Nikon D95? thoughts

[Joe Mioux]

I know we have had a lot of discussions about cameras over the years.

Have any of you heard anything about the impending Nikon replacement of the D90?

rumors have it that the name will be changed to D95.

I almost bought a D90 the other day, but the store was out of body-only cameras and i didn't want the package lens deal.

I now find out that nikon is discontinuing the d90 with a new version due out shortly.

Do any of you know anything about the new camera?

thanks joe

[Sean Troy]

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1034 You'll find all the info you want there. I have the D90 and from what I can tell, you might be better off getting a D90 now because of the price. If you look at Amazon, you'll probably get the best price but make sure it is sold by Amazon so you have no problems with warranty. Amazon is a registered Nikon dealer.

[Dan Hintz]

If you're not locked into Nikon (lots of lenses and such), the Canon EOS T2i (550D) body can be had for $800, and the basic kit (18-55 lens) can be had for $100 more. I picked mine up several months ago to take better images of my products (among other things), and the image quality is simply superb right out of the box. My brother used it to take our wedding photos back in June...

[Joe Mioux]

I'm selling my film cameras, lenes, flash and starting new. none of it will work with a nikon.

I am sticking with nikon because I bought my wife a D60 a couple years ago and she has a couple lenses.

My main lens interest is a macro lens. a zoom is secondary.

the camera will be used at work to create albums of my wedding, funeral and greenhouse work. Currently, I am using Anna's, aka Mrs Mioux) old P&S Pentax Optio 330. That is ok for my blog (miouxfloristgreenhouses.blogspot.com) but not good enough with bridal consultations.

you might ask "why not use Anna's camera?" because. it will never be where she or I will be when either of us need/want it. therefore, I want my own.

thanks joe

[Bailey John]

Joe,

lots of good advice above. Online and local dealers are selling the D90 and kits for great prices. Good time to negotiate. Waiting for something that is not announced is hard to do. Photokina in Sept is when you will most likely hear about the replacement. Besides DPreview, you can check specifically at www.nikoncafe.com (http://www.nikoncafe.com) or www.nikonians.com (http://www.nikonians.com) where there are classifieds.

[Sean Troy]

The 18-105 kit lens that comes with the D90 is highly respected and said to be the best kit lens value ever produced. You can do wonderful macro shots with it also.

[Mike Cutler]

Joe

Until Nikon releases some factual specs, everything is just rumors at this point.
If all the upgrade really amounts too is a slightly better, different sensor and a a jazzier body. I'd be tempted to source the D90 body on the net, or go a complete step up to the 300.
I've also seen no substantial benefit to the VR feature of the lenses, and money could be saved by purchasing non VR lenses. The VR features of mine is always off, but my camera is always in the manual mode.


I have the D90, and it's a very capable camera. I'm sure the D95, if and when released, will be a good product also.

[Eric DeSilva]

I'm biased towards Nikons. I learned on an on FM2, and have owned a bunch through the years--the stable right now consists of a D700, a D200 and an F5.

I haven't owned a D90, but I did for a while have a D80. I find Nikons very easy to use, although they tend to chronically underexpose by about 1/3 Ev. It is arguable that is intentional--you can't recover detail blown out, but you can enhance low level detail. But I digress.

Buying a digital SLR is like buying a computer. I remember a discussion with a colleague years ago as he contemplated a Dell for months and months. He showed me print outs of countless specs, each week showing improvement, basically for the same price. When he finally pulled the trigger, he professed some disappointment that his computer had, at that point, ceased to get faster and better each day.

There will always be a better dSLR comparable to your model right around the corner. I tend to watch the site mentioned before--dpreview.com. As the launch dates get closer, it is worth paying attention. And, they can predict launches pretty well, since they typically coincide with things like big trade shows. But realize... Upon release there is quite often a substantial lag to get it. I was waiting for the D200 to replace my aged D100, and it still took me months. I got luckier with the release of the D700, but it was still a while.

The reason I say pay attention to the launch date is because last year's version starts to plummet in resale value. One serious option to consider is buying a used D90. I've bought second hand lenses, and a lot have been in mint condition. When I sold my D80, I took a bath on the price, because it was basically new--my wife shoots professionally, so she needs a backup. But the backup doesn't get used a lot. BTW, if you snap a shot with any Nikon dSLR, you should be able to review the EXIF data and it will tell you how many times the shutter has been depressed. That is a good indicator of how much life is left in it.

