So,.....you asked for it, you started the war.....stick this in your pipe and smoke it, Canon fans:
"As of today, the 12.3MP Nikon D90 SLR is the closest competitor to the Canon Rebel T2i / EOS 550D:"
“Since its introduction, the 12.3MP Nikon D90 has quickly become one of the best selling enthusiast oriented SLR cameras on the market and has earned a reputation as the king of the hill in its category”.
"The Nikon D90 is currently the highest rated non professional camera in terms of sensor quality, incorporating the best sensor in its class according to the respected DxOMark benchmark sensor tests."
"Canon’s 18mp sensor vs Nikon’s 12.3mp:Although the extra resolution from a 18MP sensor provides for gain in fine detail compared to a 12.3MP sensor, the disadvantages typically outweigh the gains. By adding even more pixels to the Rebel T2i / 550D without increasing the size of the sensor, Canon is pushing beyond the resolution threshold of APS-C sensor technology, and in our opinion has once again opted to sacrifice on quality and practicality in favour of a marketing based decision."
Shame, shame, Canon…
"DxOMark Sensor test results for the Nikon D90 versus the Canon Rebel T2i / 550D support these arguments, showing that the Nikon D90 delivers better RAW sensor output compared to the Rebel T2i, including improved colour depth, dynamic range, and high ISO capability."
Canon Rebel T2i offers high ISO boost up to 12,800 ISO compared to the Nikon D90 to 6400 ISO: While the 12,800 high ISO boost capability on the Canon Rebel T2i / 550D sounds good from a marketing point of view, the reality is that this setting produces pretty poor results (only for emergency use).
The Nikon D90 offers the added advantage of providing for the ability to select the minimum shutter speed at which the Auto ISO setting kicks in. General ISO settings are also selectable in 1/3 stop increments on the D90, compared to one stop increments for the Canon Rebel T2i / 550D, allowing for ISO fine tuning with the D90.
Based on our high ISO tests of the Canon T2i / EOS 550D versus the Nikon D90, the D90 begins to show an advantage from 800 ISO and up in terms of retention of detail. Canon's stronger noise reduction approach with in-camera JPEG processing at these higher ISO settings tends to lead to some loss and blurring of detail.
The sensor in the Nikon D90 offers a higher signal to noise ratio compared to the Canon Rebel T2i.
The Nikon AF-S DX 18-55mm VR zoom kit lens outperforms the Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS kit lens: the Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR Nikkor zoom is an entry level kit lens that offers decent performance and image quality with the D90.
The Canon EF-S 18-55mm kit lens is also more prone to producing chromatic aberrations which tend to show up as purplish edges around the bright highlight areas of an image.
Like the professional Nikon D3x and higher end Nikon D300s, the D90 has a built in feature that compensates for lateral chromatic aberration. This feature facilitates the use of the Nikkor AF-S DX 18-55mm VR with the D90. The Nikon D90 "Lateral Chromatic Aberration Correction" function serves to reduce moiré and provides optimized edge sharpness providing a practical advantage with any lens.
The Nikon D90 is faster and quieter than the Canon EOS Rebel T2i: The Nikon D90 is designed to allow you to capture the decisive moment more easily. The D90 features faster focus acquisition, a shorter mirror black out time and shutter lag compared to the Canon Rebel T2i.
The Nikon D90 also features a quieter shutter mechanism compared to the Canon Rebel T2i, making less noise when the camera takes the picture.
The Canon T2i can capture images at 3.7 frames per second (fps) with a buffer that will allow up to 6 RAW or 34 JPEG images in a burst. In comparison the Nikon D90 can capture 4.5 fps up to 11 frames in RAW or 100 JPEG's in a burst. Being able to shoot twice as many (or more) frames in a burst can have significant advantages when trying to capture that precise 'action' shot.
The Nikon D90 provides an enhanced ergonomic layout compared to the Canon Rebel T2i: In comparison to the Rebel T1i / 500D, the new Rebel T2i / 550D does offer improvements in design with larger more accessible buttons.
The Nikon D90 compared to the Rebel T2i still features a more ergonomically thought out placement of control dials and buttons that takes into account real world practical use. Nikon's engineers not only looked at adding features when designing the D90 from the ground up, but also at how these functions should be able to be accessed by the photographer.
