Canon 90D Review

90D SUMMARY

At first glance, the Canon 90D just looks like a classic Canon DSLR. It offers comfortable ergonomics, great durability, lots of physical controls, and familiarity and user-customization, plus compatibility with a veritable boatload of Canon EF lenses. Under the hood, however, there are lots of improvements over the previous model, particularly with image resolution, AF, burst shooting and video recording. Sure the camera has some drawbacks, but it's still capable of taking great photos, shooting pleasing high-res video, and has excellent AF and performance.

PROS

Highest resolution Canon APS-C camera yet; Great image quality; Faster 10fps burst shooting; Very fast autofocus; Dual Pixel CMOS AF in Live View; 4K video; 1080p120 slow-mo video.

CONS

Low-pass filter reduces fine detail from high-res sensor; High ISO performance isn't as good as some rival cameras; Video recording limited to 29:59.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

The Canon 90D went on sale in mid-September 2019 in the US market, with a list price of about US$1,200 body-only, $1,350 with an EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM kit lens, and $1,600 if you opt instead for an EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM kit lens.

IMAGING RESOURCE RATING

4.5 out of 5.0

And now, the Canon EOS 90D arrives as the latest addition to the company's DSLR lineup. A replacement for the rather long-in-the-tooth 80D, which launched some 3.5 years ago now, the 90D brings with it a brand-new 32.5-megapixel, sub-frame (APS-C) imaging pipeline that's at once higher resolution, and yet can shoot significantly faster for far longer. In fact, it can now not only match the 10 frames-per-second burst capture performance of the company's APS-C flagship 7D Mark II, and simply demolishes it in terms of outright resolution while retaining similar burst-capture buffer depths, for raw shooters at least.

And that's not all. The EOS 90D also adds support for 4K, HDR and high frame-rate video capture, and boasts a speedier UHS-II compliant SD card slot, as well. It also promises much better battery life, and there are plenty of other more minor improvements over the old model, too. There are also a couple of areas in which the 80D bests the 90D just slightly, such as its auto popup flash strobe, its fractionally faster startup and ability to function in higher ambient temperatures up to 113°F (45°C), versus the 104°F (40°C) limit of the 90D.

The same sensor as in the mirrorless EOS M6 II, but with important differences

The brand-new 32.5-megapixel imaging pipeline which makes its debut in the Canon 90D is shared with the simultaneously-announced Canon M6 Mark II. If you're in that fast-growing minority which prefers the compact nature and live view-centric design of a mirrorless camera to the handling and optical viewfinder of a DSLR, then you'll want to consider that camera instead. (Note that an EVF accessory is available for the M6 II, but will add to both its cost and bulk.)

Doing so will score you even greater burst-shooting performance at a manufacturer-rated 14 fps, but Canon tells us that the dedicated AF sensor of the 90D should still have a slight edge when it comes to tracking performance, so depending on your subjects and focusing setup that performance gap may well be narrower.

Obviously, you'll also find a much less generous handgrip and fewer physical controls on the M6 II, and the 90D will also give you a more versatile tilt/swivel-articulated LCD monitor, in place of the M6 II's tilt-only screen. And the 90D will also accept both EF and EF-S mount lenses natively, whereas the M6 II works only with the much smaller EF-M lens lineup out of the box, and requires a pricey and somewhat bulky adapter to shoot with EF or EF-S lenses.

A modestly restyled body adds one new control (but there's a catch)

Comparing the Canon 90D side by side with its predecessor, the two cameras look very similar indeed. The new dust and splashproof body is just fractionally wider and less deep, and a little bit lighter too, but you're not likely to notice either change unless comparing them carefully against each other. Their control layout is almost identical, too, although there are a couple fewer positions on the 90D's mode dial, and it adds one new control on the rear panel, with a couple of others moving positions a bit to make room for it.

Canon 90D Review -- Product Image

A new C-Raw file format promises raw burst depths that trounce the 7D II

Thanks to the new sensor and processor pairing, the Canon 90D can shoot at up to 10 frames per second regardless of whether autofocus is active between frame, matching the performance of the APS-C flagship EOS 7D II and besting the 80D's 7.0 fps with focus locked by a country mile. And it can do even a little better in live view mode with autofocus disabled at 11 frames per second. (Enable AF with live view and the rate falls to 7 fps, though.)

And despite its far higher resolution, it actually manages to roughly equal Canon's manufacturer-rated raw burst depths for the 7D II and 80D, with the 90D promising to offer as many as 25 raw frames in a burst. (Canon technically rated the 7D II for 24 raw frames to SD card, or 31 frames to UDMA7 CompactFlash, but we couldn't match that latter figure in our own testing and scored 26 frames with a UHS-I SD card, which is pretty similar to the rating of the 90D here.)

And you can get even greater raw buffer depths if you're willing to switch to Canon's technically lossily-compressed C-Raw mode, which is a new addition in the 90D. We say "technically" because in our experience of past C-Raw compatible models, we've found it challenging to spot much difference from standard raw other than the significant reduction in file sizes (and attendant increase in raw burst depths). Shooting in C-Raw format, Canon predicts as many as 39 raw frames in a burst.

