If you’ve been peeping my Twitter/Facebook updates the last few weeks, I’ve been talking a lot about the Canon S90. Back when I was in Japan, missing a few key-shots cause I couldn’t/wouldn’t bring out a DSLR sort of made me realize I need something a little more compact and pocketable. The S90 pretty much fit the bill, it’s chalk full of prosumer features such as the big one in RAW-file writing and a pretty good f2.0 lens. I guess another major selling point the marketing people (which goes concurrently with the f2.0 lens) was the Digic IV processor which enables pretty good ISO-handling capabilities to make it a good low-light camera. But the one thing I really took notice was the front rotating ring that allowed you to quickly change settings. Relative to other camera brands, my experience with Canon ergonomics has been extremely good. The LX-3 joystick blows in my opinion and just to give an example of how simple and intuitive a scroll-wheel can be, just look at the iPod and how popular/easy it is to use. You can crank through the settings quite quickly on that front ring. All-in-all, the camera is smaller than the likes of the ~1 year old LX-3 (still a good camera) and a lot smaller than its fat, obese but somehow very popular G-series (G11). I do anticipate the G11 getting slightly cannibalized by the S90 though, it’s $70 USD cheaper and a lot better aesthetically meaning it’ll be more attractive to woman as well cause of the size.

Anyways, performance-wise, I was preparing myself for the down-grade in quality after shooting strictly with a DSLR for the better part of a year, no big deal I guess, the let-downs are only in low-light conditions as expected. Whatever you heard about people bitching that the ergonomics of the back-wheel suck, I honestly think it comes down them being highly uncoordinated and lacking the manual dexterity to use it… aka their fingers are probably too fat. I’m perhaps a bad example of user layouts as I try adapting for the sake of a better user experience.

But overall, I’m pretty happy with the camera. Size was a big concern for me… I don’t care about all that Micro 4/3rds jazz, either the shit fits in my pocket or it doesn’t. The EP-1/GF-1 even with a pancake lens are still way too big and judging by a lot of reviews, it’s not like the 4/3rds are yielding results heads over heels beyond the S90 (S90 vs. Olympus EP-2 | Panasonic GF1). Oh yeh, I can actually take macro pics now, something impossible with non-macro SLR-lenses.

The images below are by no means scientific (if you want reviews, go here) and not really nice at all haha, just some first few test shots… I must say with a P&S, your mindset seems a little more candid in your approach which I don’t really like… it feels like photography as an art becomes more of an after-thought and in creeps documentation (which seems to be true in this post).

-Eugene (Twitter | flickr)

Ok, why a tennis ball you ask… got knotted up shoulders or just knots in general? This is your new best friend. No doubt I get a tight neck and shoulders from sitting all day. But look into myofascial release, it hurts but your body will thank you.

Off to the gym, ZX 8000 part 1, matching pants were not deliberate haha

Jasper’s rather feminine Paul Smith rip-off cat bag.

This has been my go-to food in the winter, baked sweet potatoes…

…with Lindt Excellence 85% Dark C hocolate… definitely one of those looks like shit (literally) but tastes delicious concotions.

Gym again, ZX 8000 part 2

How do you keep your business cards?

I was with Mike in Lan Kwai Fong a few weeks back and they were handing these out and for good reason cause it’s virtually unusable for the local population. Why even hand them out? Or maybe it’s a ploy with an underlying message… go out, get frisky and potentially knock a girl up cause that shit don’t fit hahahaha.