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Introduction
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01.Product Tour
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02.Color
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03.Noise
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04.Resolution
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05.Video
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06.Sample Photos
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07.Playback
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08.Hardware
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09.Controls
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10.Design & Handling
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11.Canon SX1 Comparison
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12.Olympus SP-590UZ Comparison
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13.Sony HX1 Comparison
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14.Conclusion
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15.Photo Gallery
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16.Comments
Resolution
It has a large number of shooting resolutions. Distortion is high, though, and images are soft.
Resolution (8.24)
The camera scored poorly in our battery of resolution tests, which look at distortion, chromatic aberration and sharpness over three points in the considerable zoom range of the lens. The P90 suffered from poor sharpness and significant distortion, which dragged down its score in this section. More on how we test resolution.
Distortion (4.95)
At the widest focal length (the 35mm equivalent of 26mm) the Nikon had a whopping 3.2% of barreling, though this dropped to below 1% at the mid and tele end of the zoom. This is a very high level of distortion, enough to be easily noticeable in your final photos. However, the P90 has a built in Distortion Correct setting, which when used significantly improves the bulging that you see at wide angle.
Sharpness (10.89)
Overall, the P90 was decidedly on the soft side, even at its sharpest. As with most lenses, the most detail can be captured at the center of the lens, which then worsens outwards from that, before picking up again towards the edges. The sharpest result was at the widest angle, then worsening as the zoom increased.
Chromatic Aberration (6.56)
Chromatic aberration was the one area of our resolution test where the P90 didn’t falter. All cameras with zooms this long have issues with chromatic aberration, but the P90 wasn’t as bad as some of the other ultrazooms. Chromatic aberration was least noticeable at the widest angle, and grew progressively worse the greater the zoom.
| Image Sharpness and Chromatic Aberration | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Click blue squares to change sample crops below |
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Quality & Size Options (9.25)
While the P90 can’t record RAW files (a feature many power users clamor for), it does have a number of compression settings. It can be set to Fine (compression ratio of 1:4), Normal (1:8) or Basic (1:16).
| 12M | 4000 x 3000 | 8M | 3264 x 2448 |
| 5M | 2592 x 1944 | 3M | 2048 x 1536 |
| 2M | 1600 x 1200 | 1M | 1280 x 960 |
| PC | 1024 x 768 | TV | 640 x 480 |
Image Stabilization (0.00)
Under the circumstances of our stabilization test (1/30 of a second at standard indoor illumination), the camera’s vibration reduction system failed to make any measurable improvement. More on how we test image stabilization.
| Stabilization Comparisons | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Nikon P90 | Canon SX1 IS | Olympus SP-590UZ | Sony DSC-HX1 |
| Stabilization Off | |||
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| Stabilization On | |||
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Shop for the Nikon P90
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