Photo gallery: Nikon Coolpix P90Design
From the outside the P90 definitely looks like a superzoom camera. Housing a 24x optical zoom and sporting a dSLR style shape, it's relatively unassuming, clothed in black plastic and accented with silver-tipped buttons and dials, similar to its predecessor the P80. There's a textured grip and thumb rest, but that's as far as the tactile trickery goes on this camera.
Overall the P90's controls and dials feel quite sparse. There isn't that much more room on the body to include additional controls but compared with many of its other superzoom competitors, it does feel like something is missing.
The lens unit extends a fair way out of the body, and considering that inside sits a 24x optical zoom this is not so much of a surprise. Overall, the P90 is relatively lightweight for a superzoom camera and as a result doesn't feel as sturdy as a number of its other competitors like the Canon PowerShot SX1 IS and 10 IS.
Features
Inside the P90 is a 12.1-megapixel CCD sensor, and the camera is equipped with an electronic viewfinder. It's rather small and requires a lot of squinting and shading to make it easy to see what's being displayed. The real drawcard here is the 24x optical zoom lens, which is just nudged out of being the longest on a camera of its class by the Olympus SP-590UZ, at 26x. At its widest the lens hits f/2.8 and f/5.0 at full extension.
Tilt-tacular: the LCD at the rear of the P90. (Credit: Nikon)
As would be expected on a camera with such a long zoom reach, image stabilisation is standard. The P90 is also capable of reaching a maximum ISO of 6400, though at a reduced resolution.
At the back, the most interesting feature is the tilting, variable angle 3-inch LCD screen. It emerges out from the body in a manner similar to the screens found on Sony's Alpha series of dSLRs.
Much to our chagrin the P90 doesn't include a hotshoe connection at the top of the camera and only has an in-built pop-up flash. This severely limits its expandability and is disappointing to see. There's also no option to shoot in RAW, like the SX1 IS (available via firmware update).
Another layer of intrigue is presented to us on the P90 with the inclusion of time-lapse photography, available at a series of selectable intervals ranging from 30 seconds to 10 minutes in program, aperture priority, shutter priority and fully manual modes. In burst mode, Nikon claims the P90 can reach 15 frames per second. More on our experiments with burst mode further down the page.
Like the recently tested Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28, the P90 uses a rechargeable battery. Not all superzooms are created equal though, as the Canon SX1 IS and 10 IS both use AA batteries. It's a matter of personal preference to which is more convenient for you, so that's another decision to take on board when choosing one of these cameras.
Performance and image quality
Start-up time was incredibly quick, with the camera powering on and being ready to take the first shot in just over one second.
Barrel distortion on the P90 at the 26mm (widest) focal length. Click image to enlarge.
(Credit: CBS Interactive)
In general, image quality was on par with other superzoom cameras we've tested including the Panasonic FZ28 and Canon SX10 IS. The P90 did enjoy blowing out highlights in bright areas of pictures, especially outdoor scenes including sky areas, which was unfortunate as the camera did tend to obtain a correct exposure for most other areas of the image. The flash, meanwhile, was very bright and did reach over the lens even at its longest extension without noticeable vignetting or shadowing. Chromatic aberration was also evident across most focal lengths, but it wasn't extreme.
At the widest end (26mm), barrel distortion was incredibly prominent. Lines curved out from the centre to create a bulging effect, just as in our example picture to the right. At full extension, the lens did tend to lose detail and sharpness was affected, particularly over areas of high detail when using the camera without a tripod.
Noise was kept under control across most areas up to and including ISO 1600 which was pleasing to see for a superzoom camera, though anything more was quite messy and generally unsuitable for all but the most low-end shots.
If you think you'll be able to use the full 24x zoom when shooting video (VGA mind you) then think again; the P90 is only capable of zooming a small fraction of the way — and it is digital zoom only. Audio quality was also relatively poor, picking up a lot of wind and incidental noise from its one microphone located on the left-hand side of the camera.
45 frames in quick succession — that can only spell animation. Click on the image to view.
(Credit: CBS Interactive)
Burst shooting, selected by using the sport selector on the mode dial, was one of the most impressive options on the P90. Though it took shots at a lower resolution, we managed to churn out 45 frames in succession before the camera had to stop and process them. Watching the frames back in quick succession was almost like looking at a (slightly jagged) video clip. To see the burst mode in action click on the image to the right for the animated GIF.
Conclusion
The P90 is a competent superzoom with an impressive burst rate, but loses out against its competitors on image quality and features. That said, unless you need HD video and RAW functionality, the P90 is a relatively good buy given the extensive zoom range — just take a tripod with you.
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