Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3-inch LCD

• 1 ) It needs to fit in my pocket 2 ) It needs to turn on quickly 3 ) It needs to shoot decent enough photos on auto mode 4 ) It needs to have enough options to tweak lighting settings . 5 ) It should have both good indoor and outdoor performance . 6 ) I'd like something that can do automatic exposure bracketing or otherwise support HDR photography . I've gone through various cameras over the years , and have borrowed some others to mess around with , and until last week was using a Canon A620 , which was a surprisingly good camera , capable of taking shots as good as a DSLR , especially when tweaked correctly . It also could do automatic exposure bracketing for HDR photography when using the CHDK firmware for it . Then I accidentally left my A620 on a bench on South Beach when visiting last week , and so I suddenly found myself in the market for a new camera . I was seriously looking into the Fuji 200EXR and the Ricoh CX2 for the HDR photography mode , but they didn't have the tweakability settings I liked . . . the 200EXR was great except it always blew out the ISO levels to compensate for its limited image stabilization capabilities , which made auto mode shots almost always unacceptably grainy . I ended up settling on the SX120IS because it matches all my needs except for HDR photography . That , I'll hold off on until a new generation or two of HDR cameras has come and gone . It has very good low-light performance , as long as you're willing to put up with a certain amount of graininess Indoors , with the curtains drawn and just a couple normal lamps lighting the living room , it was able to take quite decent photos at ISO200 . Without a flash . The IS was quite helpful in this regard , and the only downside was that the image had a noticeable level of noise in it . This will bother some people . Myself - I'm happy that it doesn't do what most P & S cameras do , which is reduce the shutter speed to such a low level that everything blurs into nothingness . This is rather the opposite - quite crisp images with no blur , but you pay for it with a little bit of noise . I'm fine with that , really . I never carry a tripod , instead carrying it around in my pocket whenever I travel , and I like to be able to whip it out and photograph something on the spot , indoors or out . The camera turns on quite quickly , and the auto mode does a generally decent job for taking those quick shots that would otherwise pass you by ( the bird posing on the branch ) . The camera also has a the right amount of manual settings for tweaking your shots just the way you want them . ( Another poster on here complained it was too complicated for him , and I suppose that could be a fair criticism , but for me it's the right level of complexity . ) Like with my other Canon , it allows you to tweak ISO , aperture priority , time priority , or all three , as well as something the A620 couldn't do - a manual focus setting , which has been quite fun to play around with . As far as all the vaunted features on this camera ( auto face recognition , Digic 4 , etc . ) , I didn't really notice it taking photos noticeably different from my A620 . Image quality was about the same with the experimentation I did replicating several shots around the neighborhood . However , since I had no complaints about the A620 , this is not a criticism . The one thing I do miss , though , is the flip out viewfinder . I much prefer a viewfinder that can flip around for self-portraits , or flip backwards to protect itself over the always-out LCD viewfinders which always get scratched up very quickly . But all of them are that way nowadays , so I am not really complaining that much about it . All in all , a great camera . Edit : After more experience with the camera ( I've taken several thousand shots with this camera in different settings now ) , I have an update to this review . 1 ) The SD card is very inconveniently located under the unwieldy battery door - I much prefer separate memory card doors on my cameras , so I can pop it out and into a computer easily . 2 ) The smallish sensor size is not fully compensated for with the IS system . It has the noise of my previous camera at two ISO settings higher , and the auto mode tends to take shots in much higher ISO settings than needed , meaning you need to manually control the ISO mode most of the time , which is a minor annoyance . 3 ) The zoom lens on this camera rocks . Much better than most P & S camera zoom lenses . It makes a 100 yard shot look like it is 10 feet away , with no visible distortion or chromatic aberration . Macro shots also look very nice . 4 ) At first I was annoyed by the wheel on the back of the camera , since it would tend to move when trying to push up or down , but it does make browsing through lots of old photos a snap . 5 ) I've seen some people complaining about the fact that the SX120IS has a manual pop-up flash , whereas the higher level SX200IS model ( which my father has , and I've used ) automatically pops up the flash when you turn the camera on . However , believe me when I say that I greatly prefer the manual popup - it means you never take a flash photo when you don't want to . And flash sucks for a lot of shots since it wipes out depth in a photo and annoys people , like curators at museum . The camera knows the flash is disabled , and sets its properties accordingly . You can manually disable flash on other cameras , but if you set those cameras to auto mode , a lot of models will automatically re-enable the flash . With this camera , it'll never happen . I love it . 6 ) I don't quite like the form factor on the camera . It seems easier to drop than other Canons that I've used . 7 ) Being able to turn on auto-histograming and zebra highlighting over - and under-exposed parts of a photo on every shot out of the box is a very nice feature . I used to have to use CHDK to enable that on my older Canon .
• 001 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I have been debating whether to get a point-and-shoot that is ok , or an SLR that is fantastic . I couldn't justify spending mega $ $ $ on an SLR because I'm not that sophisticated a photographer . But I have been unhappy with point-and-shoots that are so slow you miss the picture and that have only a mini-zoom feature . But the Canon SX120IS solved it all . First , it's a lot less expensive than an SLR . And with the image stabilizer and a really fast shutter response time , I can catch the action before it's over ! It takes great close-ups , it has 10X optical zoom , and it has lots of other cool features I can't wait to learn how to use . Plus the LCD screen is large and the controls are easy to use . My only disappointment is that it has no view finder and in some bright light conditions it is hard to see the screen . But overall , I give it thumbs up ! OK , now that I've used it a while , I have more comments . First the good : I could get it from Amazon and it takes really fantastic pictures in difficult lighting conditions , ( see my uploaded images . ) Then the not-so-good : it eats batteries , ( which I think is true of any camera that uses regular batteries ) and the lack of a viewfinder is a bigger pain than I thought . Now I'm reducing the rating and thinking I should have spent a little more and gotten the SX10IS or the newer SX20IS . They have viewfinders , 20X zoom and all the good features i like on the SX120IS .
• 002 4  I have been debating whether to get a point-and-shoot that is ok , or an SLR that is fantastic . I couldn't justify spending mega $ $ $ on an SLR because I'm not that sophisticated a photographer . But I have been unhappy with point-and-shoots that are so slow you miss the picture and that have only a mini-zoom feature . But the Canon SX120IS solved it all . First , it's a lot less expensive than an SLR . And with the image stabilizer and a really fast shutter response time , I can catch the action before it's over ! It takes great close-ups , it has 10X optical zoom , and it has lots of other cool features I can't wait to learn how to use . Plus the LCD screen is large and the controls are easy to use . My only disappointment is that it has no view finder and in some bright light conditions it is hard to see the screen . But overall , I give it thumbs up ! OK , now that I've used it a while , I have more comments . First the good : I could get it from Amazon and it takes really fantastic pictures in difficult lighting conditions , ( see my uploaded images . ) Then the not-so-good : it eats batteries , ( which I think is true of any camera that uses regular batteries ) and the lack of a viewfinder is a bigger pain than I thought . Now I'm reducing the rating and thinking I should have spent a little more and gotten the SX10IS or the newer SX20IS . They have viewfinders , 20X zoom and all the good features i like on the SX120IS .
• 003 4  I can't write an in depth review of this camera because I simply don't have the knowledge of either cameras or photography . But I can tell you what I , as a rank amateur , like about it and why I chose it . I have grandkids . I needed a camera that would allow me to capture decent pictures of them - and in a digital format - so that I can , like all good grandparents , brag about my grandkids via email and attach photos to prove that they are the cutest kids on the face of the earth . I had my good camera - an old Pentax K1000 that I've had for about 30 years - and a small , inexpensive digital camera that I got a few years ago and have never been happy with . Not only was the Pentax not digital , it also turns out that the grandkids can move much faster than I can focus . And that camera purchased as my first attempt at digital just wasn't cutting it . It was overly complicated and with it I wasn't getting pictures good enough to share . I gave my needs some thought and made the following criteria list : Easy to use . Fast shutter speed . Easy to use . Small enough to fit into my purse easily . Easy to use . My needs were simple and I didn't think it would be too hard to find a camera to fit the bill . Happily , I was right . After my initial research had convinced me to go with a Canon , I borrowed my brother's Rebel ( don't know the model number ) and my son's Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5 IS . I knew that neither fit my criteria ( not to mention the $500 - $700 price range was more than I wanted to spend ) , but using them for a few days gave me the opportunity to check out some of Canon's features . That's how I discovered the Optical Image Stabilizer . I can see from reviews of other cameras that it's been around for a few years , but I'd never used it before . It immediately went to the top of my list of desired features - even above easy to use ! I have a tremor condition that causes fine shaking in my hands . It doesn't bother me and doesn't always affect close work , but it can make holding something steady - say , for instance , a camera - almost impossible . As you can guess , the result of that shakiness when snapping photos is , most often , crappy photos . Canon's Optical Image Stabilizer was like a miracle for me . With it , I could take close ups that were startlingly clear - not every time , of course , but MOST times . And , in combination with a fast shutter speed , the Image Stabilizer helped me to get some great shots - even action shots - of my test subject , my dog . With my adjusted criteria list , I did some more research that led me to the Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP . One of Canon's newer models , the PowerShot SX120IS puts ease of use in the forefront of its advertising . It fit all of my criteria and at a decent price . I haven't had this camera for very long , but I'm already thrilled with it . The Easy Mode is actually EASY ! What a concept ! The LCD screen is larger than what I've used previously and makes it easier for me to judge if the picture I just took is relatively clear . The Image Stabilizer continues to be my new best friend . Good points : IMAGE STABLIZER ! ! Fast shutter speed Genuinely easy to use Small size Decent price Bad points : I'm so happy with my choice that I can't think of any right now ! If I was a serious photographer , I may well have chosen a more comprehensive camera ( with all those features and symbols only serious photographers can decipher ) . But for my level of use and my personal needs , this one does a terrific job and didn't overly strain the budget . Yeah ! Recommended .
• 004 4  My needs for a camera are as follows : 1 ) It needs to fit in my pocket 2 ) It needs to turn on quickly 3 ) It needs to shoot decent enough photos on auto mode 4 ) It needs to have enough options to tweak lighting settings . 5 ) It should have both good indoor and outdoor performance . 6 ) I'd like something that can do automatic exposure bracketing or otherwise support HDR photography . I've gone through various cameras over the years , and have borrowed some others to mess around with , and until last week was using a Canon A620 , which was a surprisingly good camera , capable of taking shots as good as a DSLR , especially when tweaked correctly . It also could do automatic exposure bracketing for HDR photography when using the CHDK firmware for it . Then I accidentally left my A620 on a bench on South Beach when visiting last week , and so I suddenly found myself in the market for a new camera . I was seriously looking into the Fuji 200EXR and the Ricoh CX2 for the HDR photography mode , but they didn't have the tweakability settings I liked . . . the 200EXR was great except it always blew out the ISO levels to compensate for its limited image stabilization capabilities , which made auto mode shots almost always unacceptably grainy . I ended up settling on the SX120IS because it matches all my needs except for HDR photography . That , I'll hold off on until a new generation or two of HDR cameras has come and gone . It has very good low-light performance , as long as you're willing to put up with a certain amount of graininess Indoors , with the curtains drawn and just a couple normal lamps lighting the living room , it was able to take quite decent photos at ISO200 . Without a flash . The IS was quite helpful in this regard , and the only downside was that the image had a noticeable level of noise in it . This will bother some people . Myself - I'm happy that it doesn't do what most P & S cameras do , which is reduce the shutter speed to such a low level that everything blurs into nothingness . This is rather the opposite - quite crisp images with no blur , but you pay for it with a little bit of noise . I'm fine with that , really . I never carry a tripod , instead carrying it around in my pocket whenever I travel , and I like to be able to whip it out and photograph something on the spot , indoors or out . The camera turns on quite quickly , and the auto mode does a generally decent job for taking those quick shots that would otherwise pass you by ( the bird posing on the branch ) . The camera also has a the right amount of manual settings for tweaking your shots just the way you want them . ( Another poster on here complained it was too complicated for him , and I suppose that could be a fair criticism , but for me it's the right level of complexity . ) Like with my other Canon , it allows you to tweak ISO , aperture priority , time priority , or all three , as well as something the A620 couldn't do - a manual focus setting , which has been quite fun to play around with . As far as all the vaunted features on this camera ( auto face recognition , Digic 4 , etc . ) , I didn't really notice it taking photos noticeably different from my A620 . Image quality was about the same with the experimentation I did replicating several shots around the neighborhood . However , since I had no complaints about the A620 , this is not a criticism . The one thing I do miss , though , is the flip out viewfinder . I much prefer a viewfinder that can flip around for self-portraits , or flip backwards to protect itself over the always-out LCD viewfinders which always get scratched up very quickly . But all of them are that way nowadays , so I am not really complaining that much about it . All in all , a great camera . Edit : After more experience with the camera ( I've taken several thousand shots with this camera in different settings now ) , I have an update to this review . 1 ) The SD card is very inconveniently located under the unwieldy battery door - I much prefer separate memory card doors on my cameras , so I can pop it out and into a computer easily . 2 ) The smallish sensor size is not fully compensated for with the IS system . It has the noise of my previous camera at two ISO settings higher , and the auto mode tends to take shots in much higher ISO settings than needed , meaning you need to manually control the ISO mode most of the time , which is a minor annoyance . 3 ) The zoom lens on this camera rocks . Much better than most P & S camera zoom lenses . It makes a 100 yard shot look like it is 10 feet away , with no visible distortion or chromatic aberration . Macro shots also look very nice . 4 ) At first I was annoyed by the wheel on the back of the camera , since it would tend to move when trying to push up or down , but it does make browsing through lots of old photos a snap . 5 ) I've seen some people complaining about the fact that the SX120IS has a manual pop-up flash , whereas the higher level SX200IS model ( which my father has , and I've used ) automatically pops up the flash when you turn the camera on . However , believe me when I say that I greatly prefer the manual popup - it means you never take a flash photo when you don't want to . And flash sucks for a lot of shots since it wipes out depth in a photo and annoys people , like curators at museum . The camera knows the flash is disabled , and sets its properties accordingly . You can manually disable flash on other cameras , but if you set those cameras to auto mode , a lot of models will automatically re-enable the flash . With this camera , it'll never happen . I love it . 6 ) I don't quite like the form factor on the camera . It seems easier to drop than other Canons that I've used . 7 ) Being able to turn on auto-histograming and zebra highlighting over - and under-exposed parts of a photo on every shot out of the box is a very nice feature . I used to have to use CHDK to enable that on my older Canon .
• 008 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) It is a good camera , as a powershot S1 , S2 , and S5 ex-user , I bought it because of its portability . I love the powershot S series ultra-zoom cameras , but now I want a smaller camera . But keep in mind , in this case , smaller the size , fewer the features . So this review is directed to S-series users that look for ultra-zoom portability . First the good : - Good image quality , IMHO . As I am not a professional , just an enthusiast , my amateur eyes tell me that the quality is almost the same of my previous S5 , maybe a little more noisy . - AA batteries : For me it is a must ! - Good battery life : Not as good as S series , as it uses only 2 AA , but It lasts two days of heavy using . in my last vacation , I took more than 1000 pictures , lots with flash , and changed the batteries maybe 4 times at most - Sony Cycle Energy 2000 mAh . - Good optical image stabilization : same performance as S-series - Manual control over shutter / apperture / ISO . A must ! - I-contrast : I realy think it works ! The dark areas with bright background photos are better than the ones with S5 . - Automatic lens cover : No more manually covering the lens like on S-series . Now the bad : - No color accent ! ! ! ! Why Canon ? As it is a software feature , why strip this useful feature ( I think ) from this camera ? I loved it on my S5 and now it is gone . ( Ok , I could do it with photoshop . . . ) - No color swap too - I did not use this one very much , so no big deal for me . - No stich assist ! ! ! ! ! Why again , Canon ? No space left on the function dial ? No space for more Digic4 code ? : ( - No optical zoom with video . . . I am not a camera engineer , but it looks like a very difficult feature to fit on smaller cameras . As a user , I think : move the zoom lens , keep focusing and evaluating exposure - No big deal . It does not seem to be difficult , but , it may be , as a lot of pocket cameras lacks this feature . Sx120 has only digital zoom while recording videos ( I hate the output quality of digital zoom ) , so I do not use it . For the record , you can use the optical zoom before starting the video recording , but it gets locked on this position until the video recording stops . - No HD video : For me , it is no big deal , I like the 640x480 quality . Bottom line : S-series users , it is a good camera , but I do not know why some good software features were stripped . I have accepted that it is the price for portability ( it can fit on a large pocket ) , but as soon as a new AA-battery , compact , ultra zoom model with the SX120 lacking features comes around , I will sell this camera .
• 014 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I'd been shopping around for a digital camera for a while now . Just when I thought I got the right camera - it turns out to be not much of an upgrade at all . My Canon A640 is about 3 years old and I wanted to replace with a camera that has an Image Stabilizer . Canon SX110 IS and this model seemed to be likely choices . Although the SX110 seems to be sold out everywhere except for Ebay . I actually bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5A 9.1MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom ( Blue ) and did some image tests - the tests did not come out the way that I'd liked , Canon had better image quality for sure . So I ended up buying this camera upon the return of the Panasonic . I took pictures with the A640 and SX120 cameras side-by-side . Then saved files into my computer and saw them on the screen blown up 100% . Taken at the same lighting , same angle , same ISO , etc . My Canon A640 took more vivid pictures than the SX120 . However , the SX120 did take some clearer pictures . When both cameras were in Auto mode . The IS almost didn't matter in low-light situations . The quality of images were almost similar - blurry without a tripod . This leads me to think that this whole Image Stabilization was just a marketing technique to sell more cameras with the same technology . Granted , the sx120 did take better videos . With IS , the videos did not shake as much . However , I determined that photo quality was my main reason for getting and switching cameras . The photo quality in the SX120 seemed to be lower , less vivid , yet the pixels were higher , this seems to be because the superfine setting in manual mode was done away with ( as someone else had previously mentioned ) . I found it funny that the files taken without the superfine feature were smaller , yet the photo was larger . The moral of the story is that if you already have a Canon that has great image quality , then the SX120 isn't worth it , it's not an upgrade by any means , more like a waste of [ . . . ] bucks . However , if you were a first time Canon customer , I would HIGHLY recommend this camera , as I have done image comparisons with the Sony DSC-H10 and the Panasonic DMC-TZ5A , and neither can beat the Canon in photo quality .
• 015 4  I'd been shopping around for a digital camera for a while now . Just when I thought I got the right camera - it turns out to be not much of an upgrade at all . My Canon A640 is about 3 years old and I wanted to replace with a camera that has an Image Stabilizer . Canon SX110 IS and this model seemed to be likely choices . Although the SX110 seems to be sold out everywhere except for Ebay . I actually bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5A 9.1MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle MEGA Optical Image Stabilized Zoom ( Blue ) and did some image tests - the tests did not come out the way that I'd liked , Canon had better image quality for sure . So I ended up buying this camera upon the return of the Panasonic . I took pictures with the A640 and SX120 cameras side-by-side . Then saved files into my computer and saw them on the screen blown up 100% . Taken at the same lighting , same angle , same ISO , etc . My Canon A640 took more vivid pictures than the SX120 . However , the SX120 did take some clearer pictures . When both cameras were in Auto mode . The IS almost didn't matter in low-light situations . The quality of images were almost similar - blurry without a tripod . This leads me to think that this whole Image Stabilization was just a marketing technique to sell more cameras with the same technology . Granted , the sx120 did take better videos . With IS , the videos did not shake as much . However , I determined that photo quality was my main reason for getting and switching cameras . The photo quality in the SX120 seemed to be lower , less vivid , yet the pixels were higher , this seems to be because the superfine setting in manual mode was done away with ( as someone else had previously mentioned ) . I found it funny that the files taken without the superfine feature were smaller , yet the photo was larger . The moral of the story is that if you already have a Canon that has great image quality , then the SX120 isn't worth it , it's not an upgrade by any means , more like a waste of [ . . . ] bucks . However , if you were a first time Canon customer , I would HIGHLY recommend this camera , as I have done image comparisons with the Sony DSC-H10 and the Panasonic DMC-TZ5A , and neither can beat the Canon in photo quality .
• 016 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I purchased this camera last month specifically to take on a 2 week vacation in Europe . I wanted a light weight digital that I could easily lug around London and Paris instead of a heavy SLR . I took nearly 1000 images over those two weeks in bright sun , at the ' magic hour ' , in museums , in dimly lit cathedrals , from moving buses , at night , free holding the camera and on a monopod , and in most other conditions . The camera performed very nicely and the image quality is excellent . I purchased this camera because it has a Manual operation mode : you use a little wheel at the back of the camera to adjust the Shutter speed , and F-stop . The LCD display ( there is no optical view finder ) displays the lightness and darkness of the image as you adjust the settings . Overall this operation was easier than on my old Canon Rebel XT SLR . Post shot the image also displays the ever useful brightness histogram and ' blinkies ' for over-exposed areas . The camera also has a built in image stablization system that kicks in when the shutter speeed is too slow . Pros : Excellent images quality , good color and contrast , lots of megapixels to work with . I got great pictures in good light and it worked well in low light with the ISO pushed to 400 or 800 . The image stablization worked well enough for me to get some decent shots of the Eiffel Tower at night from a tour boat , which I didn't expect . It has a long zoom range and the image quality at max zoom is decent . The camera is lightweight and easily fits in a coat pocket . Controls are all easy to reach even with my big hands . The delayed timer is easy to set . Image playback is good and the LCD is big . Cons : The camera would chew up a pair of rechargeable NiMH AA batteries in about 50 shots . I never did figure out how to turn off the LCD between pictures without turning off the whole camera ; it does power off itself after 60 seconds . Charging the built in flash is pretty slow . Two pair ( 4 ) of rechargeable batteries normally got me through the day but I always had a set of Lithium AA as a backup . And if you put on a tripod adapter plate , it will probably cover the battery compartment meaning you have to take that off to change the battery . The camera has lots of other functions but there is no detailed paper manual in the box - only a small one to cover the basics and a CD with hundreds of more pages . So there are still a lot of features that I haven't figured out , like how to manually activate / deactivate the image stabilization . The max F-stop seems to be F8.0 and min shutter speed is 1 / 2000 of second . Of course there is nowhere near as much optical glass as an SLR and no optical view finder . Overall : The camera won't replace my SLR but it will definitely be a great supplement for the times I don't want to carry the extra weight . It puts a 10 megapixel camera with good optics and lots of manual control in the palm of your hand . Which is exactly what I wanted and needed .
