As well as being compared against other pro digicams and compacts, the Canon PowerShot S90 is also often compared to travel zooms, mirrorless and digicams. The Canon PowerShot S90's top rivals come from Canon (such as the PowerShot S120 and the PowerShot G7) and Panasonic (such as the Lumix DMC-LX3 and the Lumix DMC-LX5)
Generally, compared to other pro digicam competitors the Canon S90 has a significantly narrower wide angle lens (28 mm vs 24 mm), has a slightly lower resolution screen (461k dots vs 922k dots), takes slightly lower resolution photos (10 MP vs 20 MP), doesn't have a touch screen and doesn't shoot as fast continuously (0.9 fps vs 6 fps).
Generally, some of the advantages of the Canon S90 compared to other compact competitors include: it has a significantly wider aperture (f/2 vs f/3.5), has a significantly wider wide angle lens (28 mm vs 35 mm), has a slightly larger screen (3" vs 2.5"), has better image stabilization (lens vs none) and has a marginally larger sensor (1/1.7" 7.6x5.7mm vs 1/2.5" 5.75x4.31mm).
However, on average it is slightly larger (compact (100×58×31 mm) vs super compact (102×55×20 mm)), has a CCD-family sensor (CCD vs CMOS), is thicker (1.2" vs 0.9"), is slightly heavier (198 g vs 155 g) and is slightly more expensive ($479.00 vs $158.00).
Generally, some of the advantages of the Canon S90 compared to travel zoom competitors include: it has a significantly wider aperture (f/2 vs f/3.5).
However, on average it has slightly less zoom (3.8x vs 18x), has a slightly narrower wide angle lens (28 mm vs 25 mm), doesn't have a built-in GPS, has a slightly lower resolution screen (461k dots vs 920k dots) and has a CCD-family sensor (CCD vs CMOS).
Generally, some of the advantages of the Canon S90 compared to mirrorless interchangeable-lens competitors include: it has better image stabilization (lens vs sensor shift), is slightly smaller (compact (100×58×31 mm) vs standard size (120×83×47 mm)), is thinner (1.2" vs 1.9") and is slightly lighter (198 g vs 390 g).
However, on average it records lower quality movies (480p @ 30fps vs 1080p @ 60fps), has a much lower resolution screen (461k dots vs 1,040k dots), doesn't have a viewfinder (none vs digital), takes slightly lower resolution photos (10 MP vs 15.9 MP) and doesn't have a touch screen.
Generally, some of the advantages of the Canon S90 compared to digicam competitors include: it has a significantly wider aperture (f/2 vs f/2.8), has a much wider wide angle lens (28 mm vs 35 mm), has a significantly larger screen (3" vs 2.5"), has a slightly higher resolution screen (461k dots vs 207k dots) and is newer (august 2009 vs september 2006).
However, on average it doesn't have a viewfinder (none vs tunnel), doesn't support an external flash and has a slower max shutter speed (1/1600 of a second vs 1/2500 of a second).
