Fundamental issue with Canon S90/S95?

[BernardLanguillier]

All,

My S90 died on me a few weeks ago with a lens error.

A very similar thing happened to 2 of the 3 friends I know who own a S95... in the past 4 weeks!

This seems way too frequent to be a coincidence. Did a similar thing happen to some of you?

I am personally a bit upset by this as it happens only 6 months after my S11 had an un-repairable dust in the optical bloc issue that Canon Japan wanted to charge me 150 US$ to fix...

Cheers,
Bernard

[AFairley]

Not. To me, S90, bought when first released.  I suspect it's pretty rare

[John Camp]

May have to do with frequency of use. I have an S-90 that I bought when it first came out, and it still works fine -- but I don't use it very often. Are you and your friends all heavy users?

[madmanchan]

My S90 (bought soon after initial release) is still working fine.  I'll report back if it dies soon ...

[Rhossydd]

I don't think the S90 is Canon's greatest camera. I've had mine for a year and a half and have only had the widely reported issue of the state of battery charge being reported incorrectly, easily fixed by refitting the battery. However the photos are great for what it is.

Other than that I don't think the S9n series is any worse than other cheap compacts. They all try to offer a huge range of facilities for not a lot of cash and aren't really built to last in the way cameras of the last century were. Most will fail after they've been superseded and replaced.
I'd hope something as expensive, and seemingly well built, as Fuji's X100 might last better. There's also less mechanical to go wrong too.

[250swb]

My S90 just keeps working and working, day in day out, for about two years I think. Terrific little camera in all respects. Too close in spec to the S95 to buy that, but can't wait for the next in the series.

Steve

[stever]

my S90 is fine, but it gets intermittant use.  slow focus and noise at anything over ISO 100 limit its general usefulness (the lack of improvement in focus speed and image quality of pocket cameras in the last 6 years is disapppointing)

planning to try an Oly E-PL3 when it's available

[Josh-H]

Bernard, My S90 is still working just fine. However, on a couple of occasions it has displayed 'Lens Error' on the rear LCD before shutting itself down and restarting. I just figured it was symptomatic of the hard life it leads. It gets bounced around inside my car most of the time and has been dropped a few times, squashed into the corner of my camera bag etc.. Its still working ok and still makes a great image for what it is though...

[BernardLanguillier]

Thanks for your feedback gentlemen.

That must be pure lack of luck or an issue with some batches for the Japanese market I would guess.

Cheers,
Bernard

[thierrylegros396]

Thanks for your feedback gentlemen.

That must be pure lack of luck or an issue with some batches for the Japanese market I would guess.

Cheers,
Bernard

Hi Bernard,

I had the same problem with my S90 when travelling in Paris.

Fortunately the camera was still under warranty, because they changed all the mainboard !!!

So you are right, it's not only pure lack of luck.

Have a Nice Day.

Thierry