At first look, the Nikon D90 camera looks like the D80. When I got my D90 at last, I had to check the badge twice just to ensure I got the right DSLR.

Because the D90 appears similar to its precursor, it looks as if this camera is one of those with subdued incremental upgrades. Wrong. Just take a closer look and you will find that the D90 sports many cool features to keep you more than satisfied.

Autofocus system

Similar to the Nikon D80 viewfinder, the D90 viewfinder features an 11-point AF system in a diamond arrangement. Still going by the Multi-Cam 1000 name, the D90’s autofocus engine has been upgraded to include 3-dimensional focus tracking. It also features Face Detection, which biases autofocus points in favor of the eyes instead of the nose and other objects in a scene.

Live view features

The activation of Live view shooting on other Nikon DSLRs includes turning the Drive Mode dial to Lv. This is hardly instinctive, but the D90 sports a live view button found on its back. It is within easy reach of your thumb.

Scene recognition feature

Nikon has been working on scene recognition for years, and they are reaping the fruit of their labor. Their latest models have seen improvements to the system. Face recognition comes with the Nikon D90.

The bottom line

Owners of the nice D80 will definitely drool over the D90. Building on the potency of its exceptional predecessor, the D90 has an awful lot going for it. This newest camera from Nikon has upgraded many specs and offers cool and new features over the Nikon D80.

The bottom line is, the D90 is a remarkably well-rounded DSLR offering. I highly recommend it.