Several changes in my system have forced me to reevaluate my current gear load, and some pieces are being replaced. Foremost is my Canon G10, which has been a wonderful little camera. But in reality, it is a point & shoot, and as P&S cameras go, it’s overpowered & overpriced for how I use it. The sad truth is that I haven’t even had it out of the bag in months now; I’m taking the 400D and 50mm lens with me more often when it comes to traveling “light.”

So the G10 is on its way out the door and any plans for a G11 have been discarded. Enter the SX120. A year or so back I had gotten my hands on a refurbished SX100 and during the short time I used it, I was quite impressed. The SX120 is now two generations ahead, featuring Canon’s Digic 4 processor, improved IS, and a 12MP sensor.

What do I like about it?

Size: the SX120 is truly a pocket-sized P&S. It doesn’t need a special bag; it will even fit in my pants pocket if need be (although a jacket pocket is more comfortable).

Zoom: most P&S fall into two categories; 3-5x pocket cams and 20x big boys. The SX120 falls right in the middle, with 10x zoom in a body size that isn’t approaching a DSLR.

Batteries: no Li-ion pack here, the SX series runs on good old “AA” batteries. I use rechargeable NiMHs, but in a pinch plain old Duracells will work, and they’re available at any gas station. (Battery life on the SX120 is somewhat better than on previous models)

Flash: the SX flash folds down into the top of the body, much like the flash on a DLSR. When you want it, you pull it up into position. Call me vain, but it looks cool – and isn’t crammed over in the top left corner, right where most people accidentally cover it with fingers.

LCD: the 3” LCD on the SX120 is huge and beautiful. I’m not crazy about LCD shooting, but if you have to do it, do it big!

Manual Modes: it may be a P&S, but if it doesn’t have M and Av modes, I’m not using it! Come on, Auto modes are for sissies. You don’t want to be a sissy.

What don’t I like about it?

JPEG: since switching to RAW files years ago, I’ve never looked back. I like the options RAW gives me, and I always feel limited shooting JPEG. (But you know what, it’s a P&S. If I wanted RAW, I should have brought a DSLR.)

Megapixels: adding MPs is a marketing ploy; in general (and especially on small P&S sensors) more MPs = more noise. 10MP isn’t bad, but Canon really should have left it at 8MP and instead boosted the noise performance.

Focal range: the SX120 has a 38-300mm 35mm-equivalent range. 300mm is great on the long end, but 38mm isn’t very wide. Definitely won’t be shooting expansive landscapes here (without photo-stitching several shots into a panorama).

Menu system: the menu options are really dumbed down, with the camera doing most of the thinking for you. While I’m not a fan of that, it is what it is.

In terms of performance, the Canon SX120 isn’t going to turn a lot of heads, but it isn’t a slacker, either. It starts up within a couple of seconds and focusing in general conditions is about average for a P&S. Shutter lag is noticeable, but doesn’t leave you tapping your foot. As with most P&S cameras, the burst rate is laughable; the SX120 manages about 1.3 frames/second. You probably won’t be shooting NASCAR races with it.

The Image Stabilization system works well, even zoomed to 300mm, which we’ve all come to expect from Canon. Shooting in lower light levels is possible with this camera, but best done with the lens at its full wide angle to take advantage of the f/2.8 aperture there. When you need more light, pull the flash into position and you’ll find that it’s ample most of the time, although the recharge time between flashes is painfully long.

ISO performance is also about what you’d expect, and falls in line with the rest of the Powershot range. ISO 80 and 100 look nice; ISO 200 is still good; ISO 400 starts to show enough noise to make you hesitant, and anything beyond ISO 400 is better left unused. You can pretty much forget about ISO 1600, although if you encounter Bigfoot by the lake one evening, and just have to get the photo, I’d go for a higher ISO before the flash. Noise reduction software in post will help out, but the molasses-in-January flash recycle rate will make you miss shots.

As I mentioned in the bullet points above, the menus have been dumbed down. There isn’t a lot of fine tuning ability with this camera; it’s more a case of setting the general terms and going with it. For instance, FlexZone focusing is absent; instead you get the center point or Face Detection. Want to format the memory card? Do it from the shooting menu; the playback menu only offers a Delete All option. Oh, and there’s no more Superfine JPEG option; now you get Fine or Standard, although one would assume that’s because the difference between Fine and Superfine was negligible (or so we hope).

