-
"Decent camera.. SD300 and SD500 are better" on by krae84
Pros: nice features, small compact
Cons: Too many pixels for a sensor this small.. see below
Summary: This is a decent ultracompact camera. However, it has the worst image quality of Canon's entire SD line. The SD400 is a 5 megapixel camera and 5 million pixels is way too much for the small CCD sensor that this camera uses. This is the prime reason for the noisy pictures this camera creates. Most people say they don't need the 7.2 megapixels that the Sd400's big brother the SD500 has. This is true, but the SD500 is a much better choice for other reasons. Mainly the larger sensor that it uses. The SD500's larger sensor means that more light is able to get into the lens which in turn creates noticeably nicer and clearer photographs with much less digital noise. The SD500's flash has a 50% longer range than the SD400 (16ft vs 11ft) this is very important for party shots or properly lighting indoor shots. The 14% longer battery life of the SD500 is also another nice advantage. In my opinion the extra $100 you spend on the SD500 is well worth it for significantly better photos, a much stronger flash and longer battery life. If budget is a concern, then I would recommend the SD300 which is a step down from the SD400. The SD300 uses the same smaller CCD sensor as the SD400, but it has 4 megapixels instead of 5. Having 4 million pixels instead of 5 million pixels crammed into a sensor this small will definitlely create sharper images with less noise and unless you are printing pictures larger than 8x10's, 4 megapixels is plenty big.
-
"CNET Review Contains Errors" on by jstanfordp
Pros: Very clear shots, packet with features, super small (pocketable like a cell phone), super fast
Cons: Slight purple fringing, camera gets hot with extended use, some features are almost "hidden" and hard to access
Summary: The camera does have decent manual features including shutter speed, which the review says that it lacks. You have to read the manual to figure out how to use some of the more complex settings, but they're there. Adjusting shutter speed requires going to three menus and submenus, but its definitely there. It seems as if the cnet reviewer DID NOT EVEN ATTEMPT to explore the manual and drill down into some of the more complex features the camera has to offer before he wrote the review. The camera even has manual flash exposure and three different metering settings--not common on pocket cameras.
I have had experience with a few point and shoot cameras, and I must say that this one is the best hands down in terms of picture quality, size, and features. Judged against its peer set, it's a 10, there simply is not a pocketable point and shoot out there that will take nearly as high quality pictures. Judged against a DSLR, then the CNET review may make sense. It does not attempt to replace the quality of a DSLR, at 1/8th the size and 1/5 the price, it should be judged in a different category.
All-in-all the camera has everything that a consumer of this camera would want, and is best in its class. -
"small package but disappoints" on
Pros: great replacement for my old mini-sony
Cons: soft pictures - almost out-of-focus, flash underpowered
Summary: this is the camera that I leave in my briefcase so it is always handy.
I chose it over the competition because it has an optical view-finder - the significance of which is if the batteries run low you can switch over from the LCD and still have a functional camera. I can just "set it and forget it" in my briefcase and not always worry about battery life.
the camera is easy to use and very slick looking - however, the pictures are often soft and I find myself taking two or three shots of each subject - the photos are so bad sometimes that I wonder if there is a focus matrix issue with the SD400 line.
it wasn't until I had already purchased the camera did I discover that this issue was raised on steve's digicam / dpreview and the other photography review.
hopefully there will be a firmware update now that the problem is more universally known.
The photos are often unusable unless you are just emailing photos around.
One difference between the SD300 and SD400 is the resolution (4mp to 5mp) - but important for me was that the SD400's viewfinder "gains up" when taking photos in dark condition and that was important for me because my old sony's viewfinder was completely fly by wire at night.
The flash is very short. If you want to have the photo properly illuminated you need to get pretty close.
