Canon PowerShot S400 Digital ELPH CameraAsk a photographer, either professional or amateur, to name the a couple of camera manufacturers and chances are one would be Canon. In the digital arena, Canon's continued their history of innovation, with a broad line of products ranging from entry-level models all the way to no-holds-barred digital SLRs for professional photographers. In the consumer arena, their products are distinguished by superb design, sharp lenses, and excellent color.
In both the film and digital worlds, Canon is known for their high-style, diminutive "ELPH" cameras. Long a popular APS film camera design, Canon brought the ELPH size and styling to the digital world with the original S100. The S400 launches the fourth generation of the design, with a larger, 4.0-megapixel CCD. Other improvements include a Center-Weighted metering mode option, faster maximum shutter speed (1/2,000 second), and improved macro capabilities. Add an improved user interface, easy point-and-shoot operation, a sharp lens, and great image quality, and the S400 is sure to please a host of consumers. Read on for all the details, this one looks like another winner from Canon.
Camera Overview
The latest in Canon's digital ELPH series, the S400 continues the line's tiny dimensions and stylish looks. Portable and quick on the draw (thanks to its smooth retractable lens design), the S400 offers point-and-shoot control with a handful of extra exposure features. Its flat front panel (with lens retracted) makes the camera pocket friendly, while the aluminum body panels keep it rugged yet lightweight. Equipped with a 4.0-megapixel CCD and a sharp lens, the S400 captures high quality images, suitable for printing photos as large as 8x10 inches with nice detail, even with some cropping. Smaller resolutions are also available for email transmission, and a movie mode captures short videos with sound.
The S400 features a 3x, 7.4-22.2mm glass zoom lens, equivalent to a 36-108mm zoom on a 35mm camera. Aperture is automatically controlled, but the maximum setting ranges from f/2.8 at full wide angle to f/4.9 at full telephoto. A maximum 3.6x digital zoom option increases the S400's zoom capabilities to 11x, but keep in mind that digital zoom decreases the overall image quality in direct proportion to the magnification achieved, as it simply crops out and enlarges the center pixels of the CCD image. Image noise is likely to be more prominent with digital zoom, and details softer. Focus ranges from 1.5 feet (46 centimeters) to infinity in normal AF mode, and from 2.0 inches to 1.5 feet (5 to 46 centimeters) in Macro mode. An Infinity fixed-focus mode is also available. The S400 uses Canon's sophisticated, nine-point AiAF (Artificial Intelligence Autofocus) system to determine focus, which examines a broad active area in the center of the image to calculate the focal distance. Also built into the S400 is a bright AF assist light, which aids the focus mechanism in low lighting. For composing images, the S400 has a real-image optical viewfinder, as well as a 1.5-inch color LCD monitor. (In my testing, the S400's optical viewfinder was rather tight, but the LCD monitor showed almost exactly 100% of the final image area.) The LCD reports a fair amount of camera information, but excludes exposure information such as aperture and shutter speed. In Playback mode, a histogram display reports the tonal distribution of a captured image, useful in determining any over and underexposure.
Like the rest of the ELPH line, exposure control is automatic. The S400 does provide some manual adjustments, however, as well as a range of exposure modes for specific shooting situations. The Mode dial on the rear panel controls the main operating mode, offering Auto, Manual, Stitch-Assist, and Movie modes. A Mode switch on the back panel offers Record and Playback settings. Shutter speeds range from 1/2,000 to 15 seconds, with the 1.3- to 15-second end of the range only available in Long Shutter mode (which also automatically invokes a Noise Reduction system to reduce image noise in longer exposures). In straight Auto mode, the camera essentially controls everything about the exposure except for file size, flash, etc. Manual mode provides more hands-on control, with White Balance, Exposure Compensation, ISO, and a host of creative effects. Camera operation is straightforward and simple, as you literally just point and shoot most of the time. Pressing the Shutter button halfway sets focus and exposure, and the small LEDs next to the optical viewfinder let you know when the camera is ready to take the picture.
The S400 uses an Evaluative metering system, which means that the camera divides the image area into zones and evaluates contrast and brightness across the entire image to determine the best overall exposure. A Spot metering option ties the exposure to the very center of the frame, and is useful for off-center or high contrast subjects, as you can shift the metering region to pinpoint the exact area of the frame to base the exposure on. There's also a Center-Weighted metering option, which bases the exposure on a large area in the center of the frame. Exposure Compensation brightens or darkens the overall exposure from -2 to +2 exposure equivalents (EV) in one-third step increments. A White Balance option offers Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, and Custom (manual) settings. The S400 also offers a creative Photo Effects menu, which adjusts sharpening, color, and saturation. Sensitivity equivalents include 50, 100, 200, and 400 ISO settings, as well as an Auto adjustment. The S400's built-in flash operates in Auto, Forced On, Suppressed, Red-Eye Reduction, and Slow-Synchro modes. You can also lock the flash exposure in a similar manner to locking normal exposure. Pressing the Shutter button halfway and keeping it pressed initiates the exposure lock, signaled by two beeps. Pressing the metering-pattern button (the up-arrow button) while you're still holding down the shutter button fires the flash, locking the flash exposure as well. When this is done, an "FEL" icon appears in the LCD monitor until the Shutter button is released or fully pressed.
