Take a Look at the New Canon Powershot S90

Taking a look at the Canon Powershot S90 reveals a small digital camera that's been designed mainly for those who are fans of actual photography. It's not a digital single-lens reflex (SLR) camera, but the company has infused it with enough features to make many think that it is. Many experts rate its controls very highly, as well as its lens and the quality of its photographs.

Canon lists the price of the Powershot S90 at $430, though it can be found at a variety of online retail outlets at anywhere from $376 to $399. It seems to be designed more for the advanced amateur photographer than just the casual taker of an occasional snapshot, and the price and features reflects that, most would say.

At just 3.9 inches by 2.3 inches by 1.2 inches, the Powershot is small enough to fit comfortably in a single hand. Its weight -- including battery and attached media storage cards -- is only seven ounces, making this unit hummingbird-light in weight and size. The camera is also rated at 10 megapixels, meaning its internal 1.7-inch CCD ("charge-coupled device") will deliver extremely sharp and clear pictures every time.

Users of the Powershot S90 won't have any complaints about the size of LCD display screen on the back of the camera, either. At 3 inches, with its control switches laid out along the right side of the screen, there'll be little problem in framing the shot correctly and then snapping away. The lens itself is also top-notch, with 3.8x zoom and an aperture that goes from f2 to 4.9 and a focal length of 28 to 105 millimeters.

The S90 also has a number of different video and photo file formats. These include JPEGs, CR2 (for raw images) and H2.64 codecs for video. MOV files (Apple Quick Time is one such supported by this particular file format). It also comes with a very high photo and video resolution capability. Photos will look very sharp at 3,648 by 2,763 pixels. Videos are captured at 30 frames per second (fps) and 640 by 480 pixels.

The battery type found in the Powershot is a standard lithium ion rechargeable unit, and it's good for about 220 snapshots before needing recharging. It's also able to stabilize the image it "sees" through both optical and digital means. Everything it takes, when it comes to photo and video files, can be stored on a variety of media tools, including SD, SDHC, MMC, MMCPlus, HC MMCplus.

The camera really is meant for true photographic duties. It has manual and semi-manual shooting controls and a control ring that's found around the lens. This ring is able to manage aperture changes, focus, zoom, aperture and the speed of the shutter. There's even a button on the top of the camera that lets the camera's user task just what the ring can control (everything the camera does is seen through the LCD screen).

Overall, the Canon Powershot S90 gives to its user the ability to engage in truly serious amateur photography. Other than it not being a real digital SLR camera, it offers just about every other option that cameras costing much more do. It carries a list retail price of about $430, though it can be found from $376 to $400. The S90 would seem to be a good combination of price and capability in a very compact package.

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