Yes you read the title right, the Canon S90 compact camera is an upgrade from the Nikon D70. Two years ago I bought the Ricoh GR Digital because it was the only compact camera with RAW capability and lots of custom settings. It was meant to be used when the Nikon was overkill to take along.
But I never got the handle on the Ricoh, I couldn’t get it to take photo’s the way I liked and the menu was just too complicated for me, I admit that. So the Ricoh was left barely used while I kept taking along my Nikon D70 mostly fitted with a 50mm 1.8 Nikkor. Last year after three days in Paris with the Nikon and a sore back I decided it’s just crazy walking around with a dSLR.
Having slacked in keeping up to date with recent released camera’s it was Jorge Quinteros post A Worthy & Perfect Companion that got me right on track on what there is available currently.
I then spend two to three days reading reviews, browsing Flickr for photo’s, opinions, etc. When I narrowed it down between the S90 and the G11 I went to the store to look at them and hold them. And that’s when I decided for the S90, it’s so compact you can always carry it with you and the front and back ring are the handiest features I’ve seen so far on a compact camera.
A lot of people have a problem with the backside ring being to loose and accidentally changing the settings. But as you can see my hands are pretty small so I have no problem holding the camera without accidentally changing settings.
This is my first Canon camera and I’m really happy with the menu and the shortcut key. It’s a breeze taking photo’s in the manual mode and using the shortcut key to change the ISO setting. I tried using the other settings and shooting in JPG but Manual mode and RAW is my default setting with which I always shoot, mostly with ISO 400. The rest I do in Lightroom or Photoshop.
As for the upgrade from the Nikon D70, I find the images I shoot with the Canon S90 far much better then with the Nikon D70. I suppose this has to do that the D70 is already pretty old for today’s standard. I have a few lenses, nothing fancy, the best one is the Nikkor 50mm 1.8. Until I upgrade the body to a D90 or future model it is of no use to purchase a decent zoom lens.
Some photo’s
Today while walking in the city there was a book and antique market, I took some shots with the Canon S90.
The photo is sharper then if it was taken with the Nikon D70 and also the D70 would immediately attract attention, I was able to shoot people on the streets without attracting attention. So summing up I’m happy with the Canon S90 and the iPhone camera serves well for snap shots like the one above of me holding the Canon.