Canon Powershot SD400 Review



Record Modes & Menus
The screen display in the Automatic record mode. Icons across the top and left indicate that
metering is Evaluative, single frame drive, auto red-eye reduction flash, Auto exposure
mode. The image size is Large, quality is Superfine and there's
space left on the SD card to take 178 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) were used for the focus lock.
Press the FUNCT./SET button to select the desired capture mode (other than Movie)
from: Automatic, Manual, Digital Macro, Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor,
Underwater or My Colors.
Manual exposure mode is like Auto in that the camera selects both the shutter speed
and aperture for a correct exposure but you now have access to a multitude of Function
and Menu options and color effects. Icons on the left here indicate +1/3EV exposure
compensation, white balance is fluorescentH, ISO speed is 50, color effect is Vivid.
Manual mode Function options: Mode - Automatic, Manual, Digital Macro, Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Underwater or My Colors Exposure Compensation - Override the metering +/- 2.0EV in 1/3 steps White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, 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 Compression Superfine, Fine, Normal Image Resolution 2592×1944, 2048×1536, 1600×1200, 640×480, Postcard(1600×1200) this is a special 3:2 ratio mode for making 4×6 in. prints.
Lighter Skin Tone - makes skin tones lighter Darker Skin Tone - makes skin tones darker Vivid Blue - emphasize blue tints Vivid Green - emphasize green tints Vivid Red - emphasize red tints Color Accent - preserve selected color, rest of image black and white Color Swap - transform the selected color to another Custom Color - adjust color balance of red, green, blue and skin tone
Manual mode MENU options:
Self-timer - 10 or 2 seconds, or custom delay time and number of shots AF Assist Illuminator - On or Off Digital Zoom - On or Off Review Time - Off, Hold or 2 - 10 secs Date Stamp - Off, date, or date&time (only works in 3:2 Postcard mode) Long Shutter - allows selection of a long shutter speed Stitch Assist - Help shooting overlapping images to comprise a panorama
To set long shutter speeds, first set Long Shutter to ON in the main menu.
In the Function menu, highlight exposure compensation then press the Menu button.
The shutter speed is displayed at the bottom of the LCD; select a value from
1 to 15 seconds using the left and right buttons of the 4-way controller.
Depress the FUNC./SET button to return to shooting mode. The LCD viewfinder's
live image provides a preview of the exposure; adjust the shutter speed for
the exposure you want.
Noise Reduction is applied for exposures of 1.3 seconds or longer.
In shooting mode the 4-way controller is used to
toggle the camera's focusing mode, flash mode, drive mode and metering mode.
The changes will be indicated by icons on the LCD screen as shown above.
The camera has a very respectable macro focusing mode with
coverage from 1.2 inches to 1.6 feet in wide angle and 1 to 1.6
feet in telephoto. There is also a digital macro mode but it tends to degrade image quality.
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. The use of a tripod and a bubble level
is recommended.
You can record movie clips with audio at a variety of resolutions and frame rates. Standard movies can be recorded at resolutions of 640×480 or 320×240 at frame rates of 30 or 15 fps; the size of a single movie is limited to 1 gigabyte. Fast Frame Rate is used to record fast moving subjects; frame rate is 60 fps and resolution limited to 320×240; clip length is limited to 1 minute. Compact movies are recorded at a resolution of 160×120 with a frame rate of 15 fps. My Colors mode can be used to enhance colors or for special effects; resolutions of 640×480 or 320×240, and frame rates of 15 or 30 fps can be selected. Movie clips are recorded in Motion JPEG format and saved as AVI files.
Both the video and audio portion of movies can be replayed on the camera thanks to the
built-in speaker. Full audio-video playback is also possible when connected to a TV
monitor or a compatible PC after downloading.
Movie mode recording options:
White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom one-push WB set Effect - Off, Vivid, Neutral, Low Sharpening, Sepia, B&W Frame Rate: 30 or 15 fps Movie Size: 640×480 or 320×240
The use of Self-Timer, AF Assist beam and Digital Zoom can be chosen from the main menu.
Movie Recording / SD Card Capacity
(640×480/320×240 30/15 fps is limited to 1 gigabyte max. size, |
Continue on to
Playback Features
Visitors of Steves can visit the stores below for real-time pricing and availability. You can also find hot, soon to expire online offers on a variety of cameras and accessories at our very own Camera Deals page.