Reviews for Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S90 4.1 Megapixel Compact Camera

2.5" LCD - 3x Optical Zoom - 2304 x 1728 Image - 640 x 480 Video - MPN: DSCS90

  • 5
  By member: drelien - Aug 19, 2005

Excellent features for price.

Strengths: Large LCD. Ships with AA rechargeables + charger. TV quality video. Superior battery life. Extremely fast. Pretty good manual mode. Easy mode dial + separate delete button. Good internal memory.

Weakness: A bit too big for pants or shirt pocket. Heavy with batteries. Video is either nice q and big, or crappy q and small. Uses expensive Memory Sticks. Worthless software.

Overall, this camera is an excellent value, although somewhat large. The pics are above average and are sure to be more than good enough for photographers in this price range. The video is top notch, although it eats up memory. The only alternative is to use the tiny video that's meant for email purposes. I'd like to see a 320*240 mode.

Battery life is simply fantastic, esp with NiMH rechargeables. All day shooting.

There's a good assortment of shooting modes on the dial, including night portrait, which isn't common on entry level cameras. As the norm nowadays, esp with Sony, there's a big 2.5" LCD screen that really helps when shooting or browsing through the nice menus. The navigation buttons are nothing special; they work.

One note.
Most pictures require a somewhat steady hand. The camera is much less sensitive to the shaking in video mode tho.

Bottom line.
If you're looking at a camera in this price and feature range, this won't disappoint.
There are slimmer cameras and one's with more features, but you'll have to pay the extra for it.

Recommended extras.
At least 2 more rechargeable batteries. Minimum: 256mb memory stick.[best buy is a refurbed sandisk]

have fun shooting!

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  • 5
  By member: tntmnm - Oct 30, 2005

Takes great pictures! Lots of features to expolore!

Strengths: Takes great pictures and movies; easy to see display; easy basic controls; comes with AA rechargables but uses alkaline AAs as well; lots of extras to take you farther than a basic camera.

Weakness: May not be as much zoom as you want; lithium batteries not recommended; red eye reduction setting under a menu instead of on flash mode button

This is my first digital camera. Once I determined that 4MP was going to be enough resolution for my needs (4x6 prints, occasional enlargements), that narrowed the field. Then I searched the reviews for a couple basic comments: "takes good pictures" and "easy to use". This camera fits both, and has a wonderfully large display. Some of the reviews suggest to save some $ and get some battery life (but only 20 shots more out of over 400) by instead choosing the Sony DSC-S60. After comparing the cameras in a store, choosing the DSC-S90 was obvious.

The charger my unit came with can also charge a pair of AAA batteries (not included); that was a nice bonus. The camera has a solid feel to it, and the design uses 2 batteries instead of 3 or 4, which keeps it from seeming bulky.

The function select wheel has a lot of choices on it for when you are ready to handle more capabilities, but the 3 main choices (full auto, playback and movies) are all together and easy to find (the full auto position is a green icon). When you rotate the wheel, a picture of it appears on the screen that also rotates, which is invaluable if you are in low light conditions.

The large display makes it very easy to see what you are taking a picture of, and at my age, I need the help. I do wish there was a mode to display basic info on the screen in a larger format. There is optional display information, such as a histogram of number of pixels and their brightness distribution (tells you if you are getting enough light).

Reading the manual, and looking at the included computer tutorial (an unexpected bonus), there are plenty of special situation settings and manual settings to make the control freaks happy. The camera also allows accessory lenses to be attached, something I had not seen in point-and-shoot cameras.

The movie capability was not a big factor in choosing my camera, but I did note that the reviewers thought this unit's capability was better than most. But, once my daughter figured it out, it sure is fun to take short clips. The camera can split movies at an arbitrary point, allowing you to clip the front and end parts off of what you want to keep, and then save memory by deleting the unwanted scenes. Make SURE you get a Memory Stick Pro, Duo, etc. that supports high speed, as that allows the best quality movie format.