For example, the Nikon D90 features two command dials for changing camera settings. You can make quick settings adjustments with your index finger controlling the front sub command dial and your thumb controlling the main command dial while still being able to look through the camera.
The Nikon D90 further incorporates dedicated button's conveniently located on top of camera allowing the user to adjust metering, exposure compensation, continuous shooting and autofocus settings on the fly.
Another advantage of the Nikon D90 is that it incorporates a top LCD information panel. The LCD can be illuminated in low light situations.
The Nikon D90 incorporates a Pentaprism viewfinder versus the Pentamirror type on the Rebel T2i: Featuring a glass pentaprism design usually found on more expensive SLR cameras, the viewfinder on the Nikon D90 provides a clearer view compared to the Rebel T2i / 550D with its pentamirror viewfinder design.
The D90 offers a larger viewfinder with 0.94x magnification compared to the smaller viewfinder 0.87x magnification on the Rebel T2i / EOS 550D.
The Nikon D90 also offers enhanced shutter durability with a shutter mechanism that is rated up to 100,000 exposures. Canon does not provide official specifications on the durability of the shutter built into the Canon Rebel T2i / EOS 550D.
Note: In response to our request for a shutter durability rating for the Canon Rebel T2i, Canon Canada provided us with the following reply:
"Canon does not release shutter durability ratings for EOS Rebel class cameras as it is not a common specification that consumers for that product request. Shutter durability ratings are provided for professional and semi professional models as they could be important factors in the purchase decision.
Canon shutter durability ratings are not a guarantee, nor covered under warranty. They simply test using Canon standard testing conditions. So, any Rebel class cameras have no "official" shutter durability rating"
When we in turn referenced another web site claiming to have received official shutter ratings for Rebel cameras, our Canon contacts reconfirmed the above:
"I just verified with our Pro markets tech expert and he reinforced that Canon does not test Rebel Cameras for "shutter durability" as it isn't a purchasing factor and thus there are no official numbers on the matter. Not too sure who exactly provided these numbers listed in the article but they are not substantiated by Canon Canada."
- Corporate Communications, Canon Canada Inc.
Nikon D90 SRS provides for better Focusing, Metering and White Balance Control vs. the Canon Rebel T2i:
First introduced on the professional Nikon D3 and D300 digital SLR camera's, Nikon’s exclusive Scene Recognition System is also featured in the D90.
This unique technology utilizes the camera's 420-pixel RGB sensor to analyze scene and color information in order to understand what the camera is about to shoot. Milliseconds before the shutter is released, the camera optimizes the autofocus, auto exposure, i-TTL flash control (if applicable) and white balance.
The Nikon D90's 11-point AF system offers faster and more precise autofocus coverage across the frame. In addition, the D90 has more versatile AF-area modes to handle most shooting situations: Single-point AF is recommended for stationary subjects, dynamic-area AF for moving subjects, auto-area AF for spontaneous shooting and 3D-tracking (11 points) AF.
With 3D tracking AF, after initially locking focus on the subject the camera will perform AF tracking using the 11 focus points while you recompose the shot.
The Nikon D90 provides greater autofocus accuracy by utilizing color and brightness information from its 420-pixel RGB sensor. When shooting in Auto-area AF mode, the camera quickly focuses on the main subject by detecting foreground, background and subject position. When using 3D-tracking (11 points) mode, the camera uses the subject’s color and brightness information to keep it in sharp focus as you change the composition.
Although the Rebel T2i offers a competent AF system, the Nikon D90's advanced autofocus technology provides the advantage including better low light autofocus capabilities and offering greater reliability in our real world comparison tests.
Likewise the Nikon D90's auto white balance control combines with the Scene Recognition System to analyze each scene’s light sources, cross-referencing this information with 5,000 actual picture data examples from over 20,000 images in the cameras onboard white balance database thereby offering a higher degree of accuracy.
Nikon’s 3D Color Matrix Metering II has become one of the most highly acclaimed metering systems by delivering consistently well-balanced exposures — even in lighting conditions that confuse other systems. 3D Color Matrix Meter II takes into account the scene's contrast and brightness, the subject's distance (via a D- or G-type NIKKOR lens), the color of the subject within the scene and RGB color values in every section of the scene.
