Menus

Unsurprisingly the D90's menus have been updated to match the other cameras in Nikon's current range. Although you don't get the almost limitless customization offered by the professional cameras you do get a lot more than the D60. The attractively designed menus make full use of the high resolution screen and are navigated using the multi-way controller and OK button. You can also configure the command dials to provide menu navigation.

Help pages

In common with all current Nikon DLSRs the D90 has the useful help feature we first saw on the D2X - there are now help pages for virtually every function and menu on the camera - just press the Lock/? button to view.

Playback menu

Option Values / Actions Notes
Delete  • Selected
 • Select Date
 • All
- Thumbnail selection
Playback folder  • NCD90
 • All
 • Current
 
Hide image  • Select / set
 • Select Date
 • Deselect all?
- Thumbnail selection
Display mode  • Done
 • Highlights
 • RGB Histogram
 • Data
 
Image review  • Off
 • On
 
After delete  • Show next
 • Show previous
 • Continue as before
 
Rotate tall  • On
 • Off
When enabled portrait shots appear vertically orientated.
Pictmotion  • Start
 • Select Pictures
Selected
Select Date
All
 • Background Music
1. High Speed
2. Emotional
3. Natural
4. Up-tempo
5. Relaxed
 • Effects
1. Zoom Bounce
2. Zoom in/out
3. Blend
4. Wipe
5. Zoom out fade
Advanced slideshows with music and transition effects
Slide show  • Start
 • Frame interval
2 sec
3 sec
5 sec
10 sec
 
Print set (DPOF)  • Select / set
 • Deselect all?
- Thumbnail selection

Shooting menu

A green superscript one (¹) indicates the default setting.

Option Values / Actions Notes / Sub options
Set Picture Control  • Standard
Quick adjust (-2 to +2)
Sharpening (A, 0 to 9)
Contrast (A, -3 to +3)
Brightness (-1 to +1)
Saturation (A, -3 to +3)
Hue (-3 to +3)
 • Neutral
Sharpening (A, 0 to 9)
Contrast (A, -3 to +3)
Brightness (-1 to +1)
Saturation (A, -3 to +3)
Hue (-3 to +3)
 • Vivid
Quick adjust (-2 to +2)
Sharpening (A, 0 to 9)
Contrast (A, -3 to +3)
Brightness (-1 to +1)
Saturation (A, -3 to +3)
Hue (-3 to +3)
 • Monochrome
Sharpening (A, 0 to 9)
Contrast (A, -3 to +3)
Brightness (-1 to +1)
Filter (Off, Y, O, R, G)
Toning (10 options)
 • Portrait
Quick adjust (-2 to +2)
Sharpening (A, 0 to 9)
Contrast (A, -3 to +3)
Brightness (-1 to +1)
Saturation (A, -3 to +3)
Hue (-3 to +3)
• Landscape
Quick adjust (-2 to +2)
Sharpening (A, 0 to 9)
Contrast (A, -3 to +3)
Brightness (-1 to +1)
Saturation (A, -3 to +3)
Hue (-3 to +3)
 • [custom]
- Default (3, 0, 0, 0, 0)






- Default (2, 0, 0, 0, 0)






- Default (4, 0, 0, 0, 0)






- Default (3, 0, 0, 0, 0)
Manage Picture Control  • Save/Edit
 • Rename
 • Delete
 • Load/Save
- Create custom Picture Control sets


- Load / save from card
Image quality  • NEF (RAW) + JPEG Fine
 • NEF (RAW) + JPEG Normal
 • NEF (RAW) + JPEG Basic
 • NEF (RAW)
 • JPEG Fine
 • JPEG Normal ¹
 • JPEG Basic
Select image quality.
Image size  • Large ¹
 • Medium
 • Small
- 4288 x 2848 / 12.2 M
- 3216 x 2136 / 6.9 M
- 2144 x 1424 / 3.1 M
White balance  • Auto ¹
 • Incandescent
 • Fluorescent
 • Direct Sunlight
 • Flash
 • Cloudy
 • Shade
 • Choose color temp.
 • Preset manual
- A-B, G-M grid to fine tune WB
- "
- "
- "
- "
- "
- "
- 2500 K - 10000 K
- Select / program preset WB
ISO sensitivity settings  • ISO sensitivity
Auto
LO 1
LO 0.7
LO 0.3
200 ¹
250
320
400
500
640
800
1000
1250
1600
2000
2500
3200
HI 0.3
HI 0.7
HI 1
 • ISO sensitivity auto control
On / Off ¹
Maximum sensitivity
400
800
1600
3200 ¹
HI 1
Minimum shutter speed
1/2000 - 1 sec
 
Active D-Lighting  • Auto ¹
 • Extra High
 • High
 • Normal
 • Low
 • Off
 
Color Space  • sRGB ¹
 • Adobe RGB
 
Long exp. NR  • On
 • Off ¹
Enables dark frame subtraction NR for exposures of 1/2 sec or longer.
High ISO NR  • High
 • Normal¹
 • Low
 • Off
 
Active folder  • Select Folder
 • New
 • Rename
 • Delete
 
Multiple exposure  • Done
 • Number of shots
2 or 3
 • Auto gain
On
Off
Create a new image from two or three exposures.
Movie Settings • Quality
1280 x 720 (16:9)
640 x 424 (3:2)
320 x 216 (3:2)
 • Sound
On
Off