• 019 4  I am the owner of numerous Canon cameras . I am a professional videographer and music photographer . I can't always lug around my Canon DSLR , but I always have to have a camera with me . This camera was purchased in hopes of bridging the gap between the high power of my DLSR and the portability and ease of use of my aging point and shoot . . . since that same point and shoot took an average of 1.25 seconds to click over . . . . or so my stopwatch said . My negative remarks on this camera are few , but below I list both pros and cons . Pros of the Canon SX120IS + extremely quick shutter response + vivid true to life colors + face detection and face tracking ( especially helpful with moving musicians ) + pro level manual controls ( I shoot a lot in M and AV modes ) + huge selection of shooting modes + high quality zoom lens + exceptional image stabilization + ISO selection is super easy + intuitive layout / handling + exceptional live view / photo review on the large LCD + dedicated ISO 3200 mode + weight / build feel is typical Canon quality + depth of field and background blur VERY close to my DSLR + manual flash instead of auto pop up + very high quality video capture Cons - low light performance is not as crisp as I would like - indoors , skin tones can be a tad pink - battery life is almost non-existent - shooting mode dial is a bit tough to rotate due to being deeply recessed into the body - no HD video mode - kit does not include carrying pouch . . . even my old Pentax came with a sleeve Overall , the Sx120Is is by far the most intuitive and striking point / shoot in this price bracket . Nothing comes close to this camera in terms of photo quality , ease of use , color reproduction , and options in the sub $300 category . As a professional , I trust my photos to the Sx120Is . This camera's value is far greater than its price tag !
• 020 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) Pros : This is a great camera for the cost . I got it with a 4GB SD card and the combo was good . The picture quality is great . There are many options for skilled photographers . Cons : This camera is NOT a pocket camera and is not small . Its more of a jacket pocket size . Its body is plastic so it does not look that classy . However , i had seen it in the store and the look was not what i was interested in .
• 022 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I was a little skeptical about this camera at the beginning . But I was looking for a point and shoot that would take great pictures and I have found one in this camera . It's easy to use , does not weight a lot and is not as bulky as a DSLR but it takes great quality pictures . I was impressed with the quality and my family was very impressed so much that they are looking at buying the same camera . They loved the fact that is easy to carry and that you don't have to take another bag for a camera ( DSLR ) and they saw the crispness in the pictures too . . The only complaint I have is the battery life . It uses 2 AA batteries which is very convenient for you don't have to carry cables and chargers , but after a day of heavy use , the batteries can be drained pretty quickly . Overall I am very satisfied with the camera .
• 024 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I bought this camera because of the optical 10x zoom and image stabilization . My previous experience with Canon PowerShot cameras has been very good . The picture environment selections ( Auto , night , portrait , and so on ) are excellent , especially the indoor lighting modes . The video mode is especially good , and much improved over my previous PowerShot . I've noticed that I do a little less photo fixing in Adobe Photoshop Elements as the images are clearer and the color seems to be better . I was a little concerned about the lack of an optical viewfinder , but the LCD screen has so far been very good , even in bright daylight .
• 025 4  I bought this camera because of the optical 10x zoom and image stabilization . My previous experience with Canon PowerShot cameras has been very good . The picture environment selections ( Auto , night , portrait , and so on ) are excellent , especially the indoor lighting modes . The video mode is especially good , and much improved over my previous PowerShot . I've noticed that I do a little less photo fixing in Adobe Photoshop Elements as the images are clearer and the color seems to be better . I was a little concerned about the lack of an optical viewfinder , but the LCD screen has so far been very good , even in bright daylight .
• 026 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This camera is great ! So easy to use and takes great shots . The only problem I have is that the batteries it comes with don't last very long , and I bought some rechargeable ones , and they don't last very long either . But I can deal with that . The pictures look very polished and professional . The colors are clear and distinct . I love the zoom ! Our last camera had hardly an zoom capabilities so it was something I was determined to have this time and I am not dissappointed . I can sit on my living room couch and take a perfectly clear photo of the leaves turning red on the tops of the trees outside.Amazing . It also takes great micro photos . I got some amazing shots of our garden , some real up close photos . Very happy overall . It is larger than the last camera we had , but with that said we gave up a lot of great features to have portability and it wasn't worth it at all . It fits in the camera bag we have or in a purse . That's all that matters . Oh and I also love the screen on the back , it is very large and has a great quality to it .
• 030 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I just got back from Israel . I took this camera with me and was so happy to have gotten shots at a moment's notice . The quality of the pictures is amazing . I found I did better on a manual setting for shots in which I had time to set up . Just a rotation of the wheel on the back and I had the shutter set and I was ready to go . I only use Duracell 2650mah batteries in my Canon . They perform for almost two days of shooting . I was on this trip with another who had the same camera , the SX120IS , and he only had the akalines which came with his . They lasted almost half a day . I shared some of my batteries and he was very pleased with his camera after that . The only real drawback for this camera is it's hard to grip . I had a PowerShot A530 that I loved , but it suffered from eating batteries . i had sent it back and they fixed it , but three years later it got hungry again . That is when I got this one . If the bump on the front were bigger I would feel better about holding it . As it is , I used the wrist strap all the time and it was fine . If you have a camera strap , use it . You'll have a nicer camera for a longer period of time . I have 680 shots from my trip and they all came out great . Just push the shutter halfway down and make sure you allow the camera to focus before taking any pictures . Love my Canon !
• 032 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) For very good photo quality and point-and-shoot convenience , this camera is a winner . My favorite feature is the Face Detection technology , which puts a square around each face showing on the screen . Before you click the shutter , you know whether everyone is in focus ! Even a 10 - person family photo came out sharp and clear ( kiddies and all ) , and that's important when printing 8 x 10 photos . Too bad Canon doesn't package more than a 32MB SD memory card with the camera .
• 033 4  For very good photo quality and point-and-shoot convenience , this camera is a winner . My favorite feature is the Face Detection technology , which puts a square around each face showing on the screen . Before you click the shutter , you know whether everyone is in focus ! Even a 10 - person family photo came out sharp and clear ( kiddies and all ) , and that's important when printing 8 x 10 photos . Too bad Canon doesn't package more than a 32MB SD memory card with the camera .
• 034 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I wanted a pocket camera that had a good optical zoom capability and image stabilization . This camera fits the bill . I extremely happy with the automatic mode and image stabilization . Photos are nearly always crystal clear and sharp . I'm amazed , even when taken sitting in a rocking kayak at the highest optical ( and sometimes digital ) zoom . Indoors photos of family with and without flash work well . Rarely miss a picture . I like the ability to play with the various non-auto modes . The video feature is the greatest . Complaints ? I've tried using with Nickel-Metal Hydride rechargeable batteries with little luck on the duration that the charge would last . Have gone to Alkaline with much better results . There are soo many features.How about a written manual I can carry ?
• 036 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) It has been about 30 days since i bought it . . Pros : Picture quality is real good for point and shoot camera Zoom is pretty useful Negatives : Battery life is real short , if u r making alot of adjustments , it is even more short ( like 70 - 80 photos ) Makes some noise ( doesnt matter for me ) And i got this strange error the other day - - - - Lens error please restart ! ! ! ! - - - - And the thing is u cant restart because lens is not being closed properly That just happened 1 time - - - - - Edit - - - - i wrote review above like 30 days ago i guess . . . yesterday i got 2nd lens error and this time it is permanent . . . Each time im getting ` Lens error please restart ` warning . . . And bad thing is return date is over 6 days ago : ( . . . Gonna send an e-mail to amazon and see what we can do . . .
• 037 4  It has been about 30 days since i bought it . . Pros : Picture quality is real good for point and shoot camera Zoom is pretty useful Negatives : Battery life is real short , if u r making alot of adjustments , it is even more short ( like 70 - 80 photos ) Makes some noise ( doesnt matter for me ) And i got this strange error the other day - - - - Lens error please restart ! ! ! ! - - - - And the thing is u cant restart because lens is not being closed properly That just happened 1 time - - - - - Edit - - - - i wrote review above like 30 days ago i guess . . . yesterday i got 2nd lens error and this time it is permanent . . . Each time im getting ` Lens error please restart ` warning . . . And bad thing is return date is over 6 days ago : ( . . . Gonna send an e-mail to amazon and see what we can do . . .
• 039 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) A super point and shoot camera . On a recent tour of RI Lighthouses I took many photos and I was completely satisfied with the results . Battery life is good if you get the latest in rechargeable batteries . To get the most out of this camera you need to read the instruction booklet that unfortunately did not come with the camera . You have to get it on line and if you want a copy you have to print it . All 141 pages . It took forever to print . This is the only negative I have about my purchase . Aside from Canon trying to save printing costs , I am quite happy with the camera.I do miss the viewfinder though .
• 041 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I did a lot of researching on CNet , Amazon , Best Buy , Walmart , and several other places before I decided to buy this camera . I was looking for something that was simple to use , had a lot of zoom , had good-to-excellent picture quality , was for everyday use ( i.e . , I'm clumsy , so I didn't want it to break the first time I touched it ) , and was in the $100 - 200 range . I also wanted a camera that was nice enough and had the technology to last several years . Basically , for what I was wanting , I narrowed it down to three cameras : the Kodak Z915 , the Canon SX120IS , and the Panasonic Lumix ZS3 . The Panasonic had a wide-angle lens , which I was very interested in but which wasn't necessary , while the Kodak camera was ( at the time of purchase ) about $50 cheaper than the Canon . I decided I wanted something a bit more sturdy than the ZS3 and with better photo quality than the Kodak , so I decided to give this camera a try . As other reviewers have said , this camera has some good and bad to it . I've been playing with it for four months now , and I love it sometimes and hate it others . That said , the good things include : - - excellent photo quality ( by my standards and for its class ) - - versatility ( the camera has settings for foliage , aquariums , snow , different indoor lighting , and a sunset filter ) - - the opportunity to have more control over IS , exposure , focus , etc . , than a basic point-and-shoot - - sturdy design . Because it's a bit larger than other cameras , it can't fit into a pocket , but it is also not going to fall out of my hands from strong winds or clumsiness . - - The ability to take multiple shots is nice ( I know other cameras do this , but it's the first time I've had the ability to play with it ) . This camera will take 3 shots at about 1 second per shot and will refocus on the subject between shots . - - The flash is manually popped up when you want to use it so it doesn't accidentally go off when you don't want it to . You can also take pretty good pictures in most lighting without the flash . - - The camera takes AA's , so if you run out of batteries in the middle of a trip or away from a plug-in , you can just buy replacements . Some of the bad things I've found : - - If you want a good shot , you have to make * everything * hold still . My little brother shows cattle , and 6 out of every 10 pictures will be blurry if taken when the calf is walking around the ring . Once things are held still , though , the photos look very nice . - - The auto-focus and image stabilization don't always work as planned . Sometimes I will center something and try to take a picture of it , only to find that the camera was focused on something behind it ( this may be due to impatience in taking the picture ) . - - It takes about 5 - 10 seconds after you use the flash for you to be able to take another picture . I usually fix this by taking a shot with flash first and then closing the flash so that I get a faster turnaround . Also , I've been through 3 pairs of AA's since I bought the camera and have taken hundreds of pictures and used several hours of playback , so I would say that that is fairly decent battery life . However , I also take the ' dead ' batteries out and they function in my tv remote , so the camera doesn't actually use all of the juice in the batteries , it just takes a lot of power to run . Overall , I really like this camera despite my inability to get it to take good shots of fast-moving objects . The quality of the pictures it takes correctly , the price , and the sturdiness / longevity of it make it a good value for the price .
• 043 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) Only might wish for a viewfinder , but seldom used my old one , so it's not a problem . Fabulous zoom !
• 045 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This camera has surpassed my expectations ! Wonderfully easy to use and carry . The versitility is amazing and I can't express my pleasure in this purchase . I did not even realize , when I bought this item that I could produce a video as well ! Far surpasses anything I'd anticipated . . . WOW !
• 047 4  I read so many reviews on this camera . Not just on Amazon.com , but Cnet and best buy also . So many people have such different opinions . I currently have the Casio Exilim 7mp with 3x zoom . I love this little camera . I found that I needed more zoom . My daughter is a cheerleader for the local NFL team , and I needed to capture her on the field , and all her appearances . I was at Best Buy and saw the camera . I played around with it taking pictures of everything in the store . . Loved the zoom feature . I was going to buy it , but the guy told me it was going to go on sale the next day . So I left . The next day I went to BJ's and found it for $30 cheaper than Bestbuys ' sale price . ( yes it was the same model number and camera ) . So I decided to test buy it . they give you 14 days to return . Well that was over 3 weeks ago . I love this camera . Most people said that they hated that it was so bulky . . . well it doesn't bother me . Others state that the battery life is short , well I put in the Duracell rechargeable , and still haven't charged ever since and I'm on my 485 picture . What convinced me to keep the camera was that my colleague , who is a tech geek , saw me with it ( I take it everywhere , have it in my purse 24 / 7 ) and he told me that he bought one about 6 months ago and loves it . However , his is the earlier model SX110IS . . . Another selling fact was that I took a picture of an island that has a statue which you can't see with the naked eye . I zoomed in and saw all the details of it . . . wish I could post the pictures so you all can see it . People also gripe that the lcd isn't clear , but hey this isn't a $2000 camera . I don't agree and find it very clear and pictures look awesome . the main thing is to learn how to navigate . Read the main points in the pdf manual , play with the camera . Most people say it doesn't have macro zoom , the manual says to stand 3 feet from object and then zoom in . . . it really is amazing the details that it captures . I'm not a pro , but am a picture taking junky . I am the designated photographer for all our events , vacations and just for anything . ( PS , I also tried the Sony , but just the fact that it uses their special memory card turned me off . . . I have soooo many SD cards ) So go out and buy and test it for yourselves . . . .
• 048 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I purchased this camera for my 82 year old mother and her 92 year old husband . He had experience with a dinosaur digital camera that died , but my mother has never been good with picture taking . Surprisingly they both are using the camera . I showed them just the basic operations and they got it ! They appreciate the face recognition and the image stability , especially since one of them has medical condition that causes their hand to shake . The camera is a bit large for a pocket , but the larger size makes it easier to get a good grasp of it . After having a camera with a propietary battery in the past , I appreciate the flexibility of having a camera that uses AA batteries . You can always use rechargables with confidence because a set of AA batteries can be kept as backups . While a viewfinder would be nice , my mom and her husband have found the 3 display to be very user friendly . My son has the predecessor to this camera and has been very pleased as well . I would consider purchasing this camera again for myself .
• 050 4  For the price , this camera is everything and more . Functionality , features and print quality are right up there with higher end cameras . . . do not compare this to those though , because it's not , but I'd say close . For me , who enjoys photography , and was a bit behind technology with my old Olympus , it's great . I was impressed with the movie shooting ability . . . I'm actually using it to convert some old 8mm home movies , and it's pretty good too . Just be sure to get at least a 4GB card if you plan on doing movies . The microphone is also excellent in the sound quality for this point and shoot . I also like to experiment with exposure settings , indoor / outdoor etc . and this camera will keep me busy in that area for sure . Giant LCD screen also makes it easy to size up your photo . No viewfinder . So long story short , if you want a camera that can take pictures right out of the box , or do amateur / pro work with ease , here's an excellent camera .
• 051 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I'm no Ansel Adams , in fact I used to use those little throw away cameras . Somehow my techie daughter talked me into buying this camera and I still can't quite believe it . It really is easy to operate and the pictures are fantastic ! I know I am not savvy enough to use all the apps yet , but I am coming along . I really love the 10x zoom and the simple settings ; portrait , landscape , etc . I read that the battery life is not the best , so I have been carrying around extras for nearly two months but I haven't needed them yet . If you need a camera and are a bit of a technophobe , this is the camera for you .
• 054 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This is the perfect camera for people who want to take professional looking pictures without paying for an expensive , top-of-the line camera . The zooming capabilities far surpass any other cameras I have ever used in this price range . And this camera allows me to easily take crisp and clear close-up pictures . The batteries don't last as long as my last camera , but that's not a problem if you use rechargeables . And the flash sometimes takes a few seconds to recharge so you have to wait in between taking multiple pictures with flash . However , this camera takes great , in-focus pictures without needing flash in most settings . I highly recommend this camera .
• 057 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) A very nice camera , small enough to put in your pocket . Has many modes to make it easy to get good pictures in all settings . Only problem I had was remembering to wait for the green box to appear after pushing down on shutter button half way , before pushing all the way to take the picture . I use Alkaline batteries , and I take a lot of pictures , so it seems like I go through a set of batteries at least one per day . I am very pleased with the camera . 10x optical zoom is great . Used it on 7 day Europe river cruise and took between 800 and 900 pictures and they were great . Strongly recommend this camera .
• 059 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This is the third Canon Powershot that we have purchased in 6 years and they just keep on making improvments that keep this camera at the top of the Point and Shoot best list . First , its ' size is great not bulky yet not so small you fumble around trying to work the buttons . Secondly , they have made the viewing screen larger now and that is a major plus . Third , if you have had a powershot previously , then you are immediately going to know the functions and how to operate it because they have kept it simple and then didn't change the steps from year to year on newer models . Forth , they improved the media transfer exchange to your computer immensely and made it very simple . Last but not least , the 10MP and 10 optical zoom is THE BEST Apples to Apples out there for the price , you will not find , ( and I encourage you to look ) , for a camera that delivers what this camera does . You won't find one , not even the off brand camera companies .
• 061 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I am thoroughly enjoying this camera . I'm just back from a trip out west and am very pleased with the quality of photos I came home with . I haven't yet mastered all the special settings , but when I did use them , they performed beautifully . I had wanted a better camera than the several year old digital that I had , but didn't want to get into the world of SLR's and this camera is a terrific compromise between size and quality .
• 065 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) The PowerShot SX120 IS is a great little camera , I chose it for a number of reasons , one being its size . It's small enough to fit in my purse but large enough that I have something to hold on to . The viewing screen is large and very clean and crisp . I have owned several Canons and always been pleased with them . I am a skilled photographer , certainly not a professional one , and find this Canon user friendly . I am very pleased with the photos I have taken and love the telephoto lens . The camera was affordable . Two of my friends followed buying the Power Shot after checking mine out .
• 067 4  Round 1 = = = = = I got the Cannon SX 110 IS from Sams Club . Took about 250 pictures in one day . Next day the camera display showed the menu but the picture would not show . This camera does not have a view finder . I also tried to blindly shoot some pictures but they came out black . Luckily Sams took the camera back , I guess that is the great thing about buying from them . Googled the problem - read something about a bad Sony CCD batch . Round 2 = = = = = Burned by the above I waited till the SX 120 IS came out - bought it again from Sams Club - used it for 3 weeks . One day camera displayed message battery low and turned off . Lens did not retract . Replaced the batteries and then my troubles started . Lens would not retract , camera would display Lens Error - Restart camera and power off . Googled it . . . . then with great hesitation tapped the lens barrel sharply with my finger once a day for several days . . . . finally retracted on the third day . Now I dont know what to do - camera takes great pictures but suffers quality problems .
• 068 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This camera fit the bill perfectly for me . Fair price , ease of use and good picture and video quality . Image stabilization is awesome and the zoom is fantastic . Large LCD screen is also a plus .
• 070 4  I have had the XS120IS for just a short time . I am impressed with the 3 LCD , extremely clear and easy to use in any light . I appreciate the covered shutter for safety and the manual pop up flash . The playback is quite simple , as is the download to the pc . The pictures quality is extremely good . I seldom use the various features beyond point and shoot , but it seems fairly well equipped . I was a little disappointed in the size as there are several other digitals in the same price range that are much smaller . All in all , I am glad I got this camera , I have been happy with it .
