Canon's PowerShot lineup hands-on: the best of the rest
By Paul Miller 
posted Aug 19th 2009 11:24AM
posted Aug 19th 2009 11:24AM
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The reduction of megapixels in the G11 was the best thing that Canon did.
The S90 looks like an LX3 wanna be though. :D
Yeah, looks like a great cam!
The main difference I see between this and the LX3 (which I highly recommend) is that the LX3 shoots 1280x720 HD movies :)
According to DPreview at least --> http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/09081907canons90.asp
The reduction in megapixels is a huge improvement, but even bigger could be the switch back to a fast lense. Isn't that an F:2.0 I see in the pictures. They dropped the fast lense after the G6 and the camera flexibility has sucked ever since. I've owned a G1, G9 and G10. Apart from shutter lag, The G1 was by far the best camera.
S90 is much less thick than the LX3, it is more of a pocket cam. Also, the lens has a longer telephoto, but it is slower at the long end. The S90 also has two control rings which can be assigned to focus, exp. comp., apature, iso, shutter speed, etc.
The S90 wins in my book.
im seeing alot of cameras today . . . . . . . . .
I know that the paparazzi is a pain in the ass, but enjoy it while it lasts... It might be your only 15 minutes of fame
LX3 wannabe is exactly what I want.
Also, in the last picture you can see that they were shooting with a Nikon, did the Canon Reps give you any strange looks?
Uh. I think Canon knows that Nikon exists. They are not GM.
no waterproof compact one with 720p video?
Even though I love my G9 for its size, features and overall capability, it's just gone back for the third (now out of warranty) repair for crap inside, on the sensor and back of the lens. I now have as much money in it fixing it as I spent on it.
Loving the form factor. However, no HD movie, f4.9 is way too slow, no hot shoe, no ability to add auxiliary lenses, no viewfinder, no thanks. The LX3 continues to reign supreme!
S90 sounds delicious :-) f2.0 ... i've been waiting on this camera for a few years now ... too bad I'm spending my money on a laptop in the next few weeks :-(
So you've been waiting for a camera that has practically copied an existing camera that has a much faster lens, hotshoe, tons of accessories, and got high points from reviews ?
If you still have no idea, I'm talking about the LX3 which was released last year.
;)
Lack of HD Video on the S90 is a monumental FAIL.
Odd that the G11 gets HD video recording and this doesn't. Not a key feature but would make it more competitive to the LX3 and the pricier D-Lux 4.
I might get this one if it manages to come close to the LX3 and a lower price(about $60 or more) or if equals it for the same price. But, Canon would it be so hard to gives us a 5x zoom on the S90?
What? Canon putting a larger sensor instead of cramping more MP? *gasp
LOL. Didn't Canon just release dozen of models earlier this year? It's insane. Anyway, the S90 is catching my attention, mainly for its compact body and large sensor.
Any pricing info?
The SX20 looks promising..reasonable price tag...
S90 is an LX3 wanna be without a hot shoe or other means of attaching a much needed viewfinder. Seriously. Canon could have gone about the "Ok the LX3 is selling so well Panasonic can't keep it stocked almost a year after it's release, we have to get in on it" mode one of two ways... 1) Take a look and see what the biggest complaints with the LX3 are and should be fixed, see what features people love of the LX3 and make an amazing camera or 2) make a quick checklist off of what looks good from a marketing standpoint of the LX3 and quickly make that. Oh well, they made it a little longer focal length lens that's about it.
Ok, one of the big problems the people who actually like the LX-3 is the lack of a viewfinder, but you can at least buy an external viewfinder and mount it on the hot shoe. No hot shoe on the S90, no viewfinder. Turning a ring around a lens is a great means of control if you have the camera pressed to your face, or at waist level (like focusing or zooming when using an SLR) the human wrist doesn't like it so much when you hold a camera a foot and a half out to look at the back of the screen and try rotating around the lens. There is absolutely no excuse for this camera not to have 720p or better video. I don't use my LX3 for much video but when I do it's amazing, my only complaint is I wish it did H.264 compression, but I'd rather have 720p with bulky compression rather than Canon's choice to do good compression on crappy resolution video.
The one nice thing about this camera is that because it's a Canon using a Digic chip, hopefully the CHDK firmware hack will work for it and you'll be able to get features like intervalometer and makeshift cable release function. So that's nice, but for $430US it's going to cost almost as much as the G11 or even a low and SLR. This is ridiculous.
I don't think they've managed to hack the latest Canon OSes so I wouldn't get my hopes too high up.
At any rate the lack of a hotshoe doesn't neccessarily rule out a viewfinder entirely since they can mount in other ways. I think they took out the viewfinder since people complained that the one on the S80 was so small as to be useless.
Obivously it's a little sad since trying to take shots in low light is a pain in the butt without a viewfinder but it seems they're going for compact more than anything else with this.
So if you really are bugged by this I think Canon assumes you'll just buy the G11.
I don't care about a hotshoe, or a viewfinder.
What I see here is a camera that takes very good quality pictures (hopefully. I await reviews), that is compact enough to carry around in my pocket.
I like the G11, but it's tipped over the edge into being a bit too big.
So, if the price isn't too evil, the S90 may be the way to go.
No GPS No Coin For Canon
So thats...one less coin.
*shrug*
Canon did the right thing with the G11 -- reduce the MP size and worked on post processing for a better quality picture. Small sensors can only yield so much before bleed over in bright conditions and low light artifacts come into play. Finally, some manufacturer has see the problem by listening to their customers and took corrective measures.
The announced SX20 also looks promising -- The CA/PF problem needs to be further addressed and Canon may have done just that. Until the real world reviews are done, we can only speculate.
This camera is all about the size. It fits in pockets that the LX3 won't. Also, the f4.8 is at a telephoto that the LX3 can't even reach. I like the LX3 a lot but it is too big for me to use as a pocket cam.