Canon PowerShot S90 Review

Canon S90 Features we liked

* Its sensor is big 1/1.7" Type CCD
* 10 million pixels sensor
* RAW shooting (wow !!! cool)
* ISO 80-3200 (for low light performance)
* Fast f/2.0-4.9 maximum aperture range
* Lens amazing 28-105mm range
* Shutter speed 15-1/1600 sec
* Dual Anti-Noise System (high sensitivity sensor and Digic 4 noise reduction)
* It has Lens Control Ring
* 3.0 inch PureColor II LCD
* Optical Image Stabilization
* Smarter Scene Detection
* Low Light mode
* DIGIC 4 image processor
* HD output

The new feature of Control Ring is highly customizable, and in addition to the default (which varies by mode; in Av mode, for example, it controls aperture) it can be set to control the Zoom (a 'step zoom' function), White Balance Adjust, manual Focus, AE compensation and ISO. If you do choose to override the default option then the S90 will pass control of that function over to the rear control dial.

Nice points :
* Excellent image quality, particularly at lower ISO settings
* Extensive photographic feature set
* New Function Ring transforms use of manual controls on a small camera
* Usable, fast raw mode with excellent DPP software supplied
* Highly customizable
* Fast, sharp zoom with useful 28-105mm range and F2.0 aperture (only at the wide end)
* Reliable metering, focus and white balance
* Very compact, well built
* Decent battery life
* Usable results up to ISO 800 (though shooting raw is advised at higher settings)

Few reservations:
* Highlight clipping and channel clipping in bright, contrasty conditions
* Video limited to VGA resolution
* Lack of grip and smooth, featureless body don't help handling one bit
* Flash underpowered, flash performance overall not that impressive
* Relatively small maximum aperture at long end of zoom

Overall its good competitor and will gain a nice market share.