• 071 4  Camera has very poor auto white balance . My house has some rooms with CFL bulbs and others with tungsten . The auto white balance failed miserably in both the situations . Using fixed presets gave a little better results but still the skin tones had a distinct ORANGE tint . Had to next configure the colors to be nuetral instead of the default to get better skin tones . Still a bit orange ( less than with default color setting ) skin tones . Now came the next bad part . 50% of the pictures were overexposed as in the there was so much flash that people's faces were showing huge amounts of white reflection . I was again able to reduce the flash by doing down 2 points with flash compensation . That also did not work well with all targets . Then I tried the 3 different metering options with flash compensation . Got better results with those but the pictues were still not very sharp . BUT if I have to do all this twiddeling with the camera settings before it can take decent pictures , why would I buy a point and shoot ? So mine is going back today . . . . Overall this is a very bad camera for indoor lighting situations in typical houses . Canon needs to improve their AWB performance ( I have read at dpreview that their rebel slrs are no better at AWB ) . I have seen how bad their AWB is with this camera . Just FYI : All me shots were indoors in tungsten or CFL light with f2.8 ( no zoom ) , shutter speed calculated by camera , either most of them in the P mode ( so that I could correct the bad settings camera was picking ) . In the auto mode it kept going to ISO 640 even with plenty of light in the room and had very poor results . I only got decent results in P mode at ISO200 - 400 , 2 points down on the flash , netral colors and manually preset white balance . And in the end the images were still not very sharp . My 100 $ fuji finepix was a much better camera but it unfortunately has died after 3 - 4 years .
• 075 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) i love my canon powershot ! ! ! it's easy to use and the zoom is amazing ! ! the only complaint i have is that it goes through batteries rather quickly . you have to make sure you always have spares with you .
• 077 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) My wife and I have been using this camera for about three months now . We have used it outdoors and indoors on still subjects and those in motion . It has performed flawlessly . By using the different modes such as indoor , kids and pets , etc . you can take great perfectly exposed pictures . For example , by using the indoor mode , we rarely use the flash , and the pictures turn out much brighter than if we had . I believe this prolongs battery life as well as avoids the slight delay after the flash is used . Ths controls are easy to use and understand . Yes , it is not the slimmest lightest camera made , but those chracteristics are not important to us . Features such as the incredible optical zoom , face recognition , the use of AA batteries and others are what is important to us and what led us to buy this camera instead of others that are currently on the market .
• 079 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This is our first digital camera . It came quickly and in perfect condition . I am still learning how to use it , but my photojournalist daughter pronounced it a really terrific little camera .
• 081 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) A very nice deal in this price . Very good quality pics . The only drawback I have noticed is the battery lid which is not smooth to open when batteries are already loaded in the camera .
• 083 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) Best Digital Camera I ever bought for under $200 which is the most I am willing to pay for a camera . Fully Automatic , takes excellent pictures 99% of the time , and it took me all of 5 minutes to learn how to use it . The only negative really is the longevity of the batteries , which is expected - make sure you switch-off between uses or set the auto-off .
• 085 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This is what I was looking for in a camera . Easy to use , and takes good pictures , especially close ups . Only complaints I have ( which are minor ) , it goes thru batteries fairly quick and sometimes it's hard to see screen when in the direct sun . I bought four recharable batteries for less than ten dollars so that should take care of battery complaint . Sometimes I may have to shade camera if using in the sun . No big deal . Over all , I've been very happy with purchase so far .
• 087 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I saw this camera in a store ad on sale , and was going to drive 24 miles to buy it . I called the store before to make sure they had it in stock , they didn't.I decided to look on Amazon , and was so thrilled to find it ! ! ! at the sale price of the store . I ordered it and it was in my hands within the week . I am so happy with this camera , I live in the country and love to take pictures of the wildlife as well as everything else . I took a picture of a deere sleeping in my backyard in a snowstorm through my screen , and was shocked to see the camera some how eliminated the screen and snow flakes ! ! ! ! ! the picture was totally zoomed all the way out and it is unbelievably clear ! ! ! I would definately recommend this camera I guarantee you will LOVE IT TOO ! ! !
• 089 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) For 200 bucks a wonderful camera for all around pictures . exelent picture quality for something in my pocket .
• 092 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This one was to replace my broken one which was SX110 . I really like my SX120 . There are not many differences , but the ones that are there are noticeable . I really enjoy using this camera . I believe its a little better than my SX110 which is now broken .
• 094 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) Here is an excellent little camera with a decent zoom . It certainly has overcome the battery problems associated with its predecessor . Its easy to use and virtually noise-free . I still would have preferred an optical viewfinder along with the screen , but it doesn't affect the quality .
• 097 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I'm returning this camera tomorrow . It's a very nice camera . But there are too many settings that you have to adjust to get the photo-shot you want . I had bought it because I liked the larger flash window that you can close when you dont want to use a flash . But I discovered that you just cant point & shoot with this camera . It has a selection dial with about five different settings for taking different types of photos . For me , the aggrevation is that the dial has to constantly be adjusted for nearly every darned light setting , otherwise the photos do not come out well . I think that a smaller point and shoot camera ( without all the different photo-type selections ) will be better for me . My opinion is , it's a great camera , but it is not for the person who only needs a camera once in a whie for a family trip or special occasions . It is more for the advanced ( and fussy ) photographer .
• 101 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) The Canon SX - 120 is a good camera . It gives the user the option of point and shoot operation , specific environment setting or selected aperture and shutter control . I was using the A75 model when I switched to the SX - 120 so I can only compare those two . The 120 takes great pictures . I've only displayed the pictures on PC and hand held screens so I can't comment on the print quality . At 10 megapixels , prints should be pretty good . ( The jpeg files are more than three times the size of those from the 3.5 megapix A75 ) I like the expanded scene setting options , the super zoom capability , the large display screen and the high quality pictures . I also like that it only needs 2 AA batteries rather than 4 . ( The shooting batteries last longer since there is a separate button battery for keeping date / time ) . I appreciate the manual flip flash which means you're unlikely to have the flash go off when you didn't intend it to . ( happened a lot with the A75 ) I don't like the lack of a printed user manual . Even the user guide on pdf file is not thorough enough to cover the capabilities of the SX - 120 . I don't like the controls . They feel flimsy and are bunched together . The camera lacks the solid feel of the A75 which has a firm grip and solid controls . I also think the SX120 battery cover feels dangerously close to snapping off against the spring loaded batteries when I open it up . In spite of those foibles , I am satisfied with the SX - 120
• 105 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I gave this camera to my wife for her B-Day . And this camera , has become my best friend , because now my wife gives me more time for myself , since she spents most of her time with this camera . The camera is great , I'm not a photographer , but all you need is to know who appriciated good pictures , and this camera sure know how to do that . And for the price , is a very nice product . I'll Recommended to anyone
• 108 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I am still learning how to operate my camera . I would have preferred a written manual to the CD simply because with my lifestyle I am not always near a computer to access the manual . I like to read at night and I can study the written manual and re-read functions that I intend to use . I almost returned the camera because I could not find any written reference to delayed shots . This feature is very important to my lifestyle and after several days of frustration I popped in the CD and there it was . The CD may work for some lifestyle but is a huge hassel for me . I want a written manual with all the details . V.Thomas KC , MO
• 111 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) Only had camera a short time but so far the camera picture quality and ease of use has been excellent . I bought this SX120IS camera for the 10x Optical zoom which has worked as advertised .
• 113 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) It would be an understatement to say that I am impressed . I bought the Canon SX120 - IS as an intermediate solution between my wife's point-and-shoot and my semi-professional Olympus E - 10 . I wanted a pocket size , high quality camera with professional operating modes like , shutter priority , aperture priority , spot focusing , exposure selections , and even manual focus . I also wanted a camera that wouldn't hopelessly flash without my permission and the pop-up flash solves this problem nicely . But I wasn't prepared for the big surprise - it actually takes good quality pictures I couldn't get with my bulky profession camera ! The 2.8 lens is fairly fast , but combined with the image stabilization and relatively low noise ISO options up to 1600 , I can take pictures never before possible in low light conditions . And , the shutter lag ( or lack thereof ) is also amazing at only .06 seconds for pre-focused shots , allowing stop action of moving objects . Unfortunately , it appears that the SX120 - IS may be nearing the end of its lifetime and I don't see anything to replace it near its current price . This camera is a steal at $179 . If you know how to use a camera and you want a handy semi-professional grade camera that you can carry in your pocket , then don't pass this one by .
• 117 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) Pros . . . I love the 10x zoom , snappy performance of all features , 10MP gives fine detail and color is excellent . Camera size and weight are ideal . Fits in my small hand nicely . Cons . . . I miss the optical viewer and the neck strap . Comes only w / wrist strap .
• 118 4  Pros . . . I love the 10x zoom , snappy performance of all features , 10MP gives fine detail and color is excellent . Camera size and weight are ideal . Fits in my small hand nicely . Cons . . . I miss the optical viewer and the neck strap . Comes only w / wrist strap .
• 119 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This camera takes fantastic pictures . Its like having an SLR camera with out shelling out for one .
• 121 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) Took great pictures . You have to use batteries with extra long life , and not the normal everyday battery . Other than that , it is a great camera . Took over 2000 shots in a week , and every shot came out great .
• 123 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This camera is a good value . It is light and compact , takes great pictures and videos , and is easy to operate . If it had a viewfinder , it would be great . But , having to use the 3 LCD display as a viewfinder is very awkward when using it in sunlight . In sunlight it can be almost impossible to see anything on the LCD display . I like the camera , but this is a major drawback .
• 125 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I bought this to replace a Powershot A720 IS . This is a little heavier but the big screen is nice . However , not having a viewfinder is a problem at times in terrifically bright sunshine . As always , I resent having to go online for manuals - - the A720 complete manual was included and thus could be easily carried with me if I needed a reference . No longer is this done .
• 127 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I purchased this camera just before Christmas 2009 and although I'm pleased with function so far there are still features I've not mastered . The one druther I'd list at this time is a covered LCD screen . . I'm trying to be very careful to prevent scratching .
• 129 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) Beautiful camera ! Works perfectly , even better than I had hoped . Canon products seem to always be the best .
• 131 4  I got this Camera ( Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ) for Christmas , and I am very happy with it ! It's easy to use , portable , and takes good photo's ! The user guide is very informative and helpful . The only thing that disappoints me is it doesn't seem to have the color changing effects on it . On my old Canon I could change color to B & W , Sepia , Fluorescent , and a few other colors as well I believe . But over all , I would recommend this product to everyone !
• 132 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) Camera is very nice besides how quickly it uses batteries . I recommend planning to buy rechargable AA batteries if buying this camera . Also , the flash is not that great but overall it seems to be a pretty nice camera . A Great buy for your money !
• 135 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) It is a good camera with a lot of zoom , good before u get an SLR but nothing great !
• 137 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) A very nice compact camera and has a very nice zoom.I am glad i bought this camera
• 139 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) While this camera takes very nice pictures you have to have a near motionless subject . The camera is slow to focus and take the shot . The auto review seldom shows the picture you just took but some blurry after image .
• 141 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) Very nice camera for the price is a little heavy for a point and shoot , but with 10X optical zoom I guess you can't have everything .
• 145 4  UPDATE : After owning this camera for over a month , I ended up returning it to my local electronics store . I tried using high-quality rechargeable batteries but it was still only giving me maybe 50 shots per charge which to me , is unacceptable . I do like to REVIEW my pictures after I take them but that shouldn't drain the battery THAT much . The final straw was yesterday when I tried to take pictures of my children opening their presents at our cousin's house . The battery was completely DEAD and it wouldn't even shut off properly - the lens was protruding . Luckily , the store let me exchange it without a restock fee . I traded it in for the SONY H20 which sports a 10x Optical Zoom , HD movie mode , and a lithium battery . . . watch for my review in the upcoming weeks . I will admit that it did have great image quality but what is the point of owning a portable digital camera if you have to constantly worry about the battery life ? I didn't want to spend the next 2 - 5 yrs always having to carry 2x AAs with me wherever I went . Below is my original review : I have owned my share of digital cameras including a 3 MP Nikon Coolpix that I bought back in 2001 for way too much money . I also own a Pentax dSLR but everyone needs a compact camera . I am a big fan of Canon Powershots but after my recent trip to the US OPEN , was craving a slighly larger camera with much larger Zoom capability . I was debating between this one and the New Fuji 72EXR . One of my travel mates owns the SX110IS and raved about it and I loved the photo quality of her pictures so I was leaning towards the Canon . Plus , there's something about to be said about Canon color . . . Fuji color ( I owned the Fuji F30 ) , in general , is definitely cooler . And I personally found the dials and menus on the New Fuji a tad too complicated . So on my recent trip to Best Buy , I picked up the Canon SX120IS after much deliberation . I can't say that I regret my purchase as the photo quality is amazing but there are definitely some drawbacks you need to be aware of . First , I found out during my daughter's Girls Scout ceremony , which was held in the gymnasium of her school , that the FLASH RECYCLE TIME can be very long . . . it took about 4 - 6 seconds between photos . Granted , it was in the gymnasium but I wasn't expect it to take THAT long between Flash pictures . After all , it is a 2009 model right ? I will post a picture later that is supposed to show them holding up signs to spell D-A-I-S-Y but instead shows them putting down the cards as I missed the shot . I read somewhere that the use of 2 AA s ( vs lithium batteries ) is what causes the longer flash recycle times . I do wish that it came with Lithium batteries which leads me to next criticism . Second , the batteries do not last nearly long enough . I got the camera on Wednesday and by Friday , it was flashing the Low battery sign . Granted , I had several events in between but my old Canon Powershot would have easily lasted another couple of weeks . Third , the battery case feels flimsy and unfortunately , the SD card slot is located next to the battery so I end up opening it more than I would like . I would plug it to my PC using an USB plug but again , it would drain the battery . Fourth , the strap it comes with is way too flimsy for the camera . It looks like the same strap they use on their tiny SD30 cameras . I ended up ordering a sturdier leather strap from Gordy's camera straps . So far , these are my four drawbacks with #1 and #2 being the major ones . I can live with complaints # 3 and #4 . If you have read up to this point you might ask Why are you keeping the camera then ? I am not 100% sure that I am . If I get too frustrated by the flash recycle times and poor battery life , I might just have to return it . But for now , I want to try to work within its limitations for two reasons : Great Image Quality and 10x Zoom . I don't need HD video ( it would have been a nice bonus ) or super-slim factor but I do require Great Image Quality and wanted the extra Zoom . As for the flash recycle times , in most cases , it's much faster than it was in the gymnasium . And I do have a battery charger + rechargeables I will dust off and try . I will update this review if I decide to either return it or have learned to LOVE IT despite its limitations . If you do buy this camera , definitely invest in a screen protector .
• 146 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I ordered this camera from Amazon a few weeks ago that hoping to get better picture quality than my old Olympus D490 ( 9yrs old 3.1 MP ) and my Canon SD500 ( 7.1MP ) . This cameara failed to impress me . It has the 10X optical zoom and that is the only feature I can say it is better than my Olympus or old Canon . However , the picutres I took are so griny and it does not matter if I change it to program mode and adjsut the ISO settings . The picures are just so bad when you look on computer . I called Amazon and returned this product . I am getting a replacement Canon SX200IS and I am hoping 200IS is better than the 120IS .
• 150 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I definitely prefer the photo quality to my previous Kodaks , and everything else about the camera is great so far . Shipping went perfect and the price was right . I've had a refurbished camera go bad on me early once , so we'll see how things go from here , but so far everything is great .
• 152 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I have had this camera about 5 months and just got back from vacation using it every day . Most pictures turned out great . The color was very good as was the contrast . However the slightest movement caused the picture to blur . I tried to change the picture mode but that didn't seem to help . Taking pictures of children is almost impossible unless they are standing still . This is my second Cannon and the previous pocket size one without Image Stabilization was much better than this one and was less expensive . If anyone has any suggestions please let me know because right now I would have to say the camera is not working as I expected .
• 154 4  Many people buy these types of camera's for use in the simple automatic , point and shoot mode ( my preferred mode of operation for all cameras ) . In this respect , the Cannon SX120IS has its own set of strengths and weaknesses . Outdoors in the daylight , it is quite good . Great pictures in bright light , good zoom and the IS works well . In dim light the pictures will darken a fair amount , but can be brightened by your PC software . Bring it indoors , in lower light and it's limited f # lens and other compromises will limit what you can and can't do in the auto mode . It's basically set up to reduce shutter speeds for lower picture noise . This works well for still objects , or posed shots . You can often take such shots and get good results without flash . But any motion by the object can result in blurring of the object . Even people just walking , even if you use flash . This is not a camera to take to a wedding reception and necessarily expect to get great pictures of people dancing and moving around . Shortly after getting the Camera I took it to the US National Botanic Garden in Washington DC to take pictures of the Christmas decorations , including the model train exhibit . I used the auto mode , and could not get a picture of the moving trains without significant blur , even with flash . I got few useable pictures from the train exhibit . My older Kodak Z650 , with it's fairly powerful flash , would have nailed the train shots in its auto mode . Later I took it to a birthday party and took lots of pics of people moving around and posed . Posed pics were great . Shots of people moving around , cutting cake , etc , showed lots of moving object blur ( including moving hands , arms etc ) . In addition , the camera exhibits a particularly annoying green case under florescent lighting , which is hard to deal with ( even with Photoshop ) particular when there is a mixture of florescent and incandescent lighting . Also , the camera does not have a view finder . Just has a large LCD , which ( as on all digital cameras ) is near impossible to see in sun light and is largely useless for determining if you have taken a really good quality picture . I hope for the day when someone produces a real point and shooter , one with a fast , wide field of view ( non zoom ) lens with a photo cell optimized for light collection and low noise ( vice high pixel count ) , and a good viewfinder ( vice an LCD ) .
• 155 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) 5 stars for all steady / in motion images indoor or outdoor with enough light . . . but might not be the best option when comes to pics taken in insufficient light . . . i give it 3 - 4 stars . . video quality as well is pretty decent . . . but no optical zooming in video mode . . .
• 157 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) The camera takes good pictures and is fairly easy to use . I don't like that you manually have to raise the flash when you need it . It is also bigger and more bulky than I expected .
• 159 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) Gave this as a Christmas gift so I could receive great photos of Grandchildren playing soccer . It is the greatest . My daughter loves it .
• 161 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I was hoping to purchase an easy to use small camera that was easier to take with me than my larger Canon Rebel . However I found this small camera has so many features and that if you are not on the correct setting , you're picture often does not come out that well . The battery lasts longer if you purchase those specifically for cameras otherwise they die shortly thereafter . I'm sure that if I had the time to go through the manual and learn about the camera it could be great but that's why I have my larger camera . So once again I'm in search of an easy to use , takes great pictures small camera .
• 164 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This is a great camera . The picture quality is so much better than our last camera . We are really happy with it .
• 167 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) This is all one can hope for - an excellent item . Highest marks all around . Thanks Amazon / Canon
• 169 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I have purchased this camera few weeks back . i dont know much @ photography . Found this camera to be good one . Clicks good pictures better than kodak which i used for 4 years .
• 171 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) The software on the CD that accompanies the PowerShot SX120IS will not work on Mac's newest OS - OS10.6x . Canon doesn't seem to be in any rush to achieve compatibility . They cannot state when Canon plans to solve this basic problem . The incompatibility means OS 10.6x users cannot use the picture organizing software that was part of the price of the camera . I bought my camera online through Amazon . All that was said was the camera's software was Mac OS compatible . Had I know of the problem and Canon's indifferent attitude , I certainly would not have purchased the camera !
• 173 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I am a real estate appraiser and wanted a compact wide angle camera . This camera is not really that . Also , many times I must change flash from Auto to Forced on . This is almost impossible with this camera . I use the sports mode in my other Cannon , this camera does not have it . Camera does not come with an instruction manual which I read , you must download it . That is really tacky . All in all , I am very disappointed with this Cannon camera and I would not recommend it .
• 175 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) The Camera is not flashy but takes some good photos . Some that are actually really good . We haven't played with it enough to know the depths of the menus , but it's easy to navigate-especially because we were used to Canon cameras . I have noticed that when I put the pictures as a desktop , they seemed noisy . It may be something I'm not doing right . All in all we like this camera and my son is thrilled .
• 180 4  This review is from : Canon PowerShot SX120IS 10MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Images Stabilized Zoom and 3 - inch LCD ( Electronics ) I sent it back . it was not the camera that I thought I had ordered . i wanted the SX201S . this was just a mistake . Nothing was wrong with the camera .


