Canon PowerShot Pro90 IS

Opinion: I have had one of thhese cameras since they first came out. I am now using my back up Pro 90 as my first one became worn out as I have used it so much. For me it has become a benchmark camera by which I judge all others of its type. The lens is superb especially in the mid focal length range. Canon sadly have never brought out a true replacement in this line. I have had a Pro 1, 300D also use a 350D & 40D. The Pro 1 was a lovely camera but had no image stabiliser which is a must. Because Canon have not equaled the Pro 90 I now also use a Fuji s100fs which is also a benchmark camera. The Pro 90 occasionally comes up for sale on ebay and is well worth considering. I can easily hand hold down to 1/15 sec and less as the image stabiliser works so well.

Opinion: Hello Again. I've allready reviewed this camera when I bought it, back in december 2002. In the meantime, my E-mail provider changed and I can 't login in my old account to edit my opinion. So I decided to re-register and write a follow-up.

So, I'm currently using my Pro 90 for seven years and the IQ never stopped amazing me and many others. In the meantime I've bought a second, better, battery online for about €12 ($15) and a 2 gig compact flash card. With these two batteries I can easily shoot 100's of pics a day and the 2,6 mega pix puts about 1400 pics on best quality on one CF card.

Main issue is that still 18 out of 20 pics are great, focussed and totally to my liking untill today. The reason that I'm suddely back on DPreview is cause I was wondering if I should buy myself a new camera. I've been reading up on the latest superzoom (I love big zoom) all-in-one cams and discovered that there hasn't been much progress made since I bought my Pro 90 IS. Okay, 2,6 mega pix isn 't much. But it will do fine till A4 (US letter) prints.

So what I'm saying here is that I've decided, after reading about the Canon Powershot SX 1 IS, SX 20 IS, Panasonic DMC FZ 38, Kodak Z980, Sony DSC HX1 and Nikon Coolpix P90, not to buy a new camera yet. Cause it seems that, togheter with the pricedrops, the imagequality dropped equally. You shouldn't forget that the Pro 90 IS has a fantastic lens and it's still the lens what makes a great pic, not the amount of megapixels or zoom.

Obvious, if you consider that my Canon Pro 90IS had a €1600 (almost $2000) retailprice when I bought it and nowadays the superzoom cams cost less than €400. If I'm still satisfied after 7 years, I don 't think my standerds are high enough to want a DSLR either.

But the most important thing on my Pro 90 IS is the tilt-and-swivel LCD. This will be the main reason why I will buy Canon again after I decide to get myself a new digicam. I use the tilt-feature ALL THE TIME and wouldn't be satisfied without it. Sony has a similar thing, but it only tilts vertically. Sort of 'nice try but not really' efford.

Opinion: This was my first digital camera and was it ever fun to use. I still keep it around as a beach camera or for anyplace else where I wouldn'd want to expose my dSLR to the elements.

Construction was more than adequate. Features are old by now. The lens was really sharp considering the capture rate was only 2.6 mega pixels. Must have been a great design and the 37-370mm equivalent was super handy.

Loved the fact that I could screw filters right on to the front of the lens. I really missed that when I moved up to a G3. I have an Olympus 1.7 converter that barely degrades the images at all and makes the tele end equivalent to 629mm.

Love the swivel screen, hot shoe mount, slr style handling

Auto white and tungsten balance is far better with tungsten light than my G3 or Rebel XT.

Opinion: Initially expensive this gem of a dig cam was the best of its kind during the short time Canon released it. The 10x optical IS is excellent and I have have the 10x shots to prove it. Canon spent over a year developing the IS 10X lens and finally had to compromise with the effective/croped to 2.6 mp.. I have owned it since it came out and have had every problem you can name but still love the quality of the 10x IS. But the problems are signifcant if you are primarily a candid photographer as I am. Using an external flash I was able to get the eyes of a leopard in a tree more than 200 feet away up in the branches laying down and looking right at me. Analog film is great but always risking film handling -developing problems and always waiting to know what pics are the great ones is too tedius for me now. Its a shame Canon gave up on the Powershot 10x IS concept and just went for the smaller but bigger money maker smaller cams.

Opinion: This camera has been awesome. I recently bought a 300D which I took back... because there was so little difference between the two cameras. The image stabilizer, the beautiful lens (f2.8-3.5 and 10x) and the large LCD, make this camera fantastic. If you're looking and you find a second hand one, grab it quick! You won't be disappointed. There is a queue of people who want to buy my camera when I sell it.

Opinion: I have long since sold this camera but remember it as very advanced for its time. Compared to todays high priced 8 megapixel digitals with fast startup and hi-res EVF's, the camera still is a bargain on ebay for $300-$400. I took over 15,000 images with this camera with never a hiccup. What I really wish is that Canon would come out with a 6 megapixel version with a lens starting at 28mm going to 280mm - keep the IS - improve statup time - improve shutter lag - improve EVF - I would gladly pay $700-$800 for such animal.

Opinion: I've just bought it from a friend fo 'bout 365USD...and it is worth every penny. Due to its age, camera still makes pro-amateur shoots. i recomended to anyone who likes to mix nostalgia (weight, look) with digital pics.

Opinion: It is a good camera. I have one for 3 years and it is ok.

Opinion: Even now this is an excellent value for money camera. Although below 3mp the 10X zoom and IS give results far better than many higher mp cameras. Having had a S602 and 300D I have gone back to the Pro90. Some of the good points are:
10X optical zoom
flip out adjustable anti reflective screen
IS lens
35mm equivelant zoom 370mm reach
well placed controls
front lens thread for filters
fine jpeg setting
user control over sharpness, contrast & saturation.
I love the look, feel, weight and controls. No other camera (in my opinion) gives such stunning performance at this price (approx £300 2nd hand). Where is the new Pro90 model as it is not really the 300D.