Canon PowerShot A400 3.2MP Digital Camera with 2.2x Optical Zoom (Silver)

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Product Details

• Item Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002OGJJA
• Item model number: A400
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,075 in Camera & Photo (See Bestsellers in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 8, 2006

Product Description

Product Description
The PowerShot A400 has all the quality expected from a Canon, with a price to make you smile. A choice of four fun colors and technology to produce great results make this camera a joy to use.From the Canon Visionary Technologies that deliver great shot after shot to the easy access special scene modes, everything about the PowerShot A400 is designed to make photography simple. A camera that takes the hard work out of super results, leaving you to focus on capturing the right moment. And with 3.2 Megapixels, you'll be delighted at the detail and quality of your digital images and photo prints.A Canon high-performance lens ensures outstanding image quality from one corner of the picture to the other. Its 2.2x optical zoom is great for closing in on the action, while the macro close-up function lets you focus on objects as little as 5cm away. A 9-point AiAF auto-focus system keeps subjects in focus - even when they are not centered in the frame.A special scene mode gives access to 8 clever presets for excellent results in tricky conditions: Portrait, Night Scene, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Underwater, and Indoor. Special effects include Sepia, Black & White and Vivid Color.The PowerShot A400 takes up to 3-minute movie clips, (up to 30 seconds at VGA quality) complete with sound recording, fun playback and in-camera editing on the 1.5" LCD screen. You can even connect your camera to the TV to share the best moments with family and friends.Get beautiful prints instantly without a PC, with any Canon Direct Print or PictBridge compatible printer. Simply connect your camera to the printer, hit the Print/Share button and you'll have a photo in your hands within seconds. The button also simplifies uploading to any Windows PC. When connected to a Canon Compact Photo Printer, the PowerShot A400 allows you to create handy ID photo prints.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

210 of 211 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Features & Great Pictures at a Budget Price, September 2, 2004

By	Paul W. (KL, Malaysia) - See all my reviews

I own the Canon Powershot A80, the Olympus D-540 and just purchased 2 units of this new Canon Powershot A400 camera for my two friends 3 days ago for our upcoming journey to middle-earth (New Zealand) after reviewing its features on the internet.

The manual states that it is capable of 100 shots using 2 AA alkaline batteries with the LCD on, but rechargeables especially NiMH 2300 mAH and above, are really the way to go.

It has a 2.2x optical zoom instead of the standard 3x zoom, but I've found that photos taken with the digital zoom (max 7x) are also quite acceptable and not too bad as one might imagine. The wideangle end at 45mm equiv. may not be wide enough for scenic shots, so the friendly Stitch Assist feature in the camera will definitely come in handy to capture panoramic scenes.

The camera has so many features similar to the A80 such as ability to customise start-up image and sounds, (similar to changing Microsoft Windows theme) until it becomes a really 'fun' camera to use. Fancy a howling wolf as your self-timer sound, or perhaps a loud 'woof' as your camera shutter sound? The included cd has even more selections for you to upload to the camera, and you can even upload sounds/images of your own, once you configured them to meet the required specifications.

It is an easy to use camera in the Auto mode, and the 8 new Special Scene Modes should be able to handle most situations. A Manual mode is also available, and Canon has included so many other features and options, such as 2 autofocus modes, 3 light metering modes, histogram, custom white balance, sound memos, movies with sound, AF-assist beam etc. which makes it really feature-rich. The 1.5 inch LCD screen with 115k pixels also delivers a noticeably sharper and finer image quality than the 65k pixels on the Canon A80 and the 85k pixels on the Olympus.

Over the past 3 days I have taken numerous photos with this camera to test its picture quality, and the 'Vivid' mode reminded me of photographic slide films, since the pictures taken under this mode are really sharp and colorful.

There are 4 resolution settings (3.2Mp, 2.0Mp, 1.0Mp & VGA) at 3 compression levels ('Superfine','Fine','Normal') plus a special 'PostCard' setting (which allows date/time imprinting on photos). The 3.2Mp setting at 'Superfine' obviously yields the best picture quality, but finishes off your SD memory card mighty quick too (76 shots on a 128Mb SD card). Since I know my friends will be mostly printing 6 x 4 in. postcard-sized prints, I have performed some tests at the appropriate 2.0Mp settings. In comparing photos of same subjects taken under the 'Fine', 'PostCard' and 'Normal' compression settings, I have noted that the difference in picture quality is hardly noticeable, and therefore the 'Normal' setting is virtually as good as the 'PostCard' or 'Fine' setting. I will certainly be recommending this 'Normal' setting to my two friends, as they will then be able to take 403 shots of middle-earth on their 128Mb SD card, instead of 212 shots at the 'PostCard' or 'Fine' setting.

Overall, this camera takes great pictures, and very colorful ones too under the 'Vivid' mode. Discounting the slightly shorter 2.2x optical zoom, the rest of its features are really out of proportion to its budget price, and it is certainly one of the better buys coming from an established camera brand.

