Canon drops the Gauntlet, New G11 and S90

The G11 sounds like an amazing camera; those specs are very close to my ideal small digital. I'm so glad they included an articulated screen & presumably the drop in pixels is due to an increase in size that directly relates to lower noise & better high ISO (essentially the same thing). If it has fast focus then I think they may have just sold one to me.
 
I never thought this could happen. By going back from 15MP to 10MP they finally admit that 15MP was too much and not the best decision.
 
still a tiny sensor and a slow lens when zoomed out, so for me I can't see it will have any low light performance that would interest me.

Everything else about the camera is probably a winner though.

I have a G7 which I do like, but it is very limited.
 
Thx! Finally this ridiculous pixelWar is over, for a while anyway.
Both cameras should be great. I'm especially tempted by the S90 which really is pocketable.

I've been looking at the LX3 but I don't like having lensCap on compacts which must be removed by hand. The GRDIII is great too but a bit pricey.

I guess that the S90 should suit me well, unless Canon have screwed up too bad in one way or another.

I tried that old Powershot G1 in awhile last year and liked it, but not the bulk. I've also taken as serious look at these Olys 4040 and 5050. They are certainly good but especially the 5050 (from what i've read on the net) a bit nosiy, obviously a little bulky and no 28mm.
 
The PowerShot S90 features an intuitive lens Control Ring, which enables users to adjust the settings of various functions by twisting the selector at the base of the lens barrel to the left or right. The Control Ring can be used as a quasi-manual zoom offering a closer view of subjects in 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 105mm steps.

Too bad it doesn't have a shoe, that would be great with a turret finder :D
 
Granted, it is a zoom lens camera (28mm-105mm) but with a fast Canon f2.0 lens (at the wide end), the S90 may compete with the GRD III (and likely a lower price point too).

Specs look fairly impressive but, as with everyone here, we're wondering what the high ISO will be like. No pricing information (to the best of my knowledge) at this time.

Definitely more compact compared to the LX-3 though (in the side by side comoparison): http://www.dpreview.com/news/0908/09081906canons90handson.asp

Cheers,
Dave
 
Ya know.. people put too much emphasis on the external finder - I personally have one for the GRD II but, really, rarely use it.

Why?

Because, due to the ubiquity of the digital P&S camera; almost no one pays attention when you hold a camera at arms length anymore. People pay far more attention to you when you hold a camera (ANY CAMERA) up to your face and look through a viewfinder.

So for street shooting, the external finder is, imho, a non-issue.

Cheers,
Dave
 
The S90 looks really interesting for the tiny pocket camera, very interesting indeed. Though it lacks the wide abilities of the LX3, it is smaller and actually pocket able without the larger lens bulge of the LX3. I think it could be the compact ultra portable camera to have for us folk but then again the LX3 is probably going to get an update sooner rather then later despite being hard to find (in the states I guess, they are in ample supply here) so who knows what will happen, the images will speak for themselves when they show.
 
capitalK said:
Except that on a sunny day you can rarely see the back screen from all the glare if the sun is behind you.
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Except that on a sunny day and if the sun is behind you, you can use your own shadow to accommodate for that issue. :)

I know that some (or many) of the cameras these days do have a menu function that will allot for increasing the brightness of the LCD based on external lighting conditions.

Cheers,
Dave
 
So the S90 is smaller and has a faster lens but the G11 has the swivel screen and a longer zoom. Yet the sensor/image processing is the same on both cameras, yeah? I have a G7 and love it, but I think I'd go for the S90 over the G11, unless I'm missing something about the G11 having a superior sensor/lens?
 
external finder - I personally have one for the GRD II but, really, rarely use it.
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Ditto.

I also prefer composing on the screen to any other kind of viewer I've used (35mm SLR, RF); I haven't used a TLR, Hassy, or LF)
 
That S90'll be an LX3 killer if it does one thing: remain available for purchase.

Seriously though, I'm excited to hear more about both of these cameras. It seems popular opinion was that the G10 was a big step up from the G9 in most respects (lens especially), but that the jump in pixels was too much, making the two cameras equals of a sort. I like the idea of the G10 with the G7's sensor and an all-new image processing pipeline. Canon finally seems to have listened.

Meanwhile, the S90 looks great. I'm curious to see what the iris ramping looks like, going from 2.0 to 4.9, especially at those "hard stop" focal lengths of 28, 35, 50, 85, and 105. The lens control ring seems like a great idea, but there also seems to be far too few physical controls, with that ring standing in for nearly all. It'll be interesting to see how it turns out.
 
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