Nikon D90: Is This The Future?

On the heels of Canon announcing its new EOS 50D, Nikon has revealed details of the D90, which features a video mode.

Nikon claims that the D90 is the first mid-class DSLR to offer a movie function. It allows you to shoot movies in three different motion JPEG formats: 320 x 216 pixels, 640 x 424 pixels and 1,280 x 720 pixels. The video mode is compatible with Nikkor’s range of lenses.

Nobody should have doubts that this is the future for photography. Imagine the possibilities for photojournalists, travel photographers and others to have this function!

Just a caveat: The Nikon D90 link that shows off its video capabilities has a note that the videos shown were taken using D-Movie function, then converted to Flash Video format for ease of handling. Image quality varies from the original.

And if you want to hear the N90's shutter sound, knock yourself out by clicking here.

David Pogue has a friendly review of the D90 on the New York Times, which makes the point that the "era of the video S.L.R. has begun."

Magnum Workshops in NYC

Magnum announced that its Magnum Workshop New York on October 20-31, 2008 will be a five day practice oriented workshop taking place at MILK Studios, a New York photography studio, located in the heart of Chelsea and the arts district. Each workshop will have a maximum of 12 participants.

The following Magnum Photographers will be leading the workshops:

Session 1: October 20-24, 2008
Alex Webb (with Rebecca Norris Webb)
Bruce Gilden

Session 2: October 27-31, 2008
Constantine Manos
Chien-Chi Chang

For further details, visit Magnum Workshops

New Canon 50D

Canon announced a new camera to its EOS series with the introduction of a mid-range digital SLR. The EOS 50D has a new 15.1 million pixel resolution CMOS sensor (with 1.6x crop factor), and is capable of shooting 6.3 frames per second. It's the first DLSR to have Canon’s new DIGIC 4 image processor.

While many see the 50D as an upgrade of the 40D, Canon says it intends to sell both cameras. The 50D also features Canon's 'Integrated Cleaning System' and a liveview mode, which also allows users to use three ways to auto focus - Quick AF, Live AF, and new Face Detection Live AF.

The 50D will be available at the end of September. The price is said to be $1400...not bad.

For a listing of the specifications, go to DPReview.com. The Wired blog also has a post.