Canon s95

I thought that when the Micro 4/3 systems came out, small-sensor cameras would no longer be of interest to serious photographers. I haven’t taken a photo with my Canon Powershot G10 since I purchased my Panasonic GF1. But recently, some of my photographer friends have been carrying around a Canon S90 or S95. Why?

Although I have been an avid and sometimes professional photographer since the age of 11, my sons have always taken a much more utilitarian approach to photography. They took pictures not as a form of art, but to save memories and for posting on Facebook. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when my younger son called me and said that he was ready for a better, more versatile camera. (His birthday was coming up.) The tiny little Sony he had been using for years just wasn’t cutting it for him anymore.

I immediately thought about handing over my Canon 5D to him. I also started gathering information for him about the latest sub-$1000 DSLRs. When he got to my house, before breaking out the 5D, I showed him my Panasonic GF1 and started to explain that it was my carry-around camera.

He said, "that looks like a great camera, but it's way too big."

"Too big?" I asked with a puzzled look. "This is my small camera. I thought you wanted a really good camera."

"I do. What do they make that I can put in my pocket so I won't even know it's there?"

I was completely unprepared for that question, but after thinking for a moment I said that Canon had recently produced a small camera called the S90. He asked how big it was, as though that was all that mattered. I thought about telling him about pixel density and sensor size and depth of field, but figured what's the use, and just said, "It's small, but not as small as your little Sony."

"Well, as long as it can fit in my pocket so I won't notice it," was his reply.

I didn't want to get an S90, because the S95 had been announced but was not available yet. So I preordered it, hoping it would come before my son and his wife left for a trip to Barcelona. A few days before they were to leave, I received an email from Amazon telling me that the camera should arrive in a few weeks. I was disappointed for only a minute or two, because just then the doorbell rang—it was UPS, with the camera. I think I must have used up some of my good Karma that day.

Anyway, my son returned from Barcelona and came by to show me his photos. He actually brought the SD card from the camera and I transferred all 1000 or so photos to my computer. As we flipped through them on a 30" monitor, I was amazed at the quality. Even at that size, the photos looked like they could have been taken with a DSLR. I told my son I was impressed, and he said that the camera was just set to Program as he snapped away—all JPEGs too, no RAW. Deep down, I knew my 5D could have done even better, but I was genuinely surprised at his images.