This the Auto Record screen. Icons across the top indicate matrix metering mode, single frame drive mode, auto flash mode with red-eye reduction enabled and the camera icon indicates the Auto record mode. On the bottom is the image quality "S"uperfine and image size "L"arge and there's room on the SD card for 296 more pictures.

When the color LCD is turned on and you half-press the shutter you will see which of the nine AF points (green rectangles) where used for the focus lock. You can also see the focus assist beam "red glow".

Pressing the FUNCtion button in Auto mode allows you to select the image size (2048x1536, 1600x1200, 1024x768 or 640x480) or the image quality (Superfine, Fine or Normal).

Pressing the MENU button brings up this screen. You can turn the Quick Shot feature on or off, which allows you to shoten shutter lag for those fast fading photo opertunitues. Enable or disable red-eye reduction mode, set the selftimer to 2 sec. or 10 sec., turn on/off the auto focus assist beam, turn the digital zoom on/off and set the image review time from 3 sec. to 10 sec. or off.

This animation shows the available pre-programmed scene modes that you can use when the mode switch is flipped to SCN. They include: Portrait, Night Scene, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Underwater (when used with underwater housing), and Indoor.

This the Manual Record screen. Icons across the top indicate matrix metering mode, single frame drive mode, forced on flash mode and the "camera M" icon indicates the Manual record mode. On the bottom is the image quality "S"uperfine and image size "L"arge and there's room on the SD card for 294 more pictures.

The FUNCtion options in Manual mode:

Record mode - Allows you to change from Auto, Manual, and Stitch Assist modes
Exposure Compensation - Override the metering +/- 2.0EV in 1/3 steps
White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom one-push WB set
ISO Sensitivity Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400
Effect - Off, Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia, B&W
Image Resolution 2048x1536, 1600x1200, 1024x768, 640x480, Postcard(1600x1200) this is a special 3:2 ratio mode for making 4x6 in. prints.
Image Compression Superfine, Fine, Normal

Record menu options for Manual mode:

AiAF - 9-point automatic AF point selection On or Off
Red-eye - Red-eye reduction: On or Off
AF Assist Illuminator - On or Off
Self-timer - Select 2 or 10 seconds
Digital Zoom - On or Off
Review Time - Off, 3 - 10 secs
Date Stamp - Off, date, or date&time (only works when in Postcard mode.)

As you can see, the A400 has a very respectable macro focusing mode too. The coverage is 2 (5cm) inches to (47cm) 1.5 feet.

Movie mode lets you capture motion video at VGA (640x480) resolution at approx. 10 fps with audio, for up to 30 seconds per clip. Smaller 320x240 or 160x120 size movies are recorded at approx. 15 fps for up to 3 minutes per clip.

Pressing the FUNCtion button when in movie mode allows you to change exposure compensation, white balance, color effects, and recording size. Pressing the Menu button gives you access to Self-timer and AF assist beam settings.

The StitchAssist Panorama mode aids you via on-screen prompts to achieve the proper overlap of sequential photos for later "stitching" with the PhotoStitch program. You can capture up to 26 images in either left-to-right or right-to-left orientation. After the first picture is taken the white balance and exposure is locked until you exit the StitchAssist mode. Use of a tripod is required.