Canon PowerShot S90

[Norm Dulak]

Wanting to have good image capturing ability wherever I am, I just received a new Canon PowerShot S90 camera. This is the very compact sibling of the new G11, and my initial impressions of the camera are very good.

The S90 has a fast f/2.0 lens (not zoomed) that provides great performance in low light situations. The 3.8X optical zoom provides and effective 28-105mm range, with 10 MP resolution. A wide range of ISO settings is available, including an amazing 12,800 at a special low light setting. Aperture and shutter priority can be set, as well as an effective auto mode. Evaluative, center-weighted and spot metering can be set, as well as exposure compensation, white balance and the other usual parameters essential to advanced amateur and pro photographers.

And of course there is Canon's image stabilization, with three modes. In an initial test, I obtained a very sharp image of my pet amazon parrot that held up at a 400% view, hand holding at 1/40 sec.

In a nutshell, the S90 provides much of the utility of the new G11, in a much smaller and lighter package. My only complaint is that while it can produce RAW files, the software provided by Canon cannot presently handle it. As a result, the RAW files must be converted to TIFF documents before they can be adjusted. So until a software upgrade is provided by Canon, it seems to me that one might as well shoot in the finest JPEG format, and then convert that as appropriate in Photoshop.

I understand, however, that 3rd party software might be available that can handle the new .CR2 files. Does anyone know about that?

Norm Dulak

[Doug Brown]

I recently got an S90, and although I haven't tried it yet, I believe that Lightroom 2 has beta support for S90 RAW files.

[Gene Potter]

I just got mine Friday and used it the first time Friday night at a company event. I only was able to get about half a charge on the battery before the party and got about 125 images before it died. Yesterday I played with menus and settings and killed another charge. I’m a little concerned about battery life. Other than that, I was impressed with the images. I shot JPG on the auto setting and got about 95% keepers.
Now that I got a third charge complete, I’ll try the RAW setting. I hope CS4 is going to do the trick.
The only other thing is that I’m a dedicated Nikon user and my nikonian friends are giving me a hard time. Such is life…

[Norm Dulak]

I only was able to get about half a charge on the battery before the party and got about 125 images before it died. Yesterday I played with menus and settings and killed another charge. I’m a little concerned about battery life.
Now that I got a third charge complete, I’ll try the RAW setting. I hope CS4 is going to do the trick.
The only other thing is that I’m a dedicated Nikon user and my nikonian friends are giving me a hard time. Such is life…

Gene:

Proper battery maintenance in any electronic device is essential. It is important at the onset to FULLY charge a battery. Then, you should run it down as indicated by the manufacturer and fully recharge it again. I hope you are able to resolve your difficulties.

My battery experience with the S90 has been good.

Finally, I too am a dedicated Nikon user and have made this brief excursion into the Canon world for this limited purpose only.

Norm Dulak

[Gene Potter]

Thanks very much for the advice Norn. I hardly ever leave to shop without a fully charged battery. However, it’s my understanding that the modern rechargeable batteries don’t form charge memories as their predecessors did. I think the life I got out of the second charge was due to so much time in the menu. If I develop problems I’ll have to get another and probably should have a back-up anyway.
Ya, I’m not going to switch now.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi everyone. I'm trying to decide between the S90 and the G11. I originally wanted the S90 to stick in my pocket when I didn't want to lug gear around, but haven't been able to snag one so I was looking at the specs
and now I can't decide. The G11 looks like it has a faster shutter speed range and larger battery power. Any
input?

Thanks for your help:)