Canon PowerShot S100 vs Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H90: A Detailed Camera Showdown

When the question comes up - which compact camera should I get? - it often boils down to what you want to prioritize: image quality, zoom range, speed, portability, or versatility. Today, I’m comparing two very different cameras that might appeal to distinct types of users but still fall under the “compact” umbrella, making it easy to overlook the subtle yet meaningful nuances they offer.

Here’s the deal: the Canon PowerShot S100, a 2011 flagship compact that feels more “prosumer” in spirit, and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H90, a 2012 superzoom compact, ready to stretch your focal reach and pack more zoom punch in the same pocket. Both have 3-inch screens, optical stabilization, and a fixed lens, but herein lies a world of difference in design philosophies, performance, and ultimately, what kind of photography each serves best.

Having spent countless hours testing similar gear - including tweaking settings in varied lighting conditions, shooting across every photography niche, and putting each feature through rigorous hands-on trials - I’ll walk you through their real-world strengths and weaknesses to help you decide which one deserves a place in your kit.

Getting to Know Their Built Form and Ergonomics

First impressions matter, right? Physical size, weight, and control lay the foundation of your shooting experience even before you fire the shutter.

The Canon S100 measures a slight 99 x 60 x 28 mm and weighs just 198 grams. To my hands, it’s compact and pocket-friendly but still has a reassuring grip, thanks to its slightly curved front housing. This makes one-handed shooting more comfortable during longer sessions - especially if you favor manual control, which we'll discuss in detail soon.

In contrast, the Sony H90 is chunkier, measuring 105 x 60 x 34 mm and weighing 222 grams. The extra thickness accommodates the much longer zoom lens but impacts portability - though it still fits most coat pockets. Handling-wise, the H90’s grip feels less robust or sculpted, more “slab-like,” and the camera balance leans forward when zoomed out, suggesting you might need a second hand for stability during extended telephoto use.

Examining the control layouts, the Canon S100 features a more “photographer-friendly” array: dedicated dials for aperture and shutter speed, a clickable control ring around the lens, and an intuitive mode dial. Canon’s Digic 5 processor ensures responsive operations, and though the S100 lacks a touchscreen, the physical buttons feel well-placed and tactile. It’s a camera that invites you to learn manual exposure techniques - a serious enthusiast’s tool in a compact shell.

Sony’s H90 takes a simpler approach. Controls are streamlined with fewer dials; manual exposure is present but more menu-driven. The front lens ring doesn’t double as a control dial on this model, which might frustrate photographers who rely on quick manual adjustments. Still, it offers reasonable ease for novice users with straightforward automation and handy exposure compensation settings.

If you’re someone who prefers direct access to settings and hands-on tweakability, the Canon S100 clearly wins on ergonomics and operational speed. For casual shooters or those prioritizing zoom flexibility, the Sony H90’s simpler layout is less intimidating.

Peeking Inside: Sensor Technology and Image Quality

Of course, the heart of any digital camera is its sensor. This is where things get fascinating.

The Canon S100 sports a 1/1.7-inch effective sensor size with 12 megapixels. It’s a CMOS sensor leveraging Canon’s Digic 5 engine to produce images with commendable dynamic range and color depth for its class. According to DxOMark tests, it scores a 50 overall, with excellent color depth (20.7 bits) and dynamic range (11.6 EV) for small sensor compact cameras. Its low-light ISO performance scores reasonably at 153 - not groundbreaking, but solid in a sensor this size.

By contrast, the Sony H90 uses a smaller 1/2.3-inch CCD sensor with 16 megapixels. The smaller sensor size means smaller individual pixels, typically resulting in less light-gathering capacity and higher noise under low-light conditions. Sony’s BIONZ processor manages noise reduction well but can’t compensate for the physics of sensor size. Unfortunately, DxOMark has not tested the H90 specifically, but based on sensor size and tech, it won't match the S100’s dynamic range or color fidelity.

This means for portrait, landscape, and low-light photography scenarios, the Canon S100 will produce more detailed images with better tonal gradations and less noise. The lower pixel count with a larger sensor is generally a better tradeoff for quality, especially if you plan on printing or cropping your shots.

The Sony’s CCD tends to offer slightly more “pop” in daylight colors, but at ISO levels above 400, noise becomes quite visible. Don’t expect stellar low light or smooth gradients.

Screens and Interfaces: How You See Your Shots

Having a great screen can make a big difference when composing or reviewing shots.