The manual says the camera is guaranteed to work with 2GB size Memory Stick Pro. The Memory Stick format may be slightly more expensive than other formats, but is easy to handle and I like the positive push-click feel when you insert or remove a card. The battery / memory card door feels like it can take many operational cycles. I use a stand-alone photo printer that accepts the memory stick, so it is inserted/removed a lot. The camera has 32MB of
internal memory that is "obscured" when a memory stick is inserted. Tip: If the memory stick fills up, remove it, and you have room for 16 more shots (at max resolution) in internal memory.

Video output is provided, so your camera can run a custom slide show on a TV. It even recommends using slide show mode to fully discharge the batteries before recharging, in case there is any battery memory effect. The camera can scroll through pictures about as fast as you can push the button, and also supports navigating using thumbnails. Another tip: set the camera to playback mode before turning it on if you just want to look at pictures, that way the lens does not extend.

I am very happy with my choice and have not looked back.

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  • 5
  By member: katiebeth - Dec 8, 2005

Sony Cybershot DSC-S90 a Great Camera

Strengths: 2.5 inch LCD screen, both manual and automatic settings, size, ease of use, many features, long battery life, great price

Weakness: Enclosed battery charger takes six hours to charge two AA rechargable batteries. Would need to buy a faster charger if camera is used a lot at one time or have extra batteries on hand

After researching several Sony Cybershot digital cameras, I decided on the S-90 because it had the most features of the ones I looked at and the price was great at $199 plus a $40 rebate from Sony. It also has 4.1 megapixels and a 3x optical zoom, which is more than adequate for up to 8 by 10 enlargements.

I've used the still shots and the movie mode, with a 256 mb memory stick pro. The camera has many features that will take some time to master, using the manual controls, but the automatic settings work very well. The pictures were clear and the color good. The 2.5 inch LCD screen is larger than the other cameras I looked at and gives a good preview of the shot you are taking.
The camera comes with two AA rechargable batteries, plus a charger, which were not included in other cameras I looked at. Also enclosed with the camera is a USB/video connector to connect to either the computer's USB port or a television. The camera is also Pictbridge compatible for printing pictures directly to a Pictbridge enabled printer without a computer.

I would definitely recommend this camera even if it's not the first digital camera bought. The features are comparable with digital cameras that are much more expensive. Overall, it's a great camera at an affordable price.

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  • 4
  By member: bsl918 - Dec 10, 2005

DSC-S90 Camera

Strengths: Great quality pictures, Carl Zeiss lens, great zoom distance.

Weakness: Seems a bit bulky but the 2.5" lcd screen makes me forget all about it.

Great camera. I previously own the DSC-V1 5.0mp digital camera. This camera is just as good. It's smaller and the lcd screen is huge. Now I don't have to squint and see if the picture looks nice or not. I was in the market for a smaller camera and I finally found it. I looked at some Canon digital cameras too but there were too many bad reviews about their lcd screen flaws. So I decided to go back to my trust Sony cameras.

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  • 4
  By member: abakben - Dec 5, 2005

Super Cybershot

Strengths: Good image quality, Carl Zeiss lens

Weakness: None

I bought this camera one month ago, and I took it with me on a trip abroad. It is a perfect camera, size, quality etc. And on rechargeable batteries, I was able to take more than 500 pictures and short movies, while using the playback all the time. This comes out big, given that with my previous camera, a Minolta Dimage S-414, the batteries would die on me after 30-40 shots.

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  • 5
  By member: laserbeam - Dec 5, 2005

A nice entry level camera

Strengths: Vivid color, large LCD, use only two AA battery and easy-to-use control

Weakness: Not as slim as Canon SD400 series. Memory stick is more expensive than SD or CF cards

I was considering to buy a compact camera and after comparing this with Canon SD400, I choose it for the following reason:
(1) A bigger 2.5 inches LCD, better than SD400's 2 inches.
(2) Use AA batteries means you will less worry about getting caught in the middle of shotting.
(3) Very nice body design
(4) Control buttons are easy to access

Bottom line: this camera may not be small enough to fit into your pocket as the SD400 does, but it's compact enough to carry arround and delivers nice pictures.

