Canon Powershot SD400 5MP Digital Elph Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

Other products by Canon

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.5 x 2.1 x 0.8 inches ; 8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0007TJ5OG
• Item model number: 0557B001
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (178 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #759 in Camera & Photo (See Bestsellers in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 2, 2006

Product Description

From the Manufacturer
Canon's 5.0-megapixel PowerShot SD400 features a 3.0x optical zoom, a large 2.0-inch LCD, high quality VGA video clips at 30fps limited in length only by the capacity of the memory card , high speed USB 2.0, 'My Color' in-camera color editing and a Print/Share button for easy PictBridge direct printing and fast file uploads. Its 5.0-megapixel sensor allows detailed enlargements up to 13 x 17 inches. For fast start-up times, responsive performance and superb, accurate colors and image rendering, the camera features the same high speed DIGIC II processor found in Canon's latest professional series digital SLR cameras.

Superb Quality, Great Performance
Color gradation and white balance accuracy are improved with Canon's purpose-built second generation DIGIC II image processor, to ensure the very finest image quality. DIGIC II speed and accuracy allows sophisticated and complex processing algorithms to be used in image rendering, without any trade-off in camera performance.

DIGIC II also helps achieve a fast start up time of just over a second and uninterrupted 2.1 frame per second shooting until the memory card fills. A new USB 2.0 high-speed interface provides one of the fastest upload speeds in this category. An abundance of processing capacity also supports a new high-speed image playback function, image jump function (jump 10 or 100 images at a time or jump to previous shooting date), fast image rotation, and an increased card writing speed.

Bigger, Brighter Screen
A new QuickBright LCD function on the large 2.0-inch screen takes the display temporarily to maximum brightness, improving visibility in glary or outdoor conditions. Composition and framing in low light conditions is made easier with a Night Display function, which improves visibility on the LCD without affecting recorded image exposure.

New Stills Features
A new 'Hold' function increases shoot-and-share enjoyment by allowing users to extend indefinitely the display of a newly shot images, which can then be deleted without switching first to replay mode. The camera returns immediately to shooting mode when the shutter button is pressed again. A new My Colors function gives users pre-capture control over colors in both stills and movies. Nine sophisticated color-editing features include Color Swap, the ability to replace one color with another; Color Accent, the ability to convert all but one color area of an image to monochrome, Vivid Blue, Green, or Red to emphasize the selected primary color; and Lighter or Darker Skin Tone, the facility to darken or lighten a person's skin without affecting the color balance of the surroundings.

Shooting Modes
A total of 10 shooting modes are provided for maximum versatility and ease of use. Included are six Special Scene modes, which help produce great results in difficult lighting conditions by optimizing camera settings such as white balance and exposure for specific shooting situations. Scene modes include Night Snapshot, Kids and Pets, Portrait, and Underwater (for use with the camera's optional all-weather case). Manual mode allows more experienced or adventurous users to take control of settings such as white balance, metering, ISO sensitivity, and shutter speed, which extend from 15 seconds (in Long Shutter mode) to 1/1500 second.

Self-timer functionality improves with the facility to select from range of delays (1 second to 10, 15, 20, or 30 seconds) and the number of shots taken at the end of the delay (from one to ten shots).

Improved Movie Features
The PowerShot SD400 also incorporates a number of new advanced video features. My Colors effects can also be applied in movies, and Digital Zoom is now available while shooting video. To minimize deterioration associated with digital zooming, CCD control is optimised to capture maximum information from the CCD. Users can record up to one minute at 60 frames per second (fps) for smooth in-camera slow motion playback. Control over slow motion improves with more sensitive, five speed level adjustment, while white balance, and exposure adjusts automatically during video capture. For recording clips suitable for email attachment, a Compact mode provides for recording up to 3 minutes of 15 fps, 160 x 120 resolution files.

Built-in Assistant
The Intelligent Orientation Sensor not only rotates automatically images taken with the camera held vertically, it also improves auto white balance, autofocus, and autoexposure by helping the camera's iSAPS 'built-in assistant' processing take into account likely positions of sky and foreground.

