excellent optics throughout a very useful zoom range

flash pops out from the side and cannot be retracted even when it's not in use

The strenghs of this camera have been pointed out in the previous reviews. I'm here just to add another 5-star rating to this well deserved point&shoot camera that spits out pictures with near-slr quality.

Customer Service

none needed yet

Similar Products Used:

various brands of point&shoot

Versatile zoom. Good contrast, nice color rendering, low flare.

Obvious distortion when it's in wide range and disappear when use in Tele mode.

Good camera and high quality in this price range.

Customer Service

None

Similar Products Used:

Leica Mini 3

Compact, well built and good size for me. Controls easy to use. Looks like a quality piece.

Would like to have maybe a 28mm-120mm with faster lens.

This is my 2nd "follow-up" review; see 1st review on Jan 15th. My camera took lousy pics! Out of focus, soft and not clear & crisp at any distance. Since most reviews were 4 or 5 stars, I questioned why my camera gave unacceptable pictures. I sent it back to Canon after having it since April, 2000 for inspection and evaluation. This review is based on my treatment from Canon.

Pictures have not yet been developed after getting my camera back. Canon was prompt - about 3 weeks from return date to getting it back. A note came back saying that they restored camera to specifications; the auto focus was malfunctioning. (That was my guess - they just confirmed it and hopefully fixed it).

Canon answered my phone inquiry after being at the Warranty Center for 2 weeks; they actually recognized my name and know the camera and problem! I was surprised at that. They advised it was in the pipeline and should be retured to me within a week (which it was). They also gave me a warranty repair number to track it, etc.

All in all, I was treated with respect and treated well. I would recommend anyone to deal with them direct if need be. Now, we'll just see how well the service and repair actually is after my 1st roll of pics come back. More later!

Customer Service

Really good. See review. These folks treated me well. Just now waiting on pics to come back after factory "restored camera to specs and adjusted focus (AE).

Similar Products Used:

Fuji and older SLRs

Amazing sharpness at short focal lengths, and still quite acceptable at 120mm. Very good contrast and color rendition. Very accurate autofocus, even at closest focusing distance. All those gee-whiz features - they actually work.

Moderate distortion (straight lines bow inward) at shortest focal lengths. I really wish they had optimized the lens at the focal lengths I use most - I take far more pictures at 38 mm than at 120mm.
The selector wheel on the back is great, but if you need to make other adjustments you have to struggle with minuscule buttons behind a flap on the back. People with big fingers and short nails are in trouble.
Untethered, spring-loaded cover for battery compartment is a bad idea.....

I've had this little beauty for about 8 months now, and I haven't had a disappointing roll. Except for the distortion problem, which is annoying but no worse than on other cameras with this focal range, I am amazed at the consistent quality of the pictures, indoors and out. I've tried the sport setting, the auto-portrait setting, the close-focus with flash setting - not stuff I use much, but they really work! I like this camera better than any other P&S I have used.

Customer Service

Haven't needed

Similar Products Used:

Mostly use SLR (Nikon), but have used P&S cameras from Minolta, Pentax, Olympus

Superb lens, varied and unique features, quality of construction.

Wide lens isn't THAT wide, quirky flash always sticks out, dumb battery cover design.

Put simply, this camera is the standard against which all other point and shoot zooms should be judged.

The lens is jawdroppingly good, exposure and metering consistently excellent, handling and features well above average for any other camera in this class.

Canon has gotten so much right with this camera, I'm willing to overlook what it got wrong -- but they bear mentioning.

First, as others have noted, there's that annoying flash, that pops out on the left and hangs there, like an awning over a window, making it all but impossible to get a good grip on the camera. (I'm experimenting, but so far I find myself holding the left side 'twixt thumb and forefinger, pinky extended, as if sipping high tea. Ugh.)

Then there's the battery cover, a fiddly, fussy little plastic thing with a spring that is just BEGGING to be broken or, worse, lost. The guy who sold me the camera warned me about it, and gave me a very helpful tutorial on how to get it right. Canon REALLY needs to improve this.

The little hinged door on the back that hides the mode buttons is a tad flimsy, too. I can see THAT being a problem down the road.

And waterproofing would be a good idea for the next generation of this camera. The manual has some scary things to say about what can happen if the camera gets wet. Yikes.

But...what a marvel this machine is. Hold it in your hand and you feel like you are holding a REAL camera; it has heft, substance, weight. What a pleasure to watch the lens unspool, and see gleaming metal, not dinky plastic. And the pictures it produces speak a thousand wonderful words: clear, contrasty, saturated with color, evenly lit by flash, blissfully free of red eye. The trickiest of lighting situations are nothing for this little warhorse; feed it fast film and it will reward you with snapshots that leap with life.

Have I mentioned what a good value this camera is? I got mine for just under $200. I know of no other point and shoot zoom in that price range that can produce these results.

For the casual snapper, or the more serious shooter, this is the p&s zoom for the new millennium.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Olympus LT 105, Olympus 80 Wide DLX, Stylus Epic, Fuji Endeavor (APS)

Almost metal case, beautiful appearance (reminds old rangefinder cameras). Shooting turns to aesthetic pleasure. For such appearance of the camera it is possible to forgive all its lacks. The camera looks more expensive, than it costs. Well lays in a hand, impresses the reliable and well-constructed device. Correct and very fast focussing is faster, than at any another P&S camera in the market. The soft objective and excellent filling flash are very good for shooting portraits. It has effective suppression of red eyes, convenient management by Jog Dial. Spot gauging of an exposition, +-1.5 correction of an exposition. User adjustments remembered at switching-off. It has the biggest set of functions for devices of this class.

