Canon Powershot A1200 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom (Silver) (OLD MODEL)

Canon Powershot A1200 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom (Silver) (OLD MODEL)

• 12.1 megapixels, 4x wide-angle optical zoom (28mm), and optical viewfinder.It will zoom on the LCD as well as the viewfinder.
• Smart Auto intelligently selects settings from 32 predefined shooting situations
• Record movies with 720p HD video
• AA battery power enables you to easily power up on the go
• Discreet Mode disables the sound, flash and AF beam for use in quiet areas

Buy Now : Canon Powershot A1200 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom (Silver) (OLD MODEL)

Brand : Canon
Category : Electronics,Camera & Photo,Digital Cameras,Point & Shoot Digital Cameras
Rating : 4
Review Count : 226

Canon Powershot A1200 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom (Silver) (OLD MODEL)

• I received this camera and it had the Canon CCD disease. Nice cheap camera, but would have been nice if it had worked. Unfortunately I purchased my camera from newegg.com and it appears I will have to pay to ship it back to them! This will be my last purchase from newegg.com. If you\'re smart you won\'t shop at newegg...order from Amazon and sleep well.EDIT: 06/05/12 Ok, I\'ve upped my review from 1-star to 4-star. Newegg came through and handled the situation nicely. Credited me back, picked up the tab for shipping back, apologized, etc.,. I did have to purchase the camera elsewhere as they were out of stock on the silver camera.I got the camera to primarily take pictures of honey bees. I didn\'t want an expensive camera as I new it would be in some sticky situations. :) The camera has done great and I\'m still learning it. It has some features that are good for close-ups. Close-ups are very good, regular shots are good, and HD video is good. With a 12mp resolution you can crop heavily. I can\'t say it\'s excellent but it\'s doggone good for an $80 camera! I\'m pleased with it. Two features that are very nice and that most other cameras in this price range don\'t have is that it actually has an optical viewfinder and that it uses two AA batteries. The viewfinder is *very* helpful in bright situations when the lcd screen washed out. If your batteries go out while on the road you can stop and pick up some regular batteries and keep going. I use four Eneloop rechargeable batteries and they work great and maintain a charge for a long time...actually better than Duracell alkalines! In a pinch, though, I\'ll stick some alkalines in. ;) Anyhow, it\'s a good camera at a good price.
• Like it\'s Powershot siblings, the Canon A1200 is a heck of a nice piece of equipment for shooting nature close-ups. I\'ve taken this camera out twice now, and so far it has taken wonderful photos. I\'ve posted some samples from a single hike.Although the A1200 can\'t squeeze in on a subject as closely as the A480 (one of my all-time favorite cameras), this new Canon camera is capable of focusing just an inch and a half away from the subject in \"Macro\" mode. I usually carry one or two Pentax DLSR cameras as I hike through miles of woodland trails every weekend, and although they\'re great cameras, they simply can\'t beat Canon Powershots for capturing the tiniest nature subjects, in my opinion. If a subject is smaller than a quarter, out come the Powershots.This camera takes photos that easily match or beat the quality of images you\'ll find in typical nature guides by Peterson or Simon & Schuster. Spend a year on the trail with it, and you could easily have a full set of quality publishable photos. Unlike more expensive point-and-shoots or DSLRs, this Powershot doesn\'t have camera raw or enough pixels to fill a wall, but the image quality and output is suitable for small posters, so who cares? Frankly, counting pixels and foaming over camera raw are not admirable traits, and neither of those things produces good pictures.Image noise seems to be a bit improved since the A480s and A490s came out, especially when shooting in lower light. This camera has 12 versus 10 megapixels of its predecessors, so in theory you can get a larger photo now and still retain sharpness and detail. The controls will be familiar to anyone who has used a Canon point-and-shoot. I like the general layout of buttons compared to other brands, but that may be just because I\'m more familiar with Canon. The A1200 has a viewfinder, which I\'ll never use because the thing is usually shooting photos right on the ground, and although I like the outdoors, I\'m not sticking my face in the dirt and squinting through a viewfinder when I don\'t have to. The LCD screen is good enough. I\'ve banged and tortured the daylights out of one A480 and killed another one after multiple assaults due to clumsiness. So far, this camera has taken a little knocking around without a complaint.The A1200 shoots HD video, which isn\'t nearly as good as even an inexpensive video camera, but nonetheless I was surprised that the movies looked as good as they did. When shooting video, you\'ll get the best results if you stabilize the camera on a tripod, the back of a chair, a railing, or tree branch, depending on where you are. Video compression is a little cleaner that way, and you can avoid making people sick from zinging the camera around like a roller