Design: With a choice between silver, dark gray, green, orange, blue and pink the Canon PowerShot SD1200IS should appeal to anyone. Measuring in at 3.5 inches by 2.2 inches high and 0.9 inch deep this 10MP ultra-compact is small, thin but comfortable to grip. Featuring a mode switch, a play button, a directional pad and Function Set button, the controls are easy to access. The shutter button has a zoom ring next to the power button with most of the buttons being rather flat, making them ideal for slim fingers. At a mere 4.9 ounces the camera weighs almost nothing at all with a 2.5 inch LCD viewfinder.

Specifications: Powered by a 10MP 1/2.3 inch CCD sensor the Canon PowerShot SD1200IS offers a 3x optical zoom lens at f2.8-4.9 and 35mm equivalent. The camera itself takes up to 3648×2736 resolution JPEG still images and up to 640×480 at 30fps motion JPEG movies. With both mechanical and digital image stabilization the camera takes fairly steady shots. Equipped with a Li-ion rechargeable battery, the camera is rated for 260 shots on a single charge.

Features & Performance: Menu navigation for the Canon PowerShot SD1200IS is simple and straightforward with a basic but well rounded array of features. This includes ISO sensitivity up to 1600, White Balance, Focus, Metering and Color effects. Canon‘s Smart Auto mode is good for the most part.

The Canon PowerShot SD1200IS reacts quite fast for such an ultra-compact model. With a startup-time-to-first-shot of 1.4 seconds, shutter lag at 0.5 second and shutter lag in dim conditions of 0.7 second, the camera is quite fast. Its shot-to-shot time of 2.1 seconds without flash and 3.2 seconds with flash continuous shooting is good while burst mode takes pictures at 1.4fps. Image quality is very good with lush and vibrant colors and great exposure, but for best results try to stay at ISO 200. Overall, the Canon PowerShot SD1200IS is a great 10MP ultra-compact point-and-shoot in terms of usability and more or less guarantees great quality images.

The Canon PowerShot SD880IS 10MP Digital Camera is a photographer’s delight as it gives you endless creative options. I particularly picked up this piece because its auto settings simply helped me get better pictures. I don’t need to worry about the ill effects caused due to the camera shaking or the light being too dim. It also turned out to be quite handy as it has a better version of face detection and a versatile contrast correction option. Its 10MP option also gave me the freedom to enlarge pictures to my heart’s content without having to worry about the picture quality.

The new feature, a face detection auto-timer only starts the timer once the photographer have settled into the picture scope while taking pictures on a timer. What I really liked about it was that I didn’t need to rush breathlessly to fit myself into the picture within a few seconds to include myself in a self-timed group photograph. The red-eye correction option is also really useful. It helped me detect and correct the red-eye during the image playback on the LCD screen.

The Canon PowerShot SD880IS is a 10.0-megapixel camera and has a 4x optical zoom. It has a 28mm wide-angle lens that is ideal for taking all those big group photos during family functions and gatherings. It also has a large 3.0-inch LCD screen that increases control in framing shots. The night vision feature makes it very easy to take photos in low light conditions. To wrap it up, the Canon PowerShot SD880IS 10MP Digital Camera is a wonderful easy to use camera that I would recommend to anyone who wants to take his or her photography hobby to the next level.

If you are a Canon Rebel fan, you wait for the next release in the Rebel line with great anticipation. Released in late March, 2009, the most recent version, the Canon EOS Rebel T1i EF-S Digital SLR Camera, does not disappoint. In fact, dub this release a Rebel Revolution or a Rebellution.

What’s New!

1. Megapixels

Love to hear about increases in Megapixels? The Canon EOS Rebel T1i EF-S Digital SLR Camera MP is 15.1 MP as compared to the previous version’s (XSi) 12.1 MP. Wonder how high a MP rating future technology will allow?

2. LCD Resolution

The 3″ LCD display on the back of the camera is 920k pixels versus the XSi’s 230k pixels. The better to see the live-action, before-you-shoot view of your subject!

3. ISO Range

ISO range has increased from 100 – 1600 in the XSi to 100 – 3200, expandable to 6400 and 12800. The better to shoot in low light situations!

So What’s Revolutionary?

Couple the improvements mentioned above with one more outstanding feature – High Definition video capture, and Canon sparked a Rebellution!

Canon upgraded the T1i processor to DIGIC 4 from the XSi’s DIGIC III, thus making the T1i capable of shooting in HD video.

