Customer Reviews

Canon PowerShot S40 4MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

(...) After looking at the Digital Elphs and the A-series cameras, I stumbled upon the S40. This camera has it all. Four mega-pixels, a sturdy metal body, complete control over almost every aspect of your shot, and all in a compact size to boot. The feature-set is based on the popular Canon G2, which is a professional grade digital camera, so you know it uses a fully field-tested, high-quality internal design.

I mostly use this camera in auto mode, in which it takes absolutely beautiful pictures. They are clear, beautifully saturated, and capture motion extremely well. Indoor and outdoor pictures are equally impressive, and I found the metering to be very intelligent. That is, highlights, shadows, and exposure levels are all handled very well.

The camera offers an amazing amount of control with 12 user-selectable modes in addition to the auto mode. (...) But, suffice it to say that anyone seeking a high-level of control over their settings will not be dissapointed by the S40.

A Little Advice:

1. If you are looking to spend a little less money and do not need a 4 mega-pixel camera, a 3 mega-pixel version is available in the S30.

2. If you are looking for a point-and-shoot camera only, you do not need to spend this kind of money. Look toward the Canon A-Series cameras instead. These are plastic and lack the high-level of user control, but they are also much easier on the wallet.

3. Although this is a very compact camera, it is not the smallest that Canon makes. If you want the ultimate in portability, look at their Digital Elph line.

4. The proprietary battery that comes with the S40 is extremely powerful and has an impressive life. The charger is also very compact and very fast. However, I highly recommend buying a spare battery from Canon's website (for about $70).

5. Do not waste your money on the leather case for the S40 that Canon sells on their website. It is far too small for the camera and the lens cover slides open whenever you try to put the camera in it. I am not a big fan of sliding lens covers in the first place, and the leather case does nothing to win me over. Go buy yourself a generic camera case that fits the camera properly.

6. The included 16 MB CompactFlash card is embarrassing. Go buy a 128 MB card (at minimum). And while you're at it, pick up a USB card reader. They are under $(...) and are far more convenient than using the direct camera hook-up (although the S40 software and connection is quite convenient compared to many other digital cameras).

7. Be careful when removing the label from the lens cover. You can actually pull the cover right off if you're not careful. PEEL SLOWLY!

Conclusion:
Overall, this is a beautifully designed, well-built camera from an excellent company. As you can see by my review, Canon has won me over. In summary, the S40 matches the excellent picture quality of the finest Nikon and Kodak cameras available. The difference is, Canon does not skimp on the build of the camera by using cheap plastic parts. This, in my opinion, puts the S40 above the rest in this category.

Well Done Canon!

I have had the camera for only a week now, but already taken it on a trip to California's lost coast. Not only did the battery pack last over the whole 4 days and 70 pictures, but its features will be very intuitive to any SLR user such as me. I found especially helpful the zoom feature in replay mode that lets you pinpoint just how sharp the picture really is. The only things I will be missing is a shoe for external flash and the possibility to use regular batteries. Although the pack charges very quickly.

I'm a Canon guy and like most of what they put out, and this is no exception. It's a very sleek little package. Four megapixels, 3x zoom, auto and manual modes, a fairly long lasting rechargable battery, all in a tiny metal body. I prefer this over the newer Nikon consumer digicams (the 775 and the 885) because the body is built better, the resolution is higher, and the Canon has manual modes. I only gave this camera four stars because of a couple reasons:

a. It's visibly less sharp than other cameras in this resolution range. Not a lot less, but enough to notice. The color is great, but the pictures aren't quite as sharp as the ones the S40's big brother (the G2) produces.

b. The macro mode (or should I say lack thereof) isn't very good. I find it odd that Canon hasn't worked on improving this in their newer model cameras; pretty much all of the Nikons have *excellent* macro modes.

Other than that, it's a sweet little package. I like the fact that the play-mode button is no longer part of the control dial. You no longer have to move the camera out of whatever record mode you're currently in to get into the play mode. The play-mode is controlled by a little standalone switch on the back of the camera. Slide it across once, you go into play mode, slide it across again, you go into record mode. Another positive is the long lasting lithium-ion battery (which has a quick charge time and does not require draining before recharging).

