Pros: Great lens, 10x zoom, good flash, easy to use.
Cons: Cannot accept alkaline batteries, small included memory card.
The Bottom Line: If battery life is not an issue, and the 10x zoom will be of use to you, this camera should be on your short list of models to consider.
dancilmi's Full Review: Canon PowerShot Pro 90IS Digital Camera
Recently my father borrowed my digital camera (a Nikon Coolpix 990) to take some pictures for eBay. He used it for about 2 weeks, and decided that he wanted a digital camera of his own. As the family computer, photography, and electronics expert (I was a manager for Radio Shack for 4 years), I was recruited to help my father pick one out. After a few hours of online research, we headed down to the local Wiz store and started testing both cameras and the salesman’s patience.
The parameters were simple. My father wanted a camera that was fairly easy to operate, took high quality pictures, and cost around $1000. After testing about 15 different models, my father decided that he wanted a 10 times optical zoom. We then did some more online research, and decided that the Canon PowerShot Pro90 IS was the best combination of price and performance. The best discount we could find was from Express Camera online (costing about $1100). Seeing as the 16MB card that the Canon ships with is hopelessly inadequate, he ordered a 340MB IBM MicroDrive along with it.
Recently my father and I went on a weeklong family vacation to Florida together, and we both brought our digital cameras. Between the two of us, we took over 600 photographs and I had a great opportunity to put our cameras head to head (not to mention an opportunity to write a thorough review). Overall I was pretty impressed with the PowerShot’s capabilities, and I found myself wishing I could combine some of the Canon’s and the Nikon’s best features.
The first thing I came to appreciate about the Pro90 IS was it’s incredible zoom range. While it’s still missing the ability to zoom to wide angles, the telephoto range extends to the 35mm equivalent of 370mm. The zoom operates quickly and the control on the front of the lens feels natural and operates easily. While most 3x zoom cameras can acquire better telephoto range by way of a lens attachment, a built in 10x lens is far superior in ease of use and convenience.
There are two options for composing your pictures. The first is a foldout 1.8-inch LCD screen that can swivel in any direction. The display is sharp, and the swivel feature is nice, but I think the swivel itself is prone to damage. The other option is a viewfinder that is not composed of lenses, but instead uses another LCD screen within the body of the camera. Personally, I much prefer a real optical viewfinder, as you can see much more detail and you’re better equipped to compose a photograph in low light situations. The camera also sports a good flash, and feels comfortable to hold in your hands. Image quality and sharpness are excellent, and the color accuracy is very good except when using the flash. Typical file sizes for a full resolution image at the low compression JPEG setting are around 1MB each. Prints look film quality up to 8 by 10 inches if you have a good inkjet printer and use photo paper.
I do, however, see room for improvement in several areas. First, the camera comes with a lithium-ion rechargeable battery that lasts about an hour under normal use (recharge time is around 4 hours). Extra batteries cost about $60 apiece, and the camera does not accept alkaline batteries. If you never need to shoot for more than an hour away from an electrical outlet, this shouldn’t be a problem, but I can think of at least 20 times when I have needed to shoot for hours at a time. I also find it difficult to swallow that a camera costing $1299 retail would come with a 2.6 megapixel CCD as opposed to the 3.3 megapixels that almost all other cameras in that price range provide. I also found that the exposure controls were difficult and time consuming to access. Be prepared for a camera that is much larger and more cumbersome than most digital cameras. The size and weight are comparable to an SLR instead of a point and shoot.
Overall, I believe the Canon PowerShot Pro90 IS is a capable performer. The 10x optical zoom will be more important to most people than smaller and lighter cameras. For my needs, I still prefer my Nikon (I won’t go into a lot of detail about the 990, as I have already reviewed it). To me, the most important thing of all is to enjoy the act of actually taking a photograph, and for most people the Canon will help you do just that, and provide you with some high quality photographs along the way.
2.6 megapixel CCD creates 1856 x 1392 pixel images for prints at sizes up to 8 x 10 10x optical and 2x digital zoom lens with optical image stabilizat...More at Amazon Marketplace
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