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  • 4
  By member: leehp327 - Dec 12, 2005

Great camera for price paid

Strengths: Large LCD screen, Easy to use

Weakness: Not slim

I am very pleased with this camera. It takes pictures quickly and the quality is great. The 2.5 LCD screen makes such a great difference. It may not be as slim, but then again, it's harder to lose! I had an Nikon prior to this and it was great but it had a smaller screen and it took a few seconds to actually take the picture after you pressed the button. Great buy...I highly recommend!

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  • 4
  By member: namster - Dec 7, 2005

decent camera for decent price

Strengths: great shutter speed flash recharges quicker than previous model large lcd includes, rechargable batteries with charger

Weakness: plastic feeling lcd is blurry with certain angles of light hitting on it memory stick, which is slightly more costly than sd and compact flash

I paid 201 not including the 40 rebate, 15 gc. I previously owned the sony dsc p-72. I did not like it much but b/c of the price of this camera and the great reviews, i bought this camera. This camera is significantly smaller than the P-72, much larger screen(2.5"), shutter response time is quicker, flash recharges quicker. But like the P-72 this camera has the plastic feel, the lcd screen is blurry when viewed at certain angles. This is a great entry level camera. I really like the interface, the spinning knob on top, which basically controls everything. This camera has a 32mb internal memory. You will need to buy more, amazon is a great place to get it. When i had my P-72, i dropped it in sand. And the shutter would not close properly. I would imagine this model to react the same way.

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  • 5
  By member: liushengpu - Dec 5, 2005

Pretty camera, Great Picture!!

Strengths: It is really cute, as well as many manual functions. The picture is very bright. Easy to use.

Weakness: the digital zoom is not large enought

The DSC-S90 is an easy-to-use, four-megapixel camera that's packed with features like Sony's Real Imaging Processor™ circuitry for better battery efficiency, more responsiveness and high quality movie taking.
The 2.5" color LCD Monitor makes framing shots and reviewing pictures easy.
Easy shooting with fully Automatic, Program AE and 7 Scene Modes, parameters can be matched to the shooting conditions.

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  • 3
  By member: stickzhang - Dec 5, 2005

Great features - poor pictures

Strengths: - Video limited only by memory size - Carl Zeiss lens - In-camera photo editing

Weakness: Red-eye (even with the red-eye feature just about everyone had red eyes) - Picture quality (the skin tones just don't look right and many of the picutres look washed out)

FEATURES: This is basiclaly what Sony is all about. this camera is full of features. It's has manual settings inside. The flash is bright, and ups the photo quality a lot. The video mode is a nice feature, and works well too.

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  • 4
  By member: Yoksel - Jan 17, 2006

Great camera from Sony

Strengths: Carl Zeiss lens, great colors, long battery life

Weakness: Memory Stick, Memory Stick, Memory Stick :), little too heavy with the batteries

I have only used this camera a couple of times so these are my first comments.

The camera does really provide the high quality images and I believe one of the reasons is the good lens. I believe this one is even better then Leica lenses on some of the Panasonic cameras.

Having the camera that works on rechargable AA's adds lots of flexibility. I'm going to the Amazon soon and they only have electricity at the hotel for a few hours. I'll stock up with the batteries in case I miss my charging time. However, the dark side is the weight which is considerably higher then if it was a lithium battery.

Some ppl would say 4 megapixels is not enough. Good enough for me though. I wish it had better than 3x zoom but it's not typical for a camera of this size.

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  • 4
  By member: dealfanic - Dec 5, 2005

Excellent point & shoot camera

Strengths: Large 2.5 LCD screen; Easy to use; Quality optical zoom; Good image quality; Poweredby 2 AA batteries instead of special rechargeable batteries

Weakness: Memory stick is more expensive than prevailing SD card; Not the most compact. Lack of manual controls.

Overall, this is an excellent entry level point and shoot digital camera, with quality Carl-Zeiss optical zoom, large and bright 2.5" LCD screen, easy-to-use, good image quality, and fast performance. Given the limited manual control provided, it is not for advance photographers.

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  • 4
  By member: isotemp98 - Jan 6, 2006

Great Camera at a great price

Strengths: style, Large 2.5 LCD screen, Picture quanlity, battery type, easy to use, fast start-up.

