Canon PowerShot S90

	Video
	Resolution	Page 6 of 16	Sample Photos

Movie 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 15x.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.   Click here for more on how we test video color.

Video Color Scores Comparisons
		Compare to Panasonic ZS3
		Compare to Canon SD970 IS
		Compare to Fuji F200EXR

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.   Click here for more on how we test video sharpness.

Video Resolution Scores Comparison
		Compare to Panasonic ZS3
		Compare to Canon SD970 IS
		Compare to Fuji F200EXR

See how the competition stacked up against the Canon PowerShot S90
Panasonic ZS3	Canon SD970 IS	Fuji F200EXR