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

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.

I took Digital Photography in high school and found this easy to use. I also liked the picture quality. I wanted one myself because, I found some fitting subjects. I also wanted this because, I lacked the money a year or so ago. However, when I got it, I found that it was only available through third party sellers. It didn't help that almost nobody had one under $100 with the accessories I wanted. So, I ended choosing VKTechnology because, I just wanted the SD card and case. On that note, I followed their instructions, and contacted them. I specified which accessories I wanted then chose my case. Everything arrived after 2-3 weeks. I was excited to use it until I put in some batteries. It said low battery then shut off. So, I put some new ones after my dad returned due to his suggestion, and the same thing happened. He then said that we need a charger and that those things take a couple of hours to do. (That was upsetting to learn.) We bought some rechargeable batteries and the problem was fixed. On another note, I chose the 2GB SD card, which came devoid of pictures. I also chose the third case they offered me. The size was alright albeit it was a tight fit when I added the rechargeable batteries and charger. In addition, I chose the USB cable, which made it easy to upload pictures onto my computer. One last thing: I got the hand strap because, I was anticipating someone else handling it a convention. All that said, this is a small, lightweight camera that takes good pictures. It can also be bought with helpful, little accessories. And all under $70-80! Of course, I bought this a year or so ago, so I don't know if the price would be the same.

I bought this camera after some research. The price seemed competitive for the features offered. After taking this camera on a a two week vacation, I have to admit it has wowed me. The good: There are a wide array of preset camera settings for different types of shots being taken. These really complement the various settings I encountered. When I was disappointed at the seeming lack of color of some sunset shots I took, I examined the camera and found a "Sunset" setting. The photos that were then produced were fantastic! It is important to adjust the camera for the setting preset for your situation. The ability to change so many aspects of the camera settings manually was an added bonus. The option to take macro shots also made my day when trying to photograph some of the local flora during my trip. The 10x optical zoom was a real boon, and even the digital zoom mode the pictures were clear and crisp. I took photos of flowers in trees as if I was 3 feet away from them when I was more like 20 feet away. The flash on demand worked extremely well and timing was perfect. The bad: Almost nothing. The automatic focus was a bit glitchy at very long distances/zoom levels. It wouldn't stay focused, but move around a bit, and so I sometimes had to time the shot for when it was most in focus. But again, this was only when I attempted to take shots at extreme distances/zoom levels. There were just a couple of times when I wished the camera had a view finder due to difficult lighting situations where viewing the large LCD screen was difficult. Conclusion: This is the Swiss army knife of point and shoot cameras, and made me feel like a pro (which I was at one time). The level of quality of this camera matches it's versatility which just wowed me time and time again. I did not expect to find a camera this good at this price range.

It was not clear to me that the camera was used when I bought it. It had multiple scratches and dings and the thing didn’t even work. Changed batteries and still nothing.

This camera is incredible for the price. I bought the SX110IS last year and get complements on my pictures/camera whenever people see it. I just bought two SX120IS for family members and they rave about this camera also. As point and shoot that fits in your purse/pocket, this camera has the best of everything. I am an amateur photographer who appreciates a good camera/great picture quality and this is hands down the camera for me. The picture quality from Canon is the same if not better than some DSLR models out there. The colors are so vivid and the picture looks like you are actually there. The 10x zoom with 40x digital zoom makes this camera so much better than the base DSLR models. A friend bought the Canon S5 and I could get better pictures because of my ability to zoom that much further. The detail in micro focus photos is very very good and you can see things that you don't even really notice with your eye. The SD card is wonderful because it is becoming so universal as well as the AA batteries. I bought a 8gig SD card and can get 3,000+ pictures at full resolution on it. I bought a set of 4 rechargeable batteries and am yet to have problems with not having them when I need them, which is what makes the AA more appealing than a battery pack. I get between 200-250 shots with the eneloop batteries I have from Amazon. Sanyo Eneloop 4 Pack AA NiMH Pre-Charged Rechargable Batteries w/ Charger For the price, picture quality, size, zoom, and universal components this camera has to offer, you cannot beat it.

Purchased this for my daughter to use on a study abroad program and thereafter. The picture quality was great, she felt it was straightforward to use, although battery life didn't seem fantastic. But the deal killer is that 10 months later, with no warning or obvious reason, it is bricked with the apparently-famous "lens error -restart camera" problem. Tried various simple fixes as noted on forums to no avail. So now it's just an expensive doorstop. I have had better luck with my Fuji digital camera, which is simple and reliable for several years.

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.

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.