Comparison / Difference between Canon Powershot S90 VS Canon Powershot SX210

End Result: Canon SX210 can be a good option if you need HD video recording and better optical zoom

Same Features in Canon Powershot S90 & Canon Powershot SX210:

  1. Both cameras have same sensor type CCD
  2. LCD size 3″
  3. Exposure compensation in same -2 to +2 EV in 1/3 EV steps
  4. Li-on battery operated

Difference & Comparisons of Canon Powershot S90 & Canon Powershot SX210:

Difference and comparisons are given below in the form of chart.

Features


Canon  Powershot S90

Canon Powershot SX210

Date Announced

Aug-2009

Feb-2010

Effective Pixels

10.0

14.1

Optical Zoom

3.8x

14x

Sensor Size

1/1.7"

1/2.3"

Pixel Density

23 MP/cm²

50 MP/cm²

ISO range

80 – 3200

80 – 1600

Aperture range

F 2.0 – F4.9

F 3.1 – F5.9

Continuous Shooting Speed

0.9 Fps

0.7 Fps

Movie Clip Resolution

640 x 480 (30 fps)

1280 x 720 (HD @ 30 fps)

Raw Format

Yes

No

Flash Range

6.5m

3.5m

LCD Pixels

461,000

230,000

Weight

195g

220g

Dimensions

3.9 x 2.3 x 1.2"

4.1 x 2.4 x 1.5
in

Conclusion:

  1. Canon Powershot S90 offers RAW with some real good manual control + it offers better image quality however its not drastically better than the Canon Powershot SX210 IS. Some people really don't shoot RAW so they might not find it useful however its always better to shoot on RAW instead of JPEG.
  2. S90 offers better aperture F2.0 (Its not that consistent) however F2.8 at S90 is awesome however shooting at F3.1 for Canon Powershot SX210 is also very impressive.
  3. Canon SX210 offers excellent quality HD video making in higher resolution plus the sound quality of the videos is amazing. The sound quality on the S90 is terrible, I tested it by making some videos on a music festival and later on was completely disappointed with the quality of sound as it was all distorted, SX210 video recording also has sound distortion but not as bad as the s90.
  4. Canon Powershot SX210 offers 14x optical zoom as compare to only 3.8x on Canon Powershot S90. 14x can't be compared with 3.8x specially for those who love nature and always traveling to take excellent nature shots.
  5. I found a really cool feature on Canon Powershot SX210 that is the option of shoot tilt-shift photography through the miniaturization mode.
  6. The flash pop up on the Canon sx210 is designed to be pushed down which is an improvement over the s90. It happened on numerous occasions that I handed over the s90 to someone else to take a photo and they place their fingers over the flash due to which it tried to pop up and ended up clicking that used to give error later on to restart the camera. The pop-up flash and handling issues of S90 started frustratting me after 6 months and in the end, the flash only popped up some of the time may be due to the reason that I have dropped the camera many times while trying to put it in my pocket.
  7. Other positive things about SX210 is a wink mode to start the self-timer (You wink and it takes a picture). You can also set the self-timer to take a pictures when a new face enters the scene. It also has a fish-eye lens effect (you can easily add it through software.) Eye-fi compatibility is also another feature over the S90.
  8. Bottom line: Compromise, or get both and be a happy shooter you can compromise on image quality if you are getting Canon SX210 however getting better zoom and HD video recording.




Canon Powershot S90 Digital Camera


Canon Powershot SX120 Digital Camera

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