The out-of-camera JPEGs are quite soft and at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your tastes via the Picture Style options. In addition to One Shot, there are Al Servo and Al Focus modes. Al Servo is a continuous AF, which is in a constant state of focusing, while Al Focus is halfway house between Al Servo and One Shot. This mode finds focus and won’t focus again until something in the frame moves, which is particularly useful for wildlife photography. The EOS 1200D combines Canon's world class imaging system with a range of intuitive, easy-to-use controls. Together with Canon's EOS Companion app, capturing images is easier and more enjoyable than ever before. With no external microphone port, the EOS 1200D replies on its own internal microphone. However, it is possible to manually adjust the audio level in the menu. Canon EOS 1200D review – The competition Turn the shooting mode dial to the video setting, press the dedicated rear plate Live View button and you're ready to shoot video on the 1200D via a squeeze of the shutter release button.

However, the launch of the Canon EOS 1200D comes at a time when there’s more competition than ever at the entry-level price point. With the options of small, light and inexpensive compact system cameras, as well as low-priced DSLRs from the likes of Nikon, Pentax and even Canon itself, the EOS 1200D has to do quite a lot to fight its corner. The highlight specification is its 18-million-pixel CMOS sensor and full 1080p HD video, but is it enough? Canon EOS 1200D review – FeaturesUsers can access the white balance menu on the EOS 1200D by tapping the button on the D-pad at the rear of the camera. Inside this menu are several options. There are preset white balances for daylight, shade, cloudy, tungsten, white fluorescent and flash, as well as automatic white balance (AWB) and custom white balance. As expected from a company such as Canon, the white balance is extremely accurate, producing images that do not shift greatly in warmer or colder tones. When scenes do require a slight tweak of the white balance settings, it is possible to change the blue/amber or magenta/green bias by a value of ±9. Zone TTL Full-aperture Metering, Evaluative Metering (Linked to All AF Points), Partial Metering (10% of Viewfinder at Center), Center Weighted Average Metering The T5 / 1200D’s built-in flash is popped up using a button just behind the main dial on the top of the grip. It’s not as odd a place for it as you might think because it’s programmable and can be assigned to ISO sensitivity. The flash is the same unit as on the earlier T3 / 1100D with a Guide Number of 9.2 in metres at 100 ISO. That’s a little less powerful than the Nikon D3300’s built-in flash which has a Guide Number of 12 and also offers wireless control with compatible Nikon units. With a GN of 9.2 the Sony A3000’s built-in flash has the same power output as the T5 / 1200. Both the T5 / 1200D and D3300 have a hotshoe, as does the Sony A3000, but the latter is Sony’s multi-interface shoe which can take an external flash as well as other accessories. Improving the sharpness of the JPEG images is relatively easy. Picture Style has a default sharpness value of +3, but setting it to +5 improves the results. However, far more detailed images can be achieved by processing the raw files using the supplied software or Adobe Camera Raw.

The EOS T5 / 1200D is capable of continuous shooting at 3fps and should maintain that rate for 69 large fine JPEGs or 6 RAW fles. To test it, I fitted the T5 / 1200D with a freshly formatted Sandisk UHS-1 SD card rated at 45MB/s, set the image size to large fine JPEG and selected the continuous shooting drive mode. With the shutter release held down the T5 / 1200D fired off a sequence of 100 frames with metronomic regularity and would would most likely have continued well beyond that had I not taken my finger off the button. I timed the 100 frame burst at exactly the quoted 3fps. Set to RAW, the T5 / 1200D managed the same 3fps rate for a burst of 8 shots before stalling and continuing at a much slower pace around 1fps. The capture rate here is just under 30fps - 29.97 fps according to Canon's blurb; obviously if you want 60fps or slow motion capture options look elsewhere. One concession at this budget price, however, is that sound is mono.The EOS 1200D’s native sensitivity range is ISO 100-6400, but this can be extended to ISO 128,000. At a sensitivity setting of ISO 100-200, I found both the JPEG and raw files to be almost completely free of any luminescent or colour noise, even when viewing at 100%. When pixel peeping, some noise is evident in the JPEG and raw files shot between ISO 800 and 1600, but this is minimal. As expected, after ISO 1600 there is increased luminescent noise, but the images are still very clean. Incredibly, even ISO 6400 images are perfectly suitable for printing at A4 size, especially when shooting in raw and the noise is reduced in post-production. The extended H setting is usable, but best kept as a last resort. Indeed, despite being a starter model, this is a relatively serious proposition, which ups the resolution of its predecessor (the Canon 1100D) from 12 megapixels to 18MP. Overall, the EOS 1200D preserves excellent detail in the shadow areas and I found that, providing the ISO sensitivity wasn’t set too high, I was able to maximise the dynamic range by shooting slightly underexposed and lightening the shadow in post-production.