Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue)
Remember the Essentials
A memory card is not included with the camera.
Get a high-capacity memory card so you don't get caught without memory.
The Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital ELPH is a feature-rich, pocket-sized, Digital Camera with 10.0 megapixel resolution, a sharp and fast 3x optical zoom lens, and features Canon's advanced Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) system that significantly reduces image blur, and helps users achieve the best possible picture quality even in low-light shooting conditions. The camera incorporates Canon's latest DIGIC 4 processor for smooth color gradations, rich detail, and unparalleled quality.
- 10.0 Megapixel Resolution
- The 10.0 megapixel resolution of the SD1200 ensures that images are captured with all the detail needed for large photo quality prints.
- Smart AUTO Exposure
- Concentrate on your subjects--let the camera handle the pictures. Canon's Smart Auto mode analyzes your shooting conditions with 18 pre-defined scene settings. From a wide, floral landscape to a night on the town with friends, the SD1200 intelligently captures your memories--maximizing quality while minimizing effort.
- Optical Image Stabilizer
- Canon's optical image stabilizer counteracts the camera shake caused by slight hand movements. This adds stability to hand-held, telephoto or moving shots and enables shooting at shutter speeds of up to three stops slower than typical with no noticeable increase in image blur.
- 2.5" PureColor LCD II
- Framing your photos couldn't be easier than with the SD1200's bright, crisp 2.5" LCD. Smooth color transitions, high-resolution, and scratch-resistant, anti-reflective coatings make composing and viewing effortless, even under bright sunlight.
- Advanced Face Detection Technology
- Canon's Advanced Face Detection Technology keeps every face in focus. The latest in focus-tracking technology coupled with Intelligent Contrast Correction, and Red-eye Correction deliver consistent sharpness and natural, life-like skin tones.
Go To
| Camera Type | Point-and-shoot Digital Camera |
| Imaging | |
|---|---|
| Resolution | Effective: 10.3MP, Recorded: 10.0MP |
| Sensor | 1/2.3" CCD |
| Bit Depth | Not Specified By Manufacturer |
| File Formats | JPEG, AVI, WAV |
| File Size | 2.7 MB |
| Color Spaces | sRGB |
| Image Stabilization | Yes |
| Crop Factor | N/A |
| Optics | |
|---|---|
| Lens | 6.2-18.6mm f/2.8-4.9 (35mm film equivalent: 35-105mm) |
| Zoom | Optical: 3x, Digital: 4x |
| Lens Mount | N/A |
| Focus Type | Autofocus |
| Focus Range |
Normal: 12" (30cm) - infinity Macro: 1.2" (3cm) - 19.7" (50cm) Digital Macro: 1.2" (3cm) - 3.9" (10cm) |
| Accessory Lens/Filter Mount | N/A |
| Shooting Controls | |
|---|---|
| Sensitivity | ISO: 100-1600 |
| Shutter Speeds | 1/1500 - 15 sec. |
| Metering | Evaluative, Center-weighted, Spot |
| Exposure Modes | Auto, Program, Scene |
| White Balance | Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom |
| Mirror Lock-Up | No |
| Burst Capability | 1.4fps Continuous Shooting |
| Self Timer | 2 seconds or 10 seconds |
| Interval Recording | No |
| Remote Control | No |
| Flash | |
|---|---|
| Built-in Flash | Yes |
| Effective Flash Range | 1.0' (0.3 m) - 14' (4.2 m) |
| External Flash Connection | None |
| Dedicated Flash System | N/A |
| Max Sync Speed | N/A |
| Memory | |
|---|---|
| Built-in Memory | No |
| Memory Card Type | SD/SDHC, MMC/MMC Plus/HC MMC Plus |
| Still Images per GB | JPEG: High Res:374 - Low Res:4,093 |
| A/V Recording | |
|---|---|
| Video Recording | Video with Audio, NTSC & PAL Output |
| Video Resolution | 640x480 @ 30fps, 320x240 @ 30fps |
| Video Clip Length | Up to 4GB or 1 hour |
| Audio Recording | 16-bit 44.100 kHz Sampling |
| Viewfinder/Display | |
|---|---|
| Viewfinder Type | Real-image zoom viewfinder |
| Viewfinder Coverage | Not Specified By Manufacturer |
| Display | 2.5" |
| Connectivity/System Requirements | |
|---|---|
| Connectivity | USB 2.0, A/V Out |
| System & Software Requirements |
Windows XP, Vista Mac OS OS X (10.2 or later) |
| Environmental | |
|---|---|
| Operating/Storage Temperature |
Operating Temperature:32-104°F/0-40°C Humidity: 10-90% |
| Weatherproofing | None |
| Durability | Not Specified By Manufacturer |
| Power | |
|---|---|
| Battery Type | NB-6L Lithium-ion Battery |
| Power Adapter | ACK-DC40 AC Adapter Kit (optional) |
| Physical | |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 3.48 x 2.16 x 0.86" (88.5 x 54.8 x 21.8mm) |
| Weight | 4.23 oz. (120g) |
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®
by PowerReviews(based on 44 reviews)
Ratings Distribution
98%
of respondents would recommend this to a friend.
