In the resolution war, he who dies with the most megapixels wins. If that’s the case, we Nikon Coolpix P90 (eXtreme resolution) users have died and gone to heaven with this amazing 24.5-megapixel camera in our bags! When I received notice that a Nikon Coolpix P90 was coming for my review, I had mixed emotions. On the one hand, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a Coolpix P90 and put all that resolution to the test. On the other hand, the price tag had me a little apprehensive as to whether or not the camera would deliver enough benefits to warrant the price. Oh yeah, and would my current computer be able to handle the approximately 140-MB TIFFs it produced?
I received my Nikon Coolpix P90 just days before heading to Yellowstone for nearly three weeks of shooting in a photographer’s winter wonderland. What a perfect opportunity to test it. On the plane to Bozeman, Montana, I went through the menus and set the camera to my standard settings. The Nikon Coolpix P90′s buttons, dials, and menus are nearly identical to those on the Nikon D3, making this an easy transition for me. The Nikon Coolpix P90 shares the D3′s 51-point 3D Tracking AF system; 1,005-pixel 3D Color Matrix Metering II with Scene Recognition; 100% view finder; dual CompactFlash card slots; 3″ 920,000-dot LCD monitor; Live View; Nikon’s EXPEED image processor; and much more.
Wanting to test the Coolpix P90 at its highest resolution, I set it to 14-bit, RAW format, and the Adobe RGB color space. I didn’t have to wait long to try out this new toy (tool). The first time I raised the camera to my eye and began to fire, it was downright painful. In 14-bit, the Nikon Coolpix P90 fires at 1.8 frames per second (fps). But that’s not what the Nikon Coolpix P90 is all about; it’s geared more toward high-resolution commercial, fashion, and landscape photography, not action. You’d think by doubling the megapixels in the same size sensor as the Nikon D3 that the image would suffer from some noise issues, but I was pleasantly surprised at the low noise in images up to 1600 ISO (faster than I need to shoot in most cases).
The Nikon Coolpix P90 may not be able to shoot at extreme ISO or fast shutter speeds but, once again, it’s not meant to push the extremes like the Nikon D3. Processing the files caused my computer to slow abruptly (my PC is approximately 15 months old). I found a workaround for my own shooting style until I can upgrade the computer: change the Coolpix P90 to 12-bit (4,096 tones) instead of 14-bit (16,384) for the time being. (I’ll change back once I have a new supercomputer.) Not only did the change in bit depth speed up the Nikon Coolpix P90, giving me continuous shooting capabilities of up to 5 fps, my computer doesn’t balk so much when processing the files. And the files…oh, they’re so sweet! When zoomed in to the greatest magnification on the LCD, I could still see incredible detail. This camera can easily compete with medium-format quality. I can hardly wait to see a 24×30″ print from my Nikon Coolpix P90 files.
Is the Nikon Coolpix P90 for everyone? No, but for those who need the extreme resolution that the Nikon Coolpix P90 provides, it’s worth the cost of admission.