The Canon Powershot PRO 90IS “A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing?”

The “PRO” in the Canon Powershot Pro 90 IS’s name is something of a misnomer, since the camera is highly unlikely to appeal to “pro” photographers. That’s not to say that the Pro 90 IS isn’t an interesting camera, it is, unfortunately the camera has more than its fair share of pedestrian engineering. The problem is a confusing lack of focus in design, function, and ergonomics. If you were to mate a Canon EOS D30 and Canon’s G1, the Powershot Pro 90 IS is the geeky/gawky teenager such a union might produce. The camera is pretty, talented, and ambitious, with lots of potential; but seriously lacking in experience, professional direction and clear cut goals. The camera handles and operates as if it was designed by a committee, and it doesn’t look like the members of that committee all had the same agenda.

Background

Canon ‘s first consumer digital camera (The Powershot Pro 70) was a neat camera, especially for pros and serious amateurs. While the Pro 70 offered little in the way of cutting edge technology (it was a bit under-powered @ 1.7 Megapixel) it did handle like a 35mm camera, had a familiar control array, and offered lots of manual options in the days before affordable Digital SLR’s were widely available. The first Powershot digital camera allowed traditional 35mm photographers to explore digital imaging without starting completely from scratch. Everyone has been waiting expectantly (for more than a year) to see what Canon would offer as a successor to the Pro 70. The Pro 90 IS has a 3.34 megapixel sensor (the same one used in the G1) but offers only 2.6 megapixel effective resolution. A twenty-five per cent loss in resolution capability (due to the “magnification factor” from the 10X zoom and the way that Canon accomplishes Image Stabilization) is not going to encourage a lot of people to buy the Pro 90 IS. In the very near future “standard” digital camera resolution is going to be in the five to six megapixel range, a camera that offers only half that is like taking a step backward.

The Camera

The PowerShot Pro90 provides a wide range of exposure options including: Program AE, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual exposure mode, a selection of preset modes (Landscape, Night Scene, Black and White, Pan Focus, Portrait, Stitch Assist (for panoramic shots), Movie (video and sound, for up to 30 seconds @ 15 frames per second), and an Automatic mode. Continuous Shooting mode can capture a series of images as fast as 0.7 frames per second (depending on compression, image complexity, and resolution) Auto Exposure Bracketing enables the photographer to shoot three images of the same scene, each at a different exposure value. The PRO 90 IS also features a 10 second self-timer (for those who want to be both photographer and subject)


The Lens

The New Canon Powershot Pro 90 IS’s most impressive feature is a 10X (image stabilized) optical zoom. The lens is superb, in my opinion, the finest lens I have seen on any digital camera. The 7-70mm lens (37-370mm 35mm equivalent) lens is fast (f2.8-f3.5) offers a (barely) wide angle to long telephoto range, accurate (if a bit slow) auto-focus, and manual focusing options. The lens aperture can be manually or automatically set, and has an F-stop range from f/2.8 to f/8.0. The Pro 90 IS also features a 2x or 4x digital zoom, and a 58mm filter thread provides the option of using Canon accessory lens kits and economical screw-in filters.

Focusing

The camera's autofocus utilizes a “contrast-detection” system for focusing. CD works fine in well-lit or static situations, but lacks accuracy in low light/low-contrast situations or with moving subjects. The Pro 90IS does offer some manual focus options. Holding the MF button down pulls up a distance scale on the LCD screen, and you can use the up and down arrow buttons to “distance focus” the lens. The problem is that the LCD distance scale doesn't show actual distances, you must consult the manual to convert this scale to approximate distances. An actual distance scale in the LCD would have been much more helpful (and logical) especially in low-light situations where “distance focusing” might save a shot that would otherwise be lost.



Image Stabilization

Canon’s groundbreaking “IS” EOS lenses stabilize the lens path, allowing the photographer to shoot with longer lenses at slower shutter speeds. Canon is famous as the pioneer in 35mm IS, so it was natural for Canon to lead the charge in digital zoom lens image stabilization. The problem is that Canon, rather than staying with technology that was proven in its 35mm lenses, opted instead to achieve image stabilization through pixel manipulation (as opposed to optical path stabilization) the result is a 3.34 megapixel camera that offers only 2.6 megapixel (effective) resolution. This accomplishes pretty much nothing in the final analysis, since most of what is gained from image stabilization (and the superb resolution of the 10X zoom lens) is balanced out by the 25 per cent loss in image resolution.