Highly recommended for most users. If you think you'll be making a lot of large sized prints with the camera (i.e. bigger than 8x10), you might check out the G2 instead.

This is my second digital camera. I also own the Canon digital Elph camera I love it but I needed something a little more robust for some higher quality digital photography. The digital Elph is fine for 4x6 photos but I wanted the capability of enlargements and the small Canon was very limiting for me. The 4 Megapixel resolution is quite remarkable and the photos prints scale very nicely. I have produced some high quality 8x10 that gave nothing away to my high quality SLR in terms of print quality. The Canon S40 is packed with feature and I am still exploring them but I can report that the camera is well designed and it gives you very good control to get the shots that you need. The flash and battery life which were both problems I had to deal with in the digital Elph are not problems here. I strongly endorse this camera for the people who need enlargements at 8x10 or larger. I thought just maybe that I could put away my SLR but not yet. On my last trip I took my digital Elph, my Canon S40 and my Minolta SLR. The Canon S40 was the star of the trip producing some great shots. My Minolta SLR was the only one I felt comfortable using for some action shots in difficult lighting. The digital elph was unused until the battery on my S40 ran out and I needed a couple more run of the mill snapshots. For most photography work you could do just fine replacing your SLR with the S40. If you purchase this camera you will need to buy a 128MB or higher CF card and an extra battery. The great joy of digital photography taking a chance on a difficult shots because you know you can always delete them. You do not want to be caught short of storage or power.

I purchased both the Canon S40 and the Canon G2 just before Christmas. The G2 was for me and the S40 was for my girlfriend. The reasoning was I thought that the "Bulky sized" G2 would be good for the "serious" shots and the "Light" S40 would be for the "fun party" casual pictures. I was wrong. First of all the Canon G2 is a fine camera and for the most part takes nice pictures. Here are the good points of the S40.
Size of Camera
First it is lightweight, easy to hold and easy to put a shirt pocket (but for a short while, if you needed both hands for something else).
Picture Quality
The still picture quality is very good to excellent but I still feel that a good 35mm still has a slight edge in quality. Every once in a while about 1 in 10 one comes out blurry, but if you can with a digital camera you can take it again. Motion pictures (object is moving) are ok but I have not had a lot of luck with the quality again the good 35mm would win. The video quality is fair to good and at a 30 second time limit we only use it for fun or when our sheep dog a does something silly it just quicker to video tape it on the Camera are email it too friends! That is really nice.
Cameras ease of use
This is where the Canon S40 really shines. This camera is very easy to use it's an almost pick up and use right away. If your not sure about a button Canon User manuals very user friendly. To view the picture, just slide the Power/Replay Lever to the right and there you go. This is a very simple Camera to use it is fro the first time user or the experienced photographer. The battery life is good, it last for almost a complete dinner party sometimes I wish I had two of them. I do like that the battery comes out and goes into the mini charger with is easy to take along rather than the bulky one the G2 came with.
Print quality
I may write about this later as me printer is old put I have printed an 8 by 10 at a friends house and wow it looks great!

Recommendations
Get the largest Compact flash card available i.e. 128 or 256 they are really getting inexpensive. You will be happy you did. Second get a Palm pilot screen protector (cut to size) for the LCD monitor you will be happy when you do. And third get a card reader for picture transer to you PC, they are work the same price is not a factor and if you have Windows XP it will recognize the card reader and install its own software.

This is a great Camera all in all I am glad I bought the 4-mega pixel instead of the 3-mega-pixel version. You will truly enjoy it as for the G2, well look for it on Ebay!

I own an Olympus E10 for my "professional" stuff. But I missed my Olympus pocket type camera when I gave it to my daughter. I immediately keyed on the Olympus D40 but kept my options open.

I am concerned about color and so forth, but the important things in THIS camera were shutter lag time, ease of use for others, 4 meg results, speed and battery life.

I had the chance to side by side compare. Sorry Olympus, but you need to work on some things in pocket cameras.

1. Shutter Lag Time: This is the time from pressing the "button" to getting a picture. Though neither is extremely fast like the E10, the Canon is much faster than the Olympus. You still need to pre-focus if shooting a moving target but with the Olympus, you still won't catch them in movement.

