This has been many, many years in the making, but I think I've finally found my new digital camera: The Nikon D90 DSLR

I love and adore my Sony DSC F-707, but I've been wanting to step it up for several years now. I've been waiting and waiting for a camera to come out that I can get more serious about photography with when I want to, but one that is versatile and easy to use as a point-and-shoot as well. Primarily, I need great low light performance, because I think that a flash is the best way to ruin a photograph. To make things worse, my F-707 has not been performing up to snuff lately. It still works, but the pictures it produces are non-specifically just not as good as the pictures it used to take.

Looking at DSLRs was an obvious choice in order to step up to more professional photography, but it's tough to get that balance between high performance and ability to just take a shot with the auto setting and have it look great. I wanted to stay with Sony, but all the photographic comparison shots over on dpreview.com clearly showed me that, while I still prefer Sony's style of image processing, both Nikon and Canon out-performed at high ISO settings. Since low light performance is my highest priority, I had to start looking at other brands.

With the birth of my son, the quest to find a really great camera has become a much more urgent task, but everything I've looked at seems to fall just a little bit short. The entry-level DSLRs don't have all the features I'm looking for, but the professional-level DSLRs are (aside from being way out of my price range) don't have the versatility for no-fuss everyday shots.

In comes the yet-to-be-released Nikon D90. Basically, it has the user-friendliness and ease of use of Nikon's entry-level DSLRs, but with the better sensor and several added features stolen from their professional line. Not only does it have the highest available ISO I've seen on such a camera (6400), but the pictures taken at that ISO actually don't look like crap! So I'm clearly sold on the low-light performance. But here's the REAL kicker. It has the world's first DSLR movie mode. Yep, you can shoot video up to 720p HD quality with this sucker.

I can honestly say that I've never had a strong desire to have a video camera for personal at-home use -- I had wanted one for professional use when I was serious about filmmaking. But now that Damien is here, there are so many precious moments that I really want to capture on little snippets of video. I don't think this justifies buying a video camera, though, so the addition of movie mode to a DSLR, which I already really want/need, makes this my hands-down winner.

I... am... so... happy... that I've finally found my new camera. I can't wait to get it. I hope it's released soon!