Popular Photography and Imaging’s Philip Ryan recognized the D90 in the November 2008 issue as a “very worthy” successor to the D80 with a slew of upgrades and valuable features. Ryan stated that the D90 has excellent image quality and “groundbreaking” video capture capabilities. He also said the D90 passed lab tests with “gusto,” with wonderfully accurate colors and an impressively low noise profile.

Wired.com’s Jackson Lynch crowned the D90 with the “World Champion DSLR Title Belt,” in September, 2008. He called the 11-point auto-focusing system a noticeable step forward with the on-camera illumination. Lynch continued his review, calling the three-inch LCD screen “prettier than a super-model.” What’s more, the face detection feature works quickly, accurately, and effortlessly. Lynch concluded that the D90 is so easy to use, “even a 4-year-old can handle it.”

Imaging Resource’s Shawn Barnett, Dave Etchells, and Zig Weidelich reviewed the D90, lauding its “hot features” and a new twist that will amaze everyone with “relevance and utility.” With 100-percent viewfinder accuracy ratings, Imaging Resource noted that checking the focus is “much more pleasant” and the three-inch LCD screen makes viewing images “more satisfying.” They also said that the D90 has “an awful lot going for it” with its world’s first HD movie recording capability.