2. Write Time: The write time of the Canon is superior, especially using a microdrive--which it does. Either I or II (microdrive). I really prefer compact flash to SmartMedia, which is the like Beta to VHS in future I think. It has it's place, but not in 4 meg cameras.

3. Ease of Use--Both cameras utilize one of the most user friendly systems around. Equally impressed with both.

4. Batteries: I did like the idea of AA batteries in the Olympus--but my very good rechargables were drying up like crazy while I played with it. The Canon's lithium rechargable isn't cheap and you need two, but I am greatly impressed so far. The charger is light and plugs right into the outlet--no cord. Canon wins, even with the propriatary battery...P>5. Zoom: Neither is going to bring the world in like a true telephoto, but the Canon is much better here also.

6. Startup Time: When you pull open the lid, how long does it take to get a shot off? That's why I have the pocket camera--spontaneity. Canon again comes in first on time to ready. Not alot, but faster.

Bottomline is Canon easily won this Olympus photographer hands down. I'd rate the Olympus D40Zoom a 4 plus, but the Canon Powershot ... a clear 5 for its class of camera.

I am a serious amateur photographer with several years of experience with multiple Canon products. I primarily take travel and outdoor photos and bought this camera to have a small digital camera to take when I did not want to lug my full 35 mm system around as it weighs almost 3 lbs. I found that I would not take the camera and several times missed great shots because of this.

After waiting a couple of years for the megapixels to increase in smaller cameras, I purchased this before a trip to Hawaii last December. I took this camera and left the 35 mm at home.

Overall, the camera functions remarkably well for its size. it has most modes of the Canon EOS system and the operation is very intuitive. It is a little slippery and I recommend extreme caution when handling this as it does tend to slip away from you.

The pictures of my Hawaii trip turned out very well. The metering was accurate on all but the most difficult shots. For those difficult shots, I was able to adjust the exposure compensation to get the exposure dead on. The lens seemed to work well at all focal lengths; however, at telephoto, the aperature is very high and shots seemed to beg for a tripod. The flash works well up to a range of 15 feet.

When I returned home, I printed all of my shots with an HP deskjet 960 on quality paper. I found that the resolution was adequate at the 5x7 size; but bad at 8x10. This is a limitation of the format and not the camera. I think that I will take this camera along with the 35 mm systems on my future vacations. This is a wonderul tag along camera but no substitute for the resolution of a good 35 mm system for those "money" shots.

All in all, this is the perfect camera for someone who would like to have a small quality camera that they can fit in their pocket or bag with no worry. I would recommend an extra battery to have on standby and at least a 128mb memory card.

I have had this camera for over 2 weeks now and am very impressed with the photo quality and the wide range of shooting options available. The camera has a solid feel to it and the sliding lens cover not only protects the lens but doubles as an on/off switch. The feature rich menu and settings are candy to anyone who is interested in exploring the creative elements of digital photography. The automatic setting turns the camera into a no-brainer point and shoot for the neophyte. My wife took the camera to a childrens choir performance with about 30 seconds of instruction and came home with some GREAT pictures. The ability to pop out the CF card and put it in my notebook computer's Type II slot helps save the camera battery when I want to download photos. The sound recording feature and video are handy when you want to capture an action event. Overall I'm very impressed with this camera. Kudos to Canon.

The Canon S40 is a superb digital camera. First, the exterior: The S40 is compact and can fit easily in a jacket pocket (though not in a pants-pocket - for that you should check out Canon's digital Elph line); it has a convenient clamshell design; and unlike many of the other digital cameras I examined it is made of polished metal-not cheap plastic. This is sturdier, feels better in the hands, and looks a whole lot sleeker.

Second, the interior: The S40 takes 4.0 megapixel pictures, which look great on any computer screen and will print out very nicely up to 5x7 and even 8x10. Its ability to capture color is far superior to most other digital cameras. Most of the control menus are reasonably easy to use. It is packed with pre-set photographic options (for action shots, portraits, etc), but has full manual override for those of us who grew up on old-fashioned SLRs. It also focuses much faster than many of the digital cameras I've seen - helpful for capturing wildlife or childrens' sports events. Finally, the included battery is surprisingly long-lasting and recharges (with a very compact included recharger) quickly.

