Liked the lop-eared design and low-light sensitivity of
Canon's latest point and shoot, but wanted to be sure you'd get $350 worth of camera for the asking price? You're in luck: the PowerShot SD4000 IS, aka IXUS 300 HS, has just received its first painstakingly detailed review.
Photography Blog found the back-illuminated 10 megapixel CMOS sensor snapped excellent low-noise shots in a variety of tests, though the camera's highly-touted HS System features -- a 240fps movie mode and 8.4fps burst speed -- took pictures too low-res to impress. The publication also took issue with the lack of dedicated physical controls, as it apparently took six clicks to delete a single picture, but overall thought the SD4000 a good choice for casual and experienced photographers alike albeit at a somewhat inflated price. If portraits of Ben Franklin are burning a hole in your pocket, however, you'll find it on sale today at usual suspects B&H, J&R and Adorama Camera.
posted May 27th 2010 1:56AM
From what I'm hearing, this uses the same backlit sensor that Sony uses (it's Sony's). I hope there will be a comparison with the Sony TX7/HX5V.
Great shot but ... the camera looks like a pos. What happened to the elph style?
@Munny Swirl
It looks really cheap. Majorly disappointing, especially since the last-generation models were some of the more attractive point-and-shoots on the market.
This cannon is ugly as hell it might have "a great shot" but I wouldn't want to buy it.
@maribo
The first time i looked at it, I had the same "ugly" response. But the more you look at it, it actually doesn't look so bad.
Usually, you should have enough space on a memory card that you wouldn't need to delete anything until you upload them to your computer.
I tend to not delete anything until they are uploaded because you never know what you'll see in the shot that you won't be able to see on a 3 inch screen.
You know ... like a ghost or UFO in the background or something. ;)
@Meekermoloko
maybe that was just one example of the ui design being bad. I also rarely use the delete function in my camera, but i don't think it is a good excuse for that function being not easily accessible.
Sample shots show here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_gkl8A4gnA
Have these "reviewers" heard of gestures? Moving your finger down and left on the screen deletes the current picture. Amateurs
@talisainen
This isn't the one with a touchscreen - that's the Ixus 210
@Seprothia
You're right, I take my words back. Nevertheless, sounds strange for Canon. I have (had) three of their cameras and usually when you call a menu in "play" mode, it's the first item. There is a confirmation, of course.
I got the White version from Jessops.co.uk and I love it - it looks v sexy, the picture up top is a bad representation!
I just bought a Canon PowerShot A3100 IS for my girlfriend last week after a lot of review-reading (I'm not a camera guy).
So far, very impressed with performance for the price. We didn't need an amazing camera, just one with decent autofocus and shutter speed because my overactive child is just too much for my phone's camera to deal with.
I'm already building some Canon brand loyalty, and it's kinda sad because I live in the city where Kodak is headquartered. There isn't much Kodak loyalty here anymore after they outsourced a lot of jobs a couple years back. Now the job market is filled with out-of-work professionals and engineers and a lot of bitterness towards the big K.
@Electrofreak - One thing that makes it hard for me to buy anything but Canon is that they use a STANDARD USB connector, that fits the cable I leave plugged into my PC. I use that cable for a lot of different devices. Why do Sony, Nikon, Fuji, and everyone else use odd-ball connectors? That drives me crazy.
6 button-presses to delete a photo? Ken Rockwell won't be pleased. Sounds to me like you should save your pennies and get the superior S90.
I was very interested in this camera, and the high ISO shots look good, but to call Photography Blog's reviews painstakingly detailed is a bit much. I appreciate that they review so many cameras so quickly, but DPreview and Imaging Resource, and DCResourse are much more in depth.
Slow motion is the greatest option for those that want to explore.
I've been using Slo-Mo MPG for years. The sky hasn't been devoid of life for 5 Billion years. Shoot the sky with clouds in the background and you'll see what I see. Tobacco leaf flyer. Cloaked objects:
http://www.archive.org/details/demo85-pict7
http://www.archive.org/details/demo76-pict13