Advanced Accessories
An optional 3 meter depth all-weather case (AW-DC30, not included--must be purchased separately) gives plenty of protection for splashing around, expanding the possibilities of locations into which the camera can be taken. A new optional High Power Flash accessory, the HF-DC1 (not included--must be purchased separately), further extends lighting options and night shooting range. With a guide number of 18 (ISO 100, meters), the slave flash automatically fires in-sync with the camera's in-built flash, ignoring any pre-flash. It can be adjusted to three power output settings based on the aperture value of the camera. The unit attaches to the camera with a supplied bracket that maintains the ability to mount both camera and flash on a tripod.

Easy Printing, Easy Sharing
PictBridge direct printing functionality is supported, for photo prints without the need for a computer. When coupled with DIGIC II Compact Photo Printers such as Canon's new Compact Photo Printer Selphy CP600, the camera/printer combination is capable of producing borderless photo prints in just 63 seconds. ID photo print, N-Up printing and movie clip series printing are also supported. A postcard date impression mode imprints the date/time on each print.

Software and Access to Canon iMAGE Gateway
Software supplied includes ZoomBrowser EX 5.1 (Windows) and ImageBrowser 5.1 (Mac) for viewing, managing and archiving images. Other software includes PhotoStitch and PhotoRecord, plus photo manipulation software ArcSoft PhotoStudio. Drivers include TWAIN (Windows 98/2000) and WIA (Windows Me). Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) support allows the camera to connect to any Windows XP (SP1 - 2) and Mac OS X (v10.1.5 - 10.3) system without the requirement for a driver installation.

Camera ownership entitles the purchaser to register for 100MB storage space on the Canon iMAGE Gateway, an online gallery where images and movies can be stored in albums and shared to selected friends and family. New My Camera functions (such as shutter sounds and start up images) can also be downloaded to the camera from Canon iMAGE Gateway.

What's in the box
PowerShot SD400 Digital ELPH, wrist strap WS-700, 16 MB SD Memory Card, battery pack NB-4L, battery charger CB-2LV, Digital Camera Solution CD-ROM, AV cable AVC-DC300, interface cable IFC-400PCU

Product Description
The PowerShot SD400 is a 5.0 Megapixel camera unrivaled in its category. With an ultra-thin Digital ELPH style, an impressive set of high-end features and exclusive Canon innovations and technology, you'll achieve the results you've been dreaming of - and have a great time doing it.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1,680 of 1,700 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Which of the SDxxx Series is right for you?, April 18, 2005

By	diljs - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Let me begin by saying that Canon makes exceptional digital cameras; the best in the market right now. This is because they have always used high quality components since they began manufacturing digital cameras. This one is no exception.

Now that I've sold you on a Canon, which one should you choose?

First off, let's see if you really need an SDxxx camera, or would be better suited with a cheaper non ultraportable camera.

The SDxxx Series offers several key advantages over less portable models:
-Beautiful, sleek design and metallic body will wow anyone who sees it.
-Gorgeous 2 inch LCD screens
-The excellent Dig!c 2 processor (other Canons only have dig!c 1)
-Much better movie mode than previous Canons
-Small light, easy pocketability

On the other hand, there are some significant drawbacks due to the components Canon had to use to get the camera so small:
-Few manual controls.
-Pictures are not as sharp as those of similar non ultraportable cameras.
-The flash is very close to the lens (lots of redeye problems)
-More purple fringing issues than other Canons
-Proprietary batteries that are expensive to replace
-The LCD is very fragile. Read the SD200 and SD300 reviews to see lots of unhappy people whose LCDs broke. Canon's warranty does NOT cover this either. My suggestion? Buy using a credit card that offers a warranty in addition to the manufacturer's. If your lcd breaks, many CC companies will replace the camera no questions asked!

If you don't need the ultra portability and flashy looks of the SD cameras, a slightly larger camera with more features might be right for you. I would highly suggest Canon's A510 or A520 if you don't need an SD model.

If you still want an SD model, which one should you choose? The SD200 with 3.2mp, the SD300 with 4mp, the SD400 with 5mp, or the SD500 at a whopping 7.1mp?

