Canon PowerShot SD40 Digital Camera Review

Front (7.5)
The small Digital Elph is strongly