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Upgrading from a Canon S90

Started Sep 3, 2015 | Discussions thread
riderfanreturns Contributing Member • Posts: 964
Re: Upgrading from a Canon S90

PuzzleGal wrote:

I love my s90. I especially love the form factor, and the ease of adjusting the settings. (Like aperture, shutter speed, and exposure compensation.) But it doesn't handle high-contrast scenes as well as my lousy cell-phone camera, so I think it's time to upgrade.

The improvements that would make me happiest are:

  • Better dynamic range
  • Better macro shots

Other improvements I'd appreciate are:

  • Longer battery life
  • Easier way to set auto-focus point
  • Better near focus in difficult situations. I like to shoot leaves and flowers, but often the camera wants to focus on the twigs the background. I sometimes hold a pen or my finger in the scene to force focus, then remove it to shoot. But that's slow and awkward, especially if there's a breeze.
  • A touch wider angle would sometimes be nice
  • Better low-light photography, although I have been fairly happy with the s90 for that.
  • touch screen controls -- I've gotten used to them on my phone, and like them. But that's not a deal breaker.
  • Wireless upload to my phone would be a plus, too.

Also, I am looking for good jpeg files. I do a little post processing in iPhoto, but that's about it. I own Photoshop Elements, and have rarely fiddled with curves or something, but I don't enjoy that. I'm not a professional, and I'm not going to be messing around with RAW files even if they create better images.

The s120 is the obvious option. But despite the size, I am also tempted by the Sony RX100 IV and the Canon G7X. And maybe I should consider the S110?

Any advise?

Don't rule out the RX100 III as its a bit cheaper and still delivers same benefits as the IV (that you care about).  Its also a little smaller than the G7X.

I'm finding the EVF invaluable in bright conditions outdoors.   It doesn't have touch screen or easy way to set autofocus (focus and recompose works fine with this much DOF) but it is great at everything else.  I don't know if the G7X has better LCD screen in bright conditions but if its similar to the RX100 III I strongly recommend getting a model with EVF (unless you don't tend to shoot much outdoors in bright conditions).

All take good IQ pictures so there isn't a wrong decision.

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Sony RX100 III Olympus Tough TG-4 Olympus OM-D E-M5 Canon EOS 5D Mark III Olympus E-M1 +20 more
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