Canon PowerShot S90

Shooting Modes (18.50)

The S90 has a lot of shooting modes on offer. On the mode dial there are options for a full auto mode, a program mode, shutter and aperture priority mode, a full auto mode and a custom mode that uses a set of customized saved settings. In addition , there are sports for a low light and movie mode, as well as a scene mode setting. If this is selected, you can choose one of 18 scene modes, which include the usual suspects (portrait, landscape) plus a few unusual modes (aquarium, underwater and two modes that help create panoramas.

Auto Mode Features

Focus – The S90 uses a single focus point in the center of the frame. You do get the option to change the size of the frame, but you can’t move it off-center. There is also an option to use face detection to focus in on faces. We did find that the auto focus worked quickly, though; it usually snapped into place and beeped reassuringly in less than a second.

Macro focus down to a minimum distance of 2 inches is also offered, as well as a manual focus mode.We found this is relatively easy to use, as you can use the control dial on the back of the camera or the control ring on the front to focus.

The S90 is unusual in offering focus bracketing. When enabled, this will take 3 images with different focus points when you press the shutter, which could be useful if you don’t trust the single focus point to get it right.

Exposure – The S90 did good job of correctly guessing the correct exposure in our tests, but there are also several options to tweak this if required. You get exposure compensation of 2 stops up or down, and the camera can also automatically take 3 bracketed exposures at up to 2 stops up and down. This is good to see on a point & shoot camera: many don’t offer any form of bracketing.

Metering – The usual options of a full evaluative mode, center weighted and spot metering are offered on the S90. In addition, a face detection mode finds and meters for faces in the frame.

Self-Timer – The S90 offers a lot of options in its self timer feature. As well as the usual simple 10 and 2 second delays, the camera can take a number of photos (from 3 to 10) when it detects a face in the frame. There is also a custom option which allows you to set the delay (up to 30 seconds) and the number of shots that are taken (from 3 to 10). The one thing that is missing is an interval timer, where the camera takes a number of shots at a preset time interval.

Scene Modes

Changing modes is very easy: for most you just twist the mode dial. Changing scene modes is a bit more awkward; you have to scroll through the list using the control dial on the back of the camera. This can take some time, and there is no way to quickly skip through the list.

Picture Effects (4.25)

The S90 includes a number of modes designed to produce a specific look in the image in the My Colors menu. Examples of the options on offer are below.

Picture Samples
My Colors Off Vivid Neutral Sepia Black & White Positive Lighter Skin Tone Darker Skin Tone Custom More...

Manual Controls (8.33)

The S90 offers a full auto mode for white balance, as well as 7 presets and an evaluative mode. In this, you point the camera at something white and press the shutter, and it judges the white balance. Unusually, you can also tweak any of the presets for more precise control.

The full manual mode gives you plenty of control over the aperture of the S90, and there is a decent aperture range. At the widest setting, the aperture range is from f/2.0 to f/8, which is unusually wide. At the telephoto end, the range is a little more restricted: f/ 4.9 to f/8.0.

In most modes, the shutter speed range of the S90 is from 1 second down to 1/1600 of a second. In the shutter priority and full manual modes, this is expanded to 15 seconds to 1/1600 of a second. 1/1600 of a second is fast enough for most uses, but it might not be fast enough to freeze some fast moving objects, such as a speeding tennis ball or an overly candied small child.

Drive/Burst Mode (6.00)

Two burst modes are available on the S90: continuous shooting and continuous shooting AF. In the latter mode, the camera continuously keeps checking the focus point and adjusting it if required.

Shot to Shot (1.04)

Shooting in the continuous mode, we found that the S90 managed to capture a touch over 1 frame a second (1.04 a second, to be exact). That’s on the slow side; many other point & shoot cameras can manage many more, or offer special modes that capture a lot of images quickly. The S90 does not.