A two- or 10-second self-timer option counts down by flashing a small LED on the front of the camera before firing the shutter, giving you time to duck around the camera and get into the shot. Stitch-Assist mode is the S400's panoramic shooting mode, which lets you shoot as many as 26 consecutive images with the same exposure and white balance. The series of images can then be "stitched" together into one panoramic frame with the accompanying software. The S400 also has a Movie Record mode, which records moving images with sound for up to three minutes per clip, depending on the resolution setting and amount of memory card space. (Movies are recorded at either 320 x 240, or 160 x 120 pixels.) Finally, a Continuous Shooting mode captures a series of consecutive images (much like a motor drive on a traditional camera), at approximately 1.5 frames per second, for as long as the Shutter button is held down. The actual frame rate will vary with the resolution setting, and the total number of images will depend on the amount of memory card space and file size. Through the Record menu, a High Speed Continuous Shooting mode is also available, capturing images as fast as 2.5 frames per second. (See my "picky details" page for detailed timing of these modes, along with information on buffer-memory capacity, etc.)
The My Camera settings menu lets you customize camera settings to a specific theme. Everything from the startup image to operating sounds can be assigned to a theme, either one of the preprogrammed themes or one downloaded via the host software. The S400 also lets you record short sound clips to accompany captured images, via the Sound Memo option, great for lively captions to vacation photos or party shots.
The S400 stores images to CompactFlash Type I memory cards. A 32MB card accompanies the camera, but I strongly recommend picking up a larger capacity card so you won't limit your shooting due to insufficient card space (CompactFlash cards are available as large as one gigabyte). The camera uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, which accompanies the camera, along with the necessary battery charger. Because the S400 does not accommodate AA-type or other readily available batteries, I advise picking up an additional battery pack and keeping it freshly charged. The optional AC adapter is useful for preserving battery power when reviewing and downloading images, and actually has a "dummy" battery that inserts into the camera's battery compartment to couple the power adapter to the power contacts. (Most users would find a second rechargeable battery more useful though, at least in my opinion.) A USB cable and interface software are also packaged with the camera, for downloading images to a computer and performing minor organization and corrections. Two software CDs provide the necessary drivers and editing software, both compatible with Windows and Macintosh platforms, but no added driver software is required with Windows XP or Macintosh OS X. One CD holds Canon's Digital Camera Solution Disk version 12.0 and the other features ArcSoft's Camera Suite version 1.2. Finally, an A/V cable connects the S400 to a television set, for reviewing and composing images. The S400 is DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) compatible, with detailed print settings in the Playback menu. Canon offers a selection of direct-connect printers as well, which simplify printing even more. (Read my review of Canon's excellent little CP-100 photo printer for an example of one of these.)
Basic Features
* 4.0-megapixel CCD.
* Real-image optical viewfinder.
* 1.5-inch color TFT LCD monitor.
* Glass, 3x, 7.4-22.2mm lens, equivalent to a 36-108mm lens on a 35mm camera.
* Maximum 3.6x digital zoom.
* Automatic exposure control, with Long Shutter mode for longer exposures.
* Shutter speeds from 1/2,000 to 15 seconds.
* Maximum aperture f/2.8 to f/4.9, depending on lens zoom position.
* Built-in flash with five modes.
* CompactFlash Type I memory card storage, 32MB card included.
* Power supplied by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack (charger included) or optional AC adapter.
* ArcSoft Camera Suite 1.2, Canon Digital Camera software, and USB drivers included for both Windows and Mac platforms.
Special Features
* Movie mode with sound.
* Standard and High Speed Continuous Shooting modes.
* Stitch-Assist panorama mode.
* Infinity and Macro focus modes.
* Customizable "My Camera" settings.
* Two- or 10-second Self-Timer for delayed shutter release.
* Sound Memo option for recording captions.
* Spot, Center-Weighted, and Evaluative exposure metering.
* White balance (color) adjustment with seven modes, including a Custom setting.
* Photo Effect menu for color adjustment.
* Adjustable ISO setting.
* DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) compatibility.
* USB cable for connection to a computer (driver software included).
* A/V cable for connection to a television set.
Recommendation
Canon's "Digital ELPH" cameras have proven popular with consumers, thanks to their tiny size and reputation for quality, both in construction and in the images they deliver. The PowerShot S400 Digital ELPH updates and extends the line with a 4.0-megapixel CCD for higher resolution images. The increased resolution lets you print images as large as 8x10 inches with good detail, even with some cropping, and lower resolution settings are good for printing snapshots or sending to family and friends via email. Although exposure control is mainly automatic, the availability of exposures up to 15 seconds, adjustable ISO, and flexible white balance and color saturation options increases the camera's exposure versatility. The uncomplicated user interface is comfortable for novices and more advanced users alike, with simple operation for the novices, and enough variable exposure control to keep the advanced folks happy. All in all, an excellent "all around" digicam that just happens to live inside a super-compact case.
Design
Practically identical to the PowerShot S300 and S330 before it, the S400 maintains the small dimensions that made the ELPH line so popular. The compact size is perfect for quickly stashing in a pocket or purse without worrying damaging delicate camera mechanisms. The retracting lens is a smart design that keeps the front of the case completely flat when the camera is off, underscoring the camera's pocket friendly design, while an automatic lens cover means you don't have to worry about smudging the lens or losing the lens cap. Measuring 3.4 x 2.2 x 1.1 inches (87 x 57 x 28 millimeters), the S400 is actually a hair smaller than the S330 model. The camera weighs a mere 7.96 ounces (226 grams) with battery and memory card.
source:imaging-resource.com