coaster.Here are some tips for taking good close-up nature photos with this camera. I usually shoot with the dial in \"P\" mode. Most importantly, always remember to set the camera on \"Macro\" (the flower icon button). That allows it to focus as close as 1.5 inches away. Since the camera resets when you turn it off, Arggh!, you have to turn \"Macro\" on each time you restart it. On this camera, macro focus becomes dysfunctional if you zoom in, so keep it zoomed all the way out. Next, go into the menu and change the general settings. AF Frame should be \"Center\" so you can pick the point to focus on, AF Frame Size should be \"Small\" so it doesn\'t get confused as to where it should focus, and the Digital Zoom is garbage and should be banished forever. Unlike the \"Macro\" setting, these settings will NOT go away when you turn the camera off, fortunately. Since this is not an image-stabilized camera model, find some way to keep it still when shooting. When you\'re focused on a close-up subject, even a tiny movement is enough to blur your photo. To keep my camera still, I swear by a monopod with an adjustable pivoting head. Basically it\'s a one-legged tripod. A monopod can remove the worst of your hand jitters, and it doesn\'t even need to be extended to the ground -- just having your camera mounted to a stick helps stabilize your shot. Practice photographing coins or small subjects in your yard to get a feeling for macro photography. You\'ll notice that the area of sharpest focus is not as deep as it is when subjects are father away. You have to make deliberate choices on the point of sharpest focus. Check the photos on a computer if possible, so you can really see how well you\'re doing. And finally, shoot a million pictures. This is the digital age. You don\'t have to pay for dud prints any more. Be vicious when culling out the duds, because believe me, nobody wants to see 75 views of the same buttercup flower.
• I already have a Canon A590IS pocket camera, as well as a Nikon D5000 SLR. I wanted something in-between, with more megapixels for better image quality than the A590IS, but still a compact camera, since the Nikon SLR can sometimes be obtrusive. I also wanted something that used AA batteries, which are both inexpensive and readily available practically everywhere. Recharging expensive batteries that eventually have to be replaced anyway is both time-consuming and inconvenient, and when recharging no longer works, a new battery for a specific camera is rarely available right away. Finally, I wanted a compact camera with an old-fashioned optical viewfinder for framing the shot. I use the LCD screen too, but in bright daylight, the optical viewfinder is simply easier and faster than trying to shade the LCD so I can see it.In terms of size, the A1200 is quite good. It easily fits into a shirt or pants pocket, and it\'s not heavy.Image quality is just what I was hoping for - significantly better than my A590IS. It\'s not a match for the Nikon digital SLR, but I wasn\'t expecting it to be, and the difference won\'t show up in the usual 4 x 6 print. Only with sizable enlargements (i.e., 8 x 10 and up) will the size of the 12.1 MP sensor have an effect on image clarity and resolution.Operation is straightforward. Buttons and controls are easy to use. The printed \"Getting Started\" guide will tell most users all they need to know to start taking photos. The optical viewfinder works as I wanted it to, though I\'d like it to be just a bit larger. I\'m a big guy with large hands, and sometimes the camera feels \"too small\" and/or \"too smooth,\" and I\'m afraid it will slip out of my hand and fall to the ground, but I\'m careful to use the wrist strap. That strap, by the way, is not at all convenient to attach - Canon ought to rethink the attachment setup.My only real complaint, and for me it\'s a significant one, is that the camera is too automatic. There are lots of shooting options in \"Scene\" mode, but unless you\'ve memorized them from the manual (only readable from the CD unless you print your own copy), you won\'t be able to remember which \"scene\" gives you the best shutter speed, or f-stop, or combination of the two. I end up using \"scenes\" that don\'t fit Canon\'s idea of what I should be shooting because I\'m trying to get to particular combinations of shutter speed and f-stop.Obviously, what I really want is essentially the same camera, but with a manual mode, and I simply couldn\'t find one with manual settings and the A1200\'s other features without spending 2 or 3 times the money. While some automation is helpful, there are plenty of photo opportunities where I want to be the one making the choices, not the camera, so I\'ve often found the A1200 frustrating to use in those circumstances. \"Easy to use,\" which is an accurate characterization, doesn\'t always translate to the kind of image I\'m trying to achieve.Bottom line: for people who don\'t want to think about technical stuff, and just want to take snapshots, this is a great camera, and the image quality is good enough that they can get good-quality enlargements from the images it takes. If you\'re more technically inclined, I think you\'ll find the \"everything automatic\" qualities of the camera frustrating. Thus, I only give it 3 stars overall.

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