg Beetham]

Ah you got a real camera Baz, that’s good, now you should be able to look forward to some reliable predictable still photography once you get too know it. Ken Rockwell has a list of the 10 best Nikkors, http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/10-best.htm some are very very good (according too him) and a few are quite reasonably priced even brand new, he also has a list of the 10 worst Nikkors and some of those are quite expensive.
Greg

[bfitzgerald]

Thanks Rockwell can be on target a lot of the time, sometimes he's a bit off though.
He didn't rate the 18-105mm VR, but I see no signs of soft corners on that lens. Shame about the plastic mount (it's not a light lens either) we'll see how that holds up over time. The more I use that the more I can't help but think it's a damn good lens for a small extra outlay over a body only price.

The good thing about Nikon is they have some good affordable primes, which is something Pentax just didn't have (well bar the 35mm f2.4, not fast enough IMO) Bad situation for their 50mm f1.7 is unlike Minolta (where there are loads of them) there are very few of their AF 50mm's around and when you find one it's £200 for a s/h 50mm which is a bit of a joke really. I'd def look at the various 50mm ones Nikon have, and the 35mm f1.8 as well that looks decent
Leaving the plastic lens aside Nikon are quite generous you get a real lens rear cap, and a not bad little bag for it too as well as a hood.

Pentax were doing some penny pinching ala Sony style you don't get a real body cap on the K-x and K-r (some crappy white thing) but worse unlike the cheap film Minoltas (where it did at least attempt to stay on the body) it just falls off nothing at all to hold it to the camera body. No real lens cap either with the kit lens, no hood. I don't like that myself it detracts from the overall package I know it's a minor point but it seems Pentax were watching Sony on that one!

One thing I have noticed is the active D lighting is a lot more useful than the shadow and highlight options from the K-x and K-r. They're just basic settings which can help (mostly the highlights) Active D seems to work better than I expected and helps both ends quite a bit balancing exposure and contrast. It makes it quite easy to get good jpegs out of the camera. Not sure how it stacks up to the "good" DRO on Sony's I think they are similar. I know the A200 I had was pretty useless with it's crippled DRO

Small things impress, but only field use will reveal long term performance. At this stage I'd not have any major concerns.

[KevinBarrett]

I'm not sure what you're talking about Barry; all my cheap Sony prime lenses came with lens caps and hoods, as well as my 18-70 kit lens.

[bfitzgerald]

They stopped doing it with the kit bundles on the 18-55mm no hood and no real lens cap not sure about the 55-200mm zoom kit lens (you might get the hood and rear cap with that). They also stopped putting hot shoe covers on models, though the A77 I played with in a shop had one so I assume they give you one for that model! Youtube has lots of unboxing videos for various models.

It's not a huge issue just something to point out penny pinching wise.

[David Kilpatrick]

The A77 hot shoe cover is a special flexible rubbery plastic one which water-seals the shoe. Not to be lost or mixed up with others!

David

[Greg Beetham]

I’ve got hot-shoe covers with every camera I’ve bought but I don’t bother with them much, they are scattered through various camera bags and toploaders and I find one now and then when looking for something else. I made a rule that I don’t take my camera out where it’s wet, I think if you take a computer out in the rain, sealed or not, it’s only a matter of time before you will regret doing it.
The A700 came with one of the fanciest looking body caps I’ve seen on any of my previous cameras, but they all did have one that actually engaged the mounting, it must be the more basic models that they skimped on.
Greg

[bfitzgerald]

I didn't get a hot shoe cover with the A200 not a big issue as I have numerous spares here. I think Minolta started the penny pinching with the film 4/5 and 60 no hot shoe cover no real body cap (just the white thing) but you got a real rear lens cap for the kit lens. Sony kinda started that off and extended it up to the A550/580 and others though you get real body caps which is one thing.

At the time a film 5 cost not a lot maybe £199 odd? So nobody can complain, but A65 and A580 models around there are a fair bit more so you'd expect that. I think Pentax caught onto that part and started doing the same, they also have a pretty lousy camera strap which is too narrow. Again not a major issue still leaves a better "taste in the mouth" with a nicer package. So no complaints with Nikon here.

I've been playing around with the D90 and getting used to it has been fairly quick. It's a lot more driven from the top LCD than you might expect you can of course use the rear screen as well but it's mostly the smaller top LCD used in combination with button and dial movements. I suppose it takes getting used to if you are a KM/Sony user you'd mostly be using the rear screen for settings. Looking at the A77 I'm not sure that anyone would miss the top LCD I suppose they put it there to make it more "semi pro" looking. I had the same trouble with the film bodies I use (5 and 60) I'd stare at a blank piece of black plastic! So using the top LCD is must for those bodies. The film 7 changed things quite a bit really for people I suppose at the time it was a major departure from the norm. It's not something that will cause a problem but I def didn't go to a D90 for a top LCD panel it was more a mix of things I was looking for

I've taken a downgrade in some ways v the K-r, less buffer (though still better than the Km5d), less fps, live view is not as good as the K-r slower AF (though accuracy is good) Not really tried the video but I'd expect it to be similar I didn't get it for video and live view though they're just bonus things to play around with. Body wise it's a big upgrade v the K-r much nicer handling and more controls. The VF is excellent and I like the LCD overlays for the AF points, and the grid as well could be handy.

The biggest difference so far is the AF performance and the "big AF point" problem on the Pentax models is gone. The central AF point was massive on the K-r and K-x (and it is on the K-5 too) this meant you could run into trouble with the AF locking onto unintended targets in the foreground or background. The AF points on the Nikon are much smaller which should help reduce that problem. Playing around AF wise it's accuracy seems excellent so far (even in iffy lighting like energy saving bulbs) so this should solve my biggest grip with the K-r ie it can actually focus in this light!

The K-r was a really nice camera for the money an outstanding bargain (as ever some quirks but mostly pretty decent), but for me it was all ruined by that problem.

[bfitzgerald]

Quick update but shocking or not I'm actually considering adding another D90! So I have 2 digital bodies one for back up I can share batteries and a grip.
I'm chewing it over D7k has gone up in price..D90 is a bargain still.

D300s well I wouldn't pay the asking price D90 might be older too but it's older and cheap, D300s is older and not that cheap!

I'd hate to offload the KM stuff but I'm thinking of selling some film bodies sold a few more bits, just maybe keep a core few cameras and just a few lenses. It's impossible to want to sell the Km5d and 50mm f1.7 it's done great service.