Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS

Manual Controls

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

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

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

White Balance

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

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

Shutter Speed

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

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

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

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

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.