User reviews for Canon PowerShot S90: Digital Photography Review

Opinion: The best digital compact camera I've had, so far.
Excellent in low light - rarely ever I use flash.
Very intuitive/easy to use camera - press "on" -> wait 2 sec. -> point&shoot.
Excellent image quality, in general.
Fast operating even when shoting RAW images !
Very good battery life.
Pocketable size.
Very smart AF (with Face Detection) and AE.

Problems: After 1 month a piece of dust felt inside and was visible on pictures as a blurred black dot.
After 2 more months it dissapeared :)

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Opinion: Excellent for compact at low ISO. I 've been using it for 5 months (i bought one second hand for 200€). I also have a Canon 500D 18-200IS. I ve ended up using more the S90 as I can always carry it with me. It is a good camera compared to all compacts. SLRs of course are better but allot bigger as well
Image quality:
* Very good with noise especially with low ISO (80-100), where results are acceptable with virtually no noise. Due to bright lens (f:2 at 28) iso can be kept low even in low light conditions. Noise handling is acceptable for even a DSLR user, but keep iso low.
* Sharpens is also good at low iso. Default contrast is high for my taste.
* Dynamic range is NOT good compared to SLR but typical for compact (Except fuji EXR sensors). You can easily burn bright parts of the photo (sky, windows when in rooms, etc). You often need to underexpose.
* Colour is oversaturated when default colour settings are used.
ease of use:
Alot of professional settings which even my 500d dont have. Two customizable jogs (back and a front ring) and a custom button is all you need for smooth handling.
Lens:
excellent f2 at 28mm, but drops to f5.6 at 105. Fall off and distortion is digitally (software) corrected by camera making it look perfect.
Flash:
I don really use it, but it appears it constantly overexposes, so i have to underexpose (it has separate flash compensation settings). I hate the motorized pop up of it (no spring). It can cause accidents (fall of camera).
Response:
Very responsive for COMPACT. But not even close to SLR.
LCD:
Brilliant!
Battery:
Ok for a full day. I have also bought a second one (second party) from ebay for 5€

Problems: it droped when switched off from 1m. When switched on lens jammed (lens error). I paid 60€ plus shipping for repair (no spare part needed only fixing of original lens). Do NOT use flash on Auto. It will jump and scare someone holting it causing camera to fall.

I would prefer a 24mm and a true 3:2,16:9 (not crop) like the panasonic LX5. By the way it does NOT have 3:2 option (crop at least) but only 4:3 (native), 16:9 (crop)

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Opinion: Good. BUT NOT PERFECT !......................................
Very good camera. Really nice results especially in dark. Perfect that Canon add special mode (high ISO at 1/4 resolution) for these purposes which is available on selection rotary wheel. I am sure you will use this feature very often. Okay there is some loose of details but picture at all looks nice. Precise construction with excellent display. What is funny is that pictures looks much better on it's display than on PC monitors. I tried many of CRT and LCDs...

At this top price range for compacts, let say high-end classe I expect some extra features - like back illuminated sensor, GPS info etc....

Problems: - image quality - lens aberation
- image quality - problems with high light scenes - the picture get blur
- image quality - sometimes I see noise at basic ISO 80 - it is interesting because at all this camera is very good at higher ISO as I told you
- ergonomic - problem with no aretation of rear ring - you can very easy make unwanted change the settings
- ergonomics - front ring is not very usefull - for camera holding you must use both hands, so if you want use front ring your left hand must drop the body, make a setting with ring and then hold the body again
- no support for 3:2 format (only 4:3 or 16:9)
- terrible video options - really stone age. Small resolution, small compression, not common codec, no possibility to zoom during recording - only digital zoom. Terrible.

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Opinion: Fast, nice low light, auto mode works great, manual mode works even better. Love the Nostalgia & color swap scene modes. Also it allows you to take 3 pics one after another in the timer mode so you won't miss the details. Control rings are awesome! Macro shots are great! This is one of the best point and shoot around.

Problems: No HD video, but I love the SD video, takes up less space! I wish it has a in-camera panoramic stitch function like Kodaks. Only thing better is Canon can shrink a DSLR to this size! Some people say the rear control ring is too easy to turn, but I like it, makes it easy to browse pictures.
Grip slippery so I modified with my own cheap $2 super sticky, silicon bumpers. Go to oinky.com/2000/canon-s90-grip-cheap-version-of-richard-franiec-custom-grip.shtml to see.

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Opinion: I love this camera. I only use a compact camera and I carry mine with me all the time. I get much better photographs with this camera than with other compacts I have used. The prices was a bit steep, but the photos are worth it. I hope that the number of cameras available in this class increases as seems to be the case.

