Canon 90D Performance

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Canon 90D Performance

Timing and Performance

Excellent performance for its class.

Startup/Play to Record
Power on to first shot	~0.4 second	Time it takes to turn on and capture a shot.
Play to Record, first shot	~0.2 second	Time until first shot is captured.

Powerup to first shot and switching from Play to Record mode and taking a shot were quite fast, as expected for a DSLR.

Shutter Response (Lag Time) EFCS (default) / Electronic Shutter
Full Autofocus Single-point (center) AF	0.130 / 0.231 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture. All AF timing measured with a Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM kit lens at ~50mm.
Full Autofocus Single-point AF TTL flash enabled	0.162 / NA second	Time to capture while forcing flash to fire. Preflash metering pulses from flash often slow shutter response.
Manual Focus	0.080 / 0.079 second	For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused".
Prefocused	0.057 / 0.056 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.
Prefocused Live View	0.056 / 0.106 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

In terms of the Canon EOS 90D's ability to determine that it's properly focused when shooting the same target multiple times (with no change of focus setting between iteration, to remove the impact of lens AF speed), its full autofocus shutter response was pretty fast for a DSLR. Using the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM kit lens, we measured only 0.130 second for full AF lag using single point (center) AF-S in the default electronic first curtain shutter (EFCS) mode. Full AF shutter lag with the internal flash enabled increased to 0.162 second to account for the pre-flash metering.

Shutter lag using manual focus was lower at 0.080 second. When "prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure, the 90D's shutter lag was quite low, at only 57 milliseconds.

As you can see, switching to the all-electronic shutter (Silent mode) yielded slower full AF lag times, but didn't have much impact on manual focus and prefocused shutter lag. Note that flash is not supported.

In Live View mode, prefocused lag remained about the same in EFCS mode, but increased to 0.106 when using the all electronic shutter.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode Large/Fine JPEG	0.24 second	Time per shot, averaged over a few frames.
Single Shot mode RAW + L/F JPEG	0.31 second	Time per shot, averaged over a few frames.
Early shutter penalty?	No	Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.
Continuous High Large/Fine JPEG	0.10 second (10.0 fps); 57 frames; 11.1 seconds to clear*	Averaged time per shot, then slows down to an average of 0.32s or 3.1 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.
Continuous High RAW	0.10 second (10.0 fps); 27 frames; 5.6 seconds to clear*	Averaged time per shot, then slows down to an average of 0.26s or 3.9 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.
Continuous High RAW + L/F JPEG	0.10 second (10.0 fps); 26 frames; 6.4 seconds to clear*	Averaged time per shot, then slows down to an average of 0.37s or 2.7 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.
Continuous High C-RAW	0.10 second (10.0 fps); 43 frames; 8.5 seconds to clear*	Averaged time per shot, then slows down to an average of 0.25s or 3.9 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.
Continuous High C-RAW + L/F JPEG	0.10 second (10.0 fps); 42 frames; 10.1 seconds to clear*	Averaged time per shot, then slows down to an average of 0.36s or 2.8 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.
Flash recycling	3.2 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a Sony 64GB SF-G UHS-II SDXC card (R:300MB/s, W:299MB/s). Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Single-shot cycle times were quite fast on average at or below about 0.3 second for best quality JPEGs or RAW+JPEG files, but it varied a lot. (Note that we no longer test single-shot mode with just RAW files, as the results are usually somewhere in between JPEG and RAW+JPEG modes.)

Continuous High mode speed was quite fast for its class. We measured a consistent 10.0 frames-per-second for all file types, matching Canon's specifications. And that's with continuous AF/AE using the optical viewfinder. A low-speed continuous mode is available as well, rated at 3 fps. The 90D also supports burst capture in Live View mode at up to 11 fps with single-shot AF and 7 fps with continuous AF.

Buffer depths were quite good with our fast Sony 64GB SF-G UHS-II SDXC card at 57 best quality JPEGs, 27 RAW or 43 C-RAW frames. With RAW/C-RAW+JPEG files the buffer depth dropped just slightly to 26 and 42 frames respectively.

Buffer clearing times were decent considering the buffer depth and resolution, ranging from 5.6 seconds after shooting a max-length burst of standard RAW files, to 11.1 seconds for best quality JPEGs. The camera lets you adjust settings while the buffer is clearing, but you can't view just-shot photos until after the buffer clears.

The Canon 90D's built-in flash took an average of 3.2 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge, which is about average.

Bottom line, the Canon EOS 90D offers very good to excellent performance for its class, with fast startup, quick autofocus, low shutter lag, fast cycle times, very good burst speeds, generous buffer depths and reasonably quick buffer clearing. A very nice all-around performance, especially considering the resolution.

Battery

Battery Life
Excellent battery life.

Operating Mode	Number of Shots
Still Capture Optical Viewfinder, CIPA standard	1,300
Still Capture Live View LCD, CIPA standard	450

The Canon 90D uses a custom LP-E6N rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a dedicated battery charger. In-camera charging is not supported.

CIPA-rated battery life with 50% flash shots is excellent for a enthusiast DSLR, at 1,300 shots per charge with the optical viewfinder and 450 shots with the LCD monitor in Live View mode. Still, we recommend you pick up a spare battery for extended outings, especially if you plan on shooting movies or using Live View a lot. An optional battery grip is also available which roughly doubles battery life with two batteries installed.

The table above shows the number of shots the Canon 90D is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))