Canon Ixus 120is
Back in the 90′s I traveled for a good many countries with a Canon Ixus. Great optics but as it was an APS camera it was next to useless. Expensive film processing and a format that although compact, didn’t survive.
My first hands on look at what Canon are are doing now with their Ixus range came from @ilicco at the Tuttle club when he showed me his Ixus 110is
I was really impressed with the build quality, the size and the video. I shot a burst of HD video, dragged it to my macbook and had to stop for a moment. Not only was the exposure spot on in a really difficult environment, the sound was great for an almost invisible mic.
So.. when passing Micro Anvika on the Tottenham Court Road I saw the Ixus 120is.. I had to have a play.
The friendly staff let me pop my SD card in and shoot a test video. Once again I was blown away. This is a 12.1 megapixel ultra-compact camera the size of a pebble. It feels rock hard and it has a 28mm wide angle lens in it. Really very easy to ensure you are in the frame when video blogging.
It was just too tempting I had to have it. I didn’t want to pay the street price though. I always feel the sign of a decent store is that they are flexible and willing to bend a little if you choose to haggle. There is very little movement on new camera prices and you will almost certainly get better luck when asking for a discount on memory cards etc.. Nevertheless 5 minutes later I had a new twitter friend and a camera in a bag for a price I could afford.
The best camera you own is the camera you have with you when you need it. For most it is the camera on their phone and I see no reason why you cannot manage with the one in your mobile.
This is (at early impressions) an interesting bit of kit. Enough flexibility in the controls. A great wide-angle.. digital zoom (which i normally never touch) when filming and great ergonomics. Optical zoom whilst filming would have been way better but there are not many cameras on the market that will do that.
I will know more in the long run.
Compared to my favorite pocket HD camera the Kodak Zi6, the Canon Ixus 120is is clearly the more compact. This has meant these last few days it has been my EDC (Every Day Carry). I have shot loads of H.264 video and transfering the .mov files to my mac via the sd card slot is no less convenient than a flip out USB.
This is not only a serious contender to the HD pocket cams we all love to use. This may well knock them for six. It’s not a pocket video camera you can shoot naff photos on, It’s a quality 12 megapixel ultra-compact that shoots decent HD video.
Ask me when you see me or on twitter or pop into my Vimeo channel to see how I am getting on with it.. I may be having too much fun to blog a follow up.
