Back in May 2000 we posted the news of Canon's new 10x stabilized lens and wondered how long it would be before we saw it used in one of their cameras. That wait is now over with the release of the PowerShot Pro90 IS and so is the wait for an updated PowerShot Pro 70 model.

I don't like the placement of the zoom control ring or the way it works. Even though the zoom ring is on the lens barrel (where it should be) it is not mechanical, it's a "fly by wire" system the same as if it were a rocker switch on the camera body. Similar to the HP C912, the Pro90's zoom mechanism hesitates for about half a second when the ring is turned. This seems much longer when you turn it the wrong way and then turn it back the other way and have to endure both delays. I thought the placement of the zoom ring was poor, especially for those of us with large hands and fingers. The ring seems too narrow and the way you end up holding the camera with your left hand is simply awkward. Don't get me wrong, it does work but it could have been a lot more ergonomical. And while I am harping on things ergonomical, the MENU and SET buttons are placed on the back of the handgrip exactly where your thumb comes to rest. Every other time I picked up the camera I would hear a "beep" and see the menu overlay in the viewfinder which meant I had to press the MENU button again to get rid of it.

The Pro90 features a swiveling/rotating color LCD like that found on the original Canon Pro 70 and the new PowerShot G1. This high-resolution 1.8-inch color display has excellent daylight readability and is coated to make it scratch resistant and easy to clean. Because the LCD can be tilted and swiveled it makes shooting over your head or between your legs a very simple task. The LCD's refresh rate is near 30fps, it does slow down and gain up in low-light, in these instances the EVF display also gets a bit grainy. The Pro90's EVF can not be used as a playback display but you can use it to access the record mode menus. Because the EVF is electronic you also get a fair amount of camera and exposure information overlayed on top of the live display but it doesn't have any focusing guide marks.

The autofocus system is accurate but lacks the outboard AF-assist light feature that is standard on other PowerShot cameras. To help you keep up with the range of the 10x zoom the Pro90 features a full time continuous autofocus system. My biggest complaint is that you get a focus OK (green dot in viewfinder or confirmation beep) even if the camera has failed to focus on anything in the frame. I guess this is so you can capture a picture even when the AF system doesn't lock. The manual focus mode is activated by pressing and holding the MF button and using the Up or Down portion of the Omni-Selector switch to change the focus. You get an onscreen vertical bar graph, but there is no distance readout displayed and the EVF (or LCD) does not zoom or magnify the center of the frame.

Exposure options abound on the Pro90 with everything from full AUTO to full Manual and a host of EOS-based programmed modes in between. For the novice user the Automatic mode will give you the best combination of shutter speed and aperture for the focal length in use and even pops the flash up when needed. For the more experienced shooter there's Program AE, Aperture-priority, Shutter speed-priority and a full Manual mode which should pretty much cover any situation that needs to be captured. Novice and experienced users alike will appreciate the EOS "Image zone" modes: Pan-focus Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Black & White, Stitch Assist and Movie. The Stitch Assist mode insures the best possible panorama pictures whether horizontal or vertical by giving you a visual aid on the LCD to help align the sequential exposures with the proper overlap.

The best picture is only so-so if the white balance isn't right and the Pro90 has a good range of preset white balance values for Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent and Flash. Most users will find the Automatic setting appropriate for normal picture-taking tasks. For the best color reproduction you can enable the custom white balance function. Using a white card or neutral target the camera will precisely calculate the color temperature to achieve the correct white point for the existing lighting.

Equally important to the white balance is the exposure metering system and the Pro90 uses a highly accurate center-weighted averaging metering pattern by default with a user-selectable spot option. The metering system can be compensated +/- 2EV in 1/3EV increments to further fine tune the exposure. Or by using the AE Bracketing feature you can set the camera to take 3 or 5 frames every time you press the shutter and the EV value will be automatically adjusted between them. Drive modes for single shot, sequential, self-timer and remote control are possible. Unfortunately the camera is not really fast enough to take advantage of a sequential mode as it can only capture one frame every 1.5 seconds.

The Pro90, as with the G1 and many other Canon digitals, offers the Canon RAW (.crw) image file format as an alternative to TIFF as a means to store the image data in an uncompressed format. The Canon RAW format is a numerically lossless reversible compression scheme which means that it only requires about 1/3 the storage space when compared to the uncompressed TIFF file. Besides the obvious space-saving advantage this is a CCD-raw data file that contains all the original sensor data at the moment of exposure. Post-processing allows you to manipulate the white balance, color tone, saturation, sharpness and even correct for under and over-exposure to a certain degree. Any one of these could save you from disaster, just imagine shooting a one-time event using the wrong white balance setting -- no worries, just correct it in software.

Even given the benefits of the RAW file format most users will probably opt for the JPEG files to make better use of the supplied 16MB CF card. You will not be disappointed by the image quality of the Large/Fine JPEGs, especially if you shoot them at ISO 50, they are easily the equal to most other camera's TIFF files. Thanks to the CompactFlash Type II card slot and the camera's firmware, the Pro90 is fully Microdrive compatible. As we have found in the past with other cameras, you do need a hefty power supply to run a digital camera with power zoom, autofocus, color LCD and a Microdrive. The Pro90 uses the same Canon BP-511 lithium pack as the G1, the D30 SLR and several of the Canon camcorders. This is a most capable battery pack with a good runtime and the ability to be charged whenever you want without shortening it life span. The included charger also functions as an AC power supply and quickly brings a discharged pack up to full in 90 minutes or less.

The Pro90 has a popup flash that will do the job for "snapshots" but we all know how limited those tiny things are. Thankfully there is a dedicated flash hot shoe on top of the camera to allow the use of any of the Canon EX series flash units. I have the 420EX which I use with my D30 and it was a wonderful match for the Pro90. It's not too big or heavy and gives you plenty of light with full bounce and swivel capability. The Pro90's exposure system operates in full E-TTL with the Canon 220EX, 380EX, 420EX or 520EX flash units. Getting the flash up and away from the lens minimizes the occurrence of red-eye in your portraits shots and bounce flash pictures just have a much more pleasing look to them.

I've tried to be as fair as possible with my conclusions. Overall the Pro90 is a very good camera with a wonderful zoom lens, an excellent battery and a wide range of storage devices. It has its weak points and limitations as do all digital cameras, one of them being the $1299 price versus $800 (recent price drop) for the Olympus C-2100UZ or $900 for the newly announced Sony MVC-FD97. I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty of Photo of the Day entries shot with the Pro90 in the very near future.