I'll also take the opportunity to plug post processing. In the analog world, we send our film off to be printed (mostly) by shops that had some photo-nerd in the backroom adjusting the darkroom gear to give you a nice print. That is missing in the digital world--you need to learn post-processing to really get the most from your camera. For any picture I intend to publish or print, I--at a minimum, adjust black and white levels, crop, push the contrast slightly, and sharpen. I tend to put a subtle vignette on a lot of shots too. Most of that is dead easy in Photoshop or its free brethren, GIMP.

Good luck, and have fun!

[Joe Mioux]

Eric, believe me I can really appreciate your last paragraph. Years and years ago, I used to develop and print my own film and pictures. Back then I could make up a lot of exposure issues that were on the camera side by making adjustments in the dark room.

A used D90 is not out of the question. I am just glad that the camera store I was at last Saturday was out of the bodies. Had that not been the case, I would have purchased a brand new D90 on the heels of the new version launch.

joe

[Mike Hollingsworth]

Here's where I check everyday for the upcoming replacement for the D700.

http://nikonrumors.com/

[Tom Godley]

I bought the d90 about 2 years ago - nice camera -- easy to use - does way more than I'll ever use. The "Live View" was a disappointment -- as was the protective plastic cover for the LCD that actually traps sand and scratches the screen:(

It has an extremely good battery. I had originally figured I would get a spare but it lasts so long that I have never needed to.

I found the "Kit Lens" to be quite good for the cost and a good kick around lens.

Nikon is using plastic ring locks -- they snap! Thankfully they are easy to fix and the part from Nikon is only about $10.00 vs over $100.00 if you send it out. I take an extra with me on extended trips.

[Jim Becker]

I'm going to have to keep my eyes on this...I've been wanting a D90 as an upgrade from my aging D70 for a long time. A price drop might make that happen!

[Scott Shepherd]

Not camera related, but if you need to process your photos, Adobe Lightroom is outstanding. It's non destructive to photos, meaning all the cropping and color adjustments you make do not damage the original photo, unlike Photoshop, which is destructive. Once you change it, you cannot go back, it's done.

You can't do many fancy things like removing backgrounds, but it's an excellent program that manages your photos, makes them easy to find, and gives you complete control over colors, white balance, etc, along with cropping. It also has some really good built in slideshow creators, etc.

You can also take changes and map them across a block of photos too. All, once again, NON-DESTRUCTIVE. Did I mention it's non destructive yet? It's non destructive.

[Mike Cutler]

I'm going to have to keep my eyes on this...I've been wanting a D90 as an upgrade from my aging D70 for a long time. A price drop might make that happen!

Jim
That D70 is still a very nice camera.
Sure you don't want the D300? I think you need it for those hunter/jumper shots.;)
Unrelated, but, I'm going to try to shoot a horse clinic this weekend.

Scott
Copy in photoshop. Always. I learned that lesson the hard way also.:(

[Scott Shepherd]

Mike, I have Photoshop, full version, and Lightroom. Lightroom is easy to use, makes sense, Photoshop on the other hand, not so much. It's like trying to learn calculus when you just graduated elementary level math.

I use Illustrator on a daily basis, and Photoshop just makes me want to drink beer.

Lightroom, on the other hand, is a pleasure to work with and enjoyable to use. I love Lightroom, and I'm still stuck using the older version of it. I think the new version has many more editing features than my version.

[Mike Cutler]

Scott

Wow!!! Lightroom is amazing. I've had installed for about 5 minutes, and I know I want it.
I don't even know how it works yet and I want it.

Thank you for pointing me to it.

[Scott Shepherd]

Cool Mike, glad you like it. I love that program. It's like being in your own darkroom and making photos come out exactly how you want them too. Biggest problem I have had is doing all of that, and then sending it out for printing only to have them "automatically" change the colors to their specifications. I ended up at Adorama in New York, where you can pick "Don't mess with my colors" as part of the ordering process :)

If anyone is interested, they do have a free trial version for 2 weeks or 30 days or something. If you are into photography, it's worth trying for free.

[Jim Becker]

Jim
That D70 is still a very nice camera.
Sure you don't want the D300? I think you need it for those hunter/jumper shots.;)
Unrelated, but, I'm going to try to shoot a horse clinic this weekend.
(

My D70 is starting to act up a bit, Mike...frustratingly so occasionally. What's attractive about the D90 is the inclusion of video in the same "tool". But I got a blurb from Ritz today about the D3100 (http://www.ritzcamera.com/product/541537064.htm?bct=;cinikon-camera-introductions)...and it's interesting, too, at a low price point.

Enjoy the shoot! One of the barn moms does most of the photography at our barn these days including home and "away" shows. I haven't done much photography at them lately simply because of the time commitment it brings.

And yea, I need to try out Lightroom one of these days, too.