Both cameras have fixed 3-inch diagonal LCDs with 461k-dot resolution, but the Sony H90’s ClearPhoto TFT LCD display stands out with slightly better color reproduction and visibility under direct sunlight. However, with Sony’s screen lacking a touch interface, navigation still relies on buttons and dials.

The Canon S100, while lacking touchscreen and overt brightness boost, features a sharp and responsive display optimized for review with punchy contrast, which aids in quickly assessing exposure and focus.

Neither offers an electronic viewfinder or articulating screen, which might be a downside if you shoot in bright sunlight or want more compositional flexibility.

Lens and Zoom: What’s Your Reach?

This section becomes a decisive factor depending on what you shoot most.

The Canon S100’s lens offers a 24-120mm equivalent zoom range (5x), with a bright f/2.0 aperture at the wide end - something rare in compacts - and f/5.9 at telephoto. That bright wide angle is fantastic for indoor, street, travel, and portrait photography where you want more light gathering and attractive background blur. Also, macro focusing down to 3 cm allows creative close-up work.

Meanwhile, the Sony H90 ramps up the zoom: a whopping 24-384 mm equivalent (16x). This extensive coverage is ideal if you need to shoot distant subjects like wildlife, sports, or far-off landscapes. But with a maximum aperture of f/3.3 at wide and f/5.9 at the long end, it struggles more in low-light or to achieve shallow depth of field effects.

In practice, the Canon’s 5x zoom feels versatile enough for day-to-day photography and travel use, while the Sony’s long reach gives you powerful framing options to capture those distant moments. Note, though, that longer zooms tend to introduce more noticeable image degradation at the extreme telephoto end.

Autofocus Systems: Speed and Accuracy in the Moment

When speed counts, autofocus performance becomes a critical decision factor.

The Canon S100 uses contrast-detection AF with 9 focus points and implements face detection, continuous AF tracking (albeit limited), and manual focus with focus peaking (to an extent). The presence of face detection and multi-area AF shows Canon’s attention to portrait and casual shooting ease.

The Sony H90 also uses contrast-detection with face detection and has multi-area and center-weighted AF areas. However, Sony’s autofocus in this model is a bit slower and less accurate than Canon's, especially in low light or when tracking moving subjects.

Neither camera offers phase detection sensors or advanced continuous eye or animal eye AF found in more recent or advanced models. For wildlife or sports, neither excels, but the Canon’s more responsive AF system allows quicker snapping, especially in well-lit conditions.

Burst Shooting and Shutter Speeds: Who’s Faster?

If you shoot sports or fast action, frame rate and shutter speed range matter a lot.

The Canon S100 offers a maximum shutter speed of 1/2000 s, with continuous shooting at 2 frames per second (fps). While not the fastest by any means, it’s serviceable for casual sports and street photography.

The Sony H90 maxes out at 1/1600 s shutter speed with a slower burst rate of 1 fps continuous - definitely more of a point-and-shoot pace.

In this respect, the Canon again outpaces the Sony, better suited to those moments that need quicker reflexes.

Stabilization, ISO Performance, and Low Light Usability

Both cameras feature optical image stabilization, which significantly helps handheld shots in low light or at longer zooms.

The Canon S100 shines with an ISO range of 80 to 6400 and better noise control thanks to its larger sensor and latest processing tech. You’ll find it usable up to ISO 800 or 1600 for sharing, and ISO 3200 for emergencies.

The Sony H90’s maximum ISO tops at 3200, but intrinsic sensor noise limits practical use mostly to ISO 100-400 in hand-held shooting.

In low-light street, indoor portraits, or night scenes, the S100 is the more reliable option.

Video Capabilities: Recording Quality and Features

Don’t overlook video if you plan to use your compact for family moments or casual filmmaking.

The Canon S100 records Full HD 1080p video at 24 fps with H.264 compression, supporting smooth motion and decent quality. It also offers higher frame rates at lower resolutions and uses Digic 5’s processing to reduce noise in video.

The Sony H90 caps out at 720p HD at 30 fps, using MPEG-4 compression. While perfectly acceptable for casual clips, it lacks the detail and smoothness of Full HD.

Neither has microphone inputs or headphone jacks, so sound quality is limited to their built-in mics. No 4K or advanced video features here, but the Canon’s better sensor and compression afford higher quality output overall.

Battery Life and Storage Flexibility

Battery life tells you how long you can shoot before scrambling for a charger.

The Canon S100 delivers around 200 shots per charge using its NB-5L battery. It supports SD/SDHC/SDXC cards and includes built-in GPS and Eye-Fi wireless connectivity for geotagging and easy image transfer - a nice touch for travelers.