Lacks. Flash creeps out even at its compulsory switching-off and creates inconvenience to the left hand. Inconvenient management of additional functions by very small rubber buttons (though their arrangement under a small cover is pleasant to me). Pressing these buttons almost is not felt. On wide position of an objective distortion is very appreciable (vertical lines looks as | / /). It's very difficult to shoot at close-up distance (parallax frameworks does no help much, and in general it is not clear, what distance they there are designed for). I'd like to have 28 - 90 mm lenses in the same case as Prima 120 (I don't like design of Canon Prima 28-90). Choosing of program modes (portrait, sport, and macro) does not influence on aperture at all as it would be possible to expect. In the user's guide there is not enough information on the advanced modes. In Internet I have not found much too. If someone knows the sites devoted to this camera (it deserves it), prompt where they are.

As a whole, I agree with reviews on this site. I belive there are many compact cameras that are able to make some better pictures (such as Contax and Leica), but travelling photographer can quite love this camera. Generally I use SLR, but I take my Canon Prima 120 with pleasure. My SLR Pentax photos can be better but using Canon Prima for some reason is much more pleasant. I am very pleased with this purchase. It's must buy.

Customer Service

Not used. I'd like to have more information about camera on Net. Just for fun.

Similar Products Used:

Pentax MZ-50, Zenit SLR, Minolta and Practika P&Ss.

Very well engineered, thought out and executed. Lens good for an extended-range zoom in a compact camera, though, so far, I can't see that it stands comparison with quality primes, though I didn't expect that much. Most of the features and functions are useful, and they actually work. The camera is actually fun to use, which is more than you can say about the vast majority of cameras.

The pop-out flash almost kept me from buying the camera. Presently I'm taping it closed, although I am *not* recommending this, since I do not really know what the consequences will be. So far it just seems to keep the flash in the off mode.
(2.) Mine seems to overexpose rather badly and I'm now trying to defeat this by spot-metering on highlights, and may have to tape on a neutral density filter or load film into a casette with a "wrong" bar code to fool the meter. (The 2 exposure compensation choices are not fine enough.)
(3) I regard it as essentially a plastic camera with a thin metal facade on the front, which is not really a complaint, since the price reflects the fact, and the overall sturdiness is definitely above average for this class.
(4) You can't walk around with an optimal, preferred, or situation-oriented focal length set, ready for action, because the camera has a feature of withdrawing the lens to the wide position after four minutes of not being used. This is typical of added, unwanted features which are the plague of point and shoot cameras. To be fair about it, this camera has fewer of these than many others, and the freedom from having to cycle through several options to turn the flash off, for example, makes up for it.
(4)Manual needs much more technical detail, such as exposure program detail, so you can tell what's chosen at a given EV. Anybody know how I could get my hands on that?

It's very cool, and I hope there will be some sort of fan page on the web at some point, so people can compare notes about mastering its quirks. This camera is much more user-friendly than the T4 super, however I've mastered the use of the T4 to the point where, if I'm careful, I can get quite professional-looking 8X10" prints. I've not yet found this to be the case with the 120 Classic, but my results are suffering from sharpness-destroying overexposure at this point, and I may change my mind when I've overcome that. I hope this camera is the first of a line. Canon could shorten the zoom range (38-90?), make the lens a bit faster, add aperture priority, flash on demand only, more focus zones, and a black body, while deleting captions, dates, etc., to make an enthusiast's alternative to this something-for-everyone version. I'd be first in line for it. Hurrah for the hybrid focussing system. Wish I could give more stars for value: look what you have to shell out for a minilux zoom, for example.

Customer Service

Haven't used it yet.

Similar Products Used:

yashica t4, olympus XA, olympus sylus epic.

This camera takes great pictures. One of the major strengths is the Personal mode. The size and look of the camera is first rate.

Its been said before but that flash popping out the side is bound to break. Also the battery door is flimsy and prone to breakage if your not carefull.

The quality of the pictures from the 120 are very very good. I bought this camera for my wife for Christmas based on the reviews found here and on other sites and we have not been disappointed.

It does take a bit of getting used to (the flash mostly popping out the side) but the shutter is quick, the autofocus very good and the red-eye reduction acceptable.

Customer Service

Have not had the mis-fortune to use it as of yet.

Similar Products Used:

Olympus Infinty 3000 zoom, Pentax Zoom 90WR

great sharp pictures. all features work well and very small and convenient to use.

flash could have been located more intelligent to appear when selected or required!

really solid construction and quality of an SLR. The easily accessible features are cool and give you a level of command for composition that you would not normally expect from a P&S camera. Definitely one of the all time greats. Good retro look too. Strongly recommend for anyone who wants great photos without having to become a progessional..

Customer Service

have not had to use yet and seeing the robust build of the camera, hope won't have to find out.

Similar Products Used:

nikon and pentac P&S

Large zoom range for a P&S
Good picture quality
Decent build quality
Looks good

Poor placement of the flash
Poor instruction manual
Constant 'H' error

I found the camera to be easy to use offering good picture quality for the price, when it worked. It didn't like the Fuji Superia 400 film i was using. I kept on getting a 'H' error when i took a picture with the film. It turns out the camera couldn't wind the film correctly and therefore my pictures were being exposed on top of each other. The instruction manual didn't help, all it said was to take the batteries out and put them back in again to resolve the problem! Which of course it didn't.

Despite my problems, i would recommend the camera for a beginner who wants good picture quality. Buy it from a good retailer in case you have problems with it!

Customer Service

Hopeless went for repair twice and was still unable to fix the 'H' error. Genius (where i bought it) were useless as well, cardboard cut out people would do a better job!

Similar Products Used:

None