You can program the ring to adjust focus, shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation, white balance or ISO by activating the Ring Function button located on the top plate of the camera. The feel of the dial is reminiscent of the manual shutter ring of an analogue 35 mm, with the same clicking and intuitive operation, adding a distinct nostalgic mood that will appeal to all old school film users.
The Control Ring can have different functions assigned to it including focus
The Control Ring also works in combination with a Control Dial at the back of the camera to quickly change settings. With the latter, its behaviour is markedly different from the smooth and precise action of the Ring, and has a much looser motion and moves far too fast for precision, often resulting in unwanted changes.
In use, the Control Dial is extremely efficient in Scene Mode where allows you to swiftly change scene type with one quick finger move. The combination of these selector dials together with a customisable Shortcut (S) button makes for some very intelligent and fast control of almost all the camera settings without the need to access menus and submenus.
The S90 mounts an impressively sharp and bright lens with an f/2.0-4.9 aperture range and an optically stabilized 3.8x zoom covering the classic 28-105mm range with very little optical distortion. The PowerShot S90 also has a wealth of shooting modes. In brief these are: Auto, Program, Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Manual, Scene, Movie, Low Light. There are over 20 speciality scene modes too, covering virtually any lighting or subject condition.
The pop-up flash has is handy, but could be better implemented
For the snapshot enthusiast Canon has included a Smart Auto mode with Scene Detection Technology. This intelligent automatic application works by evaluating the shooting conditions – including recognising moving objects and locking exposure and focus on target – and applying the most suitable settings for the situation.
Next page: Sample Shots
COMMENTS
Price? Yikes.
Holy crap, you unfortunate British-dwellers are getting ripped off on this one; it's $429 plus tax (so about $500) in the States - hell, even in Canada we only get ripped off an extra hundred bucks ($529). I love mine but I'm not sure I'd have paid nearly $1,000 for it.
If you want a viewfinder and a grip (and a flash hotshoe), then you want the closely-related G11 - http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/canon_powershot_g11_review/ . The S90 is for those of us who want top-class image quality but don't want the bulk and weight those features add.
For those talking about shutter lag - it's pretty decent on this camera, not SLR level, but good. And against all the shots you may miss on a compact due to shutter lag, I place all the shots you may miss on a DSLR due to not being able to fit it in your pocket. Which, for me, would be all of 'em. This isn't meant to replace a DSLR, it's meant to be the best camera you can get for the situations where you don't have a DSLR (or micro 4/3) with you (or for people who don't want a DSLR at all as they know they'd never take it anywhere).
re: Pics or it didn't happen
I think you will find there's a court injunction preventing publication of those tiger "photos"...
Why did they kill the Powershot Pro?
I love my Powershot Pro1 - a totally awesome camera that still embarrasses DSLR's, four years or more on! Professional level lens, full on manual, and all. Now *that* is what Canon need to do again, not a quirky retro compact like this one!
Shutter Lag...
...is the one thing I could never reconcile myself to with compacts which is why I bought an SLR a couple of years ago and never looked back. So many missed shots with compacts and their shutter lag :( I got used to the bulk and weight of an SLR very quickly so when there's a compact with SLR-like focus speed and shutter delay, that'll be news. Until then, this is just another compact with the failings thereof. RAW, face recognition, low-noise at high ISO are meaningless unless you get the shot.