The Electronic Viewfinder

The Pro90 IS features an electronic viewfinder, what you see in the viewfinder is actually a smaller LCD monitor. The electronic viewfinder provides the same display as the LCD, both screens display camera settings as well as aperture or shutter speed (when the camera is set to one of the manual exposure modes)you can only use one screen at a time. Canon’s new electronic viewfinder is fine if you shoot snapshots and static scenes, but it is useless for any sort of critical focus operation. The image is small, grainy, and it is impossible to tell when (or if) the image is truly in “tack” sharp focus. The photographer must be willing to depend on Canon’s auto focus (which is very good, but surprisingly slow) for this critical and important function. This is an unforgivable design flaw.


The LCD

The swiveling 1.8-inch, low-temperature, PCS, TFT, color LCD monitor (just like the ones used for the Powershot Pro 70 and G1) folds flat against the back panel when closed, lifts up and off of the back panel, and rotates 270 degrees.

Technical Specifications

Resolution: 3.34 Megapixel (2.6 Megapixel effective) 1,856 x 1,392

Lens: 7-70mm (37-370mm 35mm equivalent) F2.8-3.5 (Apertures f/2.8 to f/8.0) all-glass 13 elements in 10 groups

Shutter speeds from 1/1,000th of a second to eight seconds

Flash: Built-in, automatic pop-up flash with five operating modes & External flash hot shoe.

Variable ISO settings: 50, 100, 200, & 400 (35mm film equivalent)

Image Storage Media: Compact Flash Types I & II (Supports IBM Micro-Drive) 16Mb CF card included with camera

Power: Proprietary Canon (BP-511) re-chargeable Lithium battery Pack included. The battery lasts for less than an hour under typical use. Recharge time is about four hours. Additional batteries cost $60-$70.

Metering: Center-Weighted Average or Spot with AE (Auto Exposure) and FE (Flash Exposure) Lock

White Balance: Adjustable: Seven Modes

Compression: JPEG or RAW file formats, Movies saved as AVI files

Shutter Lag: 1 second Auto Focus Lag: 0.5 second Zoom Lag: 1.5 seconds Cycle Time: 5 seconds (a bit slower than average in all categories)

Included

USB Cable, CDs with Canon Utilities, ZoomBrowser EX, PhotoRecord, PhotoStitch, RemoteCapture, Apple QuickTime, Adobe Photoshop LE 5.0, and USB drivers, NTSC A/V cable, BP-511 rechargeable lithium battery pack (AC adapter / recharger included). 16Mgb CF Card, Rigid Lens Hood, Wide Angle Adapter



The Good


Even with only 2.6 megapixel resolution, the images from the Pro 90 IS look sharper than those from the Canon G1 (which uses the same sensor, but offers 3.34 megapixel resolution) this is probably because of improved lens resolution (and image stabilization) from the superb 10X zoom. The color accuracy of the Pro 90 IS is without qualification, the best I have seen with any digital camera.

The Pro 90 IS uses the same 3.34 megapixel CCD as the Canon Powershot G1. It also incorporates the same shutter, spot metering, dedicated flash hot shoe (for use with Canon external flash units) and the same thumb-wheel arrangement (for scrolling through menus) as the G1.

The lens accepts inexpensive 58mm screw in filters, and Canon includes a wide adapter and lens hood

The Bad

Slow auto-focus. Shutter lag. Zoom lag. Cycle Time is slower than average. Ergonomics (Poor control/button placement)


The Ugly

The most glaring (and unforgivable) design flaw is the electronic viewfinder. This is a much smaller LCD, with no true visual path view. Even the chintzy point’n’shoot viewfinders featured on most entry level digital cameras let the photographer actually see what is in front of the camera. The Canon Pro 90 IS offers manual focusing, however with the electronic viewfinder it is not possible to tell when the image is actually in focus. The tiny screen is coarse and grainy and provides nothing to assist the photographer trying to manually focus. No electronic rangefinder (with a green dot to indicate “correct” focus) no accurate distance scale (to allow the photographer to guess distance and set focus accordingly) This makes the camera almost useless for serious photographers and professionals. Auto-focus is accurate, but in low light/low contrast scenes, and with moving subjects auto focus can fail. Pros and serious photographers insist on total control when it comes to focus and exposure decisions, and the Pro 90 IS just doesn’t measure up. Why didn’t someone on the design team think to consult with a couple of experienced “pro” photographers? A fast 10X zoom lens, image stabilization, superb image resolution, ….and no way to insure that the image is actually in focus. DUH?


