When is it to be released in the US?

I have posted a link to Nikon's press launch brief, and they confirm what has been said regarding Tax. Sorry about the poor quality of audio, but the recorder was not placed in an ideal spot and the sound is only intended for my reference.

Best wishes, and I shall close my postings on this.

Chris I believe Vincent does have his own site , and a pretty decent photo related review site at that.

Digital Photography at photo-i

Vincent , correct me if I'm incorrectly identifying you , please.

In a world that has no truths , misinformation is all that exists . Maybe there's room to wait and see . This is the predicament that Nikon has thrust upon potential users of the d90 video mode. Remember this is their first time to out a video camera . They've go lots of experience outing still images devices but it's been since the r10 days of super 8 since they had to technically describe a moving image device , and it was alot more simple. And sometimes even within the same organization , truthful information can be slow forthcoming.

www.kurthbousman.com

I appreciate the audio clip, Vincent, and the quality certainly doesn't impede the content. Of course I wasn't there, but just from listening to the clip and having attended plenty of similar press events myself, I find the context of the Nikon spokesman's reference to "tax" at 00:37 to 00:39 or so to be firmly tongue-in-cheek and not at all a serious answer. And I don't think anyone there took him seriously, either, judging from the laughter in the room when he said that. In my experience with press events, such tongue-in-cheek response from marketing folk tend to occur spontaneously as a method of evading a question. Perhaps he didn't know outright the technical reason for the clip length limit, or perhaps he knew but didn't want to say.

At any rate, as has been pointed out numerous times: there are dozens upon dozens of still cameras that shoot video well beyond five minutes. As previously mentioned, the D90 itself also has a 20-minute video mode. Show me documentation regarding this so-called "camcorder tax" status, and show me documentation that delineates the "quality" of a still camera's video mode as having an effect on tax. Keep in mind that there are several consumer HD camcorders currently selling at or below the D90's price point.

I couldn't make out most of the audio, but I thought I heard the Mktg Director say, toward the end, that the D90 can shoot for 5 minutes, then turn around and shoot for another 5 mins. Did I mishear …? Trying to divine whether or not there's any need to wait between takes, or if the cam's good to go immediately.

The best explanation for the clip length limit I've heard yet is a file size limitation. That would lead me to believe that you could turn around and record another clip almost immediately. I guess we'll all find out soon enough...

I think you're right. I have to channel my impatience into some work.

yeh , file size would be a far more logical reason. The sensor overheating theme seems to be contradicted by the immediate ability to begin filming after the 5 min limit . For me it's a nonissue anyway as I would probably need to overglock it about 1% of the time. Far more important themes exist raised by the exposure fluctuations ,imho.k

Agreed, Kurth—though downtime between takes is a negative, D90s are cheap enough to shoot with multiple bodies.

What's overglocking? Is it as dangerous as it sounds (can a speedloader talk to HDMI?), or do you mean "overclocking"?

If the latter, what would you overclock? The D90's CMOS sensor?

If so, how & why?

Today's computers find such file sizes unwieldy. I'd prefer the camera to break up clips into smaller sizes, preferably a user programmable size. 1GB is still quite large. I think that Nikon is just getting started in this area, but let's ask for usable features.

The MJPEG format is not universally playable (at least in my experience with Canon P&S cameras), so I'm hoping that they provide some video compression tools in their bundled software.

You are correct Kurth, photo-i is my web site. Thank you for your kind comments.

I also appreciate the effort that Chris puts in with this excellent site, it has provided me with stacks of information over the years that has enabled me to produce my own DVDs and indeed produce web videos for many companies.

John - I'm world-famous in my own mind for inventing vocabulary - I just meant the need to shoot more than a 5 min take . I think we should all be patient for a month and see what happens . Nikon also is a firm believer in firmware upgrades so anything that exists now ,could in short time change.
Vincent - I like your site so it's easy to say nice things ...but about that Plustek review bro' ? Just kiddin'!k

I'm disappointed. I pictured you on a shoot with two D90s in holsters—& a bandolier of SD cards …

Looking at the manual for the D700, it says Live View mode can be used for up to an hour, but it may overheat and cause weird colors and will automatically shut off if temperatures get too high. You can find it on page 100 on the nikon website.

So it seems that overheating does probably play some role in the arbritrary 5 minute limit. The D90 is smaller camera body, may not be disipate the heat as well.

Since this tax business doesn't seem to be going away, Here's a reference to the relevant Combined Nomenclature Explanatory Note:

The CNEN states that products are classified as still image digital cameras 'unless they are capable, using the maximum storage capacity, of recording in a quality of 800 x 600 pixels (or higher) at 23 frames per second (or higher) at least 30 minutes in a single sequence of video'. Cameras that meet each of these criteria will be classified as video camera recorders.

Since 5 minutes at 13.56 Mbps is 508.5 MB, I'd guess it's a file size thing. The data rate may even have been decided on based on storing five minutes in half a gigabyte...