On the heels of Canon announcing its new EOS 50D, Nikon has revealed details of the D90, which features a video mode.
Nikon claims that the D90 is the first mid-class DSLR to offer a movie function. It allows you to shoot movies in three different motion JPEG formats: 320 x 216 pixels, 640 x 424 pixels and 1,280 x 720 pixels. The video mode is compatible with Nikkor’s range of lenses.
Nobody should have doubts that this is the future for photography. Imagine the possibilities for photojournalists, travel photographers and others to have this function!
Just a caveat: The Nikon D90 link that shows off its video capabilities has a note that the videos shown were taken using D-Movie function, then converted to Flash Video format for ease of handling. Image quality varies from the original.
And if you want to hear the N90's shutter sound, knock yourself out by clicking here.
David Pogue has a friendly review of the D90 on the New York Times, which makes the point that the "era of the video S.L.R. has begun."