It’s only slightly bigger than the smallest of compact cameras — and fits nicely in a jeans pocket — but Canon’s S90 is packed with features that will make serious photographers sit up and take notice. First of all, there’s that lens: 28-105mm equivalent (about 3.7x zoom), but with an impressively wide maximum aperture of f2.0. Oh yes: We like that.

We also like the retro-ish control ring around the barrel of the lens. You can assign whatever function you want to this ring, be that exposure compensation, ISO equivalent, aperture, focus, zoom… and with a second configurable control on the back, you’ll soon be dialing up whatever kinds of shots you want, just like you can on a decent SLR.

Read Wired’s review of the Canon S90 by Mark McClusky, and let us know what you think of this camera.

$430 • usa.canon.comRating: 9 out of 10Photo: Jonathan Snyder/Wired.com