The latest in Canon’s esteemed S range of high quality point and shoot cameras, the Canon PowerShot S120, has been officially revealed.
Following on from last year’s Canon PowerShot S110, the Canon PowerShot S120 sports a similar design and a handful of modestly improved specs.
For one thing, the Canon S120 still sports a 5x optical zoom lens, but this time it comes with an f/1.8 aperture. It’s the slimmest camera in the world to do so, and there’s even a new Background Defocus mode that accentuates the bokeh effect possible with such a wide aperture.
The image sensor packed in here is also similar to the preceding model, a 12.1-megapixel 1/1.7 unit. However, it’s allied to a new and improved Digic 6 processor, which should result in lower noise levels at high ISO settings (it goes up to ISO 12800).
Canon has even included a new Star mode for shooting the sky at night – a sure sign that the S120’s low light performance represents a considerable improvement.
This new processor also means that the Canon PowerShot S120 can now shoot continuously at approximately 9fps, as well as 1080p video footage at 60fps. Canon also estimates that the camera’s autofocus speed is 50 percent quicker than the S110.
You get a similar level of manual control to the previous S series models, including a programmable control ring (similar to that seen on the Sony RX100 II) and a manual mode selection dial.
There’s also a 3-inch touchscreen around back, as well as Wi-Fi connectivity. GPS is available if you hook the Canon S120 up to your smartphone, which also allows you to push your images directly to your smart device.
The Canon PowerShot S120 will be available in the UK and Ireland early to mid October for a recommended price of £449.99. Of course, you can currently pick up the still-marvellous Sony RX100 for less than £400, so the Canon PowerShot S120 has it all to do to justify such a premium.
Next, read our Best cameras of 2013 round-up.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
