I am far from a professional photographer, but I take it as genuinely as doable while still referring to it as a hobby. I take generally pictures of people at dealings and many of my babies son without twinkle in low light situations.
I had been using a Nikon D40x for 1 year and very early reached my limitation with that camera. The Nikon D40x has very fussy figure worth, but the camera's edge is not apposite for a more unsmiling revolver who needs adroit only button or dial access to such shooting limitations such as sallow tally, shooting sort, metering kind, etc. I also felt very limited by the D40x not having an in-body focus motor that would allocate me to use non AF-I/AF-S lenses (which are lenses without the focus motor built-in).
The Nikon D40x limitations were ruthless enough that I was about to judge purchasing a Canon 40D awaiting the Nikon D90 appeared just in time.
PROS:
1. Fantastic set of split buttons on the camera to regulate limitations like ISO, fair balance, metering, autofocus, aura value, shooting mode, etc.
2. Two direct dials
3. High resolution 920K pixel LCD protect (like the one on the Nikon D300)
4. 12.3 megapixel CMOS feeler
5. Low clamor high ISO capability (for low light shooting) I can appear ISO 1600 with good picture property with this camera, while on my D40x I could only dash with ISO 400 and find acceptable IQ. I will even use ISO 3200 frequently with very usable results!
6. Separate top-viewing LCD display besides the rear high res hide, to show shooting limitations constantly
7. In-body focus motor which allows the use of Nikon's non AF-I/S lenses, with great and CHEAP summit lenses such as the Nikkor 50mm 1.8 (~$100 lens!)
8. Continual shooting of 4.5 frames per minute
9. Small volume, although superior to the D40/D40x/D60, it is still substantially minor in the hand than the D300/D3
10. 720p 24fps MPEG cartridge shooting capability with incredible ability to use deepness of tackle that I cannot achieve with my Sony High-Def camcorder.
11. Eleven vehicle-focus points (not as finicky as the 51 points on the D300, but substantially better than my D40x with its 3 points)
12. GPS decision
13. HDMI harvest
14. Enormous number of options to customize camera and shooting settings to fit your type of shooting
15. Fantastic copy attribute right out-of-box if you don't want to do any station processing
16. Terrific size classed
17. Top rung camera ergonomics (but this will be a very personal outlook that differs for each handgun)
CONS:
1. "Rolling secure" phenomenon while demo videotape: The D90 CMOS feeler has the same glitch that other CMOS cassette recorders have when cassette capture. If you move the camera, especially horizontally, you get a "jelly" or "rubberbanding" effect where the copy wobbles significantly. It is nice to have the tape features, which looks very spiky at 720p, but it is NOT a substitute for a record camera. If you use a stand, and do not do agile zooms/pans, the record attribute is superb. Without a tripod, however, you may get nauseous watching an unsteady video. The sound is also in monoaural.
2. 1/200 spark synch: Not a snag for me, but it might be for you.
3. No endure sealing: This is found on the Nikon D300/D3 and even on equally priced models from other camera companies
4. The defense will charge up after about 8 continual RAW + JPG (FINE) shots. This numbered differs depending on the shooting limitations that you will want. If you whiz primarily JPG, the barrier seems to permit a very large number of continual shots, but I have not quantified this for JPG only.
TIPS:
1. Get the FREE Nikon ViewNX software from Nikon's place as your 1st stage in your workflow. This will let you examine your RAW metaphors that you can manner for each Nikon CaptureNX2 to do broaden RAW processing or just export to JPG or TIFF for a JPG/TIFF editor such as PhotoShop.
2. Recommend wholesale the Nikon CaptureNX2. It is a RAW converter (if you cast in RAW) that will read the camera settings suitably for export to JPG or TIFF. Capture NX2, however, is not as glossy as the Adobe goods and Capture NX2 requires an equitably able notebook, otherwise it can run pretty leisurely on a PC > 3 time old.
3. If you use JPEGs out-of-camera, judge increasing the roughness above the duck 3 or 4. Nikon uses a very conservative sharpening evade setting. Nikon has also definite to change the evasion JPEG imagery to contest the senior end D3/D700/D300 cameras which fabricate more neutral similes. Consequently, the D90 images that are minus stunned than the D40/D40x/D60/D80, so you may also want to rotation up the in-camera saturation and disparity.
The Nikon D90 has all the line features that somber and even professional photographers basic with wonderful copy attribute.
Let me first start by saying it is absurd and so trivial that some people feel the need to give a perfectly acceptable digital camera a poor rating because they cannot get their pics from it or because it doesn't come with a full page manual. Frankly, people this dumb don't deserve to even think about handling a digital camera, let alone a computer. It is 2010. Today they have SDHC cards in digital cameras (jpeg compatibility), card readers, and printers (to print out manuals even digital cameras costing 4X this price don't have printed manuals included). Furthermore, if you don't like the application included with the product, don't use it. Nobody's holding a gun to your head. There's lots of other photo application programs ready to accept your photos from this camera. I don't care to dwell on stupidity so I'll move on.
I purchased this camera on an impulse buy. I already have a compact Canon A590, and a megazoom Canon SX20, but needed a compact that had better resolution, and a greater zoom capability but wasn't as large as my megazoom. I wasn't expecting much from this Kodak Z915 and was intending to return it after a few days, but on using it for a week now, I am fixed on keeping it.
