Being an HS10 owner, I was keen to try out a small 'point and shoot' as a second camera for convenience etc. I was really pleased to have the opportunity to test and review the Z90 as it was exactly what I was looking for in a compact camera.

First impressions were very favourable - it was very slim and attractively small with just the right amount of weight to make it feel substantial. For a right handed person (please note I'm a natural leftie but use a camera right handed!) it's very easy to use one handed if required and feels natural and comfortable to hold.

The 3" touch screen is very responsive and easy to use. The menu system is effortless to navigate and very easy to make changes to settings. In playback mode, the display is impressive and provides all the exif data.

I started shooting with the Z90 during a short trip to Center Parcs and then a break to Barcelona so it was an ideal opportunity to put the camera through it's paces. I  only encountered 2 main issue's with it :-

Firstly, I found the zoom difficult to control accurately. To zoom in or out, you have to twist the round bezel on the outside of the shutter button. On various occasions when using the zoom it was too easy to zoom in too far and very difficult to correct it by zooming out accurately. Also, the bezel feels a bit 'cheap' in comparison to all of the other buttons and controls etc. It would probably improve with practice.

It's worth noting that the quality of the zoomed in shots was very good. Examples are below.

The second problem I encountered was the fact on many shots I found it over exposed when using the SR shooting mode and the Scene Position, Landscapes. A few examples are below but I suspect this issue might have actually been caused by me not knowing enough or being familiar enough with the camera. I'm more than happy to accept this is probably down to my inexperience and expect with more time and practice this would not be an issue.

Overall, it was fun to use and I was very pleased and impressed with the majority of the shots I took. The battery life was excellent - I took over 300 shots in total, using various settings (ie zoom, flash, playback etc) and it was still a 1/4 charged at the end. I would definitely recommend the Z90 and should I decide to buy one (or put it on my Christmas list lol) then the only thing I'd change would be the colour....purple next time please !!!!