Weakness: none so far

Like other cybershot cameras i had, S90 is easy to use and very fast start-up. I won't miss any great moments. the image quality is as good as possible. It is a perfect camera with compact size and style. I like the 2.5 inch LCD and it is pleasant to look at the screen. Battery life is ok and it is powered by 2 AA batteries so no more worry about it since we can always replace there batteries anywhere.

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  • 4
  By member: consumergadgets - Dec 29, 2005

good lens and fair price

Strengths: Terrific image quality, Carl Zeiss lens

Weakness: N/A

bought this camera from officemax $150, and I took it with me on a trip to Florida. It is a perfect camera, size, quality. and short movies feature is great. I looked at some Canon digital cameras too but there were some many bad reviews recently about their lcd screen flaws.

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  • 4
  By member: alex1432 - Dec 13, 2005

Solid camera

Strengths: Well built takes good pictures

Weakness: none so far

This camera does exactly what I wanted it to do which is take regular pictures. Its not as small as some other cameras but works great and is simple to use.

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  • 4
  By member: galaxyworld - Apr 20, 2006

Sony DSC-90 Camera

Strengths: Excellent image quality,quick start up,Stylish look

DSC-90 is a nice camera with lot of features. It have quick startup, Big 2.5" Screen, auto mode feature, 32 Megabytes of inbuilt memory which will be helpful sometimes if you forgot your memorystick,excellent picture quality even in low vision, stylish look. Good camera if you don't want to do settings manually as it have auto mode feature.

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  • 4
  By member: brucebenson - Apr 16, 2006

PICS AND MANUALS

Strengths: Excellent results, even in auto mode. Flash works well.

Weakness: The manuals.

Sony has unkindly put its user info in 2 manuals. The User's Guide/Troubleshooting manual at 100 pages covers most of what you need to know, but it's poorly organized. One section refers you to another, then another, etc. Most perplexing, however, is that some of the very basic steps, such as how to delete, are not in this manual. Instead, you have to refer to a large "Read Me First" sheet. Guess what I've misplaced. I can't fathom why Sony would do this to its customers.

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  • 4
  By member: sellmen - Mar 31, 2006

Sony DSC-S90

Strengths: Compact and stylish body, large 2.5" LCD, great battery life, excellent photo quality, great movie mode

Weakness: Doesn't have full manual controls

I've used this camera for a couple months now and have very few complaints. The body is light and compact - the camera uses only 2 AA batteries for power. Despite this, battery life is superb. Using rechargeable NiMH AA's, I've taken hundreds of shots without needing to recharge.

Picture quality outstanding. Images are sharp, colorful, and contrasty. Distortion is minimal, and noise levels below ISO400 are perfectly acceptable. ISO400 pictures are probably usable with some noise reduction software, but you'll end up loosing some detail. The 4MP resolution is more than enough for quality 8x10 prints.

The camera performs very capably. It starts up in about 3 seconds. Autofocus is quick, and there is minimal shutter lag.

The movie mode is outstanding. You can shoot at VGA resolution (640x480) at 30FPS until your memory card is full. There are lower quality options available if you want to extend your recording time.

My list of complaints is short. I'd certainly like to see more manual controls. There are no aperture priority or shutter priority modes - you only get a fairly strange manual mode. In this mode, you can select any shutter speed you want, but you only get to pick between two aperture values. As you can imagine, this makes it very difficult to obtain a proper exposure with an aperture and shutter speed combination that you desire.

My second complaint is that the burst mode is weak. You can only take four shots in a row.

Otherwise, I highly recommend this camera. It has a nice 2.5" LCD, great battery life, and it takes excellent photos. If you plan to spend most of your time in "auto" mode or in one of the preprogrammed scene modes, this is a great camera for you. If you want more manual controls, I'd look elsewhere.

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  • 3
  By member: deshwasi - Feb 2, 2006

SONY DSC-90 Camera

Strengths: Easy Operation, Good Build, Nice Pics

This ia an excellent camera that takes very nice pics and is easy to handle (not too small like many of the latest cameras). uses Memory Stick which is slightly expensive but pictures come out very nice, well saturated. low-light performance is adequate.

