Sony DSC-S90

Reviewed July 2005

Characteristics

With the DSC-S90 a 1/2.7 inch, 4.23 million pixel CCD of which 4.1 million are effective, is used to capture a maximum image size of 2304 x 1728 pixels. CCD sensitivity starts at 80 ISO and can be manually set to 100, 200 or 400 ISO when the camera is in the P or M modes. In all other modes sensitivity is set to Auto, allowing the camera to adjust the CCD's sensitivity from 80 to 320 ISO, as required.

The lens of the S90 is provided by Carl Zeiss, and is a Vario-Tessar that includes 2 aspheric elements to minimize curvilinear distortion. Offering a focal length of 6 to 18mm, it is the 35mm equivalent of a 39 to 117mm zoom. Two apertures are available, f2.8 and f5.6 when the zoom is at the widest angle, becoming f5.2 and f10 at the maximum telephoto.

This aperture range is combined with a shutter speed range that covers from 1/2000 second to 30 seconds, although the highest shutter speed available to the photographer in the manual mode is 1/1000 second.

Focusing the S90's lens can be Single, occurring only when the shutter button is pressed halfway down and held; or Monitor, which automatically adjusts the focus before the shutter release is pressed and held halfway down, and thereby shortens the time it takes to capture the photo, but at the expense of an increase in power consumption. Either mode is selected in the Setup menu. (See the Interface and Software section of the review.) Furthermore, the focusing can be set to operate over a wide area in the frame, or at the centre, or even be set for a preset distance.

Just like a number of other Sony digital cameras, the S90 provides a digital zoom which is enabled in the Setup menu. The digital zoom can operate in either one of two ways:

• Precision Zoom is a Sony's term to describe the usual digital zoom function, effectively a system that selects the central part of the image and interpolates the image to the currently selected image size, causing a loss of image sharpness.
  
  or
  
• Smart Zoom which is only available when the image size is set to a size less than the maximum image sizes, and whose "power" varies according to the selected image size.

The DSC-S90 can capture images at any of 5 image sizes, and any image size can be saved using a Fine JPEG compression which has the highest image quality, or Standard, which applies a stronger compression, lowering image quality but making it possible to store more images in a given memory space:

• 4M: 2304 x 1728 pixels.
• 3:2: 2592 x 1536 pixels (a format proportional to 4x6 and 5x7 prints.)
• 3M: 2048 x 1536 pixels.
• 1M: 1280 x 960 pixels.
• VGA (E-mail): 640 x 480 pixels.

The menus of the DSC-S90 contain all the settings that are not directly accessible with external buttons, including the one for image quality. As is generally the case, the widest range of camera settings is reserved for the Program and Manual modes, although many settings remain available with the Scene modes as well as the Movie mode:

• EV allows adjusting the exposure over a range of ± 2EV in 1/3 EV increments.
• Focus offers a selection of:
  • Multi AF, a wide area focus, that allows the camera to focus on off-centre subjects.
  • Centre AF, forces the focus to take place at the centre of the frame.
  • Preset focus distances: 0.5 m, 1 m, 3 m, 7 m, and infinity.
• Metering mode offers the choice of 2 metering patterns:
• Multi-pattern (default)
• or Spot.

• White Balance provides for Auto white balance, or 4 presets: Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, or Daylight.
• ISO controls CCD sensitivity: Auto, 80, 100, 200 or 400 ISO.
• Picture Quality serves to select the compression applied to images: Fine or Standard (see above).
• Mode (Rec Mode) provides choices of:
  • Multi-Burst: captures 16 frames at a selectable interval (see following option) in 1 burst and stores them into a single frame
  • Burst: captures up to 4 frames at the largest image size and highest quality (4M Fine).
  • Normal: (default) captures 1 frame at a time.

• Interval (only accessible when Multi-Burst is selected): sets the frame interval for the Multi-Burst mode (1/7.5, 1/15 or 1/30 second).
• Flash Level serves to adjust the output of the flash: Stronger (+), Normal or Weaker (-).

• PFX (Picture Effect) provides options to capture images in Black and White, or Sepia tone.
• Saturation varies the colour saturation in the images: More (+), Normal, or Less (-).
• Contrast controls the image contrast: More (+), Normal, or Less (-).
• Sharpness adjusts the image sharpness: More (+), Normal, or Less (-).
• Setup is the access to the Setup menu and is accessible in all modes. (See the Interface and Software section of the review for an overview of the contents of this menu.)

In Playback, the menu retains a similar appearance, but contains options that are concerned with the captured images:

• Folder: OK, or Cancel. OK serves to select all the photos in a folder for playback.

• Protect: is to select images, either one at a time or more than one using the Index view, for protection against an accidental erasure.
• DPOF: serves to select images which will be printed using DPOF (Digital Print Order Format). Images can be selected for printing individually, or by folder.
• Print: is to make prints when the camera is directly connected to a PictBridge compliant printer via USB. The print size can be selected, index prints can be made, and the date/time can be superimposed directly on the prints if desired.

• Slide: to play back images in sequence with a selectable interval (3, 5, 10, 30 seconds or 1 minute). One or all folders can be selected for playback, and the slide show can be set to loop.
• Resize: serves to create a new, smaller version of an image. Images can be resized to a smaller or a greater size, but when resized to a larger size the quality is lower. 3:2 images cannot be resized
• Rotate: allows rotating an image 90° to the right or left.
• Divide: serves to edit movies, by cutting sections as desired, and then saving the edited movie as a new file.
• Setup: accesses the Setup menu. (See the Interface and Software section of the review.)

In addition, while the camera is in Playback mode and an image is magnified on the screen, pressing the MENU button displays the Trimming option, making it possible to save the section of the image magnified on the monitor as a new file. (Note that images captured with the 3:2 format cannot be trimmed.)

The DSC-S90 is equipped with a 32MB internal memory and is not retailed with a Memory Stick. A Memory Stick slot, however, compatible with Standard Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO or Memory Stick Duo and Duo PRO placed in an adapter, located underneath the camera, next to the batteries.

The chart shown below provides the approximate number of images that can be recorded with the 32MB internal memory, and with an optional 512MB Memory Stick:

The DSC-S90 is powered by 2 AA-size batteries, and the S90 is normally retailed with 2 Sony rechargeable Ni-MH batteries (HR6) which come in a plastic case, and a wired charger (BC-CS2A) which can recharge 2 AA or 2 AAA size batteries at once in approximately 6 hours.

Moreover, as one of the many accessories available for the S90, an AC power adapter (AC-LS5K) can be purchased to power the S90 from household current.

The DSC-S90 has a single external connection, a new type, and it is located underneath the camera. The connection is designed to allow the camera to fit on its dock, or be connected to a computer using the specially provided 3-headed cable that has both AV (Audio/Video) jacks and a USB connector.

The A/V out signal is determined in the Setup menu and can be either NTSC or PAL. The USB signal (Hi-Speed USB 2.0 compliant) and can similarly be set to either PTP or Mass Storage, depending on the device to which the camera is connected, in the Setup menu.