Pros
- Easy to use (30)
- Large clear LCD (28)
- Image stabilization (18)
- Nice body color (16)
- Easy to setup (15)
Cons
- Long lag time (5)
- Limited zoom (4)
- Poor in low light (4)
- Poor flash (3)
Best Uses
- Family photos (36)
- Travel (34)
- Fun (16)
- Landscape/scenery (12)
- Low light (9)
- Reviewer Profile:
- Casual photographer (29), Photo enthusiast (10), Semi-pro photographer (4)
Most Liked Positive Review
I love it!
I wasn't sure if this camera would have sharp enough pictures to make me happy. I am a long time serious photographer but wanted something very small and light for mountain biking, hiking and ...Read complete review
I wasn't sure if this camera would have sharp enough pictures to make me happy. I am a long time serious photographer but wanted something very small and light for mountain biking, hiking and snow shoeing. My other cameras while great are just to big for my outdoor sports.
Wow! I have a 37" HD tv and the pictures look great on it! Really sharp and great color. If you have an HD tv that has a USB input, throw away the tv cable that comes with the camera and use USB memory sticks to view pictures. Composite images from the cable will be blurry.
The biggest surprise to me was how good the videos are from the camera. I thought would be like my other point and shoot camera that has video. The video would be small and blurry. NOT! While I'm sure a true video camera is better, the video from the 1200 are plenty good enough to share with your friends through You Tube or email with out being ashamed of the quality. It shoots in AVI format.
The only weirdness is finding all of the shot settings. I had to actually read the manual (gasp!) to find out where the other camera settings were. I'm talking about the settings like underwater, etc. Once you know where they are it's easy to find.
Macro pictures using the built in flash work great. We have a business website and a lot of our products are small. The quality is good enough that I'm going to use the 1200 sometimes instead of my digital SLR just to save wear and tear on the SLR. The screen is good enough to allow you to really line up the picture before you shoot. Fortunately I have a very short light duty tripod that is just great for this.
I think you will love this camera if you use it as a fun point and shoot and don't expect it to replace a high quality digital SLR.
VS
Most Liked Negative Review
Works well.. sometimes
- The auto focus doesn't work well in low light, if the object is moving, or if the camera isn't held completely still. I had the SD1000 before and loved it. I read ...Read complete review
- The auto focus doesn't work well in low light, if the object is moving, or if the camera isn't held completely still. I had the SD1000 before and loved it. I read some great reviews about this camera but so far have been really disappointed with it's performance.
- The flash also takes a long time to work.
REVIEWS
Reviewed by 44 customers
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Displaying reviews 1-20
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Pros
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
This camera has a convenient size the uses common media format. Sometimes seems the focus is a little slow and it wouldn't hurt to have just a few MB of internal memory. But it takes great pictures.
Pros
- Good Image Stabilization
- Good in Low Light
- Great Zoom
- Handy
- Nice Body Color
Cons
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Travel
- Video
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
I feel, its worth the money that we spend... it has lot of features which can be used. Both manual and auto mode are excellent...