The Nikon D90 Active D-Lighting feature extends dynamic range beyond the capabilities of the T2i's Auto Lighting Optimizer Technology: With the Nikon D90,the 'Active D-Lighting' and the Active D-Lighting bracketing feature provides for dynamic range expansion (set before taking the picture). The Canon Rebel T2i offers an 'Auto Lighting Optimizer' feature that is intended to achieve the same. In our real world tests this is not the case.
The Nikon D90 offers an advantage in terms of flash technology compared to the Rebel T2i: Nikon has long enjoyed a reputation as the leader in the world of SLR flash photography with their proprietary i-TTL speedlight technology.
Compared to the Canon Rebel T2i / EOS 550D, the Nikon D90 does a better job at calculating flash exposure using information from the camera's 420-segment RGB sensor combined with subject distance information from the lens and integrating colour information from the speedlights monitor pre-flash.
With the updated iFCL 63-zone metering system incorporated in the Canon Rebel T2i, the camera does improve upon its predecessor the Rebel T1i, although it still does not match the accuracy of the Nikon D90
The Nikon D90 also offers full support for the Nikon Creative Lighting System and Advanced Wireless Lighting capabilities with compatible Nikon Speedlights. Users from novice to enthusiast can easily explore creative wireless flash photography even in automatic exposure modes.
The D90's wireless flash "Commander mode" allows the built-in flash to function as the master flash unit and perform as a two-group remote commander that provides direct wireless control over one or more optional external SB-800, SB-600 or SB-R200 Nikon Speedlights.
Although Canon did add a feature for wireless flash control from the built-in speedlite on the higher end Canon EOS 7D, in order to achieve this functionality with the Canon Rebel T2i / EOS 550D you need to invest in the external Canon ST-E2 transmitter, a $350 CAN accessory option.
The Nikon D90 features an AF-assist illuminator beam which aids flash photography in dim light by projecting a pattern of light so that the camera can focus. The beam is also used for redeye reduction.
The Canon Rebel T2i / 550D uses a multiple strobe burst from the built-in flash to illuminate the subject under low light conditions and for redeye reduction. The strobe from the flash has a tendency to make subjects blink before you take the picture since the AF-assist and redeye reduction pre-flashes are so bright. The strobe may also be seen as an interference by others depending on the situation.
The built-in flash on the Rebel T2i needs to be raised in order for the low light AF-assist system to work. Under similar conditions, the flash can be left down on the Nikon D90 since the AF-assist beam operates independently.
Nikon D90 battery EN-EL3e provides close to double the performance of the Canon Rebel T2i battery LP-E8:
based on CIPA (Camera & Imaging Products Association) test standards the Nikon D90 can take up to 850 shots per charge with the supplied Nikon EN-EL3e battery (50% with built-in flash), compared to 470 shots per charge with the Canon Rebel T2i using the included LP-E8 Canon rechargeable battery under the same CIPA test conditions.
Dedicated GPS unit GP-1 accessory available for the Nikon D90 supports "Geotagging": By tagging your photos with geotags you will not be left wondering down the road "Where was that picture taken?" The Nikon GP1 works by receiving signals from a number of satellites in space. Through triangulation, the camera will “know” where it is on the surface of the Earth and record the latitude and longitude and altitude in the meta data on pictures.
Once the GPs data is stored, images can be plotted on a map in Nikon View NX software or on-line at myPicturetown.com, as well as many other programs and web sites.
The Nikon D90 offers a greater degree of customization compared to the Canon Rebel T2i / EOS 550D: the Nikon D90 features 41 custom functions compared to 13 on the Canon Rebel T2i. The D90 provides more range for fine tuning in terms of exposure control, metering, ISO range (available in steps of 1/2 and 1/3) and White Balance (WB).
Based on the differences highlighted above, Canon could have placed themselves in a stronger position versus the competition with the Rebel T2i / EOS 550D by not increasing the resolution to 18MP on an APS-C size sensor.
While the New Canon Rebel T2i / 550D does feature some welcome additions compared to the Canon Rebel T1i / EOS 500D, like the impressive 1.04 million dot anti-reflective 3:2 LCD monitor, 1080P HD movie recording with manual control + selectable frame rates and the updated 63-zone iFCL metering system, the Canon Rebel T2i / 550D does not offer enough improvements in our opinion to outclass the 2 yr old Nikon D90.
Digital Review.ca
