Canon PowerShot SD1200IS 10 MP Digital Camera (Dark Gray)

I purchased my Canon SD 1200IS in September, 2009 from Amazon for $160. For the five months that it worked, it worked well. I was careful with it, never near sand nor a beach, never in the rain, kept it in a case. But 5 months later it would not power on, or when I would finally get it to turn on, it would extend the lens and then power down, an even more frustrating situation. I sent the camera in to be repaired while it was under warranty. I then received an estimated repair cost of $118, claiming that it was water damage. Again, the camera was never in the rain, never dropped in water. To my knowledge it was never even damp. If ambient humidity may have caused the problem that is certainly a design flaw and this camera should only be sold in the desert. I had read online that Canon repair had done this same sort of rip off with others and somehow thought that as I knew I'd treated the camera well that my case would not be the same. I am greatly disappointed and will never waste my money on a Canon camera again.

I was extremely disappointed with the durability, or lack thereof, of the camera even with proper care. I was even more disappointed with the outrageous repair estimates that was not even explained by the repair service. As I have seen that others have had the same experience and now learn that one of the cameras I'd given as a gift did the same thing, it is interesting that on Canon's own website the reviews are so glowing. This may have been how I was led to believe it was a good camera in the first place. I have recommended Canon cameras to many of my friends and family and have purchased 5 as gifts in addition to other Canon products (copier, printer/fax, etc.). I will now need to start warning people about Canon's cameras.

I love Canon, they cannot disappoint my family and I. I bought this for my girlfriend and she used to have this Olympus one but I got her into the Canon line of cameras and she noticed the picture quality. Worth the buy, and honestly it has good picture quality. You get what you pay for, and with this you will get what you want....Trust me I was playing with that thing the first second I saw it and took a ton of pictures everywhere we went. Good stuff.

I bought the camera exactly 13 month ago. Never had a problem and liked it overall. Easy to use, good picture quality and battery life was very good. Today however without any warning the lens doesn't open up and I get the error "lens error restart camera". 1 month past the warranty. Reading up on it I guess it is a known error that Canon doesn't warrant. I guess I will not buy a Canon anymore.

I'm not a real technology lover, but this is easy to use and takes great pictures.

This camera is exactly what I was looking for. I wanted something that is very portable but still takes great quality pictures, has enough but not too many features, and operates quickly and easily. It turns on quickly, it has much less delay between pressing the shutter button and the camera taking the picture than cameras I've used previously, and you can take another picture right away without much of a delay at all. In fact, you can hold the shutter button down as long as you want to (providing the flash is not on) and it will continue taking 1.4 pictures per second, which is much faster than many others I looked at. This is something the newer 1300 and 1400 models don't seem to have. I also like having a viewfinder for those bright sunny days where it is difficult to see the LCD screen, although the screen is great in most conditions. The viewfinder is small, but it's better than not having one. You do have to keep in mind that you need to zoom out more than you think you need to while using the viewfinder, though. The viewfinder and quick burst mode are what made me choose the 1200 model over the newer ones. The 1200 doesn't have HD video (which is fine since I don't have an HD TV), but the quality is still good, and you can zoom while taking video without hearing the shutter move in the video. And there is sound when you play them back on the camera, as is not the case with many other point and shoot cameras that don't have a speaker on them. The only thing I wish this camera had was a little more zoom, but it's not bad. It actually stops zooming in between optical and digital zoom and then you can hit the zoom button again if you want to zoom further, which is nice if you don't like the digital zoom as much. There is only a basic printed manual that comes with the camera, but a more detailed one comes on the provided CD that you have to upload onto your computer to read. I haven't checked out the software that came with the camera for modifying the pictures or printed any pictures yet, but I anticipate both will be fine. Also, other reviewers have commented on how blurry their pictures were, but they probably had the megapixels on the camera set too low. I have gotten lots of nice crisp, sharp pictures so far (both still and action shots) with the camera set at 6 MP so my file size isn't too big. And I am taking a lot more pictures than I have in the past because the camera is more portable than my previous cameras. I love the green color and it feels comfortable to hold, but it is a little slippery so you do have to be careful. The buttons are small as well, so I have to use my fingernail to use them, but I like how the camera is all laid out (both the menus and the location of the buttons). For being a point and shoot, it's a great choice at a reasonable price. Overall, I am very satisfied with this camera and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for the same features I was.