Canon PowerShot SD940 IS user reviews (Back)

2.0 stars

"Major contrast problems with direct light" on November 2, 2010 by adrianpark

Pros: Works well under limited lighting conditions.

Cons: Major problems with lighting contrasts.

Summary: I bought this camera for my family trip to Europe and it was a disaster. I am not sure if my camera was defective but it was completely unable to deal with any light contrasts. If the sky was bright, the pictures were ruined. If any object had light shining off of it, such as armour, the pictures had lighting blurs. Even if sunlight was shining directly on my kids faces, the pictures were ruined. I tried all of the standards setting, turned the autocontrast on and off, and experimented with manual settings but nothing helped. This camera absolutely ruined most of my vacation photos with it lighting issues. I have to believe my camera was defective because no one would ever give a positive review with the problems I was experiencing.

5.0 stars

"SHARP LOOKING AND FUN TO USE" on December 13, 2009 by COWBELL

Pros: NICE SIZE 2.7 inch LCD SCREEN, VERY COMPACT, GOOD IMAGE QUALITY FOR THIS SIZE CRAMERA USEING LOWER ISOs (250 AND BELOW )... THE 28mm WIDE LENS WITH 4x OPTICAL ZOOM IS A NICE FEATURE.

Cons: WEAK (BATTERY / SD CARD) DOOR COVER, JUST LIKE THE CANON SD 1200.

Summary: IT IS NOT GOING TO TAKE PICTURES AS GOOD AS A ( CANON G 11) OR (CANON A90) BUT KEEPING THE ISO DOWN TO ABOUT 100 OR EVEN 200 ISOs WHEN YOU CAN YOU WILL LIKE WHAT YOU SEE. ( I USE AUTO MODE OUTDOORS ) AND I USE (PROGRAM MODE AND 100,200 ISOs OR AUTO ISO IN PROGRAM MODE INSIDE THE HOUSE). IT JUST LOOKS LIKE THE PICTURES ARE SHARPER AT 100 THAN THEY ARE AT 200 ISO, THATS JUST ME THOUGH... I HAVE THE CANON SD 1200 AND THE START UP TIME IS THE SAME 1.5secs FOR BOTH CAMERAS, SHOT TO SHOT TIMES ON BOTH ARE LESS THAN 2 secs, WITH FLASH ON THE AVG IS 3 TO 4 secs AND A FULL FLASH ( CAN GO ) UP TO 6 secs ON BOTH THE SD 1200 AND THE SD 940.( C-NET MUST OF TESTED THE SD 940 WIH A LOW BATTERY) THE SD 1200 DOES HAVE A BETTER BATTERY AND DOES TAKE A LOT MORE SHOTS THOUGH TO BE FARE... BOTH ARE VERY GOOD CAMERAS... ON SD 940 THE BLACK COLOR HAS A BETTER GRIP THAN THE OTHER COLORS... YOU WILL NEED TO BUY A HIGH SPEED 4 OR 8 gig SD CARD NONE COMES WITH THE CAMERA. ALSO IT WOULD BE GOOD TO BUY A SPARE BATTERY WHEN YOU CAN, (A POWER 2000 BATTERY NB-4L) IS $19.00 AT J&R....

Updated on Dec 13, 2009

I DO NO HOW TO SPELL (CAMERA) AND (FAIR), SORRY...

Updated on Dec 13, 2009

TESTING THE CAMERAS BATTERY WE HAVE TAKEN 350 FLASH PICTURES IN A ROW AT ABOUT 300 WE LOST 1 BAR ON THE BATTERY GAUGE AND THEN 50 MORE AND STILL HAD BATTERY TO SPARE.

4.0 stars

"Just short of perfect" on January 29, 2010 by 2likru

Pros: Great image quality for a compact camera, great wide angle lens, awesome hd video, sturdy metal body, speedy start up, deck of cards size.

Cons: Bad ergonomics, terrible lowlight performace in automode, need atleast an 8 gig card to enjoy hd video, hard to modulate zoom, price.

Summary: I bought this camera as becase I needed something that could fit in a poket and still take excellent photos. I definitely found what I was looking for in the sd940. The image quality is more than I could ask for compared to other compacts I?ve seen and it has made a great supplement to my SLR in situations where I didn?t want to lug around that big body. The body is very attractive but the small size takes some getting used to. The flat buttons which admittedly give a cool appearance often lead to incorrect imputes (I have large hands) though my girlfriend does not have this problem. The camera is fast and in some cases too fast. The zoom seems to go from fully zoomed to no zoom in no time at all. This can make it difficult to frame a shot with the zoom on the 940. The auto mode also has the tedency to take yellowish pictures in low light condition. I think that this is a flaw in the auto modes programing as I've been able to take program mode pictures with no yellow hue at all. The coolest thing about this camera is the 720p video. It looks stunning and has decent sound also but a four gigabyte SD card won?t get you anywhere if you plan to use it for more than a few very short clips. I would sagest at least an eight gigabyte SD card which can add considerable cost to this already expensive camera. Overall it may be the best compact I?ve ever personally used.

3.0 stars

"Not impressed." on January 15, 2010 by btuyn

Pros: HD video is nice but file sizes are ridiculous, the size and weight are great, revised menu system iseasier, wide angle lens is a plus but not a lot better than the 780 given the aperture is an improved 2.8 vs 3.2.

Cons: The Canon SmartAUTO system absolutely sucks. Indoors? Forget it in AUTO mode... must switch to manual settings, which is a pain in the butt. Or else you will have a folder filled with grainy, yellowish photos.

Summary: Well, I thought I upgraded from the lousy SD780 IS but the results aren't that much different. The HD video is nice, the size is awesome, the screen is larger but why in the world did Canon go from a metal case to this flimsy plastic case on the SD940? Come on, guys.

My thoughts? Buy a Canon S90 or go right to the LUMIX line up.

So far, I've had better results from a $110 Lumix DMC-FS7 using WVGA video mode (awesome) and Auto setting.

But what do I know?