The Bottom Line

PCMAG.com editors gave the Canon EOS Rebel T1i EF-S Digital SLR Camera a 4/5 rating while a customer review shows a 5/5 rating.

PCMAG bottom line: The Canon EOS Rebel T1i helps redefine the D-SLR landscape by offering prosumer features, performance, and image quality for less than $1,000.

The Canon EOS 7D is a very handy item to have with you when you are on vacation. This brand new DSLR is very versatile and is packed with excellent features that make it a travel camera that is hard to top. Your pictures will be the envy of your family and friends.

The best way to get excellent pictures is to have a great travel camera that is easy to use, but one that also has good functionality. When you are on the go, you need to know that you can snap pictures at a moment’s notice with a reliable piece of equipment. This baby smokes at 8 frames per second of continuous shooting so that you don’t have to miss any photo opportunity, and you can capture multiple shots of moving objects or people. For example, while watching “The Running of the Bulls”, you will have enough detailed photos of bulls tossing those silly runners high into the air so you can find one with just the right surprised expression on the unfortunate victims face (just kidding).

The Canon EOS 7D provides high quality resolution digital pictures with its 18 megapixel image sensor. This means that you will be able to enlarge your photographs into a large canvas portrait or poster with no problems. You can also quickly check the photo that you have taken with the oversized 3.0 inch LCD screen. Being able to clearly see what you have captured can make a world of difference.

An added bonus is the 1080p HD video recording option. Unique travel moments can happen that are better captured through video. Having a multi-functional photographic unit makes your holiday experience easier and more fun. It reduces your stress and allows you to spend more time focusing on other activities.

The exterior buttons and dials help you save time on picking your favorite options. On the body of the device are commonly used buttons that reduce your search time because you don’t have to sift through a complicated on-screen menu. With the click of a button or the twist of a dial, you can have the setting that you need in place.

It’s another Digital SLR shootout! Canon vs Nikon… again. This is an extremely interesting battle of Photography Equipment Manufacturers.

The stakes are high as they duke it out to see who can win the most new consumers.

Photographers are lining up across the virtual battlefield from each other to hurl technical features and camera jargon back and forth.

If you search photography forums for the latest threads about these two mid-range Digital SLR cameras, you will see some very interesting comments. But once the dust is settled, it seems that there is really a winner.

Here are some of the issues that have risen to the top of the debate since the release of two very similar, and, yes, amazing, pieces of photographic equipment.

Megapixel count -

Megapixel count seems to favor the Canon 7D at 18 megapixels vs 12 megapixels on the Nikon D300s. However, the only mention of the issue was from one user who mentioned that the higher resolution of 18 megapixels was an asset when recording images at a high zoom range. Otherwise, it was a non-issue.

Auto Focus –

This is a feature that would seem to favor the Nikon D300s with its 51 focal points, because the Canon 7D has only 19 focal points. However, this is where more is not always better. Some of the comments made reference to the fact that with 51 points to try to focus on, the camera had to work much too hard to quickly coordinate all those points.

Essentially, the 19 point system worked far better when dealing with fast moving objects because the camera‘s computer was able to keep up with the demand for continuous focus. When not much movement is involved the AutoFocus was not an issue with either camera, but when it was necessary to lock focus on a moving object, one user commented that the “7D is the most capable AF I’ve seen to date.”

Hmmm.. very interesting

Movie Mode -

Both cameras feature HD video capture. The Canon 7D has higher resolution at 1080p and 30 frames per second versus 720p and 24 frames per second.

ISO -

Now that the cameras have been in the hands of actual users for several months, the comments indicate that the Nikon D300s has not been able to capture the same quality of images at high ISO ratings. This will come into play if you are shooting photos indoors in lower light without a flash, such as at a school play or a concert where there will be ” No Flash Photography Permitted”.

LCD -

Again on the issue of numbers, it would appear that the LCD clarity would be about the same, but, once more, comments on the user forums by folks who have used both cameras seem to favor the brightness of the Canon 7D, especially out doors in bright sunlight when using movie mode and/or Live View.

Price -

Street price is about $100 cheaper for the Nikon D300s. That is $1500 vs $1600, depending upon where you are shopping. This is for the Body Only – without a lens.

Bottom Line – if you are a fan of one camera brand or the other, there is no need to switch, because you will continue to get great images from your chosen brand.

In addition, even though the Canon 7D is the obvious winner in this review, just wait. It won’t be long before both cameras are replaced with newer, shinier, more technologically developed siblings.

It is indeed a great time to be a photographer. Photography is really fun.