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Introduction
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01.Product Tour
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02.Color
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03.Noise
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04.Resolution
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05.Video
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06.Sample Photos
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07.Playback
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08.Hardware
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09.Controls
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10.Design & Handling
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11.Panasonic ZS3 Comparison
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12.Canon SD970 IS Comparison
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13.Fuji F200EXR Comparison
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14.Conclusion
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15.Photo Gallery
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16.Comments
Canon PowerShot S90
Previous: Page 4
ResolutionNext: Page 6
Sample PhotosVideo
Video mode is easy to access, but the video has poor color and little detail.
Video Mode (8.75)
The S90 shoots movies at a maximum resolution of 640 by 480 pixels, which is standard definition. Other cameras can record high definition video, but the S90 is limited to standard definition. The files are recorded as MOV files which use H.264 compression, with mono sound captured from the microphone under the small hole next to the lens. While shooting, you cannot use the optical zoom, but a 4x digital zoom is available. You can, however, use the optical zoom prior to shooting then use the digital zoom while shooting, for a total possible zoom of 15×.The image quality does deteriorate when using the digital zoom, though.
Video Color (3.96)
Although we were impressed with the color of the still images that the S90 captured, we were not overly impressed with the color of videos; the color were slightly inaccurate and the video was very highly saturated, leading to artificially bright and garish colors. More on how we test video color.
Video Sharpness (0.78)
We were also less than impressed with the sharpness of the video; the video had a soft, blurry look, especially with moving objects. This is partly down to the low resolution that the camera captures video at (640 by 480 pixels; significantly less than the 1920 by 1080 that many capture at), but the video is also very heavily compressed, which leads to lost detail. More on how we test video sharpness.
Shop for the Canon S90
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Canon S90 Manual
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