Your first instinct may be that more megapixels is better. Today, however megapixel ratings are similar to Ghz ratings in the computer world: They used to mean a lot, but they don't mean as much anymore. More megapixels do NOT mean a better image. They mean a larger printable image. Unless you have to have huge prints, you simply do not more megapixels. In fact, the 3.2mp of the SD200 is enough for anyone who doesn't plan on printing pictures larger than a standard 8.5x11 sheet of paper.

That having been said, there are some differences between each SDxxx model. In order to get the larger 7.1mp sensor in the SD500, Canon had to make the camera larger. Thus, it is around a quarter inch thicker and 30% heavier than the other 3 models. The larger size did enable Canon to pack more features into it, however:

Features unique to the SD500:
-1/4 inch thicker
-30% heavier
-50% longer flash range
-14% more battery life

The SD400 and SD500 also share these benefits over the SD200/SD300:
-New "Night Display" feature which brightens the LCD in low light
-My Colors feature lets you highlight or swap colors right on the camera
-USB 2.0 High Speed support

The following are shared by all the SDxxx Cameras:

Pros:
-Beautiful, eye catching design
-Great image quality, though not as good as non ultraportable models
-New Dig!c 2 image processor
-Excellent Movie Mode
-3x optical zoom is adequate for most people
-Excellent, intuitive manual controls
-Huge 2.0 inch lcd that looks great under various lighting conditions
-Uses widely available and cheap SD cards

Cons (most of these are minor quirks):
-Some purple fringing problems
-Proprietary batteries are expensive to replace and inconvenient at times
-Lots of issues with fragile LCDs
-No RAW support
-Few manual controls

If you do choose this product, the first thing you should buy is a larger SD memory card. The camera comes with a 16mb card (32 in the SD500), which is pretty much useless.

You should also immediately purchase a case and some screen protectors to protect the LCD.

212 of 225 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ive been holding out... and finally what i wanted is here!, April 17, 2005

By	B. Quan "booq" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

first! :)

anyways, this is a great camera. ive had an olympus c-3040 zoom for a long time, and while it takes great (outdoor) pics, ive been waiting for a good small camera to carry around all the time. what i wanted was: 3x optical zoom +, 5MP +, CCD, something tiny, a decent LCD screen, something by canon/olympus/nikon, something not too outrageously priced, AF and MF, decent video, etc.

the sd400 has it all! very easy to use - i try and not use the user manual until i have to. i did have to use it to find out how to switch the resolution of the pics im taking though. other than that its really intuitive. i also didnt install the software that came with it, and was still able to get the pics onto my desktop (running win xp pro) easily. indoor pic quality is so-so, outdoors is very nice. lots of cool options. the autofocus area indicator is sweet. very small and compact. like i said, everything i wanted and at a good price. bought a 512MB card and im waiting for my leather case to be shipped and im golden.

cons - the 3 things i dont like about it. 1) you have to press pretty firmly on the button to take a picture. too much so. 2) the cover to access the USB port is connected using a plastic/rubber thing instead of a hinge. i never trust those things to last. 3) the LCD screen rendering is a bit laggy, if you swivel around quickly its somewhat blurry.

the best case i have found for the sd400 is the IXY Digital 40/50 Custom Leather Case from Japan.

thats it, good buy and a good deal.

95 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great while it worked., November 30, 2005

By	Ryan Card (seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an awesome camera. Good quality pictures, fast shutter speed, neat features, compact design. I loved it while it lasted. Too bad I can't comment about the battery life, because it stopped working on its first recharge cycle.

The problem is that it is fragile. LCD screen stopped working, even though I bought a hard leather case and kept it in there while not in use. I never dropped it, I never did anything rough to it, but it still stopped working after little over a month of use.

THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH THIS MODEL. Do some research and read review pages, there's overwhelming amount of complaint about LCD screen breaking. Oh, and warrenty clearly states it doesn't cover something going wrong with LCD screen or lenses or battery leakage (come to think of it, it probably only covers the strap). Customer services will only accuse you of dropping it, and refuse to do anything about it.

The only thing I can do now is to warn others. If you're thinking about buying this model, please reconsider. There are other digital cameras out there that are similar with competitive prices.