The Nikon D90 is one of the most powerful semi-professionals DLR, the first one of its kind to be able to record video. Some people have taken this feature to a new level creating amazing short videos thatthey have later put on Youtube.

This selection is my personal 10 favorite videos done with the Nikon D90, if you have created one and you would like me to feature it here drop me a comment.

1 “Reminisce” on the Nikon D90 by Happydogsproduction

Engaging video with images of the subway, directed by Ken Hirama and music by Cat Power with the song “The Greatest”. This video is inspired by My Blueberry Nights from Wong Kar Wai

2. Morning Coffee by SteamData

Nice video of Kitchen utensils while preparing the morning coffee. Not much information about the director, music by Ani Difranco? song Joyful life.

3. The Eiger Movie by Robert Bösch

After the calm and relaxing experience of the two previous videos, here is a frenzy, high speed yet entertaining video by Robert Bösch of his friend Ueli Steck climbing their way to the top of the Eiger north face in the Bernese Alps.

4. Henkell Spot by SlowPhoto

A TV video spot for Henkell directed by Martín Crespo shot entirely with the Nikon D90 with superb quality

5. Heineken “Keep The Change”

Anbother TV commercial, this time shot by Akira Wing entirely with the Nikon D90 in HD, edited with the program Sony vegas 8 and afterwards color corrected with Magic Bullet.

6. Vengeance Rides a Train – By Akira Wing

This one cames in episodes and this is the first episode, shot entirely with the Nikon D90 and then edited by Sony Vegas 9, the color was corrected with Magic Bullet. Music composed by Akira Wing in Cakewalk Sonar

7, 8, 9. Downtown Story Part I, II and III by Emoonu

Beautifully shot nice short film that comes in three episodes shot entirely with the Nikon D90 by a 23 year old student for his thesis. This must be one of the most beautifully shot videos done with the Nikon D90 the guy is that did the is very skilled though there is very little information about him, who knows maybe we’ll know more of him in the future.

10. Klub Terytorium krótki by Philigphilig

This looks like a publicity video for a club in Poland, I incuded it in this list to show that the capabilities of the video in the Nikon D90 go beyong short films to more funky style videos

• Some interface improvements
• Also an ISO tweak.
• Improvement in the d-movie compression blue channel’s compression is too high), there will be a compression rate selector within the menu

Although there’s nothing that done about the Jello Video thing, sorry to hear about that but It’s a hardware problem, that will stay be there even in the next couple of generations of SLR with video capabilities.

As you can see this new Firmware for the Nikon D90 doesn’t improve things a whole lot but a new firmware release so soon after the release shows that Nikon is taking care of the Nikon D90 owners.

“digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera that redefines the creative boundaries of digital photography allowing photographers to easily create stunning still images and High Definition (HD) movie clips with sound”

Among the new features that the press release highlights are:

“Borrowed from Nikon’s professional line of digital cameras, the D90 is the most affordable camera to include Nikon’s Scene Recognition System and adds newly-developed advanced Face Detection technology”

According to some reviews this feature, takes the process of taking semi professional pictures a step beyond in quality and effectiveness. All this features were included in more professional models before so Nikon is counting on the increase of interest in semi professional photography by household users.

Ever since the first DLSR showed up in the scene everybody has wondered why they were not able to record video, some purists likes it that way but in this case Nikon again is betting on the average family user with an increased interest in photography including this feature as the breakthrough characteristic of this model.

Nikon D90 movie capabilities

“For the first time in digital SLR photography, Nikon introduces the addition of the D-Movie mode, allowing consumers to create their own HD movie clips (1280 x 720) with sound from their D-SLR camera. Photographers will appreciate the cinematic qualities that come from the 24fps frame rate, which matches theatrical film,”

Apart from That the Nikon D90 also includes some fancy tweaks that for sure will spark the creativeness of the most unimaginative user:

• New Distortion Control: Adjusts the annoying lens aberration
• Straighten picture: This feature helps to correct linear inclination of an image for straight horizons and landscapes, no more crooked photos
• Fisheye Effect: In camera filter produces optical effects similar to a fisheye lens.

Chronicle Project has hung a side by side comparison between the new Nikon D90 and professional video reorder Panasonic HVX 200, the result can be seen in the video, I’m particularly surprised with the proper performance of the Nikon D90, despite its limited resolution progressive of 720p.

Judging by the author, the differences are more noticeable when you see images in full resolution (720p) for the HVX 200, this option can be activated by pressing the symbol “star” that is at the end of the progress bar video, alongside the volume.

D90 and HVX side-by-side test from Chronicle Project on Vimeo.