Third, the software: The S40 comes with Canon ZoomBrowser (for viewing) and ArcSoft's PhotoSuite (for photo-editing). I find ZoomBrowser intuitive and can easily organize my photos, however it sometimes has problems printing on my inkjet printer. The ArcSoft program is much less capable than Adobe's PhotoShop, but can delete red-eye (or unwanted individuals at the edge of a picture) without too much trouble. On the whole, both should be adequate for the casual user.

Are there drawbacks? Well, yes, there are several. Like most digital cameras, the S40 sometimes has problems focusing on the correct subject and, in automatic mode, often opens the aperature too wide (resulting in a narrow range of focus). There is a way to manually focus the camera, but it is not terribly effective. It is also impossible to attach separate lenses - but that drawback is common to any digital camera of this size.

Bottom Line: Despite the drawbacks, this is one of the best digital camera's I've seen. It is conveneint, well-built, and easy to use out of the box. I've already dragged it to Vermont, Atlanta, central Africa and Australia without a hitch-not to mention that I can take it on my frequent bicycle rides closer to home. I'd be happy to send a sample photo demonstrating its resolution and color-capturing abilities (about 1.2 MB) if you ask. On a final note, I would suggest buying a 256MB (or larger) compact flash card. This will let you take 200+ max. resolution photos at a go.

I can remember owning one of the first digital cameras that came out, the one by Apple computer. It was a very low resolution and was very battery hungry. Today's digital cameras has gone a long way. In fact, they can actually compete with film cameras in quality! Developing film is now in the past for me. This S40 will be my forth digital camera. I chose the S40 for it's size, all metal construction and Canon's name tag for their photography expertise. I knew if Canon put something out, it must sure be decent.

The S40 retails for $..., I paid a hundred less by shopping around. I did however buy it from a Canon authorized dealer which cost a lot more than the "gray market" cameras online. I don't trust those discount places, I never read anything good about them.

At first, I was disappointed with the S40 as I was playing with Canon's G2 right before I bought it. The S40 isn't as point and shoot as the G2 due to it's smaller size. It is much more sensitive to lighting conditions. Also due to it's small size, it is more difficult to hold steady. However, after a few days of playing with it and tweeking out the adjustments I was able to produce some very high quality pictures.

The auto mode on the S40 is terrible and almost can not be used. It always seems to focus on the wrong part of the subject. For some reason, it tends to focus on the background more than the object you intended to shoot. This is due to their 3 box focusing system. Very similar to their Automatic SLR's. But I didn't have this problem with my Elan EOS. However there is a counter to this problem. I simply use their Tv or Av mode. This allows for focusing only in one box rather than three and it allows you to adjust the aperature or speed at touch of a button.

This is truly a real camera and not only a point and shoot. It can be switched to full manual mode in just one click. I like the way it tells you exactly what f stop your are at and at what speed you are going to shoot. And with a simply push of a button you can change the f stop and speed very easily right before a shot. It's like a fully digital manual camera!

The flash is slightly inadequate but not as bad as some other brands that I have tried. Also the battery is very short lived. It uses a proprietary lithium ion battery and is rated at giving you 180 pics with the screen on and 420 pics with the screen off. Not bad considering my last camera gave me about 30 pics with a set of batteries.
It will however give you about 1 day of heavy usage, that's about it. You will almost definitely need a extra just to be safe.

One of it's best feature is the design. I like the fact that I don't have to fumble with a dangling lens cover. The S40 incorporates it's lens cover with a clam shell design. Just slide the cover over and it turns on automatically, snap it closed and it shuts off. I also like the all metal construction. I hate plastic cameras!

It also doubles as a camcorder. You can record short avi/mpeg movies. 30 secs in high resolution and 120 sec in low resolution. However this eats up memory in a hurry so if you like this feature, get ready to put out for some higher memory. The camera uses Compact Flash, which is slowly starting to turn into the industry standard in storage. It also allows you to use micro-drives if you are really into storing large batches of pics.

This is a good camera for those who like things small. It's a beutifully designed piece of equiptment considering it's size. Does it compare to it's bigger brother, the G2? NO. But it's not designed to. This is a good compromise for those who want 4.0 megapixel in a small package. For those who need and want the best pictures possible from a digital camera I would recommend the G2 but for those who don't need the very best from a picture, this is a very good and well made camera.