Ergonomics and Design

The Canon Powershot Pro 90 IS looks like a muscle-bound Canon G1 with a lens transplant, it’s substantial, you won’t be dropping this baby in your pocket. The camera controls are spread out over the top, rear, and left side of the camera. This camera is NOT intuitive in operation, and several of the controls are confusing or placed so that their use/operation interferes with other operations. The most glaring mistake in layout comes with the IS on/off switch located right beside the mode dial (where logic says the on/off switch for the camera should be). The set and menu buttons are located at the rear of the camera (exactly where the base of your right thumb rests when holding the cameras “ergonomic” grip) and it is much too easy to accidentally engage either or both of them when you have the least desire to do so. The manual focus button is located on the left side of the lens housing and is difficult to reach. You must hold the button down with your left hand while you power focus with the “omni selector” (and watch the image in the viewfinder) this is very awkward. Buttons for playback functions are placed on top of the camera, rather than on the rear (near the LCD screen) where they would be most convenient. The tilt/swivel screen is a nice feature, but I would have preferred a fixed rear screen with a better control array.

The lens control is placed at the end of the lens (it is activated by turning the lens ring either left or right “ala” 35mm camera lenses) however, the pop up flash is placed right behind this control and the flash has a nasty tendency to pop up “automatically” when you are power zooming. This can be quite startling and could easily result in a dropped camera. Obviously using the dedicated flash hot shoe with one of Canon’s big “Potato Masher” external flash units is going to complicate matters ever further (hands/fingers in front of the flash, reaching around the flash without being able to see what you are doing…. to activate lens controls) this design flaw is going to make using flash with the Pro 90 IS much more of a challenge than it needs to be. The Camera has a nice 30 second video feature, but you can’t zoom while recording, so no ambitious/creative short movies with lots of “pro” touches to send to your friends….the video will be at the same “low” resolution and static perspective as those shot with an entry level point’n’shoot digital camera.

In the field/Handling and operation

On a lovely Saturday afternoon my friend and I jumped into his car and drove to the Spring’s Station shopping center at Dutchman’s Lane and Breckenridge Lane. A branch of Beargrass Creek runs through the shopping center parking lot (to the side of Home Depot) and it makes a great place to test cameras because you can park your car, walk down the steep banks of the creek and discover a hidden green world in the middle of the city. We’ve had a lot of rain recently so the creek was running high. Large trees line the banks of the creek, effectively blocking out everything except traffic noise. Willows close to the water’s edge are especially pretty this year. Beargrass Creek narrows just after the bridge over Breckenridge Lane, creating a small rapids and tiny waterfall, the pool below this small waterfall was still and smooth as glass. The creek is home to ducks and Canada Geese, and by carefully framing your shots (a zoom lens is really required here) it is possible to shoot images that appear totally natural looking. The ducks and geese are relatively tame and will allow a fairly close approach (10-12 feet) so it is easy to get some good shots. The baby ducks are about half grown and stick together in tight little groups. I didn’t seek any baby geese. Just behind Home Depot the creek makes a classic “S” shaped curve (which runs due west) so when the sun goes down the trees along the creek are backlit and the still water reflects the colors of the sunset. If there are nice clouds the sunset will photograph like a Chinese Landscape, with backlit willows, silhouetted ducks, and beautiful colors in the clouds, sky, and water. It is easy to shoot your sunset, walk back to your car, drive to McDonalds (across the parking lot) and be eating a Big Mac five minutes after you leave the creek bank.

A Relevant (and revealing) Anecdote


I have a very good friend who sells and distributes cameras and photographic equipment. He often loans me cameras and lenses to test, plus we both love to go out and spend an afternoon shooting together, or talking about the latest advances in photography. My friend started out with the ambition to be a professional photographer. He struggled to get jobs and to get his work known, but suddenly realized that he was actually making more money from his sideline of selling used cameras and lenses. He concentrated on sales of used equipment, gave up his dream of being a “pro”, and eventually became successful enough to branch out into distributing and selling new photographic equipment. He still shoots three or four weddings every summer (for close friends) just to keep his hand in. He constantly reads about photography and gets all the newest equipment before anyone else, so he is able to offer all the cutting edge options to his friends. When he shoots a wedding it is a matter of pride for him to offer his “clients” the latest in wedding photography. He shoots the bridal showers, a pajama party with the bride and her bridesmaids, traditional color and “photo-journalism” style Black & White shots of the ceremony, and most recently an “instant e-mail album” (so the happy couple can send a small group of photos with some nice graphics to all their friends, relatives, co-workers, and acquaintances who were not able to attend the wedding) This has been a very popular option, so my friend always takes a digital camera to shoot “cute” shots to be included in the electronic album.