The Sony H90 impresses with longer endurance - approximately 290 shots per charge with the NP-BG1 battery - and supports a wider range of storage cards, including Memory Stick and SD variants. However, it lacks wireless features and GPS.

If you’re on extended trips or in the field without frequent charging opportunities, Sony’s greater battery life and card flexibility can be an advantage.

Durability and Additional Features

Neither camera offers environmental seals or ruggedization, which is typical for compacts in this price range. So, treat both with reasonable care around dust and moisture.

The Sony’s superzoom lens is more exposed due to length, so be mindful of lens protection.

Seeing Their Strengths in Sample Images

I’ve put both cameras through a variety of shooting tests - from portraits to landscapes and telephoto wildlife - to see how image quality translates beyond specs.

Canon S100 front Canon S100 screen back Sony H90 front Sony H90 screen back

You can see the Canon S100’s images possess richer color depth and smoother gradations, especially in skin tones and shadows. The background blur at f/2.0 wide apertures creates pleasant bokeh, ideal for portraits.

The Sony H90’s images show more noise in shadow areas, especially on higher ISO shots, but the zoom flexibility lets you capture distant subjects that the Canon simply can’t frame as tightly.

How Do They Score Overall?

To give some perspective on overall performance, let’s review an aggregated scoring that factors image quality, speed, features, and ergonomics.

As expected, the Canon S100 scores higher overall due to superior sensor, autofocus, and shooting versatility.

The Sony H90 is rated slightly lower, reflecting its superzoom emphasis at the expense of image quality and speed.

Which Camera Shines in Each Photography Type?

Here’s a genre-by-genre scorecard illustrating where each camera excels or compromises:

• Portraits: Canon S100 dominates with its larger sensor, better color depth, and f/2.0 aperture for shallow depth of field.
• Landscapes: Canon again takes the lead thanks to superior dynamic range and detail.
• Wildlife: Sony H90's long zoom and decent stabilization make it better, despite quality compromises.
• Sports: Neither is ideal, but Canon’s faster burst and AF win out.
• Street: Canon’s portability and discreet controls favor it, but Sony’s longer reach may appeal to some.
• Macro: Canon’s closer focus and sharper optics deliver more detail.
• Night/Astro: Canon decisively wins due to higher ISO performance and noise control.
• Video: Canon’s Full HD recording places it ahead.
• Travel: Balanced result - Canon’s image quality and GPS vs. Sony’s zoom and battery life.
• Professional Work: Canon’s RAW support and better image fidelity make it the clear choice.

Who Should Buy the Canon PowerShot S100?

I lean towards recommending the Canon S100 for photographers who:

• Value excellent image quality from a compact body
• Shoot portraits, landscapes, and night scenes often
• Want manual control and fast autofocus in a point-and-shoot
• Desire Full HD video alongside stills
• Appreciate GPS and wireless features for travel
• Don’t need extreme zoom reach but want a versatile focal length

At around $430 at launch, it’s a bit pricier, but the Canon rewards enthusiasts and semi-professionals with performance that punches above its size.

Who Is the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H90 For?

The Sony H90 appeals to:

• Casual photographers needing an affordable superzoom without the bulk of a DSLR or bridge camera
• Travelers or family users wanting one camera for wide angle to long-distance shots
• Those who prefer longer battery life over the highest image quality
• People okay with simplified controls and 720p video quality
• Budget-conscious buyers around $230 who want maximum zoom versatility

It’s a practical choice for everyday snapshots, wildlife travel, or applications where carrying multiple lenses isn't an option.

Final Thoughts: Two Cameras, Different Priorities

The Canon PowerShot S100 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H90 serve very different imaging needs under the compact camera market umbrella. The S100 embodies a pro-styled experience with better image quality, manual exposure, and superior low-light performance. The H90 bets on superzoom reach and battery endurance, sacrificing sophisticated controls and noiseless higher ISO images.

If you prize the starter enthusiast or travel enthusiast photo experience with a focus on quality, the Canon S100 has long been my preferred pick for compact cameras of this era.

If your photography calls for reach first and foremost and you’re on a budget, the Sony H90 is a solid compact superzoom contender.

Both cameras represent an era when pocket compacts balanced different feature sets to attract distinct users, and both still hold valuable lessons in shooting philosophy.

I hope this hands-on, detailed comparison helps you identify which camera better matches your photography goals. If you want any more insights, test shots, or techniques using these models, just ask - I’m happy to share.

Happy shooting!