kalina Posted January 3, 2010 Share #1 Posted January 3, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) I was originally going to use "versus" rather than "and" but then people might slay me if I didn't make a thorough comparison, so I'm going to give you my initial impressions of the S90 compared to my D-Lux 4 from my perspective as a budding photo gallery photographer. My first hour with the S90, I noticed it feels cheap. Really cheap. Like plastic cheap. The D-Lux 4 is a solid camera that feels heavy like a fine piece of metal gear. It's not a tank, but more like a mini-tank. That said, the D-Lux 4 is much bigger than the S90 and the bigger size and heavier weight is not for everyone. Not needing a lens cap on the S90 is really, really awesome. The shutter button is in further on the S90 so there will be less of a chance of the camera slipping out of your hand. The thumb grip helps, too. The D-Lux 4 screen is a tiny bit bigger than the S90 screen. It's no big difference. The two dials on the S90 are awesome. Nice interface! I like the joystick on the D-Lux 4, but the dials are easier to use. I like the switches on the side of the lens barrel of the D-Lux 4, which the S90 sadly does not have. The white balance, as I mentioned in another post, is better on the S90 than the D-Lux 4 for low-light, nighttime/nightclub photos. The flash on the S90 doesn't blast light on the subject like the D-Lux 4 so pictures will look less blown out. A big fault of the S90... NO HOT SHOE!!! ARGH!!! The S90 flash doesn't pop up manually with the press of a button like the D-Lux 4. You have to turn it on using the built-in software. Th S90's screw thread is in the correct place... in the centerpoint of the lens unlike the D-Lux 4 which is off to the left. I'm having too much fun recently with my 1:1 aspect ratio on my D-Lux 4 which the S90 sadly does not have. It can't be that hard to add this feature in a future firmware. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 3, 2010 Posted January 3, 2010 Hi kalina, Take a look here Leica D-Lux 4 and Canon S90. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
kalina Posted January 3, 2010 Author Share #2 Posted January 3, 2010 Okay, here are my initial impressions of the DL4 and S90 in the daytime with no flash. The DL4 pics are more colorful and the white balance is definitely better on the DL4. Also, the DL4 can focus on both maco and far away objects in the same autofocus mode. The S90 has to be switched from macro to distance depending on what you wish to autofocus on. For quick pics, the S90 may beat the DL4 because there's no lens cap to uncover, but if I'm not set on the correct macro/distance setting, the DL4 wins. If there is a way to have both macro and distance in use at the same time, it's not apparent to me yet by any physical switch or menu option. I'll post some pics for comparison purposes soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalina Posted January 3, 2010 Author Share #3 Posted January 3, 2010 Here are two images captured from the DL4 and S90, respectively. Both were on Aperture Priority mode with out of the box standard color and auto white balance settings. The S90 had to be set on macro focus to be able to focus on the object. The object is my breakfast... roast duck with spinach noodles soup. You'll note that the colors on the DL4 image are vibrant and actually make the food more pleasing to the eye. The D90 image is very dull by comparison. However, the low light capture is surprising. Both have f/2.0 lenses, but the S90 did a much better job of capturing a clear image. Both were on auto ISO settings. Again, all of this is unscientific and not meant to say one camera is better than the other. These are just images captured using out of the box settings. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/108512-leica-d-lux-4-and-canon-s90/?do=findComment&comment=1172794'>More sharing options...
