Canon S90 - General Chat - CHDK Forum

Canon S90

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Offline RaduP

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Canon S90
« on: 22 / August / 2009, 13:18:41 »
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Finally, after losing lots of customers to Panasonic LX3 (which sells so well that Panasonic can't make enough), Canon seems to have reverted from the "Omfg, let's put 20 MP on a sensor as big as a grain of rice".
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/09081907canons90.asp

I am pretty happy with the specs, that I think I might buy it to replace my A570 camera (I like the wide angle, bigger sensor and the fact that it is more pocketable).

The only dissapointment is that it won't do HD video, just 640x480, although they are going to use better compression.

So what do you guys think?

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Offline fudgey

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Re: Canon S90
« Reply #1 on: 23 / August / 2009, 03:14:43 »
In general it's obviously not an a570 replacement since it's priced 3 times as high (maybe not the street price but a different range anyway) and looks more like an ixus. But you're right, it appears to be the only Canon since the demise of A series that appears attractive to me too (full manual control, small size, reduced noise -- at least we can hope so).

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Offline RaduP

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Re: Canon S90
« Reply #2 on: 23 / August / 2009, 03:36:36 »
I compared it in terms of features. Yeah, the price is prety steep for now, and the zoom range is smaller (but it starts from 28mm), and probably won't be supported by CHDK for a while.
However, it is the only Canon camera that I would buy for now. The G11 is nice too, but too expensive and not a pocketable camera. I don't like compromises, so if it doesn't fit in my pocket, I might as well use my DSLR.

P.S. The A570 is much more expensive now than it was a year ago. Last time I checked, a few weeks ago, it was 220 bucks from Amazon (new).
« Last Edit: 23 / August / 2009, 03:39:01 by RaduP »

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Offline Anaglyphic

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Re: Canon S90
« Reply #3 on: 23 / August / 2009, 16:50:19 »
The LX3 is gorgeous and I would love Panasonic or anyone to beat a few million dollars of snot out of Canon so they'll stop coasting at the top... no need to innovate when you're so far out in front, and we're suffering for it.

re: the S90, spec-wise and design-wise I'm a huge fan; it looks more sturdy and pocket-friendly than that ugly G11 (and that stupid variangle LCD!), and with the pop-up flash like a throwback to the film ELPHs, and that settings dial around the lens ala 35mm aperture ring... although it might prove difficult to operate one-handed, I'll let you know as soon as B&H Photo gets them in stock and I can take over a blank SD card and play. If it's image quality stands up to such a thoughtful design, it seems like money well spent.

I'm also curious about the SX120 - still about the same price as the original SX100, but now with low-dispersion lens element... chromatic aberration in the superzoom cameras is always horrendous and much more difficult to (fully) correct than barrel / pincushion distortion. I'm itching to see / take some shots with it.

But having been let down year after year, it makes you jaded. Why should they change? I have this sinking feeling it's the same ol, same ol... rebranded, repackaged, reinvented... BS! Status Quo.
 :-[
Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything,
 we ought to know a little about everything.
-- Blaise Pascal

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Offline RaduP

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Re: Canon S90
« Reply #4 on: 23 / August / 2009, 20:19:37 »
Well, the pixel density is 'only' 23 MP/square cm in the S90, so the image should be pretty good, so long as there is no problem with the new sensor. I am almost happy with the A570IS (29 MP per square cm) noise at ISO 80 (it looks like ISO 600 of my XSI), so it is pretty good, IF you remove the stupid incamera sharpening which does nothing but make the noise and bad pixels stand out more.

About the superzoom cameras, they seem very nice in theory, but in practice after 150 MM the quality is not much better than if you would use digital zoom :)
The low dispersion glass will remove the chromatic aberations (I have a spotting scope with such glass), but not sure if the image resolution will be enough at 300mm.
« Last Edit: 23 / August / 2009, 20:22:25 by RaduP »

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Offline RaduP

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Re: Canon S90
« Reply #5 on: 23 / August / 2009, 21:01:42 »
BTW, where did you get the low-dispersion lens element announcement for the SX120? I looked at the Canon announcement and there was nothing about that.

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Offline Anaglyphic

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Re: Canon S90
« Reply #6 on: 24 / August / 2009, 14:35:23 »
Dude! Busted! Either the OP misquoted the press release or I read it wrong. (most likely the latter!) :-X

It's got something called a UA Lens... "Ultra High Refractive Index Aspherical Lens", so hopefully it's a better lens overall, but no where does it say it's LD. Ah well, wishful thinking. Maybe just by virtue of being a better quality lens it will exhibit less tCA. I use fulla (from the hugin project) to correct as best I can on SX100 images... while I can eliminate barrel / pincushion, I can only minimize that tell-tale superzoom CA fringe...
Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything,
 we ought to know a little about everything.
-- Blaise Pascal

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Offline RaduP

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Re: Canon S90
« Reply #7 on: 24 / August / 2009, 20:52:06 »
Heh, no problem.
Probably if they added sucha  lens the cost of the lens alone would be double the cost of the camera :)

 

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