The Canon Sure Shot Classic 120 is one of the best looking point and shoot cameras out there, but does it perform well? We've been stocking this camera for a while now, and we finally got a chance to take it for spin when on a roadtrip in Scotland.
Here is our full review of this great camera - the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120.
Introduction to the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120
This camera is a contender for the longest name of a point and shoot camera, so I already apologise for how many times you're going to have to read the words: Canon Sure Shot Classic 120.
Anyway...
What is the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120?
This camera was released by Canon in September 1999, so it is one of the most recent point and shoot 35mm film cameras before the digital age took over and 35mm film cameras weren't manufactured in mass anymore.
Thankfully, Canon packed a bunch of features into the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120. It zooms from 38mm to 120mm, which is pretty impressive. It has all the features you can expect: built-in flash, autofocus, self-timer etc.
But what separates this camera from other point and shoot cameras? It has seven shooting modes.
What modes does the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120 have?
The Canon Sure Shot Classic 120 has seven different shooting modes.
These are:
- Automatic; fully automatic shooting - the camera will do all the settings for you
- Personal; custom settings based on your shooting style - you can set your own personalised setting with focus preferences, and flash preferences (the camera also saves this when turned off)
- Spot; allows you to set the focus and exposure for your image in very bright or very dark situations - the autofocus and exposure settings are set from the central point of the viewfinder
- Moving objects; takes continuous shots as long as you hold down the shutter button
- Dark backgrounds; the flash stays on for longer to illuminate the subject
- Portrait; zooms into an optimal focal length, and fires the flash to reduce red-eye
- Close-up; the camera selects a close focus point to get subjects close to the camera in focus
All these features separate the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120 from other fully automatic point and shoot cameras. It is aimed towards people who use SLR film cameras, but want a much more compact camera without sacrificing features.
Using the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120
Okay, a disclaimer: I took this camera away with me as a back-up to my SLR camera. I used it very nonchalantly, just quickly snapping photographs of the view. Most of these shots were taken out the window of a moving car.
So I was pretty blown away by the quality of the results I received from this camera, especially due to the film I was using - a very expired roll of colour film that I have never heard of before.
That's enough explaining now! Let's see some of the results from this camera.
A couple of images taken out the window of a camera using the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120
This camera really surprised me with the sharpness of the photographs it took. One of my favourite shots was of the architecture on Edinburgh's Royal Mile.
How does the zoom lens on the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120 perform?
Generally speaking, zoom lenses on 35mm film cameras are lower quality than fixed lenses (there are a bunch of technical terms about why this is, but I'll save you the boredom).
Whilst using the zoom on the lens is lower quality than not zooming the lens in and out (keeping it at 38mm), they were still quite sharp.
How quick is the autofocus on the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120?
If you've used a point and shoot camera before, you know the autofocus can be quite slow. However, this was not the case with the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120.
The autofocus was lightning quick, quiet, and very effective. The camera did not miss focus once, and so I was very impressed with the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120 and its autofocus.
Final Thoughts on the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120
To summarise, I was really impressed with this camera. I think it performed really well, and some of the shots came out so much sharper than I thought they would.
The additional settings are a little hard to get used to, but with enough practice and reading the camera manual, these can be used in your favour. I think this camera can teach you a lot about 35mm film photography.
The look and feel of the camera is very high quality. The metal feels great, and it is easy to hold and pack away into a bag. Sometimes the flash gets in the way if you hold it on the corners, but this is easy to alter, as the camera is quite ergonomic.
I highly recommend this camera to someone who uses SLR cameras and wants a point and shoot counterpart. It would also be great for someone who wants to learn some skills of point and shoot 35mm film photography with a compact, pocket-sized camera.
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Article written by: Max
Max is the owner of Cameras By Max. They work full-time repairing and refurbishing all the 35mm film cameras you see on the website. Their favourite camera (at the moment) is the Olympus XA, and their favourite city in the world is Edinburgh.