Laser Ray

Some things I've learned about the D90 by my own experience. The D90 through HDMI has very very poor audio but the video plays about like it might if transfered to your computer. The Audio is fine when played back on my computer. There certainly are scaling artifacts that are noticable in certain types of shots but really, 720P is what it is. It should be sharper than SD if exposed properly but it will never have stunning detail.

I hope Nikon upgrades the compression to handle highly detailed scenes. Lanscapes or detailed scenes seem to soak up the bit rate and rob detail from the frames.

Likewise, lower light levels push gain (which is tough to conltrol [no manual controls for it at all]) and that seems to degrade detail faster than anything else. My guess is that the D90's gain introduces too much noise. That noise constitutes detail and soaks up all the bit rate making for lousy footage. Excessive gain can even look out of focus.

Bright scenes or fast lenses requiring less gain, make less noise and allows the codec to use the bit rate for picture detail. The results are much better but even so, they are only 720P.

But as this demonstration video shows, the D90 is very filmic in its look. I used to shoot Kodakrome Super 8mm to get film look of my family. Kodak discontinued the stock and processing is increasingly inconvenient. I love the D90 because it gives me a respectable film look. Yes it has artifacts but every film or film-like option does, unless you can afford to shoot with a Sony CineAlta or a 35mm Panavision and like shooting family events with a huge camera.

Shoot with as little gain as possible and you should get workable results. Only the tightest shots with the coolest lighting (Golden hour stuff) have made me think "wow". Everything else is like "hmmmm.. ok".