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Canon PowerShot SD1200/IXUS 95 IS Review by MacWorld With Rating 3.5/5

2009-11-17 11:46 | Tag:  MacWorld  PowerShot  IXUS  Rating  Canon  | Source
Average Camera Review Rating [2 reviews]
Announced in February 2009, the Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS (aka IXUS 95 IS) is a 10 Megapixels Digital Camera features 2.5-inch 230K LCD 3X image stabilised optical zoom, an optical viewfinder, Smart AUTO that intelligently selects the proper settings for the camera based on 18 predefined shooting situations, and Face Detection Technology that tracks the faces of moving subjects. The ISO range extends from 80 to 1600 and there's a 3200 ISO scene mode that restricts the image size to 1200 x 1600 pixels.

Like its predecessor, the ISD1200 IS can shoot movies at two sizes, 640 x 480 pixels and 320 x 240 pixels, both at 30fps. There's also a 640 x 480 long play setting which reduces the bit-rate to effectively double the recording time. Unfortunately, you can't use the optical zoom whilst recording a movie, but a 4x digital zoom is available. Since launch the SD1200 IS become one of the best-selling digital camera in 2009. You can find the lowest price from online shops at $164. Here is a recent review from CameraLabs which gives the camera a rating of 3.5 out of 5:

"The 10-megapixel SD1200 IS has as solid feature set for a novice photographer who's ready to move beyond snapping photos in automatic mode. Even so, the SD1200's Smart Auto mode produced decent images, particularly outdoors. Colors looked vivid and accurate, and exposure, for the most part, was good, though sometimes details were a bit blown out. The SD1200 has 18 shooting modes. The Aquarium setting, for example, lets you snap photos of sea creatures without the annoying glass glare that often plagues such pictures. In my casual hands-on tests of a friend's 40-gallon fish tank, I found this setting quite effective. The camera also has an Underwater mode (which you must use with the proper waterproof casing), plus Fireworks, Foliage, and Beach modes, among others. Shooting in program mode gives you a little more control; you can adjust ISO, light metering, focus, white balance, and color effects manually. Going above ISO 200, though, isn't recommended: In my casual tests, I found that my images became grainier and lost detail the higher I went.

In our lab's battery life tests, the SD1200 IS received lasted 352 shots on a single charge. That's in line with the battery life of some of the better point-and-shoots we've seen over the past few years. As with most cameras that have rechargeable lithium ion batteries, you need to remove the battery to recharge it. The ultracompact SD1200 IS comes in six eye-catching colors (silver, dark gray, pink, blue, green, and orange). It measures 3.5 by 2.2 by 0.9 inches -- about the size of a deck of cards -- and weighs in at 4.2 ounces. It connects to your Mac via USB and photos can be imported into iPhoto easily. For the price, the SD1200 packs in the right amount of features for casual photographers. More-experienced photographers will be pleased with the image quality, but the lack of aperture and shutter priority, plus the limited zoom range, may leave them wanting a bit more."

Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Sample Photos on Flickr





Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Camera Reviews Roundup

Neocamera: "The Canon Powershot SD1200 IS continues with the winning formula of Canon ultra-compact cameras with its sturdy metallic body, well-rounded feature set and good overall performance. There is not much not to like about the SD1200, although its image quality does not approach the famous Fuji F-series' high-ISO nor the F200 EXR's high dynamic-range, it produces images of good quality and performs admirably well i..." - May 16 2009 More »
DigitalCameraInfo: "The PowerShot SD1200 IS is a small, cute camera aimed squarely at the point-and-shoot crowd; those looking for more manual control will be unhappy with the camera, unless the fact that it's available in hot pink makes up for its other shortcomings. At $229, the SD1200 IS is not cheap, but it's not bad considering all you get in the way of smart controls that should help even novices take well-lit, reasonably blur-fr..." - May 05 2009 More »
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Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Camera Recent User Reviews

Good Beginner Camera, light on quality construction., J. Turner - Jul 27 2010
Good startup camera for point and shoot. There is a real difference in the quality of the construction between this and other Canon products I've owned. Slow focus. Good picture quality. Features are very helpful giving options to "auto mode" I think I would go up a model or two next time....


Great Camera for the Price, Well Read - Jul 26 2010
My daughter used and older model of this camera in her digital photography class and fell in love with it. I purchased the up dated version and we are all please with the camera. Has plenty of extras and video and prints come out clear. Great camera for the price....


This Camera Kicks ASS!, A. LOCOCO "TDB, LLC." - Jul 22 2010
As I look at some of the other reviews I am wondering a few things: 1. Are these folks reviewing the same camera? 2. Did they get a broken/faulty one? 3. Did someone in their family drop it w/o their knowing? 4. Did they sniff a considerable amount of glue before operating it? I'm not trying to be a jerk but this camera kicks! I have had other Canon cameras, there are a few I loo...


Everything's great except the speed of storing picture and moving on to the next, sandy - Jul 18 2010
Except the fact that it takes sometime after taking one picture to move on to the next ready state, everything's satisfactory....


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