Canon EOS 90D review: IN-DEPTH vs 80D vs 7D II vs M6 II

Canon EOS 90D in-depth review vs EOS 80D, 7D II and M6 II
01:00 - Design, controls, ports, battery, screen, cards
06:00 - burst shooting through viewfinder and in live view
13:12 - movie mode, 1080 vs 4k, video autofocus, face tracking
20:21 - sensor, lenses, photo quality, noise, resolution
24:39 - final verdict

[cameralabs]

Canon EOS 90D in-depth review vs EOS 80D, 7D II and M6 II
01:00 - Design, controls, ports, battery, screen, cards
06:00 - burst shooting through viewfinder and in live view
13:12 - movie mode, 1080 vs 4k, video autofocus, face tracking
20:21 - sensor, lenses, photo quality, noise, resolution
24:39 - final verdict

[arthurmermelshtein]

Gordon just wanted to say your effort in making these video's is appreciated.
You are maybe the only one (maybe 1 or 2 more) that tries to do objective ones.
Today's cameras are way too good, people forget what photography is and what's it all about, finding a true good photographer nowdays is like finding a needle in a haystack.

[DanFrullani]

I've just bought this camera, actually a few days ago, and just published the unboxing and first impressions...from my humble vlogger point of view I can say it's an awesome camera...So far I have used it with the 10-18mm IS STM, the 24mm pancake lens, the 50mm 1.8 and the 55-250mm IS STM. The 120fps 1080 and 4k with no crop and dual pixel autofocus are the two main reasons why I decided to get the 90D. I haven't tried the 4K yet...I am afraid my computer will pack up and leave if I try (it's an old mcbook pro 2012)I was surprised when I found out that the built-in microphone produces a great quality sound...when I switch from built in microphone to rode videomicro outdoors, if there isn't much wind, I can barely hear the difference. I love this camera. Love your videos!

[kenparks]

First time viewer, and a long time Canon user. I started with the 7D around 2006, then upgraded to the 7D Mk II. I recently found this review and was so impressed, I acquired the 90D and absolutely love it. Thanks for your review.

[SteveSSBB]

I have made similar comments on your videos before Gordon but here it is again. As usual you deliver an objective, no-nonsense review of the good and the bad within the context of practical use. Your reviews really are a model of what YouTube reviews should be. With the 7D2 already in-hand your review has helped me rule out the 90D and saved me a lot of time and effort. Thank you.

[normaneshuchi]

Wow, now that I think about it, ever since I got interested in cameras and gear in 2012/2013, your reviews have been on top of my watch list! To many more years of amazing reviews!!!!

[peterwarne]

This is a super no-nonsense review of the 90D which concentrates on the features most buyers will want to know about. Just how much can you cover in 28 mins? However, a big selling point for me was the in-camera focus stacking feature and I can say this works wonderfully well for both macro and landscape projects. Couple this with a bluetooth capability which links to a remote and you have a very powerful combination for macro photography. The capability works with all the Canon auto-focus lenses I own which is another great benefit. I should say the algorithm just acquires the images and one needs extra software to combine them but in my experience Photoshop does a great job.

[trubadorphotography]

Canon just announced that they will offer a firmware update by the end of October to allow 24p on the 90D.

[LessLonely]

I rented this camera over the weekend to give it a test run. I'm a vlogger, so my needs are fairly basic. I love the 90D and will be purchasing asap. Great review as well, def worth the sub

[pinoyphotographerjb]

nice review, I bought my 500d after your review almost 10 years ago

[TomRipley]

Forget the camera, I want the house with all the original features, the iron fireplace, the hearth tiles, the wooden floor, the shuttered bay, the picture rails. Love that style. I'm packing up my cheese plant to move in.

[Astrolavista]

Superb as always Gordon. I did think the Jpeg noise looked much worse at very high ISO's on the 90D examples. I think this is only to be expected though with smaller pixels. I doubt anyone would notice in real world use. The M6 mkII is my pick from the latest batch of Canon cameras.

[momchilyordanov]

They should have charged $100 or so more, put the 7DII focusing through OVF in it, and market it as a successor to the 7D line with addition of good video and eye detect technology. As it is, I would choose any of M6II, a6400 or X-T30 over this.

[peterebel]

This is just a great review focussing on the real life experience.
Gordon got a new subscriber!

[Forexfox]

Great review Gordon!
And I love the dig in Canons ribs with the single Sony memory card reveal!

[bojanjovic]

As always, the most comprehensive and valuable review, challenging the camera up to its limits in real situations. Thanks Gordon.

[josephkarpinski]

Nice review. My results differ though. For me, the 7D Mark II missed a lot of BIF shots versus the Canon 80D or 90D.
In many cases 6 out of 10 photos were out of focus when shooting BIF with all AF points.
Another big issue was shooting with a 1.4x Extender at f/8. The 7D Mark II only worked with 1 AF point at f/8 while the Canon 80D and 90D support 27 AF points at f/8. Using the Canon 100-400mm II lens with the Canon 1.4x Extender III and either the Canon 80D or 90D,
gave you 896mm at f/8. 400mm x 1.6 crop x 1.4 Extender = 896mm.
The thing to look out for is field of view. At 896mm, f/10 gave better in-focus results.
Combine f/10 and 2000-3200 shutter, gave excellent BIF captures. Had to narrow down the 27 AF points to 9 AF points for a better in-focus ratio. The 10 Fps shutter speed was disappointing on the 90D. The. buffer filled up to quickly and writing 40Mb raw files to an SD card was slow. Workaround is to use the new CRaw format instead of Raw. It’s half the size at 20Mb and the image quality is very good.
Little support for CR3 files yet from vendors like Adobe when using Photoshop Elements 2020. Had to use Canon’s DPP4 tool to process the CR3 files and save them as jpegs.

[alg]

I like a cropped sensor DSLR because it gives more reach for macro, which is what I enjoy shooting most. I also like OVF over EVF, and DSLRs have better battery life. I concur with Gordon about the 90D's resolution. My own test was restricted to comparing my 6 year old 70D against the 90D on display at Best Buy. I made a point of matching camera settings, ISO, focal lengths, aperture, shutter speeds, distance and perspectives for both as best I could.

The increase in resolution over the 70D was not nearly what I would have expected from a 12mp sensor boost and 3 generations of processor evolution. Yes, there was some increase in resolution, but it's not like it knocked my socks off either. Canon seems to have focused more on video performance (admittedly of zero interest to me) and used the 32.5mp spec more as a selling point to separate the 90D from the competition. I don't shoot RAW but I think they're using too much jpeg compression and/or anti-aliasing and not getting nearly the full potential out of the available pixels . Just look at the comparative file sizes of say Sony's a6400 at 24.2mp vs. the Canon's at 32.5mp and you'll see what I mean (8M more pixels, but a significantly smaller file size in the 90D kind of tells the story for me).


I was really excited by this camera's release, but my 70D still holds it's own and I'm not running out buy one.

[brentpolk]

I just picked this up for $700. I've watched your videos before purchasing my T3i, 50D, 60D, 77D, 80D, 5D Miii and now the 90D. Great body of work, I appreciate your vdeos!

[quazisanjeed]

Thank you for the video.

I got two thousand shots in one charge of the LP-E6N battery on my 90D. Bought it recently, love the camera.