• 10x optical zoom for the price of a 3x zoom camera . The image-stabilization makes it a snap to get great pics while zoomed to the max . Picture quality is very nice . With decent lighting there's little noise , banding or color-shifting , even at the edges of the images where other cameras tend to sneak it in . Indoors , in Auto mode there's some fine noise in the red and green channels that's easily detectable , but about on-par with cameras in this price-range . The Auto setting gets you shooting high quality pictures in a hurry . About 2 seconds from power-on to the first shot . If , like me , you love to fiddle , this thing offers lots of manual settings . ISO , WB , manual focus , aperture control , custom exposure time up to 15 seconds . . . The Manual settings are especially useful for indoor and macro shots . People complain about the camera eating batteries . The cheap batteries that it came with were depleted before I'd finished reviewing the controls , but with Energizer Titaniums I easily got at least 250 shots - - some with flash - - before the batteries ran down . I haven't tried Lithium yet . The little battery used just for keeping time . Sometimes I leave my camera shelved for a month or two and with previous cameras I'd have to set the time and date and other presets all over again . This camera : No pain . Duplicating images and some tweaking including red-eye correction can done be while browsing images in Playback mode instead of at the time of the shot . The camera can be set to display detailed image data including a histogram when a picture is displayed at the time that it's shot and also later in the Preview mode . Pop-up flash with fine flash controls . Uses standard AA batteries . No proprietary charger to deal with . I honestly don't know that the auto face recognition does anything to improve my picture-taking , but it's fun to play with when you've got lots of people in a shot and the time to fuss around . . . . * _ Cons : While the manual says that the camera's memory card will mount on a Mac or PC using the supplied USB cable , I've found that it simply doesn't work and a little Googling confirmed that this is an epic fail for almost all Canon cameras . The camera is detected on the USB bus , but it's never mounted as a mass-storage device . I've got a card reader so it isn't a big deal , but it's annoying . Notably , if you lack a card-reader and if you've got a Mac , Apple's Image Capture software - - bundled with the OS - - detects the camera and lets you copy the images anywhere on your drive quite efficiently . This is in contrast to . . . The Camera Window software that Canon wants you to use to get images and movies off of the memory card is one of the most stupid inefficient pieces of crud ever to pollute my computer . It has almost no configurable options , shows thumbnails but doesn't allow a user to simply drag and drop images to the Desktop or to a convenient folder and forces the user to import the images into an awful awful awful proprietary image-catalog application . Whoever decided to push this lousy software on us deserves to be tarred and feathered and publicly flogged . I just want the memory card on my camera to mount on my computer so that I can copy my pictures to wherever the heck I want and decide for myself how I want my images cataloged . Almost every digital camera did that 10 years ago . Why is it so hard for modern camera-makers to do this ? ! ! WB suffers a lot indoors when using the Auto mode without the flash . The camera's display tends to make images look brighter and more saturated than they actually are . Plan accordingly . Continuous shooting has a delay of about a second between shots . It should be faster . When shooting video , the WB and ISO seem to be stuck at whatever setting they are at when the camera starts recording so moving from a bright room to a darker room makes for color-shifts and noise . Also when shooting video , the optical zoom is stuck at whatever setting you had when you started recording . You can't zoom out from there and zooming in from that point is digital-only and adds noise . . . . * _ Nit-Picking : The plastic case makes it seem like this camera is low-end when it just ain't . The battery compartment can be hard to open . There should be some grooves in the battery-door to help you get the traction to slide the door out to the position where it swings open . I've found a trick to doing it with minimal effort : Move the little button with your fingernail , then keep your fingernail in the slot and push with the edge of your nail towards the side of the camera to slide the battery-door out to the point where it can swing open . Movies are shot in a 4 : 3 aspect ratio ( 640x480 , AVI , MJPEG compression with raw 8 - bit / 11KHz mono audio ) . They are generally of excellent quality - - good enough to stand in for a camcorder in a pinch - - but modern devices should shoot in 16 : 9 instead of 4 : 3 . Oddly , VLC reports encoding errors in the movie files , but QuickTime 7 has no problem with them . It's not really big or heavy , but this is not a camera that can easily fit in a pants-pocket . It does fit in the inside pocket on some of my coats . I actually went out and got a little camera case with a belt-loop and shoulder-strap for mine so I don't have to worry about it dangling from my wrist when I'm not using it . The big white wrist strap that mine came with is ugly . I replaced it with a svelte gray strap from another camera . The PhotoStitch software that it comes with crashes instantly under Mac OS 10.5 and 10.6 . I didn't buy it for the cheezy software , but if you want to make panaramas be warned . The images are saved at 180dpi . I've noticed this with other Canon cameras . I can see a rationale for 72 dpi . I can see 96 or 244 or 300dpi . Why 180dpi ? I know that it's arbitrary and largely meaningless , but that number is just weird . I wish this camera would save pictures in LZW TIFF or RAW format . I hate JPEG . . . . Okay , so you've read this far and you see lots of criticisms . I still recommend this camera . It takes good pictures , it's got a great zoom with some of the best image-stabilization I've seen and the interface is suitable for both the neophyte and the advanced amateur user . It's a sweet camera and the price is fantastic for what you get . If you want better , you're going to end up paying a lot more .
• 005 4  I was looking for the best zoom with image-stabilization in the under - $200 category and I'm pretty sure I've found it . In addition , I got what seems to be the smartest camera in its class . Unfortunately , the people who designed it were thinking more about getting the images onto the camera than getting the images off . It doesn't mount as a USB mass-storage device and the bundled software is total poo . It's a good camera , but save yourself a headache and get a card reader if you don't have one already . I paid about $20 less than Amazon's price for this camera , which put it in the same price range as a typical 3x-zoom pocket Panasonic , Pentax or Kodak camera , but IMHO it's better than any of those and way better than the Olympus cameras I've tried that cost more . Some of those other cameras will be 12 - megapixels while this one's a mere 10MP , but don't buy into the megapixel myth . * _ Pros : 10x optical zoom for the price of a 3x zoom camera . The image-stabilization makes it a snap to get great pics while zoomed to the max . Picture quality is very nice . With decent lighting there's little noise , banding or color-shifting , even at the edges of the images where other cameras tend to sneak it in . Indoors , in Auto mode there's some fine noise in the red and green channels that's easily detectable , but about on-par with cameras in this price-range . The Auto setting gets you shooting high quality pictures in a hurry . About 2 seconds from power-on to the first shot . If , like me , you love to fiddle , this thing offers lots of manual settings . ISO , WB , manual focus , aperture control , custom exposure time up to 15 seconds . . . The Manual settings are especially useful for indoor and macro shots . People complain about the camera eating batteries . The cheap batteries that it came with were depleted before I'd finished reviewing the controls , but with Energizer Titaniums I easily got at least 250 shots - - some with flash - - before the batteries ran down . I haven't tried Lithium yet . The little battery used just for keeping time . Sometimes I leave my camera shelved for a month or two and with previous cameras I'd have to set the time and date and other presets all over again . This camera : No pain . Duplicating images and some tweaking including red-eye correction can done be while browsing images in Playback mode instead of at the time of the shot . The camera can be set to display detailed image data including a histogram when a picture is displayed at the time that it's shot and also later in the Preview mode . Pop-up flash with fine flash controls . Uses standard AA batteries . No proprietary charger to deal with . I honestly don't know that the auto face recognition does anything to improve my picture-taking , but it's fun to play with when you've got lots of people in a shot and the time to fuss around . . . . * _ Cons : While the manual says that the camera's memory card will mount on a Mac or PC using the supplied USB cable , I've found that it simply doesn't work and a little Googling confirmed that this is an epic fail for almost all Canon cameras . The camera is detected on the USB bus , but it's never mounted as a mass-storage device . I've got a card reader so it isn't a big deal , but it's annoying . Notably , if you lack a card-reader and if you've got a Mac , Apple's Image Capture software - - bundled with the OS - - detects the camera and lets you copy the images anywhere on your drive quite efficiently . This is in contrast to . . . The Camera Window software that Canon wants you to use to get images and movies off of the memory card is one of the most stupid inefficient pieces of crud ever to pollute my computer . It has almost no configurable options , shows thumbnails but doesn't allow a user to simply drag and drop images to the Desktop or to a convenient folder and forces the user to import the images into an awful awful awful proprietary image-catalog application . Whoever decided to push this lousy software on us deserves to be tarred and feathered and publicly flogged . I just want the memory card on my camera to mount on my computer so that I can copy my pictures to wherever the heck I want and decide for myself how I want my images cataloged . Almost every digital camera did that 10 years ago . Why is it so hard for modern camera-makers to do this ? ! ! WB suffers a lot indoors when using the Auto mode without the flash . The camera's display tends to make images look brighter and more saturated than they actually are . Plan accordingly . Continuous shooting has a delay of about a second between shots . It should be faster . When shooting video , the WB and ISO seem to be stuck at whatever setting they are at when the camera starts recording so moving from a bright room to a darker room makes for color-shifts and noise . Also when shooting video , the optical zoom is stuck at whatever setting you had when you started recording . You can't zoom out from there and zooming in from that point is digital-only and adds noise . . . . * _ Nit-Picking : The plastic case makes it seem like this camera is low-end when it just ain't . The battery compartment can be hard to open . There should be some grooves in the battery-door to help you get the traction to slide the door out to the position where it swings open . I've found a trick to doing it with minimal effort : Move the little button with your fingernail , then keep your fingernail in the slot and push with the edge of your nail towards the side of the camera to slide the battery-door out to the point where it can swing open . Movies are shot in a 4 : 3 aspect ratio ( 640x480 , AVI , MJPEG compression with raw 8 - bit / 11KHz mono audio ) . They are generally of excellent quality - - good enough to stand in for a camcorder in a pinch - - but modern devices should shoot in 16 : 9 instead of 4 : 3 . Oddly , VLC reports encoding errors in the movie files , but QuickTime 7 has no problem with them . It's not really big or heavy , but this is not a camera that can easily fit in a pants-pocket . It does fit in the inside pocket on some of my coats . I actually went out and got a little camera case with a belt-loop and shoulder-strap for mine so I don't have to worry about it dangling from my wrist when I'm not using it . The big white wrist strap that mine came with is ugly . I replaced it with a svelte gray strap from another camera . The PhotoStitch software that it comes with crashes instantly under Mac OS 10.5 and 10.6 . I didn't buy it for the cheezy software , but if you want to make panaramas be warned . The images are saved at 180dpi . I've noticed this with other Canon cameras . I can see a rationale for 72 dpi . I can see 96 or 244 or 300dpi . Why 180dpi ? I know that it's arbitrary and largely meaningless , but that number is just weird . I wish this camera would save pictures in LZW TIFF or RAW format . I hate JPEG . . . . Okay , so you've read this far and you see lots of criticisms . I still recommend this camera . It takes good pictures , it's got a great zoom with some of the best image-stabilization I've seen and the interface is suitable for both the neophyte and the advanced amateur user . It's a sweet camera and the price is fantastic for what you get . If you want better , you're going to end up paying a lot more .
• 006 4  I am a beginner and I got suddenly interest in taking great pictures . So I was looking for a camera that has high zoom , manual controls as well as auto controls . When I started searching for good camera reviews I shortlisted 4 - 5 cameras that included canon sd1100 , sd770 , Sony DSC H20 and canon sx100 is . The first two were point and shoot and had all functionality that I was looking for other then some manual , but less optical zoom . Sony and canon both were good but I chose to go for canon as it has lots of shooting options . I was looking to buy sx110is ( sx100is ' s successor ) and then I got a news that sx120is is released . I was not sure whether to take the older one or get the new one who has not been rated . But I bought this and I am happy with it . It is not that much heavier then other cameras with good optical zoom . though comparing to Panasonic's lumix , it is heavier . It has great functionality such as : * Easy to use . if you just want to say with auto selection then that also gives you best pictures . * face detection , that is very useful while taking self picture . Detects up to 9 face at a time . * continuous shooting , like taking 3 pictures simultaneously at fast speed . * iso 3200 * 10x optical zoom , 40x digital zoom . * 15 shooting mode * sunset , sun rise detection , * Great functionality in video shooting like zoom out , zoom in . * manual controls , you can set shutter speed , Av , Tv mode . * Image stabilizer . * Big LCD screen in which display picture rotates according to holders direction i.e while displaying pictures , if you are holding camera horizontal it sets picture automatically horizontal . * We can focus picture first and then can take pictures . the only thing is that it doesn't have a viewfinder . some people might not like it but it doesn't matter for me as far as I can see what I am taking , what is in focus through LCD . Also it requires AA battery that has its own plus and minus point , but it requires only 2 AA batteries and can take 200 to 300 snaps.That is good enough.The flash is not automatic . you have to fire it manually , it has its plus minus too.Too much auto pop of flash might frustrate some one , or some might want auto flash , but camera detects and let you know that this picture requires flash so you can raise the flash , not bad ! ! It can fit in pocket so not bad then any other point and shoot . I took some pictures from it while I was learning its functionality . I took some on low resolutions . That can not give justice to camera , later I got some great pictures by learning some mode . Here it is : [ . . . ] The camera is working perfectly till now . I will sure recommend this to any one . Good one for who wants to start exploring photography .
• 007 4  The Canon Sx120 is for the advanced photographer who wants more control than the typical digital camera , but without the extra bulk or price . I got this camera after having used the previous SX100 and Sx110 and some DSLRs . The main upgrade from the past is the DIGIC IV processor and the noise reduction at ISO 800 and 1600 . In the previous SX models the noise was pretty bad , specks of odd color pixels were very obvious at high ISO , but with the SX120 ' s new NR processing , it's a noticeable improvement . Granted it's not DSLR level , but very usable for a compact digital camera . All the other features are just minor tweaks from the previous models . This is a great camera for the money . It allows manual operation of aperture , shutter speed , even flash intensity ( which comes in useful for optically triggering off-camera flashes ) . I wish more compact cameras allowed this kind of control for creative shooting . The aperture operation isn't like some other manufacturers that only have 2 settings , wide and small . It actually has increments in 1 / 3 stop steps which gives great control . One other feature you can't find in any other value compact digital camera is how fast the lens is . I mean how much light it lets in even when zoomed in ( f2.8 - f4.3 ) . This allows faster shutter speeds to freeze the action in dimly lit areas . Most cameras have tiny lenses that lets even less light through when zoomed in , this makes the camera turn up the ISO ( more noise ) , or slows the shutter speed ( more blur ) . The Canon SX120 has a big enough lens to counter these effects . Even the new Canon SX200 has compromised in this area of the lens . Other nice features of this camera I like are being able to adjust contrast , saturation , and sharpness of images . I prefer to turn these down as much as possible to capture the most data at first , I can post-process the pictures later on a computer if I wanted ( alternative when RAW isn't availble ) . This camera has so many great little things about it . I'll just list them here for completeness sake . It has great image quality , a lot of control for the user , intuitive interface , adequate performance speed for the category , uses convenient & greener AA batteries . I just have a few minor gripes that would make this an even better camera : 1 ) Super-fine JPG mode is not available anymore , I wish the JPG compression was more adjustable . 2 ) The Zoom level is not precisely displayed . I prefer an equivalent focal length display instead of an ambiguous zoom bar that only appears for a second or two when the zoom is activated . 3 ) Flash recharge is slow , but it's to be expected since it uses AA batteries . This really isn't so bad since I don't use flash very much because the camera is able to take good photos in low-light with the big lens and good high ISO performance along with the optical image stabilizer . I get good performance out of the camera using slow-discharge NiMH batteries ( don't get the high mAH rating ones , they have a high self-discharge rate ) . 4 ) There's no way to turn off the auto-lens retraction when playing back images , which resets the settings when I turn the camera back on to shoot again ( I have to readjust my zoom level and exposure compensation settings for example . ) 5 ) Wide-angle isn't very wide at 36mm EFL , I prefer a bit wider and give up some in the telephoto end , while keeping the same lens performance . 6 ) Video recording is ok ( 640x480 in mJPEG ) , optical zoom disabled while recording . I dont ' take a lot of videos and figured this camera is really for taking creative still photos . So it's an ok compromise for me .
• 009 4  It is a good camera , as a powershot S1 , S2 , and S5 ex-user , I bought it because of its portability . I love the powershot S series ultra-zoom cameras , but now I want a smaller camera . But keep in mind , in this case , smaller the size , fewer the features . So this review is directed to S-series users that look for ultra-zoom portability . First the good : - Good image quality , IMHO . As I am not a professional , just an enthusiast , my amateur eyes tell me that the quality is almost the same of my previous S5 , maybe a little more noisy . - AA batteries : For me it is a must ! - Good battery life : Not as good as S series , as it uses only 2 AA , but It lasts two days of heavy using . in my last vacation , I took more than 1000 pictures , lots with flash , and changed the batteries maybe 4 times at most - Sony Cycle Energy 2000 mAh . - Good optical image stabilization : same performance as S-series - Manual control over shutter / apperture / ISO . A must ! - I-contrast : I realy think it works ! The dark areas with bright background photos are better than the ones with S5 . - Automatic lens cover : No more manually covering the lens like on S-series . Now the bad : - No color accent ! ! ! ! Why Canon ? As it is a software feature , why strip this useful feature ( I think ) from this camera ? I loved it on my S5 and now it is gone . ( Ok , I could do it with photoshop . . . ) - No color swap too - I did not use this one very much , so no big deal for me . - No stich assist ! ! ! ! ! Why again , Canon ? No space left on the function dial ? No space for more Digic4 code ? : ( - No optical zoom with video . . . I am not a camera engineer , but it looks like a very difficult feature to fit on smaller cameras . As a user , I think : move the zoom lens , keep focusing and evaluating exposure - No big deal . It does not seem to be difficult , but , it may be , as a lot of pocket cameras lacks this feature . Sx120 has only digital zoom while recording videos ( I hate the output quality of digital zoom ) , so I do not use it . For the record , you can use the optical zoom before starting the video recording , but it gets locked on this position until the video recording stops . - No HD video : For me , it is no big deal , I like the 640x480 quality . Bottom line : S-series users , it is a good camera , but I do not know why some good software features were stripped . I have accepted that it is the price for portability ( it can fit on a large pocket ) , but as soon as a new AA-battery , compact , ultra zoom model with the SX120 lacking features comes around , I will sell this camera .
• 011 4  As a Good Amatuer who carried Japanese Analog Camera's for 40 years , and now have tried 6 Digital camera's , including Panasonic's DMC-TZ5 , I must say : Wow ! Very simple to understand instructions , plus straight forward controls , and even the in Auto mode it produces XLNT results ( very good brain input integration ) . But in the Creative modes of Apeture and Shutter Priority you can do Professional work . The Nickel Hydride AA batteries and their large capacity , work very well in this Camera . All Camera's I have seen / tried in this price range have some noise over 400 ISO . Sometimes I read reviews of those who have bought High Res . Camera's , but have no way to view the better resolution result , because their Monitor is limited . Thus their disappointment in better and higher resolution camera purchases is a result of their reviewing source . This Camera will not disapppoint those who know their stuff . Amatuers will apprecate it's Brain . Buy this Camera ! A wonderful bargain in my opinion .
• 012 4  I bought this camera over the Kodak Z915 ( takes AA batteries with 10x zoom ) or Z950 ( lithium battery with 10x zoom ) due to the reviews . Well it's biggest problem is picture quality . I rarely got an image that wasn't soft , no matter what I tried . Also , the focus square would most always not select the main subject . When I chose the select faces option , only one or two faces would be chosen and often those in the background rather than the nearest subject . There also wasn't a multi-point focusing . Only one green square box would come up . Regarding camera build , it is built well and feels sturdy . The pictures just were always soft and slightly out of focus . Also , indoor photos had a yellow cast to them when I got them printed at Kodak site . Lastly , you must realize before buying this that you will wait a full FIVE seconds between shots when using the flash . That is an eternity folks ! At my Christmas party with all the kids posing with Santa , I was the one they were waiting for the camera to recharge , while my sister-in-law with the Sony point and shoot and cousin with the Nikon were shooting away . Often after a flash shot , when the camera screen appeared so I could shoot again , the flash would not go off , so I ended up with an underexposed ( and blurry ) picture . Oh , and forget about the high ISO options ( which is another reason I bought it ) . I attempted to take shots in a gymnasium of my son wrestling . Exposure wise they came out well , just that they were blurry and NOISY . For these reasons I'm going to get either the Kodak Z915 or the Z950 and return this . In summary , I can't believe how highly this is rated for how badly it produces photos . Update : I bought the Kodak z915 and absolutely love it . Pictures are sharp ( albeit I learned for large groups of people us the landscape button for best sharpness ) . It also has an incredible stage scene mode that allows you to take pictures of people on stage and no flash or camera sounds go off and pictures come out great ! Also , it has a high ISO scene that allows incredible indoor shots , which I took at a Rutgers basketball game from row 20 off the floor . Lastly , has a completely manual option , where you can play and learn with iso , aperture , shutter speed and exposure . Unbelievable camera conveniently powered with double A batteries . Only wish it had a viewfinder . Ten times better than the Canon .
• 013 4  I would like to start off by saying that I am not a very advanced photographer but I wanted to get a camera that offered more than what the compact point and shoots have to offer . The main feature about this camera ( aside from the Canon name which I prefer ) is the great optical zoom . I go to alot of sporting events and this camera is great for zooming in and getting clear shots of the action . I am usually sitting relatively far away in the stands but the zoom makes me feel right there . It also has alot of features that you can select from for a particular setting ( ie sunset ) or you can manually adjust the setting and focus to your liking . I think this is a good feature because right now I am not advanced and generally use the preset selections but if I learn more about photography I can still use this camera to make my own modifications . I like the fact that it takes AA batteries because if you run out of battery life , its easy to replace them on the go . One thing I want to point out , although not a major problem , is that the battery compartment is a bit hard to open . The picture quality is great and what I have come to expect from Canon . Overall , if you are looking for a moderatley small camera that offers the casual photographer great photo quality and gives you a great zoom with some extra features , this is the camera for you . Some people on here that rate cameras expect too much out of their point and shoot . . . . its not an SLR so the photos in all situations are not perfect , but for its class it does a fine job . If you need every little detail to be perfect in any lighting condition , then go for the SLR .
• 017 4  I purchased this camera last month specifically to take on a 2 week vacation in Europe . I wanted a light weight digital that I could easily lug around London and Paris instead of a heavy SLR . I took nearly 1000 images over those two weeks in bright sun , at the ' magic hour ' , in museums , in dimly lit cathedrals , from moving buses , at night , free holding the camera and on a monopod , and in most other conditions . The camera performed very nicely and the image quality is excellent . I purchased this camera because it has a Manual operation mode : you use a little wheel at the back of the camera to adjust the Shutter speed , and F-stop . The LCD display ( there is no optical view finder ) displays the lightness and darkness of the image as you adjust the settings . Overall this operation was easier than on my old Canon Rebel XT SLR . Post shot the image also displays the ever useful brightness histogram and ' blinkies ' for over-exposed areas . The camera also has a built in image stablization system that kicks in when the shutter speeed is too slow . Pros : Excellent images quality , good color and contrast , lots of megapixels to work with . I got great pictures in good light and it worked well in low light with the ISO pushed to 400 or 800 . The image stablization worked well enough for me to get some decent shots of the Eiffel Tower at night from a tour boat , which I didn't expect . It has a long zoom range and the image quality at max zoom is decent . The camera is lightweight and easily fits in a coat pocket . Controls are all easy to reach even with my big hands . The delayed timer is easy to set . Image playback is good and the LCD is big . Cons : The camera would chew up a pair of rechargeable NiMH AA batteries in about 50 shots . I never did figure out how to turn off the LCD between pictures without turning off the whole camera ; it does power off itself after 60 seconds . Charging the built in flash is pretty slow . Two pair ( 4 ) of rechargeable batteries normally got me through the day but I always had a set of Lithium AA as a backup . And if you put on a tripod adapter plate , it will probably cover the battery compartment meaning you have to take that off to change the battery . The camera has lots of other functions but there is no detailed paper manual in the box - only a small one to cover the basics and a CD with hundreds of more pages . So there are still a lot of features that I haven't figured out , like how to manually activate / deactivate the image stabilization . The max F-stop seems to be F8.0 and min shutter speed is 1 / 2000 of second . Of course there is nowhere near as much optical glass as an SLR and no optical view finder . Overall : The camera won't replace my SLR but it will definitely be a great supplement for the times I don't want to carry the extra weight . It puts a 10 megapixel camera with good optics and lots of manual control in the palm of your hand . Which is exactly what I wanted and needed .
• 018 4  I've done a fair amount of researching to buy a point and shoot to complement my DSLR that I already use . Keep in mind a few things with point and shoots . . . they are NOT DSLR's and will not have the same quality of picture , regardless of megapixels . Good pics are lens and lighting moreso than megapixel count . I've seen a lot of negatives with low light and it's fair to complain , but a good picture requires the right lighting . I've found that the SX120 takes good low-light pictures where there is enough light for part of your subject . I took a picture of several people doing Rock Band in a room with lots of track lighting and a mirrored ceiling . The focal point looks great but the lesser lit guitarist was a bit blurred . I took a second shot with flash and it's much sharper , but the flash changes the look with background glare from the mirrored ceiling . Lighting matters ! I had originally bought a Samsung TL220 , falling for the glam of touchscreen , dual screens ( front and back ) and all that stuff . I took it back because the picture quality ( low light or not ) simply was substandard for a $280 camera . I found the SX120 by chance at Target on sale for $199 . The SX120 takes great pictures for a point and shoot ( keep that in mind ! ) . It also has all the important features of the more expensive point and shoots ( I like that it has 16 : 9 wide angle ) . But for the shutterbug that wants more , you can control shutter and aperture like a DSLR . You also control the flash , since you have to manually flip it up . Believe it or not , that's a great feature because I don't always remember to menu around to turn off the flash . It is not as slim as the newest models but it is small enough for a shirt / coat pocket ( albeit bulky looking in the pocket ) . Keeping this from 5 stars is battery life and flash recycle . The two AA batteries that came with the camera lasted long enough for test shots and one Christmas party with sparse use . You will always need batteries on hand for this camera . The flash also takes a painful 4 to 5 seconds to regenerate . . . that is unacceptably slow when you need it under most circumstances .
