Is the Canon S90 for me? The S95 seems disappointing.

[alkemyst]

I think it's a self-portrait (see Bogna's about page), I wouldn't take the picture's title that literally.

I figured it wasn't their mother...but thinking that way made it funnier

 

[alkemyst]

hello dear all

This is nicole anderson I am new to this forum I want to digital and video camera which one is better for me Is the canon s90 for me? thank you

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hmmm female, first post asking the same thing as the OP, and signature that's hardcoded to the message body....

Option 1)
Can I haz free iPod?

Option 2)
Who else do you post as? Someone got bored with their life last night....

 

[alkemyst]

And?

The numbers are scaled down for a P&S. Instead of 8fps like a 7D the LX3 shoots 2.5fps. Instead of a 15 frame buffer, its down to 4 frames.

The S90 shoots 0.9 fps. Now if you shoot JPEG I'm pretty sure these cards have no problem keeping up with your shooting speed.

But the S90 can shoot RAW no? I'm not familiar with the LX3, but I imagine these high end P&S cameras can too. Once you switch to RAW you're gonna get pretty fat image sizes.

Given CLASS 2, 4, 6, 10 is all we have to work with and those are min specs, if you assume a card performs at min spec, you could get pretty different results using different cards and shooting at RAW.

So yes, I think card speed does matter. It's not the determining factor whether you can shoot at the camera's rated speed, but it's an issue of how long you can shoot at that speed til you fill the buffer.

Well in those cases then I can see a point...however; even RAW these cameras are putting out barely a frame per second. In looking at the S90 already most say a Class 4 is plenty, but recommend trying to go to a Class 6 as prices can be equal (it's almost a wash Class 2-6 in most memory sizes). Class 10 is not needed save for data transfers in these cameras...however; since then I have seen in most sizes Class 10 SD being the same price as Class 6 even at the 64GB level.

Now what some argue is as you 'fill up' an SD card the speed drop significantly near the end so a Class 6 card may only give Class 2-4 performance in the largest sizes. In the past I never bought more than 8GB as anything above that was exponentially higher in price. SD seems to scale well now through 64GB. I never ran into that problem, but I was not shooting RAW, but 12MP.

I try to always buy the fastest memory I can whether it was CF or SD simply because of transfer speeds.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I bought a good 16gb Class 6 card last year for my T1i. Ran close to $40. Today's Class 10 cards are the same price. Basically I dont find much price difference between a Class 2, 4, 6, or 10 now. The only difference is if you look on Slickdeals the 8gb cards that run for $5 every week usually end up being Class 2 or 4 ones. But general pricing is about the same. Oh and with P&S, if you don't shoot with RAW, 8gb is more than enough. A mere $20 too!

Oh also those Classes are min speeds. My Class 4 micro SDHC Sandisk gives me 18 MB/sec transfer rates for my phone. There's nothing preventing a Class 2 from writing faster. My class 6 clocks in just shy of 10 MB/sec.

Now if you do try to buy Sandisk's extreme cards, I think those are excessive for a P&S. Even I refuse to pay that much for my T1i.

Same with my 7D. The Lexar 600x CF cards run for $250. My 400x Transcend for $60 isnt a slacker either when it comes to write speeds. IT supposedly competes with the 60 MB/sec Sandisks which sell for $100. And if I really wanted 90 MB/sec speed, the Transcend 600x runs for a mere $95. I dunno. I think sometimes Sandisk and Lexar push prices too much. Even if their 600x cards are 10% faster than the competition, is it worth 2.5x the price? Shrug.

On another note, isn't the S95 due out this fall? Rumors say its pretty similar except HD video is added. I think that alone will make me wait

 

[alkemyst]

The next canons I can almost guaratee would offer HD video due to the masses complaining about that aspect. However, Canon stays behind the curve at times.

 

[radellaf]

An Ultra II is the fastest card that makes sense with a Canon S90. Class ratings seem to be meaningless across manufacturers, but tests (mine and others) give about 9-10 MB/s to the "Class 4" Sandisk Ultra II 8GB. Other Class 4 cards may be only 4MB/s.

A RAW+JPEG on the S90 is about 10MB, and the frame rate about 1 per second, so you're covered. You'll get about 21 shots per 30 seconds. Maybe you might get 23 with an Extreme. Right now at abe's the Ultra is $23 and the Extreme is $35 (20MB/s version). The 30MB/s one is extremely expensive and simply will not work any better.
If you're a gear head, pay your extra 50% and be comfortable you're getting every millisecond's worth of shorter delays.

If you really need continuous shooting, and I do use it a lot, then I find myself using only the Low Light 2.5MP mode, which can run 3 fps. Neither that mode, nor the VGA video, have any delays running on my usual 1st gen EyeFi card (2-3MB/s write).

 

[UR2NVME]

The Panasonic LX5 is now available. I have found this camera at SIG Electronics for $469.99 with free shipping.

Pretty good price as i see most retailers selling it for $499.99.

 

[alkemyst]

The Panasonic LX5 is now available. I have found this camera at SIG Electronics for $469.99 with free shipping.

Pretty good price as i see most retailers selling it for $499.99.

that's $469.99 CAN

 

[brainhulk]

i think the s95 is supposed to be released end of this month!

 

[dullard]

The S90 is $299 shipped.

Vs.

Canon just released the S95 for $399.

Unless anyone can tell me a good reason to get the S95, I'm buying the S90 this weekend. I've had video on cameras for years and I always detest it. Heck, I have no HD TV to even watch the video on. So, I'm left with a better image stabilizer and a surface finish change for 25% more money. Doesn't seem worth it. Unless I missed something.

The LX5 looks great, but it is nearly double the price.

 

[alkemyst]

I am curious if they fixed the 'loose setting wheel' on the S90. It's easy to handle once you know it moves easy, a bit tighter would be better.

Outside of that, to me HD video and stereo mics don't appeal to me. The IS system is pretty good as it is.

LX5 is going to be high for a while. There are a lot of LX3 fanbois looking to upgrade. My biggest peeve about it is no automatic lens cap. In a dSLR I wouldn't expect one...in a pocket cam I do. It's not a terrible flaw. The main benefit though of those is you give up a step or so of zoom for a 24mm wide angle and closer macro ability.

I am still debating S90/TL500/LX3 vs G11/4:3 vs d5000.