Canon EOS 90D full specifications

AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,343
22,519
As someone that is interested in getting started with photography (especially wildlife) would this be a good model to start with?

BR Alejko
If you already have EF or EF-S lenses, a definite yes. It will have good resolution with its high megapixel sensor and the other specs are very appropriate. I personally prefer an optical viewfinder and the unfussy centre spot focussing of a Canon DSLR. But, you might want to hang on and see what Canon is doing in the mirrorless. I will buy one as it will pair really well with my 100-400mm II. The f/5.6 of that telephoto is about as narrow as you would want for that sensor and the lens will provide excellent reach and range. There are also very reasonably priced and excellent EF-S lenses like the the 55-250 STM which will give quite good reach with that sensor.
 
Upvote 0

Quirkz

CR Pro
Oct 30, 2014
297
221
Cropping does little good if focus is not tack sharp. For BIF, the AF of the 5DSR is not nearly the equal of other camera options. The slow frame rate and anemic buffer means the opportunity to capture the peak-of-action frame may be lost. The AF on the 5DSR uses older 2nd gen AI-servo algorithms. The slow frame rate produces is considerable shutter lag. The battery of the 5DSR does not produce optimal voltage to drive AF servos in the large lenses. Bottom line, 5DSR is a good camera but certainly not the best choice for BIF.
View attachment 186130

Alan showed some astounding photos demonstrating why the 5ds is actually a great BIF camera for him - perhaps you can show us photos you’ve taken from a camera used for ‘serious’ BIF, and explain how the camera helped for that shot?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Upvote 0
I agree. And we can guess what it's likely to be from the fact that it produces a nominal 6960 x 4640 still picture:
  • Cropped 4K will obviously be the center 3840 x 2160 pixels. That's an incredibly tiny area: only 55% of the width and less than half of the sensor area. Combined with the 1.6x APS-C crop, that's a total crop factor of 2.9x relative to full frame.
  • Uncropped will almost certainly be skipped or binned from the 6960 x 4640 image into a 3480 x 1958 or "3.4K" intermediary image that is finally upscaled and compressed. (Or it might be slightly less than 3.4K if digital IBIS is available and enabled.)
If this uncropped 4K mode is pixel binned and not pixel/line skipped, the image quality will likely be a massive step up from 1080p on the 80D. Otherwise it will probably have relatively poor low light performance as well as high sensitivity to moire artifacting.

Meanwhile, enthusiasts would probably love it if Canon could offer a "3.4K" output resolution so they could scale it in their video editor—perfect for people targeting ultra high quality 1080p. Unlikely to ever happen until Magic Lantern finally makes it to the 90D in another three to five years.
Haven't they already said the 4K on the Canon is not cropped? The EOS RP has the same disclaimer in it's specs for 4K and it's plain as day that it's not spitting out a 1:1 image from the 3840x2160 part of the sensor it's cropped to. The EOS R doesn't have that disclaimer on its 4K and its noticeable sharper than the RP (though it's not all that good in it's own right).
 
Upvote 0

Michael Clark

Now we see through a glass, darkly...
Apr 5, 2016
4,722
2,655
Indeed, I just find it easier to ignore Cases completely and I have a MyMenu tab set up with the three adjustable and change them as I feel the need from there.

I found I was the biggest inconsistency in the AF and was getting annoyed that sometimes I'd have a great hit rate and other times with the same settings and subjects have very low hit rates, turned out the AF was thrown out by my variable performance, sometimes I could keep things within an AF point, other times I'd need to adjust the switching to adjust for my varying abilities.

Got the idea from a Grant Atkinson video, he used to post here and had a lot of good info.


If you are only wanting to change one parameter, that works well. But if you want to change two or even all three parameters at once, saving your desired "presets" for different shooting situations in one of the use cases (you don't have to leave each use case on the default settings for each parameter, you can change them to your liking and they will retain your changes) allows one to switch faster. As best I can tell, there are no "under the surface" differences between the default use cases beyond the settings for the three alterable parameters. (Unlike 'Picture Styles', where a "0" for saturation in the 'Standard' PS is different than a "0" for saturation in the "neutral" PS.)
 
Upvote 0

Michael Clark

Now we see through a glass, darkly...
Apr 5, 2016
4,722
2,655
I see a lot of people disappointed/stating that the 90D won't be a replacement of the 7Dii.
Other than it is not called 7Diii (some egos bruised by a xxD name?) and doesn't have 2 card slots I am failing to understand why it is not an improvement to the 7Dii?