As for JPEG shooters, with a UHS-II SD card Canon predicts as many as 58 large/fine JPEG frames in each burst. The 7D II, in fairness, is in a class of its own here with a manufacturer-claimed 130 large/fine frames in a burst to SD card, and over a thousand if shooting to UDMA7 CF. And even the 80D is manufacturer-rated for 110 JPEG frames in a burst to UHS-I. But then, those cameras also have about one-third lower resolution than does the 90D. Still, if you're a JPEG shooter given to long bursts, you're going to notice a reduction in burst depth.

Canon 90D Review -- Product Image

A broader sensitivity range, despite the significant resolution increase

Like the 80D before it, the Canon 90D has a native sensitivity of ISO 100-equivalent. At the other end of the scale, though, the 90D can roam all the way up to ISO 25,600 without needed to enable an expanded sensitivity range, where the 80D topped out at ISO 16,000 unless ISO expansion was enabled and couldn't go beyond ISO 25,600 even if it was. Expand the range to its maximum and the Canon 90D will now reach ISO 51,200-equivalent.

Dedicated autofocus similar to the 80D, but there are some improvements

Although its dedicated autofocus sensor is unchanged since that of the 80D, the 90D does bring with it an uprated Dual Pixel CMOS AF system using a vast array of on-chip autofocus points covering most of the sensor surface.

The standalone phase-detection AF sensor underlies a 45-point, all cross-type AF system with microadjustment support. Of those 45 points, 27 of them are functional to f/8, including nine cross-type points. And in concert with an uprated metering sensor which we'll be coming to in a moment, the Canon 90D can also offer EOS iTR face-priority autofocus even when shooting through the optical viewfinder.

Shoot in live view mode, though, and you'll have access to a whopping 5,481 manually-selectable AF points covering 100% of the frame height, and 88% of its width as well. That means you can position your subject almost anywhere within the image frame, and still get phase-detection AF for a quick and accurate focus lock.

A much higher-res metering sensor for better exposure and iTR autofocus

In place of the 63-zone, 7,560 pixel metering sensor in the 80D, the Canon EOS 90D sports a new 216-zone, 220,000-pixel metering sensor. This much higher resolution is not only useful for more accurately determining the best exposure for your image, but also enables the aforementioned EOS iTR face-priority AF function.

In live view mode when using the main image sensor for metering, the EOS 90D offers 384 (24 x 16) zones. By way of comparison, the 80D yielded 315 zones when shooting with live view.

A new electronic shutter and a bunch of added creative tools, too

Although its mechanical shutter mechanism looks to be much as in the 80D, with a top shutter speed of 1/8,000-second, the Canon 90D can manage even faster with an electronic shutter. Enable this option, and you'll gain access to a top speed of 1/16,000-second.

While most exposure and creative options are pretty similar to its predecessor, there are several new additions. First of all, there are two new drive modes, for continuous panning and continuous self-timer, respectively. There's also a new focus bracketing tool, as well as additional scene modes for group photos and panning shots.

With the exception of the aforementioned manual popup mechanism, the built-in flash is unchanged from that in the 80D, with a guide number of 39.4 feet (12m), 28mm-equivalent coverage and +/- 3EV of flash exposure compensation in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps. The built-in flash can also act as an autofocus assist lamp, unless an external strobe with AF assist beam is attached, in which case that will be used instead.

Canon 90D Review -- Product Image

4K, Full HD, HDR and high frame-rate video

Video is another area that's received plenty of attention since the 80D, although there's one rather disappointing omission. The Canon 90D can now shoot not just Full HD video, but also 4K ultra high-definition footage too, entirely in-camera. And better still, there's not a mandatory crop associated with 4K video. Instead, you can shoot using the full sensor width, although it isn't yet clear if pixel skipping or binning techniques are employed.

At launch, the 90D did not offer the cinematic 24 frames per second capture rate for both 4K and Full HD footage, however with a firmware update released on October 31, 2019, Canon added a 24p option for 4K and Full HD video. In addition to 24p, you can use 25 or 30 frames per second at 4K, and 50/60 or 100/120 frames per second at Full HD. The high frame-rate 120 fps option would allow up to a 5x slow-motion effect while still providing a 24 frames per second playback rate. It's also possible to shoot high dynamic range movies entirely in-camera, with the 90D varying exposure as necessary to capture highlights and shadows on alternating frames, with the result being stitched in-camera to create a Full HD HDR clip with a playback rate of 30 fps.

Dual Pixel CMOS AF is supported during video capture except for high frame-rate movies, and recording time is normally limited to 29:59 but capped at 7:29 for high frame-rate clips.

Oh, and as well as any lens-based image stabilization on offer, the Canon 90D also sports a digital IS function specific to movie capture. There are two strengths on offer; with the standard strength there's a 90% crop for HD, Full HD or 4K content, or a 70% crop when in enhanced mode. If shooting cropped 4K movies in the first place, this increases the overall crop to 75% for standard digital IS, or 58% in enhanced mode.