Amateur Photographer - UK 2019-11-15)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 9 November 2019 55

CAMERA TEST Testbench

FEATURES 8/10

BUILD& HANDLING 8/10

METERING 9/10

AUTOFOCUS 8/10

AWB& COLOUR 9/10

DYNAMICRANGE 8/10

IMAGEQUALITY 8/10

VIEWFINDER/LCD 8/10

Agreaternumberofpixelsonthesamesensorsurfacearearisksmore

noiseatpixellevel.Foroptimumresultsyou’llwanttoshootin rawand

workbetweenISO 100 andISO 400 whereyou’llbepresentedwithclean

imagesthatarefreeofnoise.LuminancenoisecanbeobservedatISO 800

andISO1600,butdetailisn’taffectedtooheavilyatthesesettingssothey

canstillbeusedwithconfidence.ISO 3200 is perfectlyusableprovided

somenoisereductionis appliedduringpost-processing.I’dsaythisis the

upperlimitofwhereI’dwanttopushtoona regularbasisthoughasfine

detailstartsto take more of an obvioushitatISO6400 and ISO 12,800.

Noise

RAWISO 100 RAW ISO 800 RAW ISO 3200

RAW ISO 12,800 RAW ISO 25,600 RAW ISO 51,200

Resolution

Aninspectionofourresolutioncharttellsusthe90D’s
newsensorresolvesa creditable3,700l/phatitsbase
sensitivityofISO100.Detailremainshighat
low-sensitivitysettings,withresolutionfiguresof
3,600l/ph and 3,400l/ph recorded at ISO 200 and

ISO400,respectively.PushhigherintotheISOrange

andyou’llstarttoobservefinedetailbeingaffectedby

noise.Werecorded3,100l/phatISO 3200 and2,900l/

phatISO6400.Thesensorcanresolveupto2,600l/ph

atISO12,800 and 2,400l/phbefore expansion.

Atthetimeof writingthe90Doffersthehighestresolutionof anyAPS-Ccameraonthemarket,
andonceagainweseethesensoroverlaidwithanopticallow-passfiltertohelpkeepmoiréand
falsecolourartefactsundercontrol.Whilethisdoescomeat theexpenseof fineimagedetail,
userswillremainenthralledbythequalityof the90D’simageswhentheyareinspectedclosely.
There’sexcellentlatitudewhenyou’dliketoreturndetailtoo.Rawfilesletyoutopullbacklotsof
information from deep shadowed regions – well illustrated by the opening image to this review.

Lab results

AndrewSydenham’slabtestsrevealjusthowthe camera performs

Ourcamerasandlensesaretestedusingtheindustry-

standardImageEngineeringIQ-Analysersoftware.

Visit http://www.image-engineering.de for more details

The90Dis a versatileandreliableDSLR,

capableof producingexcellentimagesin a

multitudeof differentshootingsituations.The

resolutionincreasewillbenefit sports,action

andwildlifephotographers,buttoachieve

thefinestimagequalitypossibleyou’llreally

wanttopairit withhigherqualitylensesthan

thekitzoomsCanonsellsit with.

4Kvideohasbeenlongoverdueon

Canon’sdouble-digitDSLRs,soit’sgoodto

seeit makinganappearance,albeitwithout

a 24psettingora Loggammaoptionfor

colourgrading.I’dhavelikedtoseea USB

Type-Cinterfacewithsupportforcharging

too,butwitha 1,300-shotbatterylifeyou’ll

beunlikelytoneedtotopit upin a hurry.

Beingabletoshoota continuousburstat

10fpsis greattohave;howevertheCanon

EOS7DMarkII stillhastheedgewhenit

comestobufferperformance,plusit offers

dualcardslotswhereasthe90Donlyhas

one.Theopticalviewfinderis bigandbright,

buttheAFsystemis startingtoshowitsage.

Tobenefit fromwiderAFcoverage,better

focusaccuracyandaidssuchasFaceand

Eyedetection,you’llfindyourselfengaging

liveviewandusingtherearscreenmore

thanyouinitiallythoughtyoumight.

Ergonomically,the90Dfeelsgreat.

Thelargehandgripprovidesa secure,well-

balancedfeelwithlargeandheavytelephoto

lenses,withitsweatherresistancegivingyou

confidenceto continueshootingwhenthe

weatherworsens.Thenewlyaddedjoystick

complementstheintuitivelayoutof controls

anddialsacrossthebodytoo,makingit even

fasterto setupandshootwith.

In today’sworldof mirrorlessit makesa

changetoseea newDSLRemerge.For

advancingamateursandkeenenthusiasts

alike,the90Dmakesa soundchoice.Is it

thebestenthusiastAPS-CDSLRCanonhas

made?Absolutely,butit couldalsobeone

of thelastif Canondecidestowinddownits

production of DSLRs in favour of mirrorless.

Verdict

Ontheright,weshowdetails
fromourresolutioncharttest
pattern(above).Multiplythe
numberbeneaththelinesby
200 togivetheresolutionin
lines per picture height.

RAW

ISO 51,200

RAW

ISO 12,800

RAW

ISO 3200

RAW

ISO 100

Thecropsshownbelowaretaken
from the area outlined above in red

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