1) First a question whether anybody else's S90 does something slightly wierd. I got my S90 this evening and have been playing around with how close it will focus, using the AF frame being green as an indication of correct focus. However, at longer focal lengths in macro mode, the AF frame is *green* when the image is far too close (visibly out of focus on LCD), goes yellow at slightly longer distances, and finally goes green again when in focus. I can live with this, but would like to know if other people's S90s do this, or whether mine has a fault.
2) I bought the S90 to take backpacking and be able to photograph general stuff (which I'm sure that it will do fine), but also plant/insect shots, which meant that I was interested in its close focus capabilities. Before buying, I had found closest focus distances at the wide (5 cms) and tele (30 cms) of the zoom published, but what I really wanted to know was how these changed in between. The most useful piece of information is actually the minimum field width (at closest focus) at different focal lengths. As well as the 28, 35, 50, 85 and 105 focal lengths set using the front ring, there are also intermediate zoom positions between these points (except between 85 and 105) that you can get to by a quick flick of the zoom lever. The minimum field widths as you increase from 85 to 105 mm (with the zoom flick positions in brackets) are: 7.5, (6), 6, (5), 7.5, (8.5), 12, 10.5. The greatest image magnification can therefore be achieved at 35mm + a zoom flick, and if you want greater working distance 105 mm is the best focal length.