Manual Control Options
This digital camera is mostly designed with ease of use in mind and definitely not manual controls. Still, it has some impressive flexible options for being an otherwise automatic camera. It has sensitivity options that can be manually selected up to 1600, manually selectable long shutter speeds that can be utilized for low light photography with noise reduction, and custom white balance.

Focus
Auto Focus (8.0)
The Canon PowerShot SD40 is equipped with a 9-area AiAF auto focus system that also has a face detection mode, thanks to the new Digic III image processor. The through-the-lens auto focus system lets users choose the auto focus mode (AiAF or Face Detect) in the recording menu. The AiAF shows green boxes (within 9 areas) on the screen to indicate what is focused. The Face Detect mode shows white brackets around faces until the exposure is locked, then only the primary face (the closest one) is framed in green. Canon claims that its system can recognize up to 9 faces at a time, but I could never get it to recognize more than 3 faces at once. That’s still not bad. My pictures still came out crystal clear. But don’t expect white frames to pop up around everyone’s faces all at once. The SD40’s auto focus system can focus as close as 12 inches normally. By pushing the left side of the navigational/zoom control, users can access the macro and landscape focus modes. The macro mode focuses as close as 3.9 inches at the widest focal length and 12 inches at the most telephoto; the edge of the macro mode’s reach is 1.6 ft. The camera’s auto focus system worked well, but it isn’t the speediest that Canon makes. The SD40 isn’t as slow as many of its ultra-compact competitors, but it will probably still miss a few fleeting moments. Of note is the orange auto focus assist lamp that can be turned on in the shooting menu. It works in low light but not in extremely low light since it isn’t very powerful.

Manual Focus (0.0)
This feature is not on the Canon PowerShot SD40, mainly because its target audience isn’t likely to use it.

ISO (8.75)
The Canon PowerShot SD40 has a new imaging processor, the Digic III, that has better noise reduction technology and can therefore offer more ISO options. In every still image shooting mode, Auto ISO and High ISO Auto choices are available. All compact digital cameras have a normal automatic ISO mode, and most of them keep their automatic ranges below ISO 200. This makes for poor low light photography though. Canon created a solution by including the High ISO Auto mode that uses the upper part of the ISO range. Manual ISO options, available only in the Manual mode, include 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600. Previous Digital Elphs only offered as much as ISO 800. All of the ISO options can be found within the Func./Set menu.

White Balance (7.75)
Also in the Func./Set menu is a host of white balance modes: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, and Custom. White balance can be set in the manual and movie modes. Many digital cameras don’t allow users to adjust the white balance in the movie mode so this is a bonus. The white balance can be customized by aiming at a white surface and framing it within the tiny white brackets on the screen, then pushing the Menu button. Sound complicated? There are on-screen prompts to make it easier. Overall, the white balance selection is good, the menu structure with the live views is good, and the function itself seems to work well.

Exposure (7.0)
The SD40 may have a “manual” mode on its list, but this camera does not allow users to manually adjust the shutter speed and aperture. In most of the modes, though, an exposure compensation feature can be accessed from the Func./Set menu. It has live views in its standard +/- 2 EV range with steps every third of the way. Users who like to watch the exposure more carefully will be saddened by the absence of a live histogram. There is a histogram shown in the playback mode with the detailed file information setting, but by then, the photo is taken and it is too late to change.

Metering (7.5)
In the shooting menu, light metering choices appear on the first page: Evaluative, Center-weighted Average, and Spot metering. These appear as icons, and there is no live view or text explanation to help beginners. The Evaluative mode is the default and measures light from sources all over the frame to determine the exposure. The Center-weighted option measures from the middle, and the Spot option measures from a very tiny point in the center. The Spot metering is fixed to the center, and it does not move as the focal point moves.

Shutter Speed (0.0)
The shutter speed cannot be manually adjusted, but the exposure compensation can. The SD40 automatically chooses shutter speeds from its 15-1/1600th of a second range. It sticks to the faster end of the range unless the Long Shutter option is activated in the shooting menu. This doesn’t let users manually select shutter speeds, but it suggests to the camera to lean on the longer end of the exposure times and bumps up the noise reduction system simultaneously.

Aperture (0.0)
The aperture cannot be manually adjusted but is automatically chosen by the camera. The maximum aperture at the widest focal length is f/3.2, a full stop smaller than what most digital cameras offer. At the longest focal length, the maximum aperture is f/5.4. The aperture offerings on the SD40 are quite unimpressive.

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