Introduction

Product Tour

Overview

The SD1200 IS is a new entry in Canon's compact ELPH line-up, featuring a 10-megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom and optical image stabilization, as well as Canon's latest DIGIC4 image processor. Despite its small size, it has an optical viewfinder in addition to an LCD display, a potentially valuable feature found less and less on compact point-and-shoots these days. It's a stylish and petite camera with a brushed metal body that comes in dark gray, blue, pink, green, light gray and orange to please a wide variety of tastes. It will sell for $229 when it ships in March.

Pretty in pink

Front

The microphone, auto-focus assist light, viewfinder lens, and flash are all clustered immediately above the lens.

Back

The 2.5-inch LCD takes up most of the back of the SD1200 IS. Above the LCD screen are the speaker, viewfinder, and status lights. To its right are the mode toggle switch, 4-way controller, and Playback, Display, and Menu buttons. The back of this pink version of the SD1200 IS is silver, though the buttons are actually a lighter pink than the front of the camera.

The back of the SD1200 IS

Sides

There is nothing on the right side of the SD1200 IS. On the left side are the loop hole for the wrist strap and the AV-out/USB port hidden behind a tethered plastic cover.

The right and left sides of the SD1200 IS

Top

On the top of the SD1200 IS are the on/off button, shutter button, and zoom control toggle.

The top of the SD1200 IS

Bottom

On the bottom of the SD1200IS are the tripod mount and the compartment that holds the battery and the expansion card slot.

The bottom of the SD1200 IS

Hardware

Viewfinder

Unlike many compact digital cameras on the market, the SD1200IS has an optical viewfinder. It is a tiny one, though we appreciate it nonetheless since it can make it easier to hold the camera still closer to your face than in your outstretched hands in some situations, and provides a backup solution when bright sunlight glares on the LCD.

Better a tiny viewfinder than no viewfinder at all

LCD

The SD1200 IS has a 2.5-inch display with approximately 230,000-dot resolution. Brightness is adjustable between 5 levels in the main settings menu. If you prefer to use the optical viewfinder, pressing the Display button below the 4-way controller turns the LCD off so you don't have a bright light shining on your cheek as you frame up your image.

The SD1200 IS LCD display

Flash

The flash is above and slightly to the right of the lens, but the two seem mighty close together for our taste. In fact, the flash doesn't even clear the chrome ring around the lens. The closer a flash is to a lens, the higher the likelihood of red-eye, so we view this design with suspicion.

The flash uncomfortably close to the lens

Fortunately, there are Red-eye Reduction and Auto Red-eye Correction flash modes, in addition to a Slow Synchro mode that will slow the shutter speed in low-light conditions, allowing both the foreground and background to appear in the shot. According to Canon, the flash is effective out to 14 feet when the lens is at its widest setting and out to 7.9 feet at full zoom. It takes up to 10 seconds for the flash to recycle when the battery voltage is at least 3.7.

Lens

The SD1200 IS's lens spans 6.2 to18.6mm, with a 35mm film equivalent of 35-105mm. Maximum aperture at its widest setting is a fast f/2.8, and f/4.9 at maximum zoom. Zooming is accomplished via a rotating toggle that surrounds the shutter button.

The lens fully extended

The lens can focus as close as 1 foot away from the subject in normal mode and as close as 1.2-inches in macro mode.

Jacks, Ports & Plugs

The SD1200 IS has a single port that doubles as a USB connector to connect the camera to your computer as an AV-out connection. Both cables are included with the SD1200 IS.

The only port on the SD1200 IS

Battery

The SD1200 IS comes with a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery. The battery and expansion card compartment is on the bottom of the camera, and the battery is held in additionally by a small plastic tab once the compartment is opened so it won't tumble out as soon as the compartment door is opened. Canon estimates the battery will last for 260 still shots with the LCD on, or up to 700 with the LCD off.

The SD1200 IS's battery

Memory

The SD1200 IS takes SD/SDHC, MMC/MMC Plus, and HC MMC Plus cards.

The expansion card slot above the battery

Design & Layout

Design & Appearance

The SD1200 IS is a compact camera that is eminently cute, an impression only aided by the pink version we checked out. We must say that the shade of pink was a bit too fluorescent for our tastes, but it also comes in more muted colors like light gray and dark gray if you want to be a little more low-key. We liked the all-metal body - it felt sturdy but not too heavy in our hands, although, because of its overall small size, the SD1200 IS looked a little busy with all of the controls and other hardware features clustered so closely together.

Size & Handling

A volunteer with small hands holding the SD1200 IS

The SD1200 IS measures 3.48 x 2.16 x 0.86 inches (88.5 x 54.8 x 21.8mm) and weighs 4.23 oz. (120g), which is pretty diminutive compared to a lot of other digital cameras out there. However, its small size makes for a tiny optical viewfinder and controls that are clustered a little close together, making it a less-than-ideal choice for those with larger hands.

