Canon PowerShot S90

Viewfinder (0.00)

There is no viewfinder on the S90; images are previewed through the LCD screen.

Display (5.80)

The 3.1-inch screen on the back of the S90’s body is a big, bright screen that has around 460k pixels. We found that the screen was clear and sharp, providing a good preview of the images that the camera captures.

Flash (5.75)

The S90 includes a small pop-up flash that jumps out of the top left corner of the camera case when required. When it is not used, it fits back into the camera body completely. We found that this flash had rather limited range; it could only illuminate objects out to about 5 to 7 feet.

Lens (4.40)

The lens of the S90 is made by Canon themselves and has a focal length of 6 to 22.5mm, which is equivalent to a 28 to 105mm zoom on a 35mm camera. That’s a 3.8x zoom length, which is a little shorter than the 10 and 12x zooms that we see on some point and shot cameras. However, 3.8x is enough for most uses; as you can see from the examples below, it is long enough to capture everything from a group shot to a head and shoulders shot from a distance.

Zoom Ratio Examples
6.0 mm	15.0 mm	22.5 mm

Battery (5.00)

The S90 gets juiced up by a small Li-ion battery that fits into the cavity on the bottom of the camera body. This NB-6L battery is charged up in an external charger: there is no way to charge it within the camera body itself. Canon claims a battery life of about 220 shots with the LCD on, which would tie in with our informal testing: we were able to shoot for several days without charging. A spare battery will cost you $60.

Memory (3.00)

The S90 uses SDHC memory cards to store photos, although it is also compatible with the older SD card type. An 8GB SDHC card will cost you about $25, and can hold about 3,000 images at the highest resolution and quality, which should be enough for most trips. There is some internal memory on the camera, but this cannot be used to store photos.

Jacks, Ports & Plugs (5.50)

There are just two ports on the S90; a mini HDMI port for connecting to a HDTV, and a combination USB and A/V out port that connects to a computer or an analog TV. Kudos to Canon for making this port compatible with standard USB cables; if you lose the included USB cable, you can use one from another device with a standard USB type A plug on the end.