12.1-megapixel effective recording * 24X optical zoom (4X digital/96X total zoom) * optical image stabilization with vibration reduction * 3″ LCD screen with anti-reflective coating and 5-level brightness adjustment * real-image electronic viewfinder * wide-angle lens for shooting landscapes and large groups * 35mm equivalent focal length: 26-624mm * top JPEG resolution: 4000 x 3000 * continuous sports mode for shooting up to 45 frames at 15 frames per second * variable ISO (film speed equivalent) settings including a high sensitivity mode (ISO 6400) for low-light and flash-free shooting * face priority autofocus for better portraits * smile shutter and blink alert for capturing ideal expressions * in-camera automatic red-eye correction * D-Lighting mode brightens dark areas of recorded images *
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Nikon Coolpix
The compactness is impressive — the ability to have so much in such a small package. I use it mostly in macro mode and is wonderful
I like taking pictures in natural light without a flash and this camera does very well
5 Stars Great point and shoot camera!!!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this camera. I have had an Olympus Stylus 730 for several years and love it, but I wanted an upgrade although not yet ready for a SLR. This camera fit my needs perfectly. I wanted the full control manual settings to get me ready for the SLR, but wasn’t ready for the cost because I am still learning about photography. This camera is definitely a great deal at right around $300. The 24x optical zoom is awesome. I was used to 3x, which is awful for distant landscape shots. I love the tilt screen display, this is a very functional feature. I was also looking for a digital camera with a viewfinder; although this model’s viewfinder is the digital display it serves it’s purpose. The continuous shot mode is great; shooting at around 12 frames per second…this makes getting that perfect shot during a sporting event or dance recital very easy.
The camera has a great weight to it and is very comfortable to hold. I love that it has a flash release button so if you don’t intend on using the flash you just don’t open it. The menu is easy to use. Battery life seems to be around 4 hours and only takes about 2 to fully charge. The camera comes with a lens cap and a neck strap, usb cable, tv cable, battery charger and battery. I purchased a spare battery and recommend you search for a true Nikon EL-EN5 battery…I got mine for under $20. The mfg recommends only using their brand, I concur. From past experience I have seen off brand batteries mess the ports up so the camera becomes unusable.
All in all if you are looking for a point and shoot with a lot of the manual capabilities of a SLR camera this is a good choice.
5 Stars Short and Sweet … I LOVE IT!
Short, sweet and to the point! I LOVE my new Nikon! As an early wedding, Christmas, birthday present to myself, I bought the Nikon P90! Okay, so really I told people that it was “saved” in my shopping cart and when I was buying a lightning deal, I just checked out with the camera too! (shhh..don’t tell anyone!)
I like my camera’s simple and easy to use with sharp images. I got exactly that! Excellent! My first shot out of the box was crystal clear! No adjustments, no settings – I did NOTHING but point and shoot! Wow – it was sooooooooo clear! I will post that picture for you all to see!
My only regret? I didn’t buy it sooner!
4 Stars Nikon P90
Picture and stabliztion is good overall a very good camera. However, I brought this camera for the camera as well as for the quick video feature and the video quality was not very good and the zoom feature did not work for the video like for pictures. I thought because the pixels were higher for pictures the videos well also be better but I was very disappointed by the video quality. I am thinking now I have to buy a camcorder for the better video.
5 Stars Great Grab Camera
I’m used to using Nikon’s full-sized D-SLRs with vertical grips and the wonderful Nikon VR lenses. I love them dearly and will always use them as my cameras of choice.
I had purchased a Coolpix 8800 a few years ago and gave it mediocre reviews. It is much larger, again, with the vertical grip, but it is rugged and works well, although it has a relatively small file-size, dimmer eye-level viewer and smaller screen. It allows me lots of versatility, but I wanted something smaller, with larger file-sizes.
The P90 offers that, far better movie choices and many more options for shooting right out of my purse. This is a camera that can give me professional quality and versatility in non-flash situations that are unmatched by other grab cameras without the bulk of my professional systems.
The lack of range of f-stops loses versatility in important areas. It has no hot shoe, so it can only be gerry-rigged for complex flash situations. I really don’t plan to use it on that level. It uses 4-1 compressed JPEG images, which take the quality down a bit and has no option for RAW images or uncompressed TIFFs. The zoom seems jumpy, but that may just be a situation where I need practice.
At extreme optical and digital zoom, combined with the best VR system I have used, it produce some very nice results hand-held. I can hardly wait for my next encounter with the red tail hawk in the marsh next to my home! It’s also nice to have an actual wide-angle option.
One of the main reasons I purchased this unit is that I love Arches and Canyonlands NPs and last year when I was there, in the high desert, the winds howeled! The downside of that was dust on the sensors in my D-SLRs, even the self-cleaning D90 and DX300. There is no worse feeling than getting back to a motel, uploading hundreds of photos, and finding that you have to retouch virtually every one. Welcome back to film! With a sealed system,I can wander all over and not worry about dust!
So far, I’ve only had the camera a few days, I haven’t taken any spectacular shots to share. I still haven’t taken anything I would want at 20X30, so I’ll reserve judgement on compressed JPEGs. They may be better than I expect. I found that I love the “food” scene mode! It has a color temperature adjustment right on-screen. Since this will be an available light camera (I despise on-camera flash), this will be a useful mode.
I will probably update this report after I’ve done some meaningful shooting. A 4gig SD card holds almost 650 shots, so quality is going to be a big issue. The battery has a limited life, so I will be purchasing extras. I just have to remember it’s a backup! If it’s a good one for me, it will be the best camera the average amateur will ever own, and that is not ego talking. I am just uber-picky…
