[jqp]

My D40 with 18-200 VR lens was stolen (with my backpack and Canon HV30 camcorder and miscellaneous backpack contents). We were in a crowded little restaurant above a pub. I let my guard down (tired, thirsty, hungry) for a few minutes and it disappeared. I found that there was a back stairway to some public restrooms in the hall that led to the restaurant.

Luckily my friend had her D40 so all was not lost. I had 1 day of London photos on my laptop.

When I got back, I started replacing my losses. I called my insurance company from Best Buy, and found that they would give me replacement cost on everything in the backpack minus my $1000 deductible. I bought a new D90 at Best Buy for the Amazon price after asking the manager!

The D90 comes with the 18-105mm version of the lens I lost. This is a sweet camera, with the same image quality as the D300.

With my insurance cutting me a check for $1900 in a few days (I also had a $650 pair of glasses among other things in the backpack), I would have to say that I came out well except for the sting of losing everything for the trip.

So far I have taken about 300 shots with the D90 - there are more features to learn and it is closer to a professional camera. I liked the small size of the D40 but this body is not too big or too heavy to carry around. The LCD really is a step up, and it has the same meter as the D3 and D300, and much better focusing than the D40.

"The Nikon D90 is a D80 with Live View, ADR, an almost three-dimensional 3" LCD, it can shoot movies, and has far more advanced ergonomics."

Very happy with this camera which was more that twice the price of the D40 (but it also has the 18-105mm VR lens).

[jqp]

Just ordered the Sandisk Extreme III "30MB/sec edition" 4GB card for my D90. Sandisk and Nikon co-developed the interface for the 30MB/sec SDHC cards for use on the D90. The benefits are for multiple frames/sec and movies. (D90 was the first to do HD movies - I want it for fps)

It will do 18.5 -20MB/s - this should help me I get the 4.5fps

Cards testd with the D90:

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/camera_multi_page.asp?cid=6007-9597

[rmassey]

Sorry for your loss with the D40, but glad to know you have recovered so well. 

I picked up a D90 myself about 4 weeks ago, got a refurb from J&R for a nice discount.  I love it and have been getting more familiar with the features as time passes.

Happy shooting

[gary]

The D90 is a fantastic camera, and I'm also really impressed with the kit 18-105mm lens. I'm sure you'll love it even more as you get more time with it. I can't get over the colors I get with the camera, and the image quality to price ratio for the lens has got to be one of the highest out there. If you want to see the kind of shots a total hack (me) can get with basically zero post-processing then check out this gallery of pictures from Route 66.

gary

[jqp]

Wow, what did you do - follow Ken Rockwell around? Those are some great shots!

[droht]

How is the video quality on the D90?  Does it seem sufficient for typical family/vacation uses?

Thanks.

[jqp]

How is the video quality on the D90?  Does it seem sufficient for typical family/vacation uses?

NO   Nikon was first to market with what is basically a marketing feature (DSLR with movie mode).

But it is no camcorder - you have to manually focus, and also probably use a tripod, oh, and you have no viewfinder! Only the LCD screen - so as someone said, its pretty useless for making movies without a crew of four, with all the Hollywood production equipment.

"You can shoot at three different resolutions, 1280x720, 640x424 or 320x216, with a frame rate of 24fps. The maximum clip length is up tp 5 minutes or 2GB when using HD mode."

On the plus side, you can use lots of different lenses and get some great depth of field effects, but a video camera is what you want for family/vacations. I have a Canon HV30 ($650, EXCELLENT HDV camcorder)

But as a DSLR the D90 a great camera, with a very useful kit lens.

[droht]

How is the video quality on the D90?  Does it seem sufficient for typical family/vacation uses?

NO   Nikon was first to market with what is basically a marketing feature (DSLR with movie mode).

But it is no camcorder - you have to manually focus, and also probably use a tripod, oh, and you have no viewfinder! Only the LCD screen - so as someone said, its pretty useless for making movies without a crew of four, with all the Hollywood production equipment.

"You can shoot at three different resolutions, 1280x720, 640x424 or 320x216, with a frame rate of 24fps. The maximum clip length is up tp 5 minutes or 2GB when using HD mode."

On the plus side, you can use lots of different lenses and get some great depth of field effects, but a video camera is what you want for family/vacations. I have a Canon HV30 ($650, EXCELLENT HDV camcorder)

But as a DSLR the D90 a great camera, with a very useful kit lens.

Thanks for the response...that's what I was afraid of.  I just can't convince myself that I'm going to carry a camcorder around and a DSLR.  There are  newer offerings coming with on board HD video.  Guess I can hope that it will be elevated at some point, but I am doubtful.

[jqp]

I carry my D90 and my HV30 with me everywhere, in a backpack! Also in there is my laptop and my type-II diabetes medicine, among other useful items   

You may want to get something like a $250 Canon point and shoot which can probably serve both purposes in a pinch on a vacation. Then get something later when technology goes further. Eventually a DSLR will double as a camcorder - that would be really nice.

[droht]

I carry my D90 and my HV30 with me everywhere, in a backpack! Also in there is my laptop and my type-II diabetes medicine, among other useful items   

You may want to get something like a $250 Canon point and shoot which can probably serve both purposes in a pinch on a vacation. Then get something later when technology goes further. Eventually a DSLR will double as a camcorder - that would be really nice.

I've done the P&S thing, but I'm pretty hooked on what the D40 brings to the table.  If something like the SX1 IS from Canon would be close on IQ I'd consider it.  That could be the vacation/day trip camera, the D40 would still serve a purpose for shots at home, birthday parties, holidays, etc.  I'd want a real camcorder then as well.  I really need to confine having too much gear to the audio hobby. 

I'd love to do the backpack thing, but I have a 4 yr old who travels with more gear than most Everest expeditions.  Another bag ain't' gonna fly.

Thanks for your feedback.