Stelyn Posted January 3, 2010 Share #4 Posted January 3, 2010 Very interesting, thanks. Your breakfast looks lovely, beats Cornflakes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlbertoDeRoma Posted January 3, 2010 Share #5 Posted January 3, 2010 What a difference. In the breakfast pictures, it looks like the first picture was taken with natural light and the second one has that "taken with an in-camera flash" look that I find pretty atrocious. In the second set of pictures, the DL4 shot looks like something that came out of an iPhone. While the tests are, as you say, not scientific or rigorous, they make quite clear that the two cameras have very different ideas when it comes to interpreting AWB and to adjusting shutter and ISO in aperture priority mode. Thanks for sharing, Alberto Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalina Posted January 3, 2010 Author Share #6 Posted January 3, 2010 There is a pure automatic mode on the S90 that allows me to focus near or far so I was able to focus on very close objects. This leads me to believe that I might be able to turn this feature on from one of the menus while in Aperture Priority mode. Hmmm... There is also a lowlight mode on the S90 that does offers a really fast way to just capture a moment in a club or concert. You can have the same using one of the custom modes on the DL4, but here it's an option on the dial that's already there for you. There appears to be only one custom mode on the S90 as opposed to two on the DL4. The mode change dial on the S90 is much harder to accidentally turn than the DL4. In fact, the S90 is a little too hard to turn without using your fingernail on the ridges of the dial since it is recessed in further than the DL4's dial. I don't know if this was purposeful, but no compact Canon I'm aware of has a mode change dial that is so hard to turn like this. I do really, really like the size and weight of the S90. It's only a little bigger than my Canon SD550 and takes much better pictures. Looks like my SD550 will go to ebay soon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted January 3, 2010 Share #7 Posted January 3, 2010 Advertisement (gone after registration) ... Not needing a lens cap on the S90 is really, really awesome. ... Kalina, Were you aware that the Ricoh LC1 lens cap fits the DL4 and doesn't need to be removed? There's a thread about it here; I use the Ricoh cap and I wouldn't dream of going back to the DL4's lens cap. Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted January 3, 2010 Share #8 Posted January 3, 2010 Alternatively. I have a soft plastic push-on cap that I got from a bargain bin. The very act of starting up the camera pushes it off. Sometimes I catch it, sometimes it drops to the floor and I collect it later, but I don't miss a shot faffing around. I am also loving the lens resume feature for that same reason :D:D:D Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalina Posted January 3, 2010 Author Share #9 Posted January 3, 2010 Kalina, Were you aware that the Ricoh LC1 lens cap fits the DL4 and doesn't need to be removed? There's a thread about it here; I use the Ricoh cap and I wouldn't dream of going back to the DL4's lens cap. Pete. Hi Pete! Yes, I'm very well aware of it. I had the LC1 connected to my DL4 for a time, but that added a tad bit more front end depth to the dimensions and I never got the tape inserted just right to allow me to zoom without the flaps showing as edges in my images. I've taken off the LC1 since then. Kalina Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
usayit Posted January 3, 2010 Share #10 Posted January 3, 2010 Hi Pete! Yes, I'm very well aware of it. I had the LC1 connected to my DL4 for a time, but that added a tad bit more front end depth to the dimensions and I never got the tape inserted just right to allow me to zoom without the flaps showing as edges in my images. I've taken off the LC1 since then. Kalina Kalina, Do you know anyone with the leftovers from a satellite (sirius or xm) radio installation kit? In the kit, there are these plastic clips with double sided tape attached to hold the antenna wires in place. If you trim their length, they are just perfect height to be used with the LC1. It almost seems like they were made for such applications. I would never go back to the original lens cap. Here's a close up pic: http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL262/1501137/15679162/380598777.jpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
h00ligan Posted January 4, 2010 Share #11 Posted January 4, 2010 I still don't see how this mod doesn't cast shadows - particularly using the onboard flash. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted January 4, 2010 Share #12 Posted January 4, 2010 I still don't see how this mod doesn't cast shadows - particularly using the onboard flash. When using flash, which I rarely do, if the cap or 'petals' cast a shadow I can simply turn it round so the flash fires between the petals or remove the cap for close-up shots if needed. Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalina Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share #13 Posted January 4, 2010 Kalina, Do you know anyone with the leftovers from a satellite (sirius or xm) radio installation kit? In the kit, there are these plastic clips with double sided tape attached to hold the antenna wires in place. If you trim their length, they are just perfect height to be used with the LC1. It almost seems like they were made for such applications. I would never go back to the original lens cap. Here's a close up pic: http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL262/1501137/15679162/380598777.jpg Wow! Thanks for the tip! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
