The great thing about photokina is how cameras are released within a short space of time. The Nikon D90 was out only last week and just now the Canon EOS 50D debuted in all its glory. We could have done separate reviews but we decided to go into a little more effort and compare two champions in the same fighting ring to see how to weigh against each other.

First Word
Before we get into the nitty gritty some people might argue are they really in the same league? See the D90 is the D80 replacement, one that comes more then two years after its predecessor first appeared on the scene. The 50D however comes only a year after the 40D and seems to be trying to compete specs wise with the D300. But they popped on to the scene together so it's only fair to look at them on the same stage.

First Glance
The 50D is the bigger heavyweight in the ring weighing in about 110g more then the D90 not including lenses and batteries of course. Both have a 3-inch LCD with 920K dot resolutions, both have dedicated LiveView Buttons and both of them are great to hold and use. Looking closer though, there are tons of differences.

Sensor
Sensor wise the 50D trumps the D90 with a 15.1 Megapixels CMOS sensor compared to the D90's 12.3 megapixels CMOS sensor. Of course the difference is relatively small. Both are APS-C sized sensors keeping them in the mid-range leagues and both employ a high frequency sound to shake off dust though the 50D does got a step further by scanning the sensor to tell you where the dust is. Just in case you need to edit them out later.

Live View
The LCD for both is quite amazing, the 920K dot resolution on the LCDs are just so terribly satisfying especially when you are using Live View. The LCDs are clear, detailed and very sharp and both have three different options of Live View including face detection mode. That's where the similarities end, the 50D has a Quick AF mode which uses Phase Detect AF and the Live View Mode which uses Contrast Detect AF. The D90 only uses Contrast Detect AF with the option to view in normal or wide angle. We have to mention though the contrast Detect AF wsan't quite as slow as expected.

Processors
Nikon introduced its EXPEED processor a year ago with the D300 and D3, so it's no surprise to see it in the D90 though no one's complaining about an old processor that works so well. The 50D in contrast gets to use a brand new DIGIC 4 processor which debuts along with the 50D. The jury's out on which is better, though honestly it's probably like comparing oranges and apples.

Burst Shooting
With such awesome processors of course the both cameras will be able to handle anything right? Well the D90 can shoots pictures at up to 4.5fps. That won't sound impressive compared to the 50D's 6.3fps until you hear that the 50D is capped at 60 jpegs or 16 RAW files. That can be boosted when using the supported UDMA cards, to 90 jpegs.

Video Shooting
The D90's call to fame isn't the burst shooting; it's in the video capture. In what looks to be the next must have feature, the D90 is the first DSLR ever to be able to shoot videos. In Live View, you go into movie mode and with one click of a button you'll be capturing moving images. The movies are capped at 20 minutes at a go, 5 minutes for the highest quality flicks but think of all the possibilities of movies with that stunning range of Nikon compatible cameras. Capturing video takes awhile to figure out. There is no autofocus so you'll have to learn to manipulate the focus ring and there is also question of metering. You'll see in videos that there is a slight flickering on the screen which you can eliminate by locking the AE/AF. A bit of a bother but a clear un-flickering video is possible. Sample Videos will be posted soon.

Creative Auto Mode
The 50D can't give you movie recording, but it does give you a little more control on effects. In something the D90 can't boast the 50D gives you a mode that's a cross between auto and program. You control the effects such as blur and the camera calculates it all out and changes the settings for you.

Other things
In terms of AF points, the 50D has that wide area AF with 9 cross type points with a new AF Microadjustment Feature for more control and precision. The D90 has an 11-point AF system and like its older brother the D300, is capable of 3D focus tracking. The 50D comes with Lens Peripheral Illumination Correction which is a very long name for a program that automatically eliminates vignetting. The D90 has the Nikon 3D Colour Matric Metering II with scene recognition.

Performance
In terms of how they handle, the D90 and 50D really are on par with each other. They both had nicely comfortable grips and buttons in easy to reach spots. The D90 had a sweeter, smoother shutter compared to the clunky sounding 50D and the 50D's top dial was a little stiff to move compared the dial on the back. Quick menu was a dream on both and all in all there were no drawbacks.

Image Quality and ISO sensitivity
We can talk about specs and performance all we want but the real deal breaker would be image quality. Picture wise, the D90 and 50D are amazing cameras but then we'd expect that with both Nikon and Canon who've led the field so far in IQ. Both are neck and neck with clear, sharp images with beautiful colours. The real test is in ISO and grain. The D90 has a modest ISO range of 200-3200 with the option to expand that range to a Lo-1 100 and Hi1 6400. The 50D seems to handle noise better up until the higher end of the spectrum when noise does become a definite factor. At ISO 800 there is a little grain which seems to improve slightly at 1600 then drops down sharply at 12800 with the image being grainy and unappealing. The D90 however shows pretty even noise control at the entire range with even the highest sensitivity producing a useable image with minimal grainy distortion.

Last Word
What we are seeing is two very awesome cameras trying to claw their way to the top. Both cameras are trying to compete with the D300 in terms of specs and image quality while still staying in the junior leagues in terms of price. Canon was clearly trying to tear away a chunk of Nikon's D300 action with a 40D replacement that would really shine. In many ways it does succeed except that Nikon pretty much shuffled Canon's plans of domination with the Nikon D90. In some specs the D90 can't compare with the Canon EOS 50D, but it trumps the 50D with video capture. It may not be the best quality flicks but the chance to take video with different lenses is appealing to many people. For people who think the video capture is just a gimmick, and care more about image quality, well they have two very good cameras to choose from.