• 021 4  Pros : This is a great camera for the cost . I got it with a 4GB SD card and the combo was good . The picture quality is great . There are many options for skilled photographers . Cons : This camera is NOT a pocket camera and is not small . Its more of a jacket pocket size . Its body is plastic so it does not look that classy . However , i had seen it in the store and the look was not what i was interested in .
• 023 4  I was a little skeptical about this camera at the beginning . But I was looking for a point and shoot that would take great pictures and I have found one in this camera . It's easy to use , does not weight a lot and is not as bulky as a DSLR but it takes great quality pictures . I was impressed with the quality and my family was very impressed so much that they are looking at buying the same camera . They loved the fact that is easy to carry and that you don't have to take another bag for a camera ( DSLR ) and they saw the crispness in the pictures too . . The only complaint I have is the battery life . It uses 2 AA batteries which is very convenient for you don't have to carry cables and chargers , but after a day of heavy use , the batteries can be drained pretty quickly . Overall I am very satisfied with the camera .
• 028 4  If you want a very easy to use point and shoot with good image quality , face recognition , and anti-shake there are many to choose from - I would not get this one . Yes you can do the point and shoot thing and it works fine , but this camera is physically larger than the others and it would be a waste of what this camera can really do . What is so great about his camera is the amount of manual and semi-manual control you have . You can set every single component that goes into making a photo ! Or you can select pre-sets where one component is the primary adjustment . So if you know something about what all these components do then this is a great camera for you - assuming you don't always want to lug around an Digital SLR . Also of course the optical zoom is quite nice and the image quality is very good . I feel like I am back in the days of my old Canon or Nikon film SLR cameras . I get to choose how I want to make the adjustments , or if I am feeling lazy I just let the camera do it for me , which is fine quite a bit of the time anyway .
• 031 4  I just got back from Israel . I took this camera with me and was so happy to have gotten shots at a moment's notice . The quality of the pictures is amazing . I found I did better on a manual setting for shots in which I had time to set up . Just a rotation of the wheel on the back and I had the shutter set and I was ready to go . I only use Duracell 2650mah batteries in my Canon . They perform for almost two days of shooting . I was on this trip with another who had the same camera , the SX120IS , and he only had the akalines which came with his . They lasted almost half a day . I shared some of my batteries and he was very pleased with his camera after that . The only real drawback for this camera is it's hard to grip . I had a PowerShot A530 that I loved , but it suffered from eating batteries . i had sent it back and they fixed it , but three years later it got hungry again . That is when I got this one . If the bump on the front were bigger I would feel better about holding it . As it is , I used the wrist strap all the time and it was fine . If you have a camera strap , use it . You'll have a nicer camera for a longer period of time . I have 680 shots from my trip and they all came out great . Just push the shutter halfway down and make sure you allow the camera to focus before taking any pictures . Love my Canon !
• 035 4  I wanted a pocket camera that had a good optical zoom capability and image stabilization . This camera fits the bill . I extremely happy with the automatic mode and image stabilization . Photos are nearly always crystal clear and sharp . I'm amazed , even when taken sitting in a rocking kayak at the highest optical ( and sometimes digital ) zoom . Indoors photos of family with and without flash work well . Rarely miss a picture . I like the ability to play with the various non-auto modes . The video feature is the greatest . Complaints ? I've tried using with Nickel-Metal Hydride rechargeable batteries with little luck on the duration that the charge would last . Have gone to Alkaline with much better results . There are soo many features.How about a written manual I can carry ?
• 038 4  Pros - great image stabilization , beautiful low light shots , stylish durable body Cons - short battery life , no optical zoom on video function , pop-up flash risks snapping off I'm a night owl and I was specifically looking for a camera capable of taking great pictures in low light situations without using a flash and without blurring . I had a 200 dollar limit and only went by reading hundreds of reviews ( cnet , google & amazon ) , never actually having an opportunity to try out a camera hands on . It was the lowest rated of the last three cameras I was looking at , but in the end , after a month of searching , I finally decided the sx120is was the best choice . It was durable and sophisticated looking , complete with a 3 LCD and had near flawless reviews . There wasn't a whole lot of negative feedback on this camera , all of what I read pretty much said the same and what I got was expected . Needless to say , that wasn't much . My only major complaint is battery life . On average , my rechargables last about 30 minutes . Fortunately it only requires 2 AA batteries so I'm able to charge the other two while I used the first two on taking pictures . Still , even with the rechargables switching out , 40 minutes to an hour isn't a lot of time when you're doing heavy photography like a vacation or something . The manual that came with the camera tells you nothing . All the information on manual settings is on the cd , which kinda stinks . Although a bit frustrating , I'm a guy and find instructions more time consuming that figuring things out on my own . I discovered using program mode with the florescent H light setting and vivid color gave beautiful shots with no flash in low light producing very little grain . I even went as far as to take pictures with ALL of the lights out in my room and only the shades open letting city lights shine through . I couldn't believe how well pictures came out in near total darkness . My face was still very visible in front of the dark red 3am sky behind me . A little grain but expected and not anything that couldn't be fixed with a little photoshop magic . I had the most fun taking close ups . I got some amazing detail that I didn't even know cameras that cheap were capable of producing . There's a sunset mode , if you've been reading reviews I'm sure you've heard about it . Although the intent is for sunsets , I don't think it's a good setting as the natural colors of the sunset are filtered , though it IS wonderful for ugly colored automatic situations , instantly turning white light to a dim ` italian style ' lighting . For my pale skin I found it especially useful not bringing out all of my blemishes . I didn't remember reading anything in the reviews about it , but the camera has a sensor in it so the images turn to face you when you turn the camera . There is only a very small ( 128mB ) SD card included , though to my surprise , that still holds approximately 100 high quality pictures . Most of the pictures I took were a quarter of the highest quality and still far bigger than I needed . A new card , if that is the issue , is gonna be an expense with any camera , and a 4gB Sd card can be purchased for as little as a dollar on ebay , $10 on average . Considering it doesn't fall apart and have issues ( which there is a warranty I sent in ) I'd give this a 4.8 out of 5 . This was a great buy and I can only hope my next camera purchase is as good as this .
• 042 4  I did a lot of researching on CNet , Amazon , Best Buy , Walmart , and several other places before I decided to buy this camera . I was looking for something that was simple to use , had a lot of zoom , had good-to-excellent picture quality , was for everyday use ( i.e . , I'm clumsy , so I didn't want it to break the first time I touched it ) , and was in the $100 - 200 range . I also wanted a camera that was nice enough and had the technology to last several years . Basically , for what I was wanting , I narrowed it down to three cameras : the Kodak Z915 , the Canon SX120IS , and the Panasonic Lumix ZS3 . The Panasonic had a wide-angle lens , which I was very interested in but which wasn't necessary , while the Kodak camera was ( at the time of purchase ) about $50 cheaper than the Canon . I decided I wanted something a bit more sturdy than the ZS3 and with better photo quality than the Kodak , so I decided to give this camera a try . As other reviewers have said , this camera has some good and bad to it . I've been playing with it for four months now , and I love it sometimes and hate it others . That said , the good things include : - - excellent photo quality ( by my standards and for its class ) - - versatility ( the camera has settings for foliage , aquariums , snow , different indoor lighting , and a sunset filter ) - - the opportunity to have more control over IS , exposure , focus , etc . , than a basic point-and-shoot - - sturdy design . Because it's a bit larger than other cameras , it can't fit into a pocket , but it is also not going to fall out of my hands from strong winds or clumsiness . - - The ability to take multiple shots is nice ( I know other cameras do this , but it's the first time I've had the ability to play with it ) . This camera will take 3 shots at about 1 second per shot and will refocus on the subject between shots . - - The flash is manually popped up when you want to use it so it doesn't accidentally go off when you don't want it to . You can also take pretty good pictures in most lighting without the flash . - - The camera takes AA's , so if you run out of batteries in the middle of a trip or away from a plug-in , you can just buy replacements . Some of the bad things I've found : - - If you want a good shot , you have to make * everything * hold still . My little brother shows cattle , and 6 out of every 10 pictures will be blurry if taken when the calf is walking around the ring . Once things are held still , though , the photos look very nice . - - The auto-focus and image stabilization don't always work as planned . Sometimes I will center something and try to take a picture of it , only to find that the camera was focused on something behind it ( this may be due to impatience in taking the picture ) . - - It takes about 5 - 10 seconds after you use the flash for you to be able to take another picture . I usually fix this by taking a shot with flash first and then closing the flash so that I get a faster turnaround . Also , I've been through 3 pairs of AA's since I bought the camera and have taken hundreds of pictures and used several hours of playback , so I would say that that is fairly decent battery life . However , I also take the ' dead ' batteries out and they function in my tv remote , so the camera doesn't actually use all of the juice in the batteries , it just takes a lot of power to run . Overall , I really like this camera despite my inability to get it to take good shots of fast-moving objects . The quality of the pictures it takes correctly , the price , and the sturdiness / longevity of it make it a good value for the price .
• 063 4  Took 40 - 50 pictures with different options ( auto manual easy use etc ) I especially loved quality of manual mode . . . If u r looking for something pro , it is not your camera guys . . .
• 066 4  The PowerShot SX120 IS is a great little camera , I chose it for a number of reasons , one being its size . It's small enough to fit in my purse but large enough that I have something to hold on to . The viewing screen is large and very clean and crisp . I have owned several Canons and always been pleased with them . I am a skilled photographer , certainly not a professional one , and find this Canon user friendly . I am very pleased with the photos I have taken and love the telephoto lens . The camera was affordable . Two of my friends followed buying the Power Shot after checking mine out .
• 072 4  Truly a great camera ! As far as point and shoots go , this is about as good as you're going to get for the sub $200 price range . The camera is built solid and has a nice heft to it . This doesn't feel like something you'll be replacing every year or two . It feels sturdy enough to last a long time . Pictures in 10MP / FINE mode turn out excellent . There are no noticeable defects if viewed full screen . Zoom in , and you can start to chromatic aberration around the edges of objects in high contrast , but aside from that colors are sharp , and accurate . Exposure and white balance are usually set correctly using auto or programmed AE modes . Unless you plan on making full size prints , the quality of the photos is near professional quality . Battery life is a little short with alkalines , but reasonable using NIMH rechargeables ( about 350 shots ) . Given the wide availability of AA batteries , battery life is not an issue for me . I just swap them out and go ! In my experience , I prefer this setup over lithium battery packs , which degrade over time naturally , and the proprietary nature of them which puts you at the mercy of the camera company for replacement batteries . Not to mention if your battery runs out and you don't have a replacement pack , you won't be taking pictures ! Now for the caveat ( minor though ) . Low light shots are usually noisy . The sensor does not do a fantastic job capturing smooth , rich photos in low light areas . There is an increased ISO mode up to 3200 to help increase light sensitivity , but taking pictures in this setting should be strictly used for utilitarian purposes only as the quality is very poor ( but usable ) . Using an ISO above 400 will bring in some noise to your pictures . The quality is good up until that , but after ISO400 , the quality drops of dramatically . Try to use ISO 80 - 200 most of the time . All things considered , this camera has made me very satisfied ! The quality is exceptional for daylight photos , and good for night photos . Hardware is well constructed and engineered to last . My grades : Daylight photos = A Nighttime photos = B Indoor photos = C + Zoom quality = A - User interface = B + Flexibility ( easy enough for beginners yet advanced enough to grow into ) = A - Performance = B - Build quality = A Value = A + Enjoy !
• 073 4  This is a very good camera , especially for the price . I wanted a camera that would take quality pictures and not require me to learn a bunch of settings . Other than turning the flash on and off , I've used the auto picture for everything . The red eye correction works beautifully . Some members in my family always get red eye with other point-and-shoots , but this camera shows no red eye . The image stabilization also seems to be working . The only downside of the camera is the use of AA batteries .
• 074 4  Excellent quality images , feature-rich for a point and shoot . The 10x optical zoom is very attractive . Since it only uses two AA's ( not four ) the battery life is less than desirable . I suggest using the more expensive lithium's . I use rechargeables and battery life is too short . It's a tiny bit too large to fit in your shirt pocket so you probably could benefit from a belt case . For the money , this is an excellent camera .
• 086 4  This is what I was looking for in a camera . Easy to use , and takes good pictures , especially close ups . Only complaints I have ( which are minor ) , it goes thru batteries fairly quick and sometimes it's hard to see screen when in the direct sun . I bought four recharable batteries for less than ten dollars so that should take care of battery complaint . Sometimes I may have to shade camera if using in the sun . No big deal . Over all , I've been very happy with purchase so far .
• 096 4  An excellent camera which takes some getting used to . The supplied manual is of little help but with a print out of the product description page and some reviews from Amazon I was soon able to make her perform as advertised and take some pretty amazing photographs from this point and shoot treasure . The zoom lens when multiplied by the digital zoom capabilities gives one a telephoto feel , provided that one's hand is steady . Indoors the camera is highly adaptable and one can choose whether or not to use the flash in most room lighting situations . There is also very little time delay when the shutter is pressed . All in all , well worth the money .
• 098 4  I'm returning this camera tomorrow . It's a very nice camera . But there are too many settings that you have to adjust to get the photo-shot you want . I had bought it because I liked the larger flash window that you can close when you dont want to use a flash . But I discovered that you just cant point & shoot with this camera . It has a selection dial with about five different settings for taking different types of photos . For me , the aggrevation is that the dial has to constantly be adjusted for nearly every darned light setting , otherwise the photos do not come out well . I think that a smaller point and shoot camera ( without all the different photo-type selections ) will be better for me . My opinion is , it's a great camera , but it is not for the person who only needs a camera once in a whie for a family trip or special occasions . It is more for the advanced ( and fussy ) photographer .
• 099 4  This is the third Canon PowerShot I have gotten . This replaces a PowerShot A620 I got in late 2005 which was starting to fail after taking some 30,000 pictures of everything from vacation shots to in the field reporting for a small local newspaper I worked for . Four years of use is what I expect out of any digital camera before technology advances force me to go and get a new one . The good : - Excellent optical zoom lens . - Sharp pictures . - Uses AA Batteries ( Nothing worse than a camera with custom lithium batteries going dry in the field ) - Light and compact . - Closeable flash ( it won't go off unless you raise it - good in no-flash / no camera situations ) - A wide variety of automatic and custom user settings ( although I usually go automatic ) - Good video capacity , even though this is a point and shoot camera . - Huge viewscreen . - Solidly built The bad - The camera constantly thinks the older rechargeable batteries are dying , even when they are freshly charged . Annoying , but it usually goes away if I turn it off and turn it back on again . - The viewscreen needs a bevel to set it in for protection - the A620 had a movable swivel screen you could flip out and around to protect , or take oddball shots , which I really miss here . - Larger files ( 10 + minute videos actually ) require me to hook the camera directly to the computer to download , rather than via a card reader . Annoying , but this might just be a computer glitch and not the camera's fault . - Cramped controls - But then , all these cameras have tightly packed controls , all on the right side . The preview button in particular seems poorly placed , since my thumb keeps turning it on , despite the recess . Overall , the bad points are more annoyance and my wishing they kept the familiar A620 shell for this camera , since I was so used to it . For a semi-pro photographer looking for a solid camera , this is as good a deal as you are going to find . For a non-pro looking for a great little camera , again , this is a good all around choice .
• 100 4  The Canon PowerShot SX120IS could be the right choice if you are looking for a quality point and shoot camera that also has full manual control available . It has the Auto mode right there in green on the Mode dial on top of the camera , set that and you'll be taking great pictures immediately . All the standard picture-optimizing software that Canon uses in nearly all their low and mid priced models is on board , including image stabilization , red eye control and multiple face recognition . The autofocus technology is quite advanced . There are modes to lock in shutter speed or aperture as well the manual mode for exploring more advanced photography , and presets for many different shooting situations . The Video is not HD but it lookes great on my 42 flat screen TV straight from the camera using the AV cable , as do the pictures . A similar Canon would have cost at least another hundred dollars two years ago , from what I've seen . The getting started section of the manual is a printed booklet ; the complete book , over one hundred pages worth , is on the accompanying disc . Buy this model for its 40x total optical and digital combined zoom , the nice sized bright three inch screen , and the neat self-closing lens cover . The flip-up flash is definitively off until you raise it . I like the solid heavy feel and sleek black styling that make it look and feel like the quality camera it is . Frankly , it resembles strongly its more pricey high-end Canon cousins . I muted the sound effects , I don't need a little fanfare every time I turn the camera on , a cheesy fake mechanical shutter noise , or the other assorted boops and beeps . The AA batteries that come with the camera died quickly . New alkalines were better but really , the thing to do is buy a charger with four rechargeable NiMH batteries , they last three times as long and you'll always have a fresh pair ready . A 20 dollar or so investment will pay for itself in a few charges . Be sure to buy a case that fits well and keep the camera in it . I bought a soft-sided zip-up from Caselogic to keep dust out and scratches off the body and screen since I am really happy with this cool little camera and I want to keep it like new .
• 102 4  The Canon SX - 120 is a good camera . It gives the user the option of point and shoot operation , specific environment setting or selected aperture and shutter control . I was using the A75 model when I switched to the SX - 120 so I can only compare those two . The 120 takes great pictures . I've only displayed the pictures on PC and hand held screens so I can't comment on the print quality . At 10 megapixels , prints should be pretty good . ( The jpeg files are more than three times the size of those from the 3.5 megapix A75 ) I like the expanded scene setting options , the super zoom capability , the large display screen and the high quality pictures . I also like that it only needs 2 AA batteries rather than 4 . ( The shooting batteries last longer since there is a separate button battery for keeping date / time ) . I appreciate the manual flip flash which means you're unlikely to have the flash go off when you didn't intend it to . ( happened a lot with the A75 ) I don't like the lack of a printed user manual . Even the user guide on pdf file is not thorough enough to cover the capabilities of the SX - 120 . I don't like the controls . They feel flimsy and are bunched together . The camera lacks the solid feel of the A75 which has a firm grip and solid controls . I also think the SX120 battery cover feels dangerously close to snapping off against the spring loaded batteries when I open it up . In spite of those foibles , I am satisfied with the SX - 120
• 103 4  Pros : Excellent daylight picture quality , with good white balance in auto mode . Good picture quality for low-light and night shots , especially after you take control of some of the settings ( especially ISO - keeping it under 400 really helps ) . I had to go to the manual white balance modes only a handful of times - other than that , I was really happy with the automatic mode . For some indoor shots , the warm colors of incandescent lighting might be even considered a plus . Fast , shutter lag in non-existent once the exposure and focus are set - makes it much easier to capture those split-second moments . Once you realize how the auto-focus operates , it's easy to have the camera focused properly in no time . Slow synchro flash option , and 3 levels of flash output in manual mode - that way you can avoid the over / under exposure situations caused by the flash . Being able to use the flash as a fill-in to compensate for a backlit subject , while avoiding overexposing a very interesting background is a big plus . Fully manual controls . Good choice of semi-automatic controls . Optical image stabilization - and it works , too ! ! I was able to take a picture of a CH - 53E Super Stallion helicoper , hand-held , at max zoom , with the helicopter being about 2 miles away - and I still had enough resolution in the picture to be able to count the blades on the rotors . AA batteries - try buying a proprietary Li-Ion or charger at a gas station . Ni-MH rechargeables are cheap and easy to find , and if you can't keep those charged and ready to go , you won't do any better with a proprietary battery . I read reviews from people complaining about battery life - there's something wrong with their batteries and chargers - I have three sets of 2300 mAh NiMH batteries , and all of them are good for some 400 pictures . Good zoom lens , decent optics - F2.8 for a 10x zoom lens is impressive . Small enough to carry around - thus , when the perfect shot shows up , you'll have something to capture it with . Decent continuous drive mode . Standard USB cable , the kind that you already have a dozen of them around the average household . Good , intuitive , easy to use menus . AA alkaline batteries and 128 MB SD card included - so you can test your camera right out of the box . Cons : No printed user's guide - just a quick reference guide . Only supports PictBridge , no way to have it set up as a mass storage device for picture transfer . Easier to use an external SD reader . No viewfinder - although the LCD does a good job by itself . Battery level indicator - it would be nice to get more than a Low battery indicator . Once you see it , you can take another 20 - 30 shots with a set of NiMH batteries . Some purple fringing along the edges , especially when transitioning from an overexposed area to something a lot darker . Not a lot , though - I've seen much worse . Did some experimenting with some infrared LEDs , and got the same effect and color - so I'm starting to believe some of the purple fringes are caused by infrared light hitting the sensor , slightly off focus due do the higer wavelength . I'm still looking for an infrared blocking filter to test this theory in full . No optical zoom during movie recording - only digital . No 3 : 2 picture aspect ratio - only 4 : 3 and 16 : 9 No automatic exposure bracketing mode - it can be done manually , without too much hassle . Could benefit from longer exposure times , and smaller apertures - but the available selection covers about 95% of the situations that you would encounter in day to day photography . A software hack developed by a group of enthusiasts , called CHDK , is in the process of being ported to the SX120 - it will provide , among other things , exposures up to 64 seconds , the ability to take RAW pictures , battery voltage , live histogram and optical zoom during movie recording . Overall , after using it for 6 months and taking more than 2000 pictures , I would give it 4.5 stars - it's not perfect , but for this price , you can't beat it .
• 104 4  I own a Canon SD1100 IS and was looking for a camera with more zoom and more manual options . I expected the SX120 IS to take good snapshots of my kids indoors , using Auto mode , in various lighting conditions ( by good I mean as good as my SD1100 ) . Unfortunately , this is not the case . I haven't even tried the SX outdoors , but the results I've gotten indoors have prompted me to return the camera to the retailer . I simply need a camera that takes great shots of my kids in Auto mode . A few other things I did not care for : - The battery door was tricky to open and in some instances took me 20 seconds to successfully open . Perhaps my camera was just a lemon in this regard ; I can't be certain . - The camera is somewhat heavy but does not provide a good way to hold it , at least for my small-ish hands . The very place I want to place my thumb has the Play button , and the rest of my hand seems to search for something to really hold on to . - The scroll wheel ( not sure what to call it ) sometimes moves when I could swear I haven't even touched it . I feel that the scroll wheel , while handy in some instances , causes more problems than it's worth . Any one of these annoyances might be all right on its own , but when I put all of the factors together , it's clear that this is not the camera for me .
• 114 4  It would be an understatement to say that I am impressed . I bought the Canon SX120 - IS as an intermediate solution between my wife's point-and-shoot and my semi-professional Olympus E - 10 . I wanted a pocket size , high quality camera with professional operating modes like , shutter priority , aperture priority , spot focusing , exposure selections , and even manual focus . I also wanted a camera that wouldn't hopelessly flash without my permission and the pop-up flash solves this problem nicely . But I wasn't prepared for the big surprise - it actually takes good quality pictures I couldn't get with my bulky profession camera ! The 2.8 lens is fairly fast , but combined with the image stabilization and relatively low noise ISO options up to 1600 , I can take pictures never before possible in low light conditions . And , the shutter lag ( or lack thereof ) is also amazing at only .06 seconds for pre-focused shots , allowing stop action of moving objects . Unfortunately , it appears that the SX120 - IS may be nearing the end of its lifetime and I don't see anything to replace it near its current price . This camera is a steal at $179 . If you know how to use a camera and you want a handy semi-professional grade camera that you can carry in your pocket , then don't pass this one by .
• 156 4  5 stars for all steady / in motion images indoor or outdoor with enough light . . . but might not be the best option when comes to pics taken in insufficient light . . . i give it 3 - 4 stars . . video quality as well is pretty decent . . . but no optical zooming in video mode . . .
• 179 4  Despite the grainy photos and screen going blank after some shots , my wife likes the camera . I do not . poster-size , photo-quality prints is false advertising . Sure it looks good at x1080 resolution , however the pictures are grainy at full resolution . There may be worse cameras to be had . I went with 10 Mega-Pixels , instead of 12 for this very reason . The pictures just aren't as sharp as older point and shoot cameras at full resolution . This appears to be a common theme with all digital cameras . The auto-focus is sluggish and far from perfect , and we have to buy special batteries to fill up a memory card . All in all , Cannon is not the next brand of camera that I will own .