The Kodak Z915 weighs approximately 280 grams with an added SDHC card and a lovely pair of Ni-mH batteries. It measures 1.5 inches in depth, 4 inches wide, and 3 inches in height, with a 3 inch lens extension outward when in full zoom. There is a mic pickup on the face, and a small speaker output on the top left of the camera. On the top right they have a small power on/off button, a toggle in/out and snap button, a flash on/off button, and macro and timer buttons as well. The camera looks slightly smaller in person than in pics. The body is made of plastic, as well as the toggle switch. All of which feel kind of cheap. There is a program selection wheel on the top, and a color 2.5 inch LCD screen on the back along with six small function buttons jogging vertically along the lcd screen (delete, menu, info, and toggle camera / playback button). On the side they have a port for a 3 volt in ac to dc adapter, and a mini usb out port.
In terms of selectable modes, they have a scene selection, a panorama option, a setting for "sports", a "smart capture" position for simple automatic point-and-shoot, a video mode, a "program" option (let's you set aperture, iso, flash advance or delay), an "aperture priority" setting, a "shutter priority" option, and a "manual" position. The "smart capture" setting is a straight forward selection for those photo-takers who don't need to mess with settings and lets the camera set them, essentially letting you point and shoot. My favorite option though is the "scene" selection. Kodak has built in 17 settings under "scene" that help maximize your picture quality depending on various environments and lighting conditions. I find my pics turn out a small better than on the "smart capture" mode here with the "scene" choices. The "scene" choices include High ISO (for low light situations), portrait, night portrait, landscape, night landscape, flower (for vivid pics of flowers in bright light), sunset, back-light (for photos where light in behind the subject), candle light, manner / museum (where camera sound and flash are not desired), text (taking photos of documents), beach (bright situations), snow (bright white backgrounds), fireworks (displays of vivid bright night colors), children (playing in bright situations), self-portrait, and stage (for people on stage, less blur, more brightness, and no flash). The camera doesn't have a true wide-angle position, but under the "panorama" setting there is the ability to take a 3 stage set of pics from left to right, or right to left, and the camera binds all 3 pics (or "stitches" them together) for a wide-angle effect pic. This is truly fabulous and I have seen anything like it. I have managed to put some fantastic panoramic pics together of some breathtaking landscapes with this option!
In the "menu" selection, they have 2 options for "capture" and "tool" settings. Here they can fine-tune picture size from 10 MP (4:3), 8.9 MP (3:2), 7.5 MP (16:9), 5.0 MP (4:3), 3.1 MP (4:3), 2.2 MP (3:2), and finally 2.1 MP (16:9). An excellent wide selection of picture resolution choices! Under "tools" they can select the color mode (natural, high color, low color, sepia, and bandw). They can turn on or off the face detection option, set automatic focus to single or continuous, and set the LCD brightness. Additional selections include picture grid, red-eye reduction, date and time stamp, picture stabilization, quick-view, camera sounds, video out (NTSC or PAL), picture storage (memory card, internal 32 mb only, or both using internal as backup for the memory card). They also have language, reset, and format selections as well.
In terms of taking pics and video, I find it is always best to know you are working environment and being able to fine tune the options on the camera for best photo and video quality. Don't get me wrong, the simple "smart capture" mode works fine, but you can squeeze out some brilliantly impressive photos from this small digital cam if you know how to get your settings right. It is something that comes with experimentation and experience. The macro mode works well even though there has been some negative feedback about it here on Amazon. Ideally, anywhere you have bad lighting, the macro focus won't focus, and you'll have bad pics. I have managed to take some neat close-ups of flowers and other things at distances of about 3 inches, but anything closer causes the focus to blur. The video is crisp and sounds decent, but keep in mind it is at 640x480, so don't expect HD quality here. Still, a nice small option for those moments you don't need to miss the "live" moments. The use of a pair of regular AA batteries is excellent. I don't understand why some people don't like using AA batteries? A pair of high-powered Ni-mh batteries will keep this camera jogging for hours under video mode, and lets you take hundreds of photos before needing recharging. and if you are out on the road with no recharger, there is very always somewhere you can go to pick up a set of alkaline for those occasions you need to get back to taking photos quickly. The memory card slot accepts the largest card I have (32 GB) and when you are ready to view your photos is simple to remove and place in my laptop card reader or usb card-reader port on my dvd player.
A couple small things that i do not like include the fact that the LCD is hard to view in bright light and it is resolution is basic, but don't let the pics on the LCD fool you, when you blow them up on your monitor plenty of of them look fabulous.
I have decided to keep this camera. Why? It makes my Canon A590 Powershot pocket cam perform like a dinosaur. The Canon's pics look flat, hazy, and dull compared to the Kodak's. I have taken both to the park and put them head to head. The picture quality (resolution) of the Kodak, zoom capability, and video is that much better than the Canon (I never would have thought that about a Kodak versus a Canon) considering both cameras were released at about the same time (2007/2008). So if you are looking for a VERY versatile pocket cam that takes great pics and lovely video at a price that won't break the bank, I highly recommend this Kodak Z915. I have absolutely no regrets in purchasing it!
