Canon S90 IS and my fingerprints
Canon S90 IS is one of Canon high-end / advanced Canon Powershot compact camera. Its unique characteristics are slim, low profile body with great noise control in high ISO plus 28-105mm f/2-f/4.9 bright zoom lens. The other advantage is the camera is very pocket able. It fits in your jeans’ pocket.
Image quality and ISO
Canon S90 IS has 1/1.7″ sensor size which is a bit smaller compare to its main competitor, Panasonic LX3 (1/1.63″). From my test, S90 IS image quality is very good across focal length but dynamic range (the difference between the brightest and darkest parts of an image) is limited . This is also a problem most of digital camera out there, but S90 is slightly worse compared to competitors.
However, regarding noise control and handling, S90 IS is excellent. The new algorithm works very well to reduce or erase most (if not all) chroma-noises which degrade image quality significantly. Image shot at ISO 1600 is very usable for regular print and web. For ISO comparison images, please visit my Canon S90 IS gallery.
Body handling
Side by side with arch rival LX3
Canon S90 IS has a slim, low profile look, so it is very good for street photography. It does not attract attention like digital SLR camera.
For control, it has two main dials, both of them are round. One is located in the lens, and the back of the camera. The back dials also function as four way buttons. This design is similar to Samsung WB1000 design.
Front ring dial can be customized for several options: adjust aperture/shutter speed, ISO, exposure compensation, manual focus, white balance or zoom. The front dial is not like zoom barrel in the lens, it is not smooth, instead, it has several stops point. There will be a “click” sound to let you know if you hit the stop.
I usually use the lens dial to zoom. There are five stops in the dial: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 105mm. All of them are popular focal lengths. I found this is much better way to zoom rather than traditional way (pull a lever on the shutter). It is faster, less noise and accurate. It is great for learning how focal length affects perspective and distortion.
Canon S90 with lens extended
Mode dial is harder to change because they have put some resistant to it. It is to prevent accidental switch.
There is also a shortcut button which you can customized to many function such as AF servo, intelligent contrast, face detection and many more.
Canon S90 has 3″ 4:3 ratio LCD screen with 460k resolution. It is similar to Panasonic LX3, but better than typical compact camera. It is worse than Samsung WB1000 which has AMOLED screen (over 1 million resolution).
However, build quality is not up to par with leading advanced cameras such as Canon G11 and Panasonic LX3. It is made by plastic casing (correction: it made by metal) but it feels plasticky. I have a sweaty hand and it registers my fingerprint! Also because of its flat design, there is no place to secure your grip. But overall ergonomic is not bad.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
F.Y.I. The body is made out of metal! The top and bottom are made out of plastic. I guess it’s difficult to tell that it’s metal because it’s black, but you can see and feel the difference in material.
Hhi thanks, but it does not feels like metal for me, maybe very thin metal or something.
You say:
“Mode dial is harder to change because they have put some resistant to it. It is to prevent accidental switch.”
I’d be interested to know if this is a modification that canon has put to latest ones. I bought one the first day they were available in the UK, and the ring on the back is a dead loss! there’s no resistance at all, and almost every time it’s used, the ( in my case) EV setting gets changed by mistake! I wish mine had a dial that was harder to turn!!
interesting, you should check it out on the store to see if there is any difference with your current one.
I thought admin meant by “mode tial” as the top changer, beetween auto, aperture, shutter etc. Not the one one the back of the camera, which is a weak point in my opinion. Have I misunderstood?
oh yeah you’re correct! Thanks for clarifying. I agree that the back dial should be better, at least like Canon G series.
Thanks Lars for clearing up that point, I think the back ring’s going to prove to be a real pain! I reckon a firmware upgrade to allow it to be disabled ( as it is on certain modes) would be a good option!
Nice review from user standpoint and that is what count the most.
Actually, there is a place for grip.
Check this out: http://picasaweb.google.com/RichardFraniec/2009_11_05?authkey=Gv1sRgCK-KzbLY_5PaZg#
More info here: http://www.kleptography.com/rf/
Hope, this is O.K to post the links here.
Best
Richard
Thanks and yes, it is ok.
Thank you much.
In case if you would like to review the grip, please, let me know.
Cheers
Richard
I don’t have the camera anymore. Thanks for your offer. The grip looks good and i bet it improve the handling.
I’ve download the sample image from your site and at ISO 1600 it’s amazing considering the small sensor S90 has. Useful and less of chrominance noise.
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