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

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.

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 did a lot of researching on CNet, Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and several other places before I decided to buy this camera. I was looking for something that was simple to use, had a lot of zoom, had good-to-excellent picture quality, was for everyday use (i.e., I'm clumsy, so I didn't want it to break the first time I touched it), and was in the $100-200 range. I also wanted a camera that was nice enough and had the technology to last several years. Basically, for what I was wanting, I narrowed it down to three cameras: the Kodak Z915, the Canon SX120IS, and the Panasonic Lumix ZS3. The Panasonic had a wide-angle lens, which I was very interested in but which wasn't necessary, while the Kodak camera was (at the time of purchase) about $50 cheaper than the Canon. I decided I wanted something a bit more sturdy than the ZS3 and with better photo quality than the Kodak, so I decided to give this camera a try.As other reviewers have said, this camera has some good and bad to it. I've been playing with it for four months now, and I love it sometimes and hate it others. That said, the good things include:--excellent photo quality (by my standards and for its class)--versatility (the camera has settings for foliage, aquariums, snow, different indoor lighting, and a sunset filter)--the opportunity to have more control over IS, exposure, focus, etc., than a basic point-and-shoot--sturdy design. Because it's a bit larger than other cameras, it can't fit into a pocket, but it is also not going to fall out of my hands from strong winds or clumsiness.--The ability to take multiple shots is nice (I know other cameras do this, but it's the first time I've had the ability to play with it). This camera will take 3 shots at about 1 second per shot and will refocus on the subject between shots.--The flash is manually popped up when you want to use it so it doesn't accidentally go off when you don't want it to. You can also take pretty good pictures in most lighting without the flash.--The camera takes AA's, so if you run out of batteries in the middle of a trip or away from a plug-in, you can just buy replacements.Some of the bad things I've found:--If you want a good shot, you have to make *everything* hold still. My little brother shows cattle, and 6 out of every 10 pictures will be blurry if taken when the calf is walking around the ring. Once things are held still, though, the photos look very nice.-- The auto-focus and image stabilization don't always work as planned. Sometimes I will center something and try to take a picture of it, only to find that the camera was focused on something behind it (this may be due to impatience in taking the picture).--It takes about 5-10 seconds after you use the flash for you to be able to take another picture. I usually fix this by taking a shot with flash first and then closing the flash so that I get a faster turnaround.Also, I've been through 3 pairs of AA's since I bought the camera and have taken hundreds of pictures and used several hours of playback, so I would say that that is fairly decent battery life. However, I also take the 'dead' batteries out and they function in my tv remote, so the camera doesn't actually use all of the juice in the batteries, it just takes a lot of power to run.Overall, I really like this camera despite my inability to get it to take good shots of fast-moving objects. The quality of the pictures it takes correctly, the price, and the sturdiness/longevity of it make it a good value for the price.