usayit Posted January 4, 2010 Share #14 Posted January 4, 2010 I have experienced zero problems with the LC-1's "blades" at any focal length. As for flash, its not a problem for me as I absolutely hate the onboard flash. My +/- EV on the flash is set to -2 and the majority of the light is provided via the Metz CS-2 optical slave in my other hand. By trial and error, you can rotate and position the LC-1's blades to almost eliminate the shadow from the onboard flash in the lower right hand corner of the fame. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
h00ligan Posted January 4, 2010 Share #15 Posted January 4, 2010 Thanks Pete! I guess i better order up a cap and find the best tutorial. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPJMP Posted January 4, 2010 Share #16 Posted January 4, 2010 I always found Canons to have a "cooler" color palette than other digital cameras. The portrait and food shots seem to confirm this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalina Posted January 4, 2010 Author Share #17 Posted January 4, 2010 I always found Canons to have a "cooler" color palette than other digital cameras. The portrait and food shots seem to confirm this. This is true, but with the flash on, Canons do a better job of preserving just a little bit of the flesh tones of the person. Try taking several pics of people's faces with the DL4 flash on and up close and you'll see everyone looks blasted with white light. With the Canon compacts, you actually get to see a little flesh tone color in there mixed in with the white blast. This is with out of the box settings on both cameras. The DL4 is awesome in daylight. The S90 is great to awesome depending on various factors. The DL4 is not as good as the S90 in lowlight. Still, the DL4 beats almost every other compact camera in existence in low-light. In general, though, I think the DL4 takes sharper images than the S90 in daylight because of the superior lens design. I read about the lens distortion of the S90 and how it has to be corrected inside the camera's software... any time a camera has to fix severe lens distortion in an image, the result will never be as clear as light lens distortion (like on the DL4). However, whatever tricks the S90 uses to fix sharpness problems seems to fix the overall image as well because blacks look black, whites look white, and colors that would appear spotty on my DL4 look smooth on my S90. Blacks are seldom black 0 (the darkest black) on my DL4 in standard mode. Do we pay to have a camera that gives us exactly what the camera sees or how we as people would like to see the image in the end? That's a philosophical question. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
h00ligan Posted January 5, 2010 Share #18 Posted January 5, 2010 And then onto your personal opinion... if you had to choose one, which would it be? To me the images look much better from the dl4 as they have in all the other shootouts I've looked at. That said, it's not a night and day difference and the built in lens cap and increased pocket-ability has a lot going for it. So brass tax, which one, were you only allowed one? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
regedit Posted January 5, 2010 Share #19 Posted January 5, 2010 well, on this forum it's quite normal to have a majority for d-lux, but on a canon forum most probably they'll go for s90. I'll say that nobody's wrong. that is the beauty here - there is no perfect camera because to exceed in an area you need to make concessions on other. so, finally we have more good cameras suited for different situations and exceeding in different areas. my answer is my camera, d-lux Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalina Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share #20 Posted January 5, 2010 And then onto your personal opinion... if you had to choose one, which would it be? To me the images look much better from the dl4 as they have in all the other shootouts I've looked at. That said, it's not a night and day difference and the built in lens cap and increased pocket-ability has a lot going for it. So brass tax, which one, were you only allowed one? regedit is right, there is no perfect camera, which is why if I had to give up, say, my DL4, I would sadly miss the aspect ratios and HD video. 640x320 video is okay, but nothing beats the 1280x720 look, especially for YouTube. However, due to my personal situation, I *might* be willing to give up my DL4 just because I have a 1080i digicam. Still, I would miss those damn aspect ratios. The 1:1 is just too fun and too Leicablad-like. I would love to see a 5:4 aspect ratio. If more people asked for it, I'm sure it would be included. Can the S90 do it? I don't know. It's possible, but it's up to the firmware people. Has anyone actually ever done a firmware update on a Canon camera that adds features? I'm not sure I've ever seen such on the Canon compacts. Here are more day and night pics. The first one is daytime with a flash. The second and third are no flash. The last one is flash. The DL4 cannot preserve the skin tones right out of the box like the S90 can, so in terms of sheer usability, I'd have to choose the S90. I mean, why do people hate using flash so much? I'll bet the number one culprit is not preserving skin tones, which is usually the case with compact cameras. Well, now we have a camera that solves that problem *and* it can do a good job in low-light, too. Whatever Canon is doing with their flash system I wish Leica could do the same on their DL4. Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/108512-leica-d-lux-4-and-canon-s90/?do=findComment&comment=1175415'>More sharing options...
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