4While a competent camera, the Nikon Coolpix P90 doesn't distinguish itself from the ultrazoom competition, and has a disappointing video mode. Though the 24x lens is impressive, other cameras have better features and performance.
The Nikon and Olympus are both on the lower-priced end of the spectrum for ultrazooms. They have a number of similarities too; both have very long zooms (24x and 26x respectively), shoot 12-megapixel images and standard-def video. In terms of our testing, neither showed a clear advantage over the other, with lower image noise for the Nikon and sharper resolution for the Olympus. The P90 can take photos faster, but the 590UZ has better controls in video mode.
Given both their limitations, we narrowly prefer the Nikon. It's slightly less expensive, has the semi-articulated LCD, and the Olympus uses the antiquated xD memory card rather than the far more common and affordable SDHC cards the Nikon accepts.