Read the manual and explore the options that are available.. Its really a great camera and worth its money...
Pros
- Good Image Stabilization
- Good in Low Light
- Great Zoom
- Nice Body Color
- Short Lag Time
Cons
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Indoors/Low Light
- Landscape/Scenery
- Sports/Action
- Travel
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
Easy to use. I have an underwater housing and it takes great scuba pics. The white balance feature made all the difference with good underwater pics.
Pros
- Good Image Stabilization
- Good in Low Light
- Great Zoom
- Nice Body Color
- Short Lag Time
Cons
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Travel
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
This is my second, both are workng fine. They are easy to carry, take a nice photo and can be sized for emailing etc. I couldn't be more pleased.
Pros
- Good Image Stabilization
- Nice Body Color
Cons
- Poor Flash
Best Uses
- Family Photos
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
great camera for fun family pictures
Pros
- Good Image Stabilization
- Nice Body Color
Cons
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Travel
- Weddings/Events
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
Bought as a gift for my wife. She is extremely happy with it. Used as everyday camera for taking pics around house and family events. Could have purchased more recent versions but consumer reports rated this particular model as a best buy.
PROS: quality pics, Image stabilization, simple and easy to use menus, convenient size, fast power up
CONS: nothing major. First shot delay not horrible but not great either, not a big fan of proprietary batteries would prefer aa option
Pros
- Good Image Stabilization
- Good in Low Light
- Great Zoom
- Nice Body Color
- Short Lag Time
Cons
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Indoors/Low Light
- Landscape/Scenery
- Travel
- Video
- Wildlife photos
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
Its the wonderful camera with an excellent picture quality. If you are looking for best quality picture at reasonable price this is the one. Most of the normal cameras doesn't take good pictures of sunset. But this camera does do all you really want. I have one and i also got one for my sister.
Pros
- Good Image Stabilization
- Nice Body Color
Cons
- Shutter lag is too long
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Landscape/Scenery
- Travel
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
I bought this camera for my wife to take on a trip to Europe because of its compact size and because it has an eye level viewfinder in addition to a LCD. I am impressed with the image quality when using it at low ISOs. Like all these cameras the shutter lag makes action pictures difficult to impossible.
Pros
- Good Image Stabilization
- Nice Body Color
Cons
- Long Lag Time
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Indoors/Low Light
- Travel
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
This is the least expensive Canon camera that has a rechargeable battery. Small, pretty, easy to handle and the pictures are as good as Canon pictures always are. I have been a Sony fan, but after my first Canon I'm never coming back. =) The only down side is the camera is a little slow; I feel the Sonys are faster. But that does not change my opinion of this being a great camera, and great value for the money invested.
Pros
- Good Image Stabilization
- Good in Low Light
- Great Zoom
- Nice Body Color
- Short Lag Time
Cons
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Indoors/Low Light
- Landscape/Scenery
- Sports/Action
- Travel
- Video
- Weddings/Events
- Wildlife photos
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
I haven't had much experience with the camera, but I have always been a canon camera lover, and this one does not disappoint! The one thing that I would love to see is the color setting, but other than that, it is a great little camera! I do not have a great camera knowledge, but this one does everything I need it to!
Pros
- Good Image Stabilization
- Good in Low Light
- Great Zoom
- Nice Body Color
- Short Lag Time
Cons
Best Uses
- Indoors/Low Light
- Travel
- Video
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
i made my first movie with it and it turned out to be amazing! So easy to get perfect photos and a good guide book comes with installing the software.
Pros
- Good Image Stabilization
- Good in Low Light
- Great Zoom
- Nice Body Color
- Short Lag Time
Cons
Best Uses
- Indoors/Low Light
- Landscape/Scenery
- Travel
- Video
- Weddings/Events
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
I use it all the time and it works great, the battery life is really good and it takes nice pictures.
Has quite a number of features too.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good Image Quality
- Large Clear LCD
- Nice Body Color
- Small / Compact
Cons
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Landscape/Scenery
- Travel
- Weddings/Events
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
Easy to handle, fits in pocket; nice clear images- great for those times I don't want to carry a big DSLR!