32mp vs 20mp
Dual Pixel AF on both
10-11fps vs 10fps
1/16000sec max shutter speed vs 1/8000
Iso 100-25600 vs 100-16000
Touch & flippy screen vs not
WiFi vs No Wifi
700g vs 900g
Joystick on both
Possibly a better DR on the 90D

I understand the 7Dii has 65 points AF and the 90D will only have 45 but until we see the performances of the new AF system we can't say it is not an improvement. I'd rather have 45 faster & accurate points than 65 less reliable ones.
I was considering getting a 7dii for wildlife but to me, at least on paper, the 90D will do what the 7dii does and a bit more.
So are the missing second card slot and the allegedly lower weather sealing the only two things making it not a 7dii upgrade?

If the leaked spec sheet is correct, it's also missing a couple of AF point selection modes that many 7DII users prefer: Single AF point with four expanded "assist" points and Single AF point with eight expanded "assist" points are missing from the 80D menu and missing from the leaked 90D spec sheet.

The 80D's 9 point zone setting is not the same as Single AF point with 8 "assist" points. The former gives equal weight to all 9 AF points in a "zone", with the highest area of contrast over the entire 9 points what the AF system attempts to focus. In AI Servo AF the latter gives much more weight to the single selected AF point and uses the "assist" points surrounding it to track a subject that was over the single AF point when AF was first initiated. In One Shot AF the latter gives much more weight to the single selected AF point and uses the surrounding "assist" points when there is no area of sufficient contrast over the selected AF point. Anyone who has shot with both the 80D using 9-point Zone AF and the 7DII using Single AF-point with expansion should understand the difference.

The leaked spec sheet also includes no mention of iTR, which the 7D Mark II has along with the 1D X Mark II, 1D X, and 5D Mark IV. There is at least one source that says the 90D will include iTR. The 90D will have an RGB+IR light meter that is required for iTR, but then again, the 80D also has an RGB+IR meter but no iTR. The extra processing load iTR requires is usually handled by an independent processor in addition to the DiG!C image processor(s). For example, the 1D X used a DiG!C 4 processor for AF/iTR in addition to the dual DiG!C 5+ image processors. We'll just have to wait and see if the 90D offers iTR.

There's also a difference between the magnesium alloy body of the 7DII and polycarbonate body of the 80D and 90D. That's significant for commercial users that put their gear through the wringer day in and day out.

The 7DII has a 200,000 shutter rating. The 80D has a 100,000 shutter rating. It remains to be seen what the 90D shutter rating will be, but if the 1/16000 Tv is a standard two curtain operation option (rather than an electronic first curtain option in LV, which is what I think it will turn out to be), then the shutter curtains will be either a) moving much faster than the shutter curtains on either the 80D or the 7D Mark II or b) more precise so that a narrower slit between the first and second curtain can be accurately maintained. Making the same shutter curtains faster tends to wear them out quicker, so cameras with faster shutter curtains also tend to have more robust (and more expensive) shutter assemblies. Otherwise, increasing the shortest Tv from 1/8000 to 1/16000 will have the same effect on shutter life as burning a candle at both ends does on the life expectancy of the candle.

All one needs to add WiFi to the 7D Mark II is a $40 WE-1 card that goes in the SD card slot. The CF card slot is still available for use to record images and video. The only currently available new 7D Mark II bodies from authorized Canon dealers have that WE-1 card included with the camera body. The 7D Mark II body without the WiFi card was officially discontinued in October of last year.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0

Aussie shooter

https://brettguyphotography.picfair.com/
Dec 6, 2016
1,183
1,817
brettguyphotography.picfair.com
Maybe the 5DSR is a poor choice for you. I am in the process of downloading images from a trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos, returning yesterday. Let's start with a Pelican diving to catch fish, which I followed down and got as it was about to hit. Then a blue footed booby in full dive just after sun up at iso 6400, a Galapagos Hawk flying past, a tropical bird belting across the sky, and a Shining Sunbeam, and Storm Petrel flitting erratically over the sea. There are dozens more from the past fortnight but they have yet to be processed. The small buffer doesn't worry me as I don't spray and pray but time my shots.

View attachment 186119View attachment 186120View attachment 186122View attachment 186123View attachment 186124
View attachment 186126
Looks like you had a good trip. Hope you didn't regret leaving the prime behind.
 
Upvote 0

Sharlin

CR Pro
Dec 26, 2015
1,415
1,433
Turku, Finland
I think the 90D does have iTR. It was mentioned in the video i think.