111 of 114 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Quality Images for the Price - Period!, December 21, 2004

By	Scott A. Johnson "Tech Guy - Scott" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A lot of people leave feedback who don't really know much about digital photography or equipment, and that's fine, and beneficial in many cases, but in other cases it can be very misleading. For instance, a woman said she took some photos in the gymnasium of her kids and the quality of the photos was very poor so she's returning the camera. I'll bet the gym had little or no sunlight, and she was shooting at a distance OUTSIDE OF THE CAMERA'S FLASH RANGE. Grain is created in by higher ISO speeds (film speeds). This camera's highest ISO speed is 400 which isn't really high enough to create grainy photos. So I'm assuming her photos turned out yellowish or blurry, which some people wrongly call grainy. You need to tell the camera what kind of light source you're shooting under. She should have switched the camera mode to "indoor lighting, florescent or tungsten depending on the lights in the gym", and I'll bet she would have been quite impressed with the results as long as there was plenty of artificial light available. If there wasn't enough light she could have played with the exposure setting a little (see the user manual for that advanced feature). Or she possibly could have used her flash, but the flash range is probably around 10 feet which could be a problem in a gym.

Ok, now another person left feedback saying there is a two second lag time between when you click the button and the shutter snaps. Please dont be concerned. There is no lag time, I can assure you. There is however a two second timer on the camera (and also a 10 or 20 second timer, not sure which one). Anyway, he has the two second timer selected which is causing the lag time. I hope he reads the manual and figures out what he's doing wrong before he returns this wonderful camera ;)

Bottom line, this is a great camera. Here is why:
1. This camera uses the DiGiC image processor. All you need to know is the image processor is crucial for a high quality digital reproduction for any digital camera. Canon's DiGiC processor is the best compact camera image processor on the market and this is the same one they use in their high end compact cameras costing 100s of dollars or more.
2. This camera is very flexible because it allows you to shoot in different modes by basically flipping a switch to the proper setting - indoor lighting, portrait, landscape, and so on. These settings make any photographer take great pictures. Yes, these modes are standard on pretty much any good compact camera. But this camera costs a lot less so the point is you're still getting tons of high end features.
3. The auto focus capabilities are great. Make sure you understand when your subject is in focus. This camera does all the complex focusing work for you. You just need to understand what the camera is telling you about the subject it's focusing in on. That's true for any camera, but this camera has 9 point evaluative metering, and that's an advanced focusing mode perfected by canon in even their high end cameras.
4. Automatic Exposures vs. Manual - This camera ships with automated settings selected (for best exposures without you having to understand all the technicalities of photography) to make your life easier. Yet if you want control over your exposure the camera allows you lots of flexibility for the price.
5. Display - The display on the back of the camera is superb and more expensive cameras on the market do not have as good a display.
6. *3.2 Mega pixels - Some people think more is better, but that's not true. Photos taken with this camera can be printed at 5x7 size with photo quality. If you want to print 8x10s with this camera, the quality is still excellent. That's basically true for any 3.2 mega pixel camera. However, the quality of the DiGiC image processor combined with 3.2 mega pixel resolution means this camera will make up to 5x7 prints with better color quality, clarity, sharpness etc than that $600.00 compact camera offered by another brand (because other brands don't have Canon's DiGiX image processor and optics). If you want to print really large photos, 11x14 or larger then this camera is not for you. But generally... anyone who's interested in those sized prints is going to buy a higher end SLR for at least $1,000.

This camera defies the old saying, "you get what you pay for". This is a high quality camera that Canon is able to offer for far less cost because they've limited it to 3.2 mega pixels. But most consumers don't understand that it's totally irrelevant unless they're trying to print really large prints (11x14 or larger)

Everyone should buy this camera (and learn how to use it before leaving feedback ;)


Cons:
1. Small memory card. You'll need to buy a 128MB or higher card. You'll pay $20 + for that depending on what kind of deal you can find.
2. Batteries. Your batteries will start dying after about an hour of use or so. You should get 4 NiCad rechargeable batteries and a charging unit. That way when one pair dies the other pair is fully charged. I bought a charger kit w/ four AA batteries for about $30.00.
3. Plastic - This camera is fairly sturdy and can probably take a little banging around, but its plastic so be careful. The plastic battery door is connected to the body with hinges which is great for not misplacing/losing it, but I'm concerned about the plastic hinge breaking.
4. Speed of things - The speed of this camera is fine. When you click the button a photo is take fairly quickly. If you bought a more expensive camera it would be faster. Most people just take a picture and that's it, so it doesn't really matter if the camera is super fast. When was the last time you needed to take 10 pictures in 3 seconds? Even more advanced photographers will pay more for speed and then never really need it. Yet, this camera would be improved if it was faster, but then it would probably cost more ;)

So there you go. My advice to beginners - read the manual. Try to understand when your image is in focus, and how to select for indoor and outdoor lighting. And learn the different picture modes for taking portraits, landscapes, close-up of things like a flower or insect, etc. Don't worry about complex features because the camera is smart, and can automatically choose the best complex settings for you.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Buy!, September 15, 2004

By	Jamie Swinglehurst (Manchester) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just a short review to basically reinforce what the previous reviewer said about this great little camera.
I can honestly reccommend this canon very highly, all of the features that you loved
from passed canon digitals are here and it works really quickly.
There is one small qualm tho, the battery life is short (the batteries supplied are virtually useless, be sure to buy some highpowered duracell for best battery life)

I bought this camera from Frys in Austin TX, and my friend bought the canon powershot a75, and i honestly cannot see the advantage of having the a75 other than the manual settings are more accessible and the lens is interchangeable, if you are into lens' then you should be buying an SLR, if you are into high quality fun photography, get the a400, its a winner, also the lcd is AMAZING quality.
The best camera i have ever bought, get it.