Comments on: Nikon D90 Review

By: Manuel Perez

Manuel Perez — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:38:35 +0000

Anne,just set the autofocus point to be used on the eyes of the subject then half press the shutter release , recompose without releasing the shutter release so that the original focus point is kept (in this case it would be eyes of subject) then fully press the shutter release to take the photo.

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:31:38 +0000

OK, simple question. I took some shots today. Plain, old posed shots of kids. I wanted the eyes focused most of all. I think I had the d90 set on the wrong autofocus. The picture was focused overall, but the eyes weren’t as much. How do I get the autofocus point in the center, and do I have to recompose and push the AE-L button to do so? This is really a problem, and I refuse to use the point and shoot functions to do shots. Can someone help?

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:43:25 +0000

Manuel, I had the sigma 18-200 OS lens, but I had to return it for a refund, whilst the images were sharp in the centre they were soft and out of focus towards the edges. I suspected the lens was faulty….it was. This could be the case with your lens too. Sigma asked me to take two images one with OS switched off , one with OS switched on, it made no difference whether optical stabilisation was on or off, both images were pin sharp in the centre, soft and out of focus towards the edges.

By: Mark Jeronimus

Mark Jeronimus — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 13:45:58 +0000

A friend once had a Sigma lens, (I don’t remember the type/range), that was very unsharp. It turned out to be a faulty specimen as other lenses of the same type in the shop were sharp. Maybe yours has a similar problem.

It would be hard to give you advice here because the choice of lens depends very much on your own style and preferences. Even stronger: don’t accept any lens advice from anyone who doesn’t know these things. The best thing to do is visit a photography shop and try a lot of lenses youself. You can also look at the lens reviews on dpreview.com

By: Manuel Perez

Manuel Perez — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:57:10 +0000

Thanks alot for your rapid response.Just another question. I’ve noticed that my lens , Sigma 18-200mm DC OSD is really nice to have around as an all do lens.But its sharpness isn’t all that great.Don’t get me wrong , I like it as an all around lens.But I’am considering buying another lens and I’am a bit confused at all the options that I have.It doesn’t have to be all that inexpensive but at the same time not all that expensive.I know that when you use a zoom lens you gain practicality but lose out on resolution on less you have the money to buy a really good one .What I don’t like about the lens is that its consistently soft outside of the center.It’s really sharp at the center but everything else isn’t .I’ve tried different f numbers to no avail.I’ve wonder if it could be the focusing system on the Nikon D90 the culprit giving extreme sharpness only where its focusing ,coming myself from film cameras , this is my first Digital SLR camera and I’am still learning .On film I use to get increible and sharp pictures . Is there a lens you could recommend for the nikon that isn’t all that expensive and my give me good all around results?It doesn’t have to be a telephoto .Thank you in advance for your response.

By: Mark Jeronimus

Mark Jeronimus — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:42:16 +0000

That’s right. I noticed the same thing. Luckily you can configure the camera software to underexpose a bit using option b4. I’ve set each metering mode to -2/6.

By: Manuel Perez

Manuel Perez — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 03:52:16 +0000

I have a Nikon D90 slr camera with a sigma 18-200 mm DC OSD lens.How can I find out if my optical Stabilization is working properly? And thank for the review of the Nikon D90.I have notice that exposure is a tiny bit on the bright side compare with a canon camera. Have you noticed the same thing?

By: Kevin Pedraja

Kevin Pedraja — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:35:13 +0000

Thanks Mark. I have a D50, which is my first DSLR. I’ve been routinely disappointed in its autofocus performance, even in optimal light situations. Sounds like the d90 is better but still not perfect.

By: Mark Jeronimus

Mark Jeronimus — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:11:16 +0000

The image quality is supreme. At first, I was comparing the D80 to the Canon EOS 450D, and I concluded that the 450D was good at high light areas and blurred the dark areas. The D80 was the opposite, and retained detail in dark areas whereas the high areas clipped easily. Proof of this is the dynamic range curve on the D80 review of dpreview, which rises until it goes through the roof instead of limiting slowly. The D90 however has a slowly limiting curve (like all normal cameras), and as a bonus, has D-lighting to gain even more detail (analogous to Canon’s highlight priority). I don’t know to which extend this depends on the internal software and can be circumvented by shooting RAW though.

The sharpness is also amazing. I’ve shot full size images, and at 100% crops, per-pixel details were visible, and without aliasing. It’s auto focus is a bit less optimal though, this level of details are only possible by focusing manually. The color absorption curve by the color filters is also very much like the eye’s response, unlike most cameras. Near-UV, like blacklight, is rendered in an accurate violet hue and infrared becomes red (as opposed to ugly whitish purple like I see everywhere else)

By: Kevin Pedraja

Kevin Pedraja — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:31:36 +0000

Nice overview of the camera’s functionality. But you don’t really say much about image quality. I know it’s a function of the glass, too, but I was wondering what you thought of the pix you took.