|
|
|
|
Great point and shoot camera
This is a very good camera to have on you to take quick photos with. Good Points: -Quick power up to start taking pictures time -Very small and easy to fit with in any pocket -Fast shutter speed -Very good sound quality on the video's -Long battery life -Great resoultion Bad Points: -Not good for dusk/low light shots -Zoom leaves much to be desired -Only a point and shoot camera not for anything more advanced. In the end this is a great camera, as long as you are not trying for manual control or prfessional settings. For point and shoot and a good pocket camera it does not get any better than this. I am extremely fond of it and plan on keeping it for a long time. Good camera This is a good camera, but sometimes does not perform as good as I expected. It takes excellent pictures outdoor, but very poor indoor, especially pretty dark areas with variable lighting. This Cannon SD400 takes better pictures outside than my Sony F717, more precise in color. But it is a little slower than Sony, especially when the object is moving, and the picture is usually blur in this case. Sony captures the image faster and no blur (both in auto mode). The tone of Sony is not as good as Cannon, but it takes better pictures indoor for sure. I would suggest use Cannon for outdoor, Sony for indoor, if you want to have both. SD400 is THE perfect camera - Great quality Pics - movies - and a Macro mode! First, know that I'm very picky and tough to please. (Note that this review also applies to the new SD450 which mainly has a larger screen.) I had a Canon SD110 (2MP) camera for 3.5 years and I loved it. I took a while and did a lot of research to find it. I had been waiting for the right new camera and I finally found it, the SD400. I've had it for over 6 months and I've been meaning to write up this review. I had taken over 9,000 photos with my SD110 in 3.5 years. With the SD400 in only 6 months, I've already taken over 1000 shots. Back when I got the SD110 Canon was not as well known. Now people recognize that Canon is a top-tier digital camera brand. My wishes for improvement over the SD110 were: - longer movie clips (only 15 seconds) - now unlimited - zoom in movie mode - YES - limited close-up range - new Digital Macro mode - higher resolution - YES - better zoom - YES The SD400 has all of this. The one thing it doesn't have enough of for my taste is zoom, but what can you expect from a camera .75 inches thick? I wanted zoom, but I didn't want to sacrifice portability. (I hate having a lens sitcking out of the camera.) In any case, it has a 3 x optical zoom which is pretty good. The best feature of the SD110 was it's compact size. The SD400 delivers more in less space. I take it with me everywhere I go. If I see a shot, I can take it. If I see a moment, I can capture it in a movie. And no hassle with carrying a separate case. It fits in my front pocket, even my tight jeans. (Just be careful not to put anything else in there or you might scratch the screen or even crack it.) One of the best features of the SD110 was the movie mode. It took great little clips of super high quality with sound too! Way better than any other camera. The only problem was they were limited to about 15 seconds in length. With the SD400, they are unlimited. You can trim them in the camera to save space too. It also can take 60 FPS for a high-speed camera effect. When you play it back at 30 FPS you get slow motion. The only issue is that you need to brace yourself to minimize camera shake. These movies are better than standard video recorder quality. They're close to HD TV quality if you use the 640 mode. There is no jumpiness period. The other big advancement is the Macro mode. This thing is practically a microscope. It can take shots at under 1 inch from the subject assuming you have good lighting that close. Add to that the digital macro zoom and you can photograph a mosquito so close that you can count the hairs on its legs! I love taking photos of flowers and always wanted to get closer. Now I can get as close as I want. Lots of people will say you need more than 5 MP to go over 8x10. It's not true. I did decent 8x10 prints (with the bundled Canon software) using my old 2 MP SD110. With the SD 400's 5 MP I have done enlargements to 12x18 that are excellent. The range of new settings on the SD400 are great. I would like more but they options are good. The best one is the ability to set the ISO speed. There's a focus lock and an exposure lock feature. I wouldn't know it if I didn't read the manual. Nice extras for sure. They're very useful if you're into photography. The least satisfying thing is the auto-focus. It's odd, but I've gotten used to it. Now, to be sure it's not perfect, but it is really good. I think it's better than 99% of the cameras out there. I chose it over the SD500 because the 500 was thicker and I didn't feel I needed the extra resolution of a 7 MP camera. It was the right choice. Note the following: - battery life is excellent, and the charger is tiny, but if you don't want to be caught short on vacation or when you're out on a long hike, get a spare battery and charge them both. I did this for the SD110 and I never ran out of juice. The battery is so slim, you can carry it easily. - do get a big memory card. I recommend the SanDisk Ultra II 1 GB. I have two of them. CRITICAL - get something to cover the screen. It's large and easy to scratch in your pocket. Also in your pocket be careful to put the screen against your body to prevent it from getting poked and cracked. I would not put it in a back pocket either. The biggest problem is holding still in low-light. I don't like flash and I like taking low-light shots. You will want a tripod or a mini-tripod if you do much of that. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Excellent & Compact camera I bought this camera after reviewing several other models. Decided to write this review after 2 months of usage. Overall: It is the best camera available out there, so go and grab it if you find a deal. You can make excellent quality prints upto 8x11. You may need higher resolution camera only if you are going to print beyond that size. I use it mainly to snap scenaries, and it has never faltered even on a single photo. All of them have turned out excellently. I have snapped snow, dawn, dusk, photos on the run and all of them have come real great. One of the attractive feature with canon is the "Stitch assist..", and people who take panoramic view pics know what I am talking about. It helps you to take excellent pan-view photos. Buy the canon leather case as well, as the camera doesnt come with any. Pros: * Compact * Flash is reasonable, I often hear complains from people who use other brands of similar camera of small foot print. * "Stitch assist" Cons: * SD Card that comes with the camera is way too small. If you take Large size pics, you can snap only a two. Definitely upgrade it to whatever max the camera can support. (I have 512MB and it lasts for 100+ snaps) * Zooming - if I zoom and take scenaries, the color depth goes down. I dont know how it comes in other digital cameras. An excellent, compact, flashy camera altogether. Not as good as I thought I write this reviews which compare to Casio Z750 I got: I like Canon SD 400, it has a very cool and slick design. It is very small, and I like the color. I don't like the Casio Z750 design as much, however, it does have a larger LCD screen, and it is thinner and lighter compare to SD400. Since Casio Z750 is 7mp. and SD 400 is only 5mp, it is pointless to point out the image quality. However, Casio z750 took way better night time(or dark environment) pictures than this Canon SD400, and also the color is way way way better and way vivid than the SD 400. It also got way faster camera starting time(only a second then it is on and ready to shoot), and way way faster shutter time..This is a huge plus to me. SD400 got very limited manual control and Z750 got tons of manual control which u can play around. well, one thing I love about canon is the charger, way smaller and easier to carry around than Casio z750..I have to say that one thing I hate about Casio z750 is their docking system. You need to use their dock to charge the battery and also transfer images...However, you can buy sandisk SD card which they have one have built in USB to solve this problem...(not the charging part though) The price are similar on amazon at this time, so I thought I could compare this two together. | |