• 027 4  This camera is great ! So easy to use and takes great shots . The only problem I have is that the batteries it comes with don't last very long , and I bought some rechargeable ones , and they don't last very long either . But I can deal with that . The pictures look very polished and professional . The colors are clear and distinct . I love the zoom ! Our last camera had hardly an zoom capabilities so it was something I was determined to have this time and I am not dissappointed . I can sit on my living room couch and take a perfectly clear photo of the leaves turning red on the tops of the trees outside.Amazing . It also takes great micro photos . I got some amazing shots of our garden , some real up close photos . Very happy overall . It is larger than the last camera we had , but with that said we gave up a lot of great features to have portability and it wasn't worth it at all . It fits in the camera bag we have or in a purse . That's all that matters . Oh and I also love the screen on the back , it is very large and has a great quality to it .
• 078 4  My wife and I have been using this camera for about three months now . We have used it outdoors and indoors on still subjects and those in motion . It has performed flawlessly . By using the different modes such as indoor , kids and pets , etc . you can take great perfectly exposed pictures . For example , by using the indoor mode , we rarely use the flash , and the pictures turn out much brighter than if we had . I believe this prolongs battery life as well as avoids the slight delay after the flash is used . Ths controls are easy to use and understand . Yes , it is not the slimmest lightest camera made , but those chracteristics are not important to us . Features such as the incredible optical zoom , face recognition , the use of AA batteries and others are what is important to us and what led us to buy this camera instead of others that are currently on the market .
• 080 4  This is our first digital camera . It came quickly and in perfect condition . I am still learning how to use it , but my photojournalist daughter pronounced it a really terrific little camera .
• 133 4  Camera is very nice besides how quickly it uses batteries . I recommend planning to buy rechargable AA batteries if buying this camera . Also , the flash is not that great but overall it seems to be a pretty nice camera . A Great buy for your money !
• 160 4  Gave this as a Christmas gift so I could receive great photos of Grandchildren playing soccer . It is the greatest . My daughter loves it .


