Price : D90 +18-105mm VR lens kit = $1299 ($999 without lens)
The Promise: Nikon's new D90 is the first digital SLR that can capture both still images and high-definition movie clips with sound. Because digital SLRs use a mirror to reflect light onto the eyepiece, the mirror needs to be moved out of the way in order to record video. To do this, the D90 employs its Live View mode to lock the mirror back so the camera can shoot HD clips directly from the imaging sensor. And because it can take any Nikon-compatible lens with built-in Vibration Reduction, shaky-handed auteurs can keep their movies looking steady. It's also supposed to take great 12.3-megapixel pictures.
In Practice: We took the D90 and a Nikkor 18-105mm VR lens (sold together as a kit for $1299) for a spin in my neighborhood in northern Manhattan to see how easy and effective the camera was for capturing both high-resolution photos and HD video clips. Without reading the manual, we found that just pressing the Live View mode button (clearly labeled "LV") is all it takes to raise the camera's mirror so you can view the scene you're about to shoot on the D90's crisp 307,200-pixel, 3-inch LCD. Once in Live View mode, we followed the on-screen instructions and pressed the OK button to start shooting our first movie.
The one catch is that the camera's autofocus feature shuts down once you start filming your clip, so remember to prefocus on your subject first by half-pressing the shutter. We learned this lesson the hard way after capturing a couple of blurry movies of tugboats on the Hudson River. The lens's manual focus ring does work in video mode though, and once we got used to this "old school" style of shooting we were able to take a decent short movie—in focus, this time—of a kayaker scooting by on the Hudson. Though my HD (1280 x 720) movies looked great—the bundled lens produced rich color and excellent sharpness—the 24-frames-per-second video speed was slightly jittery in playback.
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