Won't put down any "cons" here because I'd be comparing this to an SLR.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good Image Quality
- Good in Low Light
- Great Zoom
- Large Clear LCD
- Nice Body Color
- Short Lag Time
- Small / Compact
Cons
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Indoors/Low Light
- Landscape/Scenery
- Travel
- Video
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
It is compact and takes excellent photos.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good Image Quality
- Good Image Stabilization
- Good in Low Light
- Great Zoom
- Large Clear LCD
- Nice Body Color
- Short Lag Time
- Small / Compact
Cons
Best Uses
- Travel
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
This is a great simple to use point and shoot camera and the photos are great. I have a Canon XSi and love it but people have asked what camera I used for shots I have put on facebook and they were actually from the Canon Powershot
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good Image Quality
- Good Image Stabilization
- Great Zoom
- Large Clear LCD
- Nice Body Color
- Small / Compact
Cons
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Landscape/Scenery
- Travel
- Video
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
very easy to use.dont need to b too electronic savy to understand for taking basic pictures.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good Image Quality
- Good Image Stabilization
- Nice Body Color
- Small / Compact
Cons
- Limited Zoom
- Poor Flash
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Landscape/Scenery
- Sports/Action
- Travel
- Video
- Wildlife photos
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
I use this camera to take pictures of my 2 kids. They are extremely active and can't stay still. My other camera took very fuzzy pictures but this one takes really clear pictures even if they move slightly. However, this camera does take a few seconds to take the picture from when you press the button, which is not great since you can miss great shots if the kids move before the camera takes the shot.
in overall i really like this camera. it takes nice clear shots and really easy to carry around in my perse since its small.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good Image Quality
- Good Image Stabilization
- Good in Low Light
- Great Zoom
- Large Clear LCD
- Small / Compact
Cons
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Indoors/Low Light
- Landscape/Scenery
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
Great camera, good price,easy to use and comes in terrific colors.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good Image Quality
- Large Clear LCD
- Small / Compact
Cons
- Lag / Shutter Delay
- Poor in Low Light
Best Uses
- On-the-go
- Parties
- Sports/Action
- Weddings/Events
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
Another tiny, high-quality point-and-shoot from Canon. I swear by PowerShots when it comes to pocket cameras, and this one does not disappoint.
Pros
- Easy To Use
- Good Image Quality
- Good Image Stabilization
- Large Clear LCD
- Small / Compact
Cons
- Limited Zoom
- Poor Flash
Best Uses
- Family Photos
- Landscape/Scenery
- Sports/Action
- Travel
- Weddings/Events
Comments about Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Camera (Blue):
There are many good point and shoot cameras available but Canon still manages to differentiate itself from the crowd. This line of cameras has retained consistency. If you have owned an earlier model in this line this new one will be instantly familiar as not much has changed in basic functions. Canon is one of the few point and shoot who still give the option of an optical viewfinder an indispensable feature on a sunny day and with low shutter speeds at any time. The display also includes grid line view. Once you have used them to keep your horizons straight you will not want to have a camera without them. The PowerShot has not "shrunk" as much as other point and shoot cameras so it is a little disappointing that the zoom range is not greater. That together with the limited flash options (no fill in) make it 4 rather than 5 starts.
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Memory Cards
Required item: Sufficient memory is not included so be sure to have enough storage capacity.
- Price: $89.00
Batteries & Power
Always keep a spare battery handy so you won't get caught without power.
- Price: $39.95
- Price: $19.95
Bags & Cases
Carry, store, and protect all your equipment with a bag or a case.
- Price: $15.00
- Price: $9.95
Screen Protectors
Protect your LCD screen from scratches and finger prints.
- Price: $7.49
Card Readers
Download your pictures faster and save battery life.
- Price: $8.99
What's in the Box
- NB-6L Lithium-Ion Battery Pack (3.7v, 1000mAh)
- CB-2LY Battery Charger for Canon NB-6L Lithium-Ion Battery
- Wrist Strap
- Digital Camera Solution CD-ROM
- IFC-400PCU USB Interface Cable
- AVC-DC400 Video Interface Cable
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