short review after 2 loving months with the s120
the camera takes amazing photos and videos, and works really well in low light condition. of course, the effects can't be compared to that of a DLSR with a larger sensor size, but for a compact camera, it's pretty decent.
i think most of the good points are already covered by other reviews.
i just want to bring your attention to the short battery life (~30 minutes in video mode), the funky battery meter that can't decided if the battery is full or running low, and it refusing to switch on when the battery is not fully charged.
i've had odd issues with my camera, but that's ok, i thought as long as i keep my battery fully charged, i can still use it and love it because i've already gotten used to the lovely ring around the lens that allows quick and easy control of the aperture, iso (or other functions that you decide to assign it with). the touch screen is easy to use, and everything is just intuitive to a photography noob like me. i love that the wide aperture helps create creamy bokeh especially when doing macro shots. and i generally just really love the quality of photos and videos it produce.
i could love this camera, really, if not for the last straw that broke the camel's back. my camera decided to take a plunge and fell off the table with its lens extended. there is a slight dent to the lens casing, i didn't think too much of cosmetic defects. what ruined it was the message "lens error". i couldn't get it working again since then.
one fall that destroyed everything. clearly, canon cameras aren't as rugged as i thought it would be, especially after seeing digitarevTV attempt to destroy the 7D.
i do know that cameras aren't meant to take falls, but surely in its engineering design, the engineers would have taken human errors into account and do something to counter the many accidents that would happen in life? otherwise, why would there be the insurance business in the first place if life is smooth sailing as we dreamed of? or maybe that's just one of their other source of income, since they just tried to charge me half the price of the camera to replace the entire lens motor.
i'll get the camera fixed, and probably wrap it up in styrofoam in the future to prevent any other suicidal attempts my camera decides to take.
in a nutshell, i could forgo the battery issues and reap the good quality photos and videos, but the ruggedness needs to improved.