Problems: The problems and weaknesses are the same one's noted in DPreview's in-depth review of the camera.

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Opinion: I've had three compact cameras before the S90 and this is
the only one that I've really been delighted with. Image
quality is vibrant and sharp and, compared to the G9,
images look a lot more natural.

I also have a Nikon D90 which performs better than the
S90, of course, but its advantages are offset by its bulk and
weight so I will only use the D90 when I'm out on a photo-
shoot.

Hard to see how Canon can improve on this model
significantly.

Problems: I have not really noticed the grip problem that many reviewers
mention but I find it easy to switch on the camera by accident
if I put it in the case holding the top right-hand corner and so
press the playback arrow which also doubles as an on/off
function. This is a very small niggle point.

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Opinion: AWESOME compact camera.
I'm a DSLR user and I get awfully frustrated whenever I use a compact cam. I had a Fuji F30 whose limitations I could live with since its IQ was not bad. I lost it and needed another compact since I can't take my D90 everywhere.
I tried a F70EXR and was very disappointed with it. So I searched all available reviews and decided that I had to pay the price for a high quality device I'd be satisfied with.
I found a 2 month old, like new S90 for a good price and grabbed it.
Overall I'm VERY pleased with the camera. Build is excellent, body is stylish and sleek looking. Operation is fast and smooth for a compact, and IQ is brilliant. Color rendition is very faithful and you have a load of options to customize it with.
I use it mostly in Av mode, but I can see the Scene modes do a pretty good job, and you can hand it to an unexperienced user and they'll still grab good pictures.
The LCD is beautiful and large, all the controls are well placed and highly customizable.
All in all I now feel confident my D90 can stay at home when I'm too lazy to lug it around.
I don't think I'll need another compact in a loooong time.

Problems: I have not had problems with the back wheel rotating by itself, maybe because I was made aware of this issue by many reviews and took extra care not to move it by accident...
I can use ISO 800 with total peace of mind, above of course the IQ degrades pretty much, but still much better than any other compact I have tried.

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Opinion: Editors: What about MACRO and focusing range?
Did I miss it, or the editors did not say anything about Macro in their full review?
Even in the list of the camera's various modes, I did not see anything about Macro (or focusing range).
Can one of the owners please help our editors with this information?
I shoot 90% Macro and close up.
Thanks.

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Opinion: My motivation for purchasing this camera was to transition as an "enthusiast" out of
a P&S pocket camera (Canon SD1000) to something with a bit more sophistication.
The features I wanted were compact & lightweight format, nice bright lens (f2.5 or
better at the wide focal lengths), RAW capability, lots of manual control, and a
versatile (but not ridiculous) zoom range--something like 30 to 80 equivalent. My
decision basically came down to the Lumix LX3 or the Canon S90, with the G11 as
an outlier possibility. I chose the S90 over the LX3 for the following reasons:
slightly smaller & lighter, bigger zoom (the 60mm equiv. on the LX3 is just a bit too
short), and the integrated lens cover. (I know that last one probably seems very
trivial, but for the way I typically shoot--e.g., on the go while hiking--it's actually
quite important).

So far, I've found the S90 to delivery very adequately in every way promised. I get
very nice images in all three primary modes--auto, scene, and program--and find the
manual controls quite easy to access and operate to good effect. There's no
comparison to my old SD1000 in terms of overall image quality, and that's what I
was looking for. Are the images anything like DSLR quality? Of course not, and to
read some of the other reviews of the camera, I'm not sure why anyone would be
expecting that level of image quality from a camera like this. It's just not possible in
a unit this size, of course--I humbly submit that people need to adjust their
expectations a bit. With that said, in my opinion, for a camera this size I just don't
see how you could do much better. Images are good all-around--including low-light
situations--provided you learn the basics of adjusting exposure in program mode...

Totally worthy of 4 stars right down the line.

Problems: People have complained about the ergonomics of the camera, and general usability
of the controls. Perhaps I'm just used to tiny cameras, but to me it doesn't seem
like a major issue. Yes, it's true, the camera doesn't fit like a pistol grip in the hand,
and the small controls are a bit fiddly. But you get used to it quickly, and I have
not had issues getting the camera securely steadied for almost any conceivable
angle.

I've also read negative reactions to the build quality of the camera. I'll say that I've
indeed seen and handled more solidly-built cameras in this price range. However,
the camera is by no stretch of the imagination cheaply made or flimsy. It's a solid
camera, to be sure--just not awe-inspiring in terms of that warm and fuzzy feeling
that can be imparted by a magnificently engineered and beautifully-built unit. For
the money, it's absolutely within the realm of acceptability.

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