NIkon’s new D 90

Just days after Canon announced it’s new 50D with a huge 15MP sensor (thats big for a cropped sensor), Nikon has announced its new D90.  The big news here is that is shots HD video -  a first on a SLR camera.  Otehr spec’s are:

• Newly designed Nikon DX-format CMOS image sensor with 12.3 effective megapixels and Integrated Dust Reduction System
• Incredibly low-noise performance throughout a wide sensitivity range of ISO 200 to 3200; can be set to ISO 6400 equivalent
• Incorporates Nikon's comprehensive digital image-processing EXPEED concept
• The world's first D-SLR movie function: D-Movie, selectable from 320 x 216 pixels, 640 x 424 pixels or 1,280 x 720 pixels in AVI format
• Scene Recognition System, utilizing 420-pixel RGB sensor, improves autofocus, auto exposure and auto white balance performance and is also integrated with the new Face Detection System
• Live View enables face priority AF with the 3-in., approx. 920k-dot, high-density color LCD featuring 170° ultra-wide viewing angle
• Picture Control System offers new Portrait and Landscape options for more vibrant customized colors
• Active D-Lighting for smooth tone reproduction in high-contrast lighting
• Multi-CAM 1000 autofocus sensor module featuring 11 AF points offers fast and precise autofocus coverage across the frame
• Viewfinder with approx. 96% frame coverage and an easy-to-view 19.5 mm eyepoint (at -1.0 m^-1)
• Advanced Scene Modes that automatically adjust exposure, image processing, Active D-Lighting and Picture Control settings for superior image quality
• Extensive palette of in-camera Retouch Menus including several new retouch options such as Distortion Control, Straighten and Fisheye
• 4.5 fps continuous shooting and quick response of 0.15-second start-up and 65-ms shutter release time lag (CIPA standard)
• Built-in flash with 18mm lens coverage and Nikon's original i-TTL flash control that commands Advanced Wireless Lighting
• Highly efficient energy-saving design that allows approx. 850 images on a single charge of the Rechargeable Li-ion Battery EN-EL3e (CIPA standard, with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, with 50% of pictures taken with flash)
• Versatile Pictmotion menu that creates slideshows combining five choices of both background music and image effects
• Compatible with HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) output
• Optional Multi-Power Battery Pack MB-D80 extends shooting capability and enables use of six R6/AA-size batteries
• Included Nikon ViewNX software makes browsing and organizing your images easy
• Optional photo-editing software, Capture NX 2 allows users quick and easy photo editing
• Lightweight compact body

SLR purists must be turning over in there grave (unless they are still alive of course).  First DSLR get live view (thats what the view finder is for), now it gets video!

If I was to be choosing a new camera out of the Canon 50D or the Nikon D90, I am not sure which one I would choose (larger sensor v video).  However, since I already have Canon Lens, I will stick with this system.  By the time I upgrade, Canon will probably offer video as well.

Canon leads digital camera sales

I find camera rivally both interesting and pointless (who cares what brand you have, as long as it takes good pictures). However, as a canon user, in both DSLR (20D) and point and shot (ixus 55), I will brag about the following statistics.

Of major interest though is that Canon has almost 50% of the DSLR market (most microstock users use DSLR cameras due to higher quality and more control). Nikon comes in second with 33% to leave the other 6 or so companies with about 15% between them (not much).

Also of interest is the DSLR market is growing at 30% per annum. Huge growth in at a time when everyone wants small products (just look at how thin and small mobiles are now).

Article:
Canon leads in digital camera shipments in 2006, according to IDC
Canon Inc., Tokyo, Japan, took the top market share in global digital camera shipments in 2006, and Samsung Electronics, Seoul, South Korea, jumped to fifth place from ninth a year ago, Framington, Mass.-based researcher IDC said.
Canon shipped 19.7 million digital cameras in 2006, accounting for 18.7 percent of the overall market. Canon's shipments jumped 23.3 percent from 2005, accoridng to IDC.
Industrywide digital camera shipments in 2006 rose 14.5 percent to 106 million units from a year earlier, driven by the strong popularity of DSLR models geared toward photo enthusiasts and professionals and growing demand in emerging markets, IDC said. DSLR shipments grew 39 percent to 5 million units last year.
Sony Corp., Tokyo, Japan, was No. 2 in the market with a 15.8 percent share, up from 15.2 percent in 2005, benefiting from its entry into the DSLR market, according to IDC. Eastman Kodak Co., the only U.S. company among the top five digital camera makers, ranked third with 10 percent, a drop from its 14.2 percent share a year earlier. Japan-based Olympus Corp., which came in fourth, trimmed its share to 8.6 percent from 9.8 percent in 2005.
"The big winner in 2006 was Samsung, who displaced Nikon and became the fifth-largest seller of digital cameras in the world," said Christopher Chute, an IDC analyst.
Samsung expanded its market share to 7.8 percent in 2006, a huge jump from the 3.8 percent it had a year earlier. Its shipments more than doubled, IDC said.
Nikon Corp., Tokyo, Japan, the world's second-biggest maker of professional cameras after Canon, ranked No. 6 in the overall digital camera market with a 7.6 percent market share in 2006.
Canon also dominated the growing DSLR market, securing a 46.7 percent share in 2006, with its shipments rising 30.7 percent from a year earlier. But its share was trimmed from the 49.5 percent it had in 2006 amid increased competition from rivals. Nikon secured the No. 2 position in DSLRs with a 33 percent market share. Its shipments jumped 35.9 percent. Sony, which bought the DSLR unit of Konica Minolta Holdings shipped 326,240 DSLRs in 2006, accounting for 6.2 percent of the market.