If you saw it just sitting there, you’d never guess that the new Nikon D90 is a mind-blowing, game-changing camera.

It looks like any other big, black intermediate single-lens reflex camera: much more compact than a professional model, but much bigger and heavier than a pocket camera. An S.L.R. comes with a shoulder strap because it needs one.

What you get in return for looking like a tourist, of course, is the potential for absolutely stunning photos. Thanks to factors like high-quality, interchangeable lenses, a huge light sensor and high-speed circuitry that reduces shutter lag to zero, the pictures you get from an S.L.R. generally make pocket cameras’ output look like amateur hour.

The new D90, which arrives in stores next month, happens to be a superb S.L.R. At $1,000 (or $1,300 with a new 18-105 millimeter, image-stabilized lens), it’s priced neatly between the D300 (Nikon’s bigger, heavier, all-metal professional model, $1,650 online) and the intermediate D80 ($720 online), which will soon be discontinued. (These last two are body-only prices; lenses are not included.)