Holy cow! A 24X optical zoom & full auto or full manual operation

Author's Rating:

Pros: Full auto or full manual in every sense of the word.

Cons: Can't take filters or other lens barrel accessories

The Bottom Line: 
It's a great camera.  Feature packed but easy to grow into at your own pace.

Author's Review
I've paid my dues when it comes to buying and selling cameras.  It started in the 60's and 70's.  I watched the development of handy cartridge loaders like the Kodak instamatic right up to pro level 35mm like the Nikon F and medium formats like Bronica and Hasselblad.  I saw the incredible rise and fall of Polaroid including the remarkable introduction of Polaroid Color film.

It's ironic that nearly 40 years later we took a trip through the unbelievably scenic Big Horn range of the rocky mountains in Wyoming and all I had to document the scenery was a compact digital albeit a 12 megapixel Pentax with a 3X optical zoom lens.  I was able to get some decent shots no thanks to the LCD screen which washed out terribly in bright sun.  I promised myself that my next camera would have a viewfinder in addition to the LCD screen.

My tentative budget was set around $200.  I searched online, I searched the big box stores and the warehouse stores.  The only compact I could find with a viewfinder was a Canon powershot 1200 which was priced right at my budget limit.

I have to admit that "candy store syndrome" struck as I was browsing the shelves of Best Buy.  The prominent display of the Nikon cool pix P-90 with it's key features emblazoned in all their point-of-sale glory drew me to it like a magnet.  I had to have it.

In the old days fully automatic cameras either had fixed focus lenses, fixed lens apertures and fixed shutter speeds or they were very expensive and complicated.  As a camera salesman I would often describe the features of a camera and watch the customer's eyes glaze over and I would sometimes tell them to just set the camera at f11 and 1/100 second and leave it there.

With the coolpix P-90 you have the best of both worlds.  Full automation beginning with auto focus, automatic evaluative or spot metering, automatic shutter speed that can even tell when you need a higher speed to catch fast sport action all by itself.  The light metering system is sophisticated enough to adjust to tricky conditions like back lighting where your subject could easily become a silhouette if not for some lens adjustment.

Sure you can leave the camera in auto mode or you can pace yourself reading the 178 page printed user's manual and take advantage of all the creative aspects of photography.

Like a camera from the past the Nikon has a clearly marked dial on the top deck, except what used to be a shutter speed dial is now a mode dial with auto, program, shutter priority, aperture priority, manual, 2 user programmable modes, movie mode, scene, auto scene and sport continuous mode in which the camera keeps shooting as long as you hold the shutter button down.

The 3" LCD screen in on a hinge allowing you to tilt it down towards you and shoot over crowds or tilt it up letting you hold the camera down for a rug rat perspective.  If and when it washes out on that bright sunny day tap a button and it switches to an electronic, diopter adjustable viewfinder instead.

Every single feature is here, up to and including time lapse still and movie photography with multiple settings.

The rechargable battery is a higher capacity li-ion battery and a separate battery charger is provided so you don't have to tie up the camera charging the battery.

There's a pop up electronic flash which puts the flash tube about 3 inches above the center point of the lens.  It's particularly powerful giving you generous range.

The only place Nikon missed the boat was in providing for use of filters.  While the front lens barrel appears to be threaded for filters it seems that the front lens element bulges out just enough to preclude using a lens protecting UV or skylight filter or polarizer or lens shade.

The camera weighs 18 ounces and fits beautifully in your hand.

With that incredible 24X zoom lenses fully extended it's about 6 1/2 inches long from the LCD screen to the end of the lens barrel.  The shake reduction works so well that it's possible to get sharp results hand held at full telephoto.  At the other end of the scale, wide is truly wide angle so you're not likely to run out of back up space for shooting crowds.

You can shoot at CCD sensitivity ratings up to 6400 ISO.  Picture quality is very subjective.  Other reviews have complained about weak low light performance but others have rejected that contention saying that the cameras flexibility can adjust to any situation.

Nikon provides a one year warranty which is extendable at reasonable cost.