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  • 4
  By member: smithblack0 - Jan 22, 2006

Sony DSC S90

Strengths: Nice digital camera. big screen and fast shot. The lens is much better than that of other brands such as canon or kodak. small size

Weakness: expensive memory card if i have to name one

boght it month ago, already took 100 pictures. once had a s60, but this one is much better and i love it. highly recommend to everyone if you could get a cheap price as I got it from dell at 149.

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Reply by member: luckybirman
Feb 20, 2006

Price now down to $118. I jumped at it.
Thanks for all the great reviews!

  • 5
  By member: stellatao - Dec 17, 2005

Sony DSC-S90

Strengths: Great digital camera, very cute. The package include batteries and recharger

Weakness: memory stick is a little expensive

This is a great digital camera! Very cute! It has 4 MP, 3 optical zoom. LCD viewer is a little small. But other than that, it is perfect! I love it very much

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  • 5
  By member: nkgarg02 - Dec 14, 2005

DSC S90 4.1 MP digital camera

Strengths: Takes great photos, easy to use

Weakness: None so far

I liked the camera as it fits nicely in my hands. The picture quality is great, easy navigation through the menus, is lot quicker between the photos, you have to take with flash. Would recommend it.

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  • 5
  By member: qnju - Dec 11, 2005

Cybershot DSC-S90 Digital Camera

Strengths: Large screen. Decent pix quality

Weakness: A bit big in size.

This is a very nice camera. It meets all my tastes: 4MP, 2.5" LCD, 3 optical zoom. Pix quality is good. Only think I think is that it is a bit big in size. However, if not this, I cannot get it for only $120. Great deal!

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  • 3.6
  testseek.com - Feb 9, 2009

Sony Cybershot DSC-S90

Testseek.com has collected 17 expert reviews for Sony Cybershot DSC-S90 and the average expert rating is 72 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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  • 1.7
  TopTenREVIEWS.com - Jul 16, 2008

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-S90

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-S90 receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 1.38 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #431 standard digital camera of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value, and a...

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  • 4.5
  laptopmag.com - Apr 7, 2006

Sony DSC-S90

A full $100 less than some of the others in this roundup, Sony’s 4-MP DSC-S90 manages to best the competition with a slew of features. It has a large 2.5-inch LCD display, a Carl Zeiss lens, a maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds, and can capture 640 x 480 video at 16 fps. This digicam boasts a very...

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  • 5.0
  letsgodigital.org - Nov 20, 2005

Sony Cybershot S90

The Sony Cybershot S90 offers an outstanding combination to a large group of consumers that desire ease of operation and a fine quality without having to worry about photographic 'rules'. The 2.5 inch monitor works perfectly under bright sunlight. The Cybershot S90 is an excellent digital camera, well-worth its money. The Sony camera is versatile, but remains a straightforward operable camera...

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  • 3.5
  DCResource - May 9, 2005

DCRP Review: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S90

Overall the DSC-S90 gets my recommendation -- it's an impressive camera for the money. If you want to save $50 and don't mind a smaller LCD, the DSC-S60 is basically the same camera, except that it gets even better battery life.

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  • 4.5
  Digitalcamerainfo.com - Nov 30, -0001

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S90 First Impressions Review

Sony announced the Cyber-shot DSC-S90 as part of the new Stamina series at the Photo Marketing Association Trade Show in February. With 4.1 megapixels, the compact digital camera can shoot about 580 shots on its AA batteries before needing a recharge. The S90 can last longer with its 1/2.7-inch Super HAD CCD and updated Real Imaging Processor. The S90 is the flagship model of the new line, which...

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  • 3.5
  Imaging Resource - Nov 30, -0001

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S90

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S90 is an easy-to-use but very capable offering from Sony, the first of the new S-series that we've looked at. It offers a 4.1-megapixel CCD, 32 megabytes of internal memory, and a nice range of exposure options. The Sony S90 provides more manual exposure control than most compact entry-level models permit, yet is easy to use in full-auto mode, and its seven preprogrammed...

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