Physically, the SX 120 is a pleasing camera to use. There’s just enough of a grip on the front to grab onto. The wrist feels sufficient without getting the way (unlike the neckstrap on the G10, which was reassuring to use, but always managed to get in the way). The dimensions aren’t too big or too small, although the lens housing protrudes a bit from the front, making the camera just too bulky to fit comfortable into your jeans pocket. A jacket pocket, on the other hand, is perfect. And shooting with one hand is no problem.

All your common shooting modes are there, including the three “Creative Zone” manual modes and a full range of auto scene modes, plus a video mode. If you read the online reviews, you’ll see many people complain about the lack of HD video recording. Personally I couldn’t care less if it had a video mode at all, much less HD, but if you’re someone who puts value on this feature, then it might be something to consider.

Canon appears to be cutting costs & waste when it comes to packaging the Powershot SX120. The box isn’t much bigger than the camera, and the reams of paperwork and manuals that used to come with a camera are conspicuously absent – that’s right, no English manual, although they do still include the Spanish version, strangely enough. The English manual is available online from the Powershot website, and Canon is obviously gambling on the fact that anyone who uses this camera is computer-savvy enough to go online and get it. (Which still begs the question of why the Spanish manual comes in the box – it seems they’d either make them both digital, or include them both.) So while I genuinely applaud their efforts “Go Green,” I have to question its effectiveness.

Overall, the Canon Powershot SX120 is a very capable little camera. It falls in the lower (cheaper) end of the “High-End, Advanced Digital Camera” line, so it’s not going to have all the features of, say, a S90, SX20, or G11. But in exchange you get a more compact camera that is travel-friendly and low-maintenance. It is definitely a large step up from the ELPH series, although not such a far cry from the A-series cameras.

You can make no mistake, however, about this being a point & shoot camera. If you expect DSLR performance or quality, you will be gravely disappointed. (That being said, you know it’s a P&S when you buy it.) In my case, that’s why I bought it, because it was a true P&S that I could carry with my, in my pocket, wherever I went. It doesn’t call attention to itself, it’s not a $500 camera I have to worry about, and it’s not going to be used in lieu of a DSLR. It’s my grab-and-go camera.

On a final note, here’s a few quirks that I’ve already discovered:

IS mode: you might be tempted to switch the IS mode to “Shoot only” to save battery life. However, performance tests show that the IS works better when left in “Continuous” mode, netting more blur-free captures.

AF Lock: press the shutter halfway to focus, keep it half pressed, and press the left arrow (MF) button. The focus locks and you can recompose and shoot.

AE Lock: there’s no * button, but the feature is still there; aim the camera at your subject and press the shutter halfway and, while holding it halfway, press the +/- button. The * will show up and the exposure is locked. Keep holding the shutter halfway, recompose, and shoot. (If you let go of the shutter and press another button, the lock is broken.)

Continuous AF: in the shooting menu, this is set to either On or Off. When on, the camera continuously focuses at whatever it’s aimed at until you press the shutter. This is supposed to help prevent missed shots. When turned off, the camera only focuses when you press the shutter halfway, saving battery power. (I keep mine set to Off unless I think I’ll need that feature specifically.)

After further reflection: I’ve used the SX-120 for over 6 months now, and I still reach for it when an event isn’t important enough to carry around the DSLR, but I still want photos.  As P&S cameras go, I stand by my earlier evaluation – it ain’t the best, but it ain’t the worst.  In retrospect, however, I fell victim to the super-zoom feature.  The fact is, optical performance at full zoom isn’t good enough to make it really worth while.  I’d have been just as well off with a standard-range zoom (ie: 28-135mm).

I’ve also found that stopping down beyond f/5.6 is useless – the depth of field doesn’t improve by any real margin, and image quality degrades rapidly.  Surprisingly, it performs quite well wide open at f/2.8, and I find myself doing much of my shooting there (treating my super-zoom camera like a prime lens!).  And because of the physical properties of the lens & sensor, DOF at f/2.8 isn’t very shallow at all, so there’s no real trouble keeping things within the focus range.