Menu

As we've found on other Canon compacts, the SD1200 IS menus are split somewhat. Global settings to determine LCD brightness, flash, digital zoom, etc. are found when you press the Menu button. However, if you're looking for the shooting menus to adjust white balance, apply color effects, and more, you'll need to press the Function/Set button on the 4-way controller. While this is easy enough to get used to, we can't help but wish you could access everything you need in one place, via the Menu button, with the overlay display as an alternative rather than a requirement.

The shooting menu

The 4-way controller offers quick access to a few settings while shooting, including those for the flash, self-timer, macro mode, and exposure compensation.

Ease of Use

The SD1200 IS is fairly easy to use once you get used to the separated shooting and global settings menus. We didn't feel the need for a a user manual to find an explanation for anything in particular and we expect it will be the same for most people who have handled a digital camera or two within the last few years. The only issue we encountered is that we did find a little lag when navigating the menus from time to time.

Modes

Auto Mode There's a 3-way toggle switch on the SD1200 IS, above the 4-way controller, and the top-most position is Auto mode. Auto mode on the SD1200 locks out all settings, so you're unable to choose from the white balance presets, ISO settings, etc. Moving the toggle to the second position, Program mode, enables settings for white balance and other controls.

Movie Mode

The SD1200IS has a movie mode with a good number of settings are available to control recording. In addition to being able use the zoom during video recording, a feature often disabled on small cameras, you can choose between white balance presets and custom color settings, such as sepia, black and white, and more. The largest video resolution available is 640 x 480 resolution at 30 fps. There's also an LP mode with the same resolution and frames per second but higher compression, and a smaller 320 x 240 resolution, also at 30 frames per second. Movies are recorded as Motion JPEGs in AVI format.

Drive/Burst Mode

The SD1200 IS does not have a specific continuous shooting mode but it can capture up to 1.4 images per second with a continuous press of the shutter button, according to Canon.

Playback Mode

Playback mode is accessed via the Playback button, and the default view is to show each image in full-screen mode. If you use the zoom control to zoom out, it will switch to show a thumbnail view of multiple images, while zooming in will magnify the image. The menu here offers a number of options, including red-eye removal, rotating, cropping, as well as menu options to control printing directly from the camera. You can also start a slide show from the menu in Playback mode and adjust the transition effect as it moves from one image to another, and change the length of time each image is shown. All in all, these are pretty robust playback features.

Custom Image Presets

The SD1200 IS offers a number of scene modes to optimize your photos taken under certain common conditions. If you find yourself in one of the following situations, you've got a preset ready to help you take good pictures without monkeying around with the settings: Portrait, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Sunset, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Digital Macro, and Long Shutter. There is also an ISO 3200 mode for capturing images where the subject is moving, such as at sporting events. There's also an underwater preset, best used with an optional waterproof housing, since the camera itself isn't built for service while submerged.

Controls

Manual Controls

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The SD1200 IS has little in the way of manual controls, offering exposure compensation along a ±2 scale in 1/3-stop increments and a Custom white balance setting that will lets you take a reading to set white balance based on lighting current conditions.

 

Focus

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The auto-focus system is straightforward, with no user-adjustable settings, and no option for manual focus. There is an auto-focus assist lamp that can be turned off and on in the global settings menu.

 

ISO

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The SD1200 IS has an auto-ISO setting, or you can select from six levels between 80 and 1600.

 

White Balance

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The SD1200 IS has an auto white balance setting, plus preset options for Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, and Fluorescent H lighting conditions. There is also a Custom setting that lets you take a manual reading to adjust for current lighting conditions.

 

Metering

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The SD1200 IS has three metering options:  evaluative, center-weighted average, and spot. Exposure cannot be manually controlled beyond these presets.

 

Shutter Speed

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Shutter speed ranges from a fast 1/1500 of a second to a slow 15 seconds. Shutter speeds from 1.3 to 15 seconds are only available when in the Long Shutter shooting modes. Noise reduction is automatically applied in Long Shutter mode as well. Without testing, we can't tell how effective the noise reduction is at these ultra-slow shutter speeds.

 

Aperture

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The SD1200 IS's aperture cannot be manually controlled. It is set automatically, to a maximum of f/2.8 when the lens is at its widest setting, and f/4.9 at the longest zoom setting.

 

Image Stabilization

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The SD1200 IS offers optical image stabilization to compensate for camera shake. We're anxious to get this cute little point-and-shoot into our labs to test this feature to see how well it works.

 

Picture Quality & Size Options

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The SD1200 IS offers several image size options. You can stick to the maximum 10-megapixel image size with a resolution of 3648 x 2736, or choose from the following:

-  2816 x 2112 (Medium 1)

-  2272 x 1704 (Medium 2)

-  1600 x 1200 (Medium 3/Date Stamp)

-  640 x 480 (Small)

-  3648 x 2048 (Widescreen)

 

Picture Effects

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During image capture, you can apply what Canon calls MyColors to change the look of the picture. These options are Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, or a Custom color setting that operates like the Custom White Balance option to evaluate the color levels in your current location to optimize the colors that will be captured.

In Playback mode, you can edit your captured photos a bit to remove red eye, rotate and resize them, as well as print them directly from the camera.

 

Conclusion