• 060 4  This is the third Canon Powershot that we have purchased in 6 years and they just keep on making improvments that keep this camera at the top of the Point and Shoot best list . First , its ' size is great not bulky yet not so small you fumble around trying to work the buttons . Secondly , they have made the viewing screen larger now and that is a major plus . Third , if you have had a powershot previously , then you are immediately going to know the functions and how to operate it because they have kept it simple and then didn't change the steps from year to year on newer models . Forth , they improved the media transfer exchange to your computer immensely and made it very simple . Last but not least , the 10MP and 10 optical zoom is THE BEST Apples to Apples out there for the price , you will not find , ( and I encourage you to look ) , for a camera that delivers what this camera does . You won't find one , not even the off brand camera companies .


• 076 4  i love my canon powershot ! ! ! it's easy to use and the zoom is amazing ! ! the only complaint i have is that it goes through batteries rather quickly . you have to make sure you always have spares with you .
• 044 4  Only might wish for a viewfinder , but seldom used my old one , so it's not a problem . Fabulous zoom !
• 136 4  It is a good camera with a lot of zoom , good before u get an SLR but nothing great !


• 084 4  Best Digital Camera I ever bought for under $200 which is the most I am willing to pay for a camera . Fully Automatic , takes excellent pictures 99% of the time , and it took me all of 5 minutes to learn how to use it . The only negative really is the longevity of the batteries , which is expected - make sure you switch-off between uses or set the auto-off .