Overall, the camera itself is sharp and fast - but if you want your photos to be sharp look at other models or if it is too later - like for me - here is what I have found to reduce the softness - turn off the AiF, set the camera to Manual and select ISO 50 or 100 (auto ISO will bump up to 400 and make the picture useless) and take two shots of each subject. -
"This camera is a must for parents of small children!!!" on by Mum23Gr8Kdz
Pros: quick start up time; low light assistance beam, long battery life
Cons: digital zoom can be hard to focus; battery door and USB cover flimsy compared to rest of camera; no battery life indicator
Summary: I bought this camera to replace an Olympus Digicam 5.0 MP. This camera is far superior to my old camera. I especially like the quick start feature, which means no more missed shots with my 11 month old daughter and my older childrens sports games. There are several different shooting modes, including one for "Kids and Pets" which is for capturing objects that don't stand still. The low light assistance beam is also a wonderful feature, not only in taking clearer pictures in low light situations, but getting the attention of my 11 month old!!
Camera has 3X optical zoom and 12X digital zoom, however digital zoom is hard to focus without a tripod. For my purposes, I have found the optical zoom to be sufficient. The camera seems to be very sturdy,especially for its ultracompact size. However, the battery door and USB cover should be opened with caution, as they are made of a very flimsy plastic. I also wish that there was a battery life indicator, but I generally charge the battery before going somewhere that I would be disappointed if my battery died.
I am an avid scrapbooker and take a lot of pictures. I chose this over the SD500 because of price (this is about $100 cheaper). Most of the pictures I use for scrapbooking are 4x6 (with a few 8x10), and I felt that 7.1 MP was overkill for what I needed the camera. (Plus we also own a Canon DSLR for those pictures that need a higher resolution.) FYI, with a 256 card, on high resolution, my camera holds approximately 174 pictures. -
"Excellent Camera" on by CoolDougNJ
Pros: Small size, great photo quality, quick start up, very short shutter lag, big screen, nice videos, USB 2.0
Cons: Occasional purple fringing in areas of high contrast
Summary: I had a PowerShot S45, with which I was extremely pleased, however, its size and weight discouraged me from always having it with me since I don't like to have to carry anything with me that I can't comfortably fit in my pockets. So, I set out to find an ultracompact and was biased toward Canon since I had been so pleased with the S45.
I based my decision to get the SD400 after reading many reviews online of the SD300 at CNet and other websites (reviews of the SD400 didn't seem to be yet available). I did look closely at a few other ultra-compacts from Casio, Sony, and Panasonic/Lumix, but no one camera seemed to be perfect in all regards (what product is?). I'm very pleased with the 5MP SD400, and hope it will provide years of service as there's really no need to go higher than 5MP since I'd pretty much never need to print anything larger than 8x10.
Image quality being the most important factor to me, I ended up going with the Canon, despite reports of occasional purple fringing in high contrast or backlit scenes. It seemed in all other regards, Canon had the best picture quality, and I decided that if the puple fringing did occasionlly appear in some of my snapshots, I probably wouldn't notice it anyway.
I've used the camera for several weeks now at both family events and a trip to the UK. I'm extremely happy with the picture quality and absolutely love the small compact size of the camera. It starts up extremely quickly and shoots quickly upon pressing the shutter button--something I really appreciate after having been annoyed by slow response times in older digital cameras.
As far as the purple fringing, I did notice some in a couple of back-lit photos, however, I did have to purposely zoom-in and look for it. It doesn't bother me and is more than offset by the wonderful sharpness, accruacy, and colorfulness of the photos. The video taking ability is much improved from older Canon cameras, with the length restricted only by the size of the SD card and with much smoother motion.
The large screen is fantastic and extremely bright and sharp. Again, I'm VERY impressed with a Canon product and highly recommend the SD400 to anyone who wants a high-quality ultra-compact go-anywhere camera.
Write a Review
Online Stores
| Store | Promotions | In Stock | Price | Total Cost | Initial Sort Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | No | Yes | Tax: TBD Ship: TBD | $599.95 Shop Now | |
| See all prices | |||||
Compare to other digital cameras
Compare Selected