Yep. The 80D has ”color tracking with skintone detection” but no full iTR due to the low resolution of the metering sensor. According to the promo video the 90D has iTR with face tracking etc. I presume that’s really the killer app for the upgraded metering sensor—the 80D autoexposure is consistently spot-on so I’m not sure how much visible improvement the increase in resolution will bring, metering-wise.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Upvote 0

AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
12,343
22,519
Looks like you had a good trip. Hope you didn't regret leaving the prime behind.
No! It was the correct decision. The closeness of the wild life meant I was having to zoom much of the time and it was only on rare occasions I used an extender. I would have missed so many shots with the limitations of a prime. The extra stop of the f/4 of the prime would have been useful when under the canopy of the Amazon, but that was far outweighed overall by the flexibility of the zoom. If the birds and animals had been far away and we had been spending most of the time in a safari vehicle like in Tanzania, then I would have missed the prime. However, I have to say that a 100-400mm II + 1.4xTC on a 5DSR gives slightly better resolution than the 400mm DO II + 2xTC on the 5DIV. (My favourite is the prime plus 1.4xTC on the 5DSR for distance shots, and l look forward to using the lens on a 90D).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Upvote 0

Michael Clark

Now we see through a glass, darkly...
Apr 5, 2016
4,722
2,655
I think the 90D does have iTR. It was mentioned in the video i think.



I couldn't remember where I had seen that, but the part you eliminated from your quote of my comment included such.

The leaked spec sheet also includes no mention of iTR, which the 7D Mark II has along with the 1D X Mark II, 1D X, and 5D Mark IV. There is at least one source that says the 90D will include iTR.
 
Upvote 0

Aussie shooter

https://brettguyphotography.picfair.com/
Dec 6, 2016
1,183
1,817
brettguyphotography.picfair.com
No! It was the correct decision. The closeness of the wild life meant I was having to zoom much of the time and it was only on rare occasions I used an extender. I would have missed so many shots with the limitations of a prime. The extra stop of the f/4 of the prime would have been useful when under the canopy of the Amazon, but that was far outweighed overall by the flexibility of the zoom. If the birds and animals had been far away and we had been spending most of the time in a safari vehicle like in Tanzania, then I would have missed the prime. However, I have to say that a 100-400mm II + 1.4xTC on a 5DSR gives slightly better resolution than the 400mm DO II + 2xTC on the 5DIV. (My favourite is the prime plus 1.4xTC on the 5DSR for distance shots, and l look forward to using the lens on a 90D).
It is Incredible how close the wildlife allows to to get in the Galapagos isn't it?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Upvote 0
As a 7 D mk2 user (x2) for Sports (Non league Football standard) in the UK i am hoping for a Mk 3 not this 90, my reasons are,
The 7d mk2 body takes a hammering pitchside at football/rugby, American Football etc and my 2 current ones are dented,scratched, well worn etc could the 90 body stand up to that abuse if not its a no no. Is it as good weather sealed as the 7d as in the UK the weather can be very wet even using wet weather covers they still get soaked.
For me auto focus and Focus points are ok along with fps as i try to judge the action than spray n pray then have to go through tens of shots instead of a few so happy with the fps rate.
I always use a CF card in one body and a SD card in the other, i have a Lexor card reader on the laptop so can take out either card or both and upload both if needed at the same time at half /full time so one card slot will mean i can't upload 2 cards a time unless i have 2 card readers.
Video & movable rear screen for me never had/doubt will ever feel the need for video so not bothered by it and the movable screen is surely a weak link and just asking during sports & possibly wildlife shots to get broke off.
Same batteries as the 7 d mk 2 so good news there.
Also something i have not seen mentioned anywhere which to many of us in the UK is a massive help is the anti flicker on the 7 d mk2, in the UK doing Non league Football/Rugby you would be surprised how much that kicks in with the terrible flood lights we have to contend with.
Last September i had to spend £500 for a new shutterbox etc as i had reached the end of the shutter count so my other (newer) body must be nearly there as well which is another reason i am not interested in a 90 if in a few months a 7 d mk3 or similar comes about , so if it goes do i spend £500 to repair or use that towards a new 7 d mk3 which are now quite long in the tooth.
Yes i know some of you will say move to the 1 dx mk 2 it will solve most of my dilemma, yet unless someone gives me a 1 dx mk 2 the lack of money just short of £5000 UK rules that out could get 2 brand new 7 d mk2 and have change.
 
Upvote 0
Interesting, what do you shoot that can't be shot with a camera with a single card slot?
I shoot freelance sports for media outlets that have time deadlines. If a card fails, I don't have time to try and recover the information. And yes, I have had cards fail before.
 
Upvote 0