Canon PowerShot SX120 IS – Good Photo Quality But Low On Other Features
Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
User friendly interface, excellent photo quality.
Thumbs Down:
Slow performance, heavy.
Inside the Trunk:
Bundled software – Canon ZoomBrowser EX, Canon Remote Capture, Drivers & Utilities, Canon ImageBrowser, Canon PhotoStitch. Bundled wrist strap, USB cord and A/V cable.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Canon PowerShot SX120 IS is a 10 MP camera, light sensitivity options include ISO 3200 (2Mpix), ISO auto, ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 100, ISO 80. It has 4x digital zoom. The camera has a 3 inch TFT LCD display. Connectors on the device include USB, composite audio/video output and an expansion slot for memory card.
Shooting programs are High sensitivity, Night snapshot, Portrait mode, Night scene, Kids & pets, Landscape, Fireworks, Aquarium, Foliage, Sunset, Indoor, Beach, Snow.
Special Effects include Custom Effect, Black & White, Neutral, Vivid, Sepia. Maximum shutter speed is 1/2500 sec, minimum shutter speed is 15 seconds. Exposure modes include aperture priority, shutter priority, automatic, program, manual. White balance presets tungsten light, fluorescent, daylight, cloudy. Videos are stored in AVI/MJPEG format and pictures are stored in JPEG format. Video capture resolution options are AVI – 320 x 240, AVI – 640 x 480. The memory card slot of the camera can take SD memory card and MultiMedia card. Image resolutions options are JPEG 3648 x 2048, JPEG 640 x 480, JPEG 1600 x 1200, JPEG 2272 x 1704, JPEG 2816 x 2112, JPEG 3648 x 2736.
Flash modes Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode, Auto mode. Lens are Zoom lens – 6 mm – 60 mm – F/2.8-4.3, with focal length of 6 mm – 60 mm, lens aperture is F/2.8-4.3, minimum focus range is 19.7 inch, macro focus range 1-50 cm, has 10x optical zoom.
Additional features include I-Contrast (Intelligent Contrast Correction) system, Camera orientation detection, Motion Detection Technology, Scene Detection Technology, Face Detection AF/AE/FE/WB, Face Detection Self-timer, RGB primary color filter, Digital tele-converter, Digital image rotation, USB 2.0 compatibility, In-camera red-eye fix, Saturation control, PictBridge support, Exif Print support, Sharpness control, Resizing an image, Histogram display, Contrast control, Audio recording, Direct print, DPOF support, Safety zoom, FE lock, AF lock, AE lock.
The phone is powered by 2 x AA NiMH rechargeable battery (Optional) and 2 x AA Alkaline battery ( Included )
Razzle Dazzle:
The SX 120IS from Canon is a bit heavy considering it is a mega-zoom camera. The added weight is courtesy of the two AA sized batteries and 10x optically stabilized zoom lens which adds about 10.4 ounces of weight in your pocket. On the positive side, the camera is large and hence easy to hold while clicking pictures. It has a plastic exterior but certainly doesn’t look cheap.
Inside Dope:
This camera from Canon belongs to the SX xxx IS family and hence it looks quite similar to the SX100 IS and SX110 IS which the manufacturer brought to the market earlier. This new product has been shipped with some improvements in features like 10 mega pixels instead of the standard 9 mega pixels. Apart from this, the unit uses Canon’s Digic 4 image processor, the battery life is improved and so is the red-eye correction. Motion and face detection features have also been improved to give you better quality.
The controls behind the camera are pretty much the same as the predecessors which include exposure compensation, menu, display and face detection. There is a big three inch LCD display behind the camera and also the four way navigation button. The button has four buttons are short cuts to timer, flash, focus (macro, normal and manual) and ISO sensitivity. The navigation button is too sensitive be wary or else you might end up mishiting. Other than this there is a playback button on the right side of the screen.
The mode dial of the camera has common modes for scene shooting like kids and pets, indoor, night snapshot, landscape and portrait. There are also scene types like ISO 3200, beach, aquarium, foliage, fireworks, snow, sunset, etc. The auto smart option which pocks the best modes and starts shooting is still there. For newbies there is the Easy mode which completely disables all the access to menus. There is nothing to speak about in the movie mode, it records in VGA quality and the optical zoom cannot be used.
The camera is good for speed but we have seen better. It takes 2.5 seconds to wake up and start shooting. The shutter lag is 0.6 seconds in high contrast scenes and 0.7 seconds in low contrast scenes. Shot-to-shot mode takes 2.6 seconds with flash closed and 6.1 seconds with the flash. Continuous shooting is 0.8 fps which is unimpressive.
Photo quality on this camera is quite good which gives it an edge over competitors. As long as you stay within ISO 400 mode, photo quality is good but the inferiority starts to creep in when you go above ISO 400. ISO 800 gave us some loss of detail and mottled look. ISO 1600 photos are not that ugly, they just have increased noise levels. The color representation of the camera is vivid, bright and excellent.
Nitty Gritty:
Canon PowerShot SX120 IS is a good camera with great photo quality and good design. But when it comes to competition in this price range we will recommend Sony’s H20, Kodak’s Z915 or Panasonic’s ZS1. However if you have already made up your mind then make sure you keep your prints less than 8×10.
