Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 477
 great little cam, some improvements from earlier powershots, some quirks April 22, 2009
Omar Siddique (Ellicott City, MD USA)
1302 out of 1324 found this review helpful
The SD1200 has some big changes over its predecessor SD1100, and is the smallest, best designed Elph I've used thus far.
I've owned many models of Elph, this is my 6th or 7th, so my review is aimed especially at other serial Canon owners. I mostly compare the SD1200 to the SD1100.
* The big changes: Digic4 and a larger CCD sensor. The slight increase in CCD size (1/2.3" vs 1/2.5") should make for "cleaner" photos. And Digic4 promises faster/cleaner shots also.
* You get 10MP vs 8MP on the SD1100, and "medium" (M1) size is now 6MP. JPG quality is down to 2 setting: Fine or Normal.
* SD1200 is only slightly smaller than the SD1100, but feels notably smaller by virtue of curved edges and the LCD being flush with the body (no bump-out).
* The 1200 now feels as small as this design can shrink. Good news: my average-sized male hands can still comfortably hold it, barely not covering lens, flash, or resting on the LCD. But the round power-button is now almost too small to press if you had big fingers and no fingernails.
* 1200's new battery is a higher capacity 1000mAh (vs ~760mAh for SD1100). There's also a new charger (not compatible with the old batteries), a glossy white-colored model to blend into your wall.
* The buttons and menus are streamlined. There's now a button for review mode, pressing it a 2nd time takes you back to the previous state. Handy. The slider has dedicated AUTO and Manual settings, no longer need to use menus for that switch.
* Continuous mode and ISO now are in the Function Menu (on the SD1100, they had dedicated buttons).
* A SD card is no longer included. This makes sense to me, a 32MB card is barely useful, and with the downward pressure on electronics prices, I can't imagine Canon wanting to bundle a more expensive/bigger card. Some people will find this lack annoying.
* The A/V output is gone, and the USB connector now serves both purposes (both kinds of included cables now have a USB-end)
* A new version of Canon software is required for this model, Zoombrowser 6.3. Canon typically requires a new release for each new family/season of cameras. Unfortunately, the CameraWindow software has been intentionally dumbed-down in the 6.x software and no longer offers the options to delete your photos (have to go through the OS), nor to chose custom naming for the downloads. I say intentionally, since I asked Canon customer-support about it and they stated the changes were not bugs. The last Canon software to still have that functionality was 5.x, corresponding to the SD1000 and other cameras released that season.
* In casual indoor tests, the 1200 seemed more ready to go to ISO400 (often too "noisy" to be useful) when the SD1100 would have chosen ISO200.
* The SD1200 and SD1100 have identical specs on their optics. However, I noticed a more pronounced barrel-distortion on the 1200 at extreme wide-angle. (still only noticable in close-up shots of straight-edged items at wide-angle)
* In a casual speed test, the SD1200 took/stored photos notably faster the SD1100 (same scene, continuous-mode, same brand SD card), despite the 1200's image size being larger.
* Canon's paper manuals have been shrinking steadily. With this model, the only manual included is a quick-start guide, the rest is on CD-ROM.
* The packaging is even more efficient than before, about half the size of the SD1100's box.
* Sadly, there is no HD video mode, although all of the other Elphs released this spring had HD. SD1200 owners are stuck with 640x480 video.
Canon has several sub-series within the compact Elph line, varying mostly by asthetics and optics. The SD1200 is successor to the series that included the SD1100, SD1000, and SD600. These all favor a classic, slim design. If you're unfamiliar with Canon's Powershot cameras, there's lots of good material out there on camera sites such as dpreview.
In general, the small sensors and optics in all ultra-compact digital cameras lead to some optical quirks (such as barrelling), chromatic aberrations, over/under-exposure in bright sunlight/shade, and underpowered flashes. That's intrinsic to the size of camera, and vendors try to correct these effects in their on-board processing. My opinion is that Canon does a good job of correcting for these issues and the Elphs including the SD1200 take very good photos for their size.
It's questionable that a SD1100 owner would specifically find this a compelling upgrade other than the Digic4, but this is an excellent compact camera in all ways. Apart from the noteworthy quirks: the lack of HD and the limited features in the download software, this camera is Highly Recommended.
Excellent compact point and shoot June 19, 2009
Robert Mah
74 out of 75 found this review helpful
Overall, I think this is a great compact camera and is invaluable for the spontaneous people shots that capture those special moments in life. It won't take pictures worthy of National Geographic (meaning it won't replace a dSLR), but it fills in well when a large camera is just too much equipment to be carrying around.
Pluses:
*Very short power up to shot time
*Pocket friendly
*Solid build, mostly metal body
*Great battery life
*Bright LCD with good resolution
*Sharp images in good lighting/daylight
*Image stabilization
*Easy to use
*Captures vibrant colors
*DIGIC processor picks appropriate settings for most shots (see below)
*No red eye!
*Fast zoom
Minuses:
*No manual controls or scene modes
*Tends to use higher than necessary ISO settings (more grainy pictures, sometimes making them unusable) in low light using Auto Mode (ISO can be set manually in P mode)
*Underpowered flash (common to most compact cameras)
*Paper thin battery compartment cover!
Mostly, the camera suffers from its diminutive size. It doesn't offer much in terms of artistic controls, but does a very good job of making those decisions most of the time. This makes it ideal for the weekend snapshot photographer who wants to take good photos without much more than hitting a shutter button! Great all purpose camera, everyday camera.
Review of Cannon SD1200IS June 11, 2009
Timothy Brown (St. Paul, Minnesota USA)
93 out of 97 found this review helpful
Wow! This is the 3rd Cannon Elph camera that I have owned. Cannon hit a home run with this one. I can't seem to take a bad picture with this camera. I use it for work and take pictures all day long under different situations. Everything operates on automatic, the camera even switches automatically between long distance and macro modes. It is able to produce great pictures in different lighting situations, where my others cameras have failed in the past.
This is about my 25th digital camera that I have purchased, we actually wear them out through use, and I will purchase this same camera again, and highly recommend it to you. You will be satisfied. The only negative that I can say is that the camera is almost too small for my large hands and the camera disappears in your pockets and you will forget that you are carrying it! Really, that is not a problem, and actually probably a plus if you are on vacation and don't want to be lugging around some big war club old camera to take some pics.
I can't recommend this camera more. I just plain love it.
easy to use, nice and slender May 6, 2009
Fiddlin' Mommy (Detroit, MI)
73 out of 78 found this review helpful
I purchased this camera as a replacement for an older Canon powershot that had been dropped 1 too many times.
I love the improved shutter lag time. (still has one but it is better!) The camera comes on quickly, after you have taken a photo, there is not a long wait before you can take another. I was able to easily capture my busy 3 and 4 year old kids in motion without blur (this is HUGE!).
The Auto mode is easy to use and so far has taken wonderful photos. I can not speak to the software that came with the camera as I always use picasa to tweak photos and I use the software with Shutterfly to crop or remove redeye before printing them.
On a side note, the SD cards have really come down in price!
The PERFECT camera! June 1, 2009
Jennifer A Harper
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
The Canon Powershot takes pictures superfast and ultra-clear. It even takes photos with a subtle depth of field, in other words you can focus on something in the foreground and the background will be slightly blurred. Its a lot like using a 35mm, or the Digital Rebel. The photos are amazing! I used to have a Sony and everything looked so flat. You can get some real artistic shots with this little beauty....and the best part is that its shocking hot pink and I got mine for under $200!!! I love it:)
Showing reviews 1-5 of 477
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