I went and had a play with the S90 at a local store. I noticed three things in particular:
1) It is actually really nice and tiny! I'd be carrying it along almost everywhere!
2) The front ring control is waaay to hard, i.e. from one click to the next requires considerable force, and makes it impractical / worthless for focus adjust, because the camera shakes so much.
3) While the pop-up flash is nice in principle, I don't understand why I have to click a button (twice, iirc) to retract it when I don't want to use flash anymore. Why can't I just push it in manually? Much quicker, more intuitive imo. I'd also prefer a dedicated button for activating flash. I want to have a nice camera that I can bring along to outings with friends, parties, where I see myself changing between flash / non flash frequently.
What are your thought, particularly from owners! Am I missing some tricks / settings? I'd love to love that camera!
I've never even seen an S90 let alone used one and now I hear from various sources it's lens ring is both too stiff and too soft. Don't you just love the net
dhphoto wrote:
I've never even seen an S90 let alone used one and now I hear from various sources it's lens ring is both too stiff and too soft. Don't you just love the net
I just read the review at LL after posting here. The ring people are complaining about that is too loose is the one on the back that surrounds the control panel (flash / macro / menu navigation). Indeed I found it very flimsy, too. The control ring around the lens is the one that's too stiff (with the one I handled, anyway!).
DavidP wrote:
Don't agree with #2, except for using to adjust focus (which I would never use it for).
That review suggested using the lens control ring for selecting 28 / 35 / 50 / 85 / 105 focal lengths, that certainly sounds a lot more practical. I guess I was just disappointed that it didn't work well for MF (I use mostly MF primes on a 40D, that's why I was intrigued, I think)
What I would find interesting to know is if, as I suspect the front lens ring would be great - if you held the camera to your eye like if it had a viewfinder - like twisting a focusing ring on a dslr
It seems rather incongruous to be turning a ring with your left hand's fingers while holding the camera away from your face at eye level. Or am I mistaken?
The front control ring should be set to (+ -) setting. You should never have to touch it again. The control dial on the back does move easily and, in turn, will influence your exposures, but if the front control ring is permanently set to (+ -) only your f-stop, not your exposure if set in TV or AV, will be affected which is a snap to correct. This really isn't a big deal because the DOF is extreme no matter what f-stop the dial inadvertantly spins to. I shoot mostly on AV or P. Flash is permanently off. Like any new camera equipment you always need to overcome some minor manufacturer shortcomings, and make a few concessions. Once practiced, it's second nature.
If you turn the top control dial to "auto" your focal length selections will automatically appear. Although this might be a nice feature for some I don't find this as fast as just zooming in. Because the DOF is endless, the turning of the front control ring to get exact FL is sort of dumb IMO. Also in the auto and scene settings the S90 flash has a mind of it's own - it pops up when you sometimes don't want it.
I also set my ISO, not letting the camera do it for me. The camera will easily go to the top ISO (3200) if you have it on the auto ISO setting. No matter what they say ISO 800 is pushing it.
Finally, the f2 lens is more about letting in more light without having to increase ISO speed than blurred backgrounds. The range of focal lengths on the lens is "6.0-22.5". In terms of FF the 22.5 (representing 105mm FL) would be superwide. Great for photojournalism, not to hot for portraits.
Size is the best thing about the camera. In most other respects it is another nice compact camera, but not IMHO a revolutionary camera. I am not unhappy that Amazon botched my pre-order and I did not take them up on their offer to sell me the camera at a discount.
I suggest you read a complete review somewhere before passing on misinformation on equipment you don't own. This multi-purpose spinning wheel on the back also allows you to page through your pictures faster than you can with an iPhone.
Barry Pehlman wrote:
The front control ring should be set to (+ -) setting. You should never have to touch it again. The control dial on the back does move easily and, in turn, will influence your exposures, but if the front control ring is permanently set to (+ -) only your f-stop, not your exposure if set in TV or AV, will be affected which is a snap to correct. This really isn't a big deal because the DOF is extreme no matter what f-stop the dial inadvertantly spins to. I shoot mostly on AV or P. Flash is permanently off. Like any new camera equipment you always need to overcome some minor manufacturer shortcomings, and make a few concessions. Once practiced, it's second nature....Show more →
So you set the front ring to something you hardly use? Essentially rendering it pointless?
What about using the lens ring for FL (even if it's not faster than using the lever for zooming, but I wouldn't have to hold it so long when going from wide to tele...) and using the rear dial to adjust metering? Since it's liveview all the way don't you get a pretty good preview making you aware of any accidental change? I frequently adjust metering to make sure I don't blow highlights (excessively).
Can you enlarge on that, can't find it in the manual I've just downloaded, you can set an upper limit for ISO, how?
Turn the camera on. Push "function set". A list of options appear as an overlay, same as the G cameras. Top selection is ISO. You can use the wheel or arrows on the back to set to your ISO. Then push the "function set" again. Your ISO is established in AV, TV and P. I just did a quick indoor/outdoor test and it stayed on the ISO I selected for all three settings. Turning the camera off then on doesn't change it either. On P, at least the way I have it set up, the back dial will move the ISO. Be careful, but AV and TV are set.
Barry Pehlman wrote:
Turn the camera on. Push "function set". A list of options appear as an overlay, same as the G cameras. Top selection is ISO. You can use the wheel or arrows on the back to set to your ISO. Then push the "function set" again. Your ISO is established in AV, TV and P. I just did a quick indoor/outdoor test and it stayed on the ISO I selected for all three settings. Turning the camera off then on doesn't change it either. On P, at least the way I have it set up, the back dial will move the ISO. Be careful, but AV and TV are set. ...Show more →
I think the question was if you can limit the upper ISO in AutoISO mode? I.e., will the camera choose the best ISO from 80 up to say 400 (rather than going all the way to 3200). Is this what you're doing here, or do you set a fixed ISO?
What I would find interesting to know is if, as I suspect the front lens ring would be great - if you held the camera to your eye like if it had a viewfinder - like twisting a focusing ring on a dslr
It seems rather incongruous to be turning a ring with your left hand's fingers while holding the camera away from your face at eye level. Or am I mistaken?
In fact, for macro subjects with a tripod this technique would probably be ideal.
jotdeh wrote:
I think the question was if you can limit the upper ISO in AutoISO mode? I.e., will the camera choose the best ISO from 80 up to say 400 (rather than going all the way to 3200).