• 088 4  I saw this camera in a store ad on sale , and was going to drive 24 miles to buy it . I called the store before to make sure they had it in stock , they didn't.I decided to look on Amazon , and was so thrilled to find it ! ! ! at the sale price of the store . I ordered it and it was in my hands within the week . I am so happy with this camera , I live in the country and love to take pictures of the wildlife as well as everything else . I took a picture of a deere sleeping in my backyard in a snowstorm through my screen , and was shocked to see the camera some how eliminated the screen and snow flakes ! ! ! ! ! the picture was totally zoomed all the way out and it is unbelievably clear ! ! ! I would definately recommend this camera I guarantee you will LOVE IT TOO ! ! !
• 082 4  A very nice deal in this price . Very good quality pics . The only drawback I have noticed is the battery lid which is not smooth to open when batteries are already loaded in the camera .
• 138 4  A very nice compact camera and has a very nice zoom.I am glad i bought this camera
• 142 4  Very nice camera for the price is a little heavy for a point and shoot , but with 10X optical zoom I guess you can't have everything .
• 181 4  I sent it back . it was not the camera that I thought I had ordered . i wanted the SX201S . this was just a mistake . Nothing was wrong with the camera .


• 106 4  I gave this camera to my wife for her B-Day . And this camera , has become my best friend , because now my wife gives me more time for myself , since she spents most of her time with this camera . The camera is great , I'm not a photographer , but all you need is to know who appriciated good pictures , and this camera sure know how to do that . And for the price , is a very nice product . I'll Recommended to anyone
• 151 4  I definitely prefer the photo quality to my previous Kodaks , and everything else about the camera is great so far . Shipping went perfect and the price was right . I've had a refurbished camera go bad on me early once , so we'll see how things go from here , but so far everything is great .


• 115 4  I did not like this camera at all when I first bought it . I thought it was the cameras fault that it kept dieing . I tried duracell , and energizer and they wouldn't last . I finally read a lot of reviews and everyone said to try the rayovacs . I purchased the rechargeable platinums , and they are amazing . I can go through 200 pictures before they die . They also have high number of recharge rates . This camera is so nice now . It takes great all around photos . I needed one with manual settings but more compact . I highly recommend . Great for fashion photography , animals , kids , indoors , and outdoors . It's a little bulky though but much more compact then others and lots of features .
• 091 4  I tried this camera - I had only had it for a month when all the pictures went blurry . You couldn't even recognize a face it was so blurry - not sure why ? ? ? The camera was okay until then . . . its pictures were usually good . Very slow between pictures to ' recharge the flash ' - which often took up to 10 seconds ( without flash it was very quick ) . Also I didn't really like the automatic ISO - I typically like automatic ISO , but this one didn't always pick the right ISO . . . leaving motion pictures blurry quite often .
• 093 4  This one was to replace my broken one which was SX110 . I really like my SX120 . There are not many differences , but the ones that are there are noticeable . I really enjoy using this camera . I believe its a little better than my SX110 which is now broken .
• 116 4  I have had a chance to compare several cameras to do macro shots of flowers . I have found that the canon 120 ' s ability to shoot down to 1 cm fantastic . I also found that the white balance was better than the Rebel XS and the Panasonic 717 . The 10 X optical zoom is a great feature as well . The only down part of the camera is that it has no view finder so as to reduce size but in sunlight it can be a bit difficult to see the screen . A great value for the money .
• 126 4  I bought this to replace a Powershot A720 IS . This is a little heavier but the big screen is nice . However , not having a viewfinder is a problem at times in terrifically bright sunshine . As always , I resent having to go online for manuals - - the A720 complete manual was included and thus could be easily carried with me if I needed a reference . No longer is this done .
• 140 4  While this camera takes very nice pictures you have to have a near motionless subject . The camera is slow to focus and take the shot . The auto review seldom shows the picture you just took but some blurry after image .
• 147 4  I ordered this camera from Amazon a few weeks ago that hoping to get better picture quality than my old Olympus D490 ( 9yrs old 3.1 MP ) and my Canon SD500 ( 7.1MP ) . This cameara failed to impress me . It has the 10X optical zoom and that is the only feature I can say it is better than my Olympus or old Canon . However , the picutres I took are so griny and it does not matter if I change it to program mode and adjsut the ISO settings . The picures are just so bad when you look on computer . I called Amazon and returned this product . I am getting a replacement Canon SX200IS and I am hoping 200IS is better than the 120IS .
• 163 4  I recently purchased this camera to take pictures of the indoor Children's programs I do . The images were very grainy . Even when I changed the camera , to Program Mode , Manual , and Auto , all the images had a lot of noise in the colors . This camera is terrible for anything that moves . Even if you adjust the ISO to take faster pictures , the graininess becomes overwhelming . I tried every option and zoom possible before deciding it was too much work for 1 shot . Maybe someone out there has taken great pictures with this but , if you want something that you don't have to adjust 20 different options to take pictures , then go with a Sony Cybershot .


• 134 4  I bought this camera for my husband as a gift right before our daughter was born . It took VERY good pictures . We only had a couple of them come out blurry , and that could have been caused by an unsteady hand . I would definitely recommend this camera to any one .


• 153 4  I have had this camera about 5 months and just got back from vacation using it every day . Most pictures turned out great . The color was very good as was the contrast . However the slightest movement caused the picture to blur . I tried to change the picture mode but that didn't seem to help . Taking pictures of children is almost impossible unless they are standing still . This is my second Cannon and the previous pocket size one without Image Stabilization was much better than this one and was less expensive . If anyone has any suggestions please let me know because right now I would have to say the camera is not working as I expected .
• 069 4  This camera fit the bill perfectly for me . Fair price , ease of use and good picture and video quality . Image stabilization is awesome and the zoom is fantastic . Large LCD screen is also a plus .
• 107 4  This is unquestionably the best thought out digital camera I have used.The weight and size are perfect for carrying around , the 3 LCD display is great and the camera features are just what I want ! ! If they were going to improve this product then put in a viewfinder and do something about the battery life , but I still give it 5 stars ! !
• 109 4  I am still learning how to operate my camera . I would have preferred a written manual to the CD simply because with my lifestyle I am not always near a computer to access the manual . I like to read at night and I can study the written manual and re-read functions that I intend to use . I almost returned the camera because I could not find any written reference to delayed shots . This feature is very important to my lifestyle and after several days of frustration I popped in the CD and there it was . The CD may work for some lifestyle but is a huge hassel for me . I want a written manual with all the details . V.Thomas KC , MO
• 124 4  This camera is a good value . It is light and compact , takes great pictures and videos , and is easy to operate . If it had a viewfinder , it would be great . But , having to use the 3 LCD display as a viewfinder is very awkward when using it in sunlight . In sunlight it can be almost impossible to see anything on the LCD display . I like the camera , but this is a major drawback .
• 172 4  The software on the CD that accompanies the PowerShot SX120IS will not work on Mac's newest OS - OS10.6x . Canon doesn't seem to be in any rush to achieve compatibility . They cannot state when Canon plans to solve this basic problem . The incompatibility means OS 10.6x users cannot use the picture organizing software that was part of the price of the camera . I bought my camera online through Amazon . All that was said was the camera's software was Mac OS compatible . Had I know of the problem and Canon's indifferent attitude , I certainly would not have purchased the camera !


• 165 4  This is a great camera . The picture quality is so much better than our last camera . We are really happy with it .
• 090 4  For 200 bucks a wonderful camera for all around pictures . exelent picture quality for something in my pocket .
• 168 4  This is all one can hope for - an excellent item . Highest marks all around . Thanks Amazon / Canon


• 166 4  I have only tried this 1 day so I am taking it back and trying a different one . I already had the s5is and loved it but I thought having a smaller camera was what I wanted . It just doesn't take as good a picture and it is slow . I want a good zoom smaller body and a NMHi battery . The sony w150 I have takes better clearer pictures at dusk and mid afternoon . and the canon S5is takes better in the daylight and indoors.The sx120is is a good camera if you only want one camera and want it kinda small and I do like the lens cover better than a cap . also you can see the screen ok in the sun but the color is not really correct . It maybe true that cameras should not go above 8mp as well because I have had better luck with clarity on the 8mp and lower cameras .
• 040 4  A super point and shoot camera . On a recent tour of RI Lighthouses I took many photos and I was completely satisfied with the results . Battery life is good if you get the latest in rechargeable batteries . To get the most out of this camera you need to read the instruction booklet that unfortunately did not come with the camera . You have to get it on line and if you want a copy you have to print it . All 141 pages . It took forever to print . This is the only negative I have about my purchase . Aside from Canon trying to save printing costs , I am quite happy with the camera.I do miss the viewfinder though .
• 055 4  This is the perfect camera for people who want to take professional looking pictures without paying for an expensive , top-of-the line camera . The zooming capabilities far surpass any other cameras I have ever used in this price range . And this camera allows me to easily take crisp and clear close-up pictures . The batteries don't last as long as my last camera , but that's not a problem if you use rechargeables . And the flash sometimes takes a few seconds to recharge so you have to wait in between taking multiple pictures with flash . However , this camera takes great , in-focus pictures without needing flash in most settings . I highly recommend this camera .
• 058 4  A very nice camera , small enough to put in your pocket . Has many modes to make it easy to get good pictures in all settings . Only problem I had was remembering to wait for the green box to appear after pushing down on shutter button half way , before pushing all the way to take the picture . I use Alkaline batteries , and I take a lot of pictures , so it seems like I go through a set of batteries at least one per day . I am very pleased with the camera . 10x optical zoom is great . Used it on 7 day Europe river cruise and took between 800 and 900 pictures and they were great . Strongly recommend this camera .
• 162 4  I was hoping to purchase an easy to use small camera that was easier to take with me than my larger Canon Rebel . However I found this small camera has so many features and that if you are not on the correct setting , you're picture often does not come out that well . The battery lasts longer if you purchase those specifically for cameras otherwise they die shortly thereafter . I'm sure that if I had the time to go through the manual and learn about the camera it could be great but that's why I have my larger camera . So once again I'm in search of an easy to use , takes great pictures small camera .
• 170 4  I have purchased this camera few weeks back . i dont know much @ photography . Found this camera to be good one . Clicks good pictures better than kodak which i used for 4 years .
• 174 4  I am a real estate appraiser and wanted a compact wide angle camera . This camera is not really that . Also , many times I must change flash from Auto to Forced on . This is almost impossible with this camera . I use the sports mode in my other Cannon , this camera does not have it . Camera does not come with an instruction manual which I read , you must download it . That is really tacky . All in all , I am very disappointed with this Cannon camera and I would not recommend it .
• 176 4  The Camera is not flashy but takes some good photos . Some that are actually really good . We haven't played with it enough to know the depths of the menus , but it's easy to navigate-especially because we were used to Canon cameras . I have noticed that when I put the pictures as a desktop , they seemed noisy . It may be something I'm not doing right . All in all we like this camera and my son is thrilled .


• 177 4  IMO , look to purchase an alternative camera . I'm not a camera buff , just looked for a reliable and functional unit . Initially , I was well pleased with this P & S . Pictures were quite adequate and it was easy to use . Downloading images to my pc was a snap - used windows photo gallery . After three weeks of moderate use the auto-focusing mechanism began to grind . Finally , it got to a point where it would not focus at all on small objects - e.g . print . The macro function was useless . Focus capacity died . Returned it - searching anew .
• 046 4  This camera has surpassed my expectations ! Wonderfully easy to use and carry . The versitility is amazing and I can't express my pleasure in this purchase . I did not even realize , when I bought this item that I could produce a video as well ! Far surpasses anything I'd anticipated . . . WOW !
• 064 4  This is my third digital camera and it is the easiest one to date . Canon has gone above and beyond in making this one of the easiest cameras to use . I had no problem with this camera whatsoever . The manual explains exactly how to use the camera . If you have any problems with this camera , is you not the camera .
• 095 4  Here is an excellent little camera with a decent zoom . It certainly has overcome the battery problems associated with its predecessor . Its easy to use and virtually noise-free . I still would have preferred an optical viewfinder along with the screen , but it doesn't affect the quality .
• 130 4  Beautiful camera ! Works perfectly , even better than I had hoped . Canon products seem to always be the best .
• 144 4  I noticed their isn't a very new review on this camera . I got one for Christmas and I have to say it is awesome . I am just a parent who wants to take good pictures of her children . And I am so pleased with this camera and I have only used it on auto . I can't imagine how good the pictures will be once I get used to it and learn the settings . If you want a camera and don't want to spend more than 200.00 than this camera is the one I would go with .
• 158 4  The camera takes good pictures and is fairly easy to use . I don't like that you manually have to raise the flash when you need it . It is also bigger and more bulky than I expected .
• 178 4  I was excited to have this camera , but took it back when the download feature was lifeless after two weeks . It was working fine at the beginning ; I checked all the features when I first got it . Picture quality was pretty good , but if I can't download them , what good is the camera ?


• I am by no means a professional , but I do know a little bit about cameras . I am mostly acquainted with 35mm cameras ( not digital ) . I have owned a Honeywell Pentax screwmount and an Asai Pentax bayonette mount . I have owned a few other $600 digital cameras , all Kodaks , and even though they took some getting used to , I liked them and they did what I needed them to do . I owned the Cannon Powershot SX120 camera for one day and then returned it and got my money back . I gave it quite a workout , enough to wear out the batteries that came with it . I didn't own it long enough to test out Lithium batteries or rechargeable batteries . It just wasn't what I needed or wanted in a camera . PROS : - - Decent picture quality - - Decent pictures even on ISO 3200 - - Great macro features , even in dim light - - Good Auto / Easy Mode - - Lens cap built in - - Light and portable ( although that didn't matter to me , I'm used to having a heavy camera hanging from my neck by a strap . I know it matters to some ) CONS : - - DOES NOT take good ACTION PICTURES IN ANY LIGHT ! ( I tried it with indoor light and then gave it the benefit of doubt by trying it in daylight . . . tried it on several different settings : Auto , Easy , Kids & Pets , Manual . . . nada , nothing . . . . it doesn't take good action pictures FULL STOP ) - - Manual control wheel felt flimsy This camera is great for the casual picture taker who doesn't need special features . I have children and I love taking action shots , sports events , kids in mid motion etc , and this camera was definitely not what I needed in this departement . Granted , I also love taking macro shots , which this camera IS good for . In short , I decided to wait until I could save up enough money to get a better camera for what I needed instead of settling for this one . Hope this helps . . . and if I think of anything else I will definitely post an update . Cindy , Macon GA
• 010 4  A little history about me : I am by no means a professional , but I do know a little bit about cameras . I am mostly acquainted with 35mm cameras ( not digital ) . I have owned a Honeywell Pentax screwmount and an Asai Pentax bayonette mount . I have owned a few other $600 digital cameras , all Kodaks , and even though they took some getting used to , I liked them and they did what I needed them to do . I owned the Cannon Powershot SX120 camera for one day and then returned it and got my money back . I gave it quite a workout , enough to wear out the batteries that came with it . I didn't own it long enough to test out Lithium batteries or rechargeable batteries . It just wasn't what I needed or wanted in a camera . PROS : - - Decent picture quality - - Decent pictures even on ISO 3200 - - Great macro features , even in dim light - - Good Auto / Easy Mode - - Lens cap built in - - Light and portable ( although that didn't matter to me , I'm used to having a heavy camera hanging from my neck by a strap . I know it matters to some ) CONS : - - DOES NOT take good ACTION PICTURES IN ANY LIGHT ! ( I tried it with indoor light and then gave it the benefit of doubt by trying it in daylight . . . tried it on several different settings : Auto , Easy , Kids & Pets , Manual . . . nada , nothing . . . . it doesn't take good action pictures FULL STOP ) - - Manual control wheel felt flimsy This camera is great for the casual picture taker who doesn't need special features . I have children and I love taking action shots , sports events , kids in mid motion etc , and this camera was definitely not what I needed in this departement . Granted , I also love taking macro shots , which this camera IS good for . In short , I decided to wait until I could save up enough money to get a better camera for what I needed instead of settling for this one . Hope this helps . . . and if I think of anything else I will definitely post an update . Cindy , Macon GA
• 053 4  PROS - ITS A CANON ! , TERRIFIC PICTURE QUALITY , MANUAL MODE WORKS VERY WELL , I LIKE THE MANUAL FLASH , WIDESCREEN PICTURES ARE NICE , OVERALL A GOOD CAMERA - - AND LARGE SCREEN VERY NICE CONS - BATTERY EATER ! ! ! ! ! ! ! , NO VIEWFINDER , LITTLE BIT BULKY SOMETIMES . VERY NICE CAMERA OVERALL VERY HAPPY WITH PURCHASE GOT A 4 GB CARD TAKES ABOUT 1500 PICTURES ON BEST QUALITY . ZOOM AND FOCUS WORK VERY WELL . POWERS UP QUICKLY . TRUST THE CANON BRAND . NO PROBLEMS SO FAR VERY GOOD BUY . BETTER THAN SIMPLE POINT AND SHOOT .