At his most recent wedding shoot (the second marriage of his college room-mate) he used the Canon Powershot Pro 90 IS for this chore. After the wedding, my friend was outside waiting when the happy couple left the church, and since it was a second marriage for both of them they had decided to have some fun. When they came out, the groom (in Tux) carried the bride (in white “long train” dress) “piggyback” to the waiting limo. My friend was ready and caught a tight shot of the two of them, both laughing as they came down the church steps. It was late afternoon and the front of the building was in shadow, so my friend shot the couple at 400 ISO (equivalent) and included the shot in the small selection of pictures in the electronic album. The bride and groom both loved the shot and wanted an 8X10 enlargement. Unfortunately the image was shot with the zoom at about 200mm (equivalent) with IS engaged and turned out grainy so that the best enlargement possible was a 5x7. Everyone was very disappointed, a 25 per cent increase in resolution (to 3.34 megapixel) would have allowed the image to be enlarged to 8X10.

Conclusion

Digital images still aren’t the equal of 35mm images in terms of resolution and overall image quality, and they won’t be for several years to come. The cost of going digital is astronomical when compared to the cost of 35mm. Digital cameras (even when the massive price drops are factored in) still cost two to five times as much as an equivalent 35mm camera. Despite all the hype about “once you go digital, the photography is free” the cost of peripherals (image storage media, batteries & chargers, software, image quality printers, image quality paper, image quality ink cartridges, high powered computers with LOTS of RAM, etc.) add up to a pretty hefty investment in free photography. If you are an average family snap shooter (10-12 rolls of film per year) it will take you about one hundred years to get into the plus column with your savings on film processing costs. If cost savings are important to you, then digital photography is not the most efficient imaging medium, 35mm is still lots cheaper, and the quality is much better. However if you love toys, use your computer for many tasks besides imaging, and see yourself as a pioneer on the cusp of an amazing new imaging technology, then digital cameras are quite convenient and can be a lot of fun.


The uncertainty about the economy is driving digital camera prices down dramatically. Just a year ago the Olympus Camedia C3030 cost $900.00 today you can buy one for about $550.00. The Olympus C3000 was $700 six months ago, today you can buy one for about $450. Americans bought almost five million digital cameras in 2000, they are expected to buy about 6.5 million in 2001. Within two or three years that number will rise to somewhere between 10 and 15 million units yearly. Digital cameras make up about twenty-five per cent of the imaging market now, but that is expected to rise to almost fifty per cent within five years. Now may be the best time ever to buy a digital camera. Prices are down, features continue to proliferate, and many inexpensive digital cameras offer features and resolution that was only dreamed of just a couple of years ago. The wise consumer wants to get the best deal possible, and unfortunately, the Canon Powershot Pro 90 IS is overall a step backward. I can’t recommend the Canon Powershot Pro 90 IS, keep looking there are better options available.

For information on How to Choose a Digital Camera please see my review:

http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-2E46-17B174E2-39A418E3-prod1

For information about specific Digital Camera models, please see my Digital Camera Reviews:


Nikon Digital Cameras

Nikon Coolpix 5000
http://www.epinions.com/content_52720406148

Nikon Coolpix 885
http://www.epinions.com/content_46290931332

Nikon Coolpix 995
http://www.epinions.com/content_40256769668

Nikon D1X
http://www.epinions.com/content_36023996036

Nikon D1
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-4868-E2433E5-38737CF8-prod2/tk_~CB003.1.78

Nikon Coolpix 880
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-2DA8-DF21E52-39E118CA-prod5

Nikon Coolpix 990
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-3B78-3C431D90-3A345313-prod3

Canon Digital Cameras

Canon Powershot G2
http://www.epinions.com/content_47646084740

Canon Powershot S10
http://www.epinions.com/content_7563808388/tk_~CB003.1.74

Canon EOS D30
http://www.epinions.com/content_11625991812/tk_~CB003.1.58

Canon Powershot PRO 90IS
http://www.epinions.com/content_30440001156/tk_~CB005.1.9

Canon Powershot G1
http://www.epinions.com/content_8768294532/tk_~CB003.1.70

Canon Powershot PRO 70
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-6496-25768DA-38C3E01A-prod9/tk_~CB003.1.70


Sony Digital Cameras

Sony DSC S85
http://www.epinions.com/content_51957567108

Sony MVC-CD 300
http://www.epinions.com/content_45591793284

Sony DSC-S50
http:http://www.epinions.com/content_15885897348

Sony Mavica MVC-CD1000
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-5F01-365BA12-3980602C-prod3/tk_~CB003.1.14

Olympus Digital Cameras

Olympus Camedia C3040
http://www.epinions.com/content_42675179140

Olympus Camedia C3000
http://www.epinions.com/content_26106105476/tk_~CB003.1.30

Olympus Camedia E10
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-59FB-183DFC73-3A17388F-prod2/tk_~CB003.1.42

Fuji Digital Cameras

Fuji Finepix S1 “PRO”
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-5591-16816C34-39047A87-prod5/tk_~CB003.1.18

Minolta Digital Cameras

Minolta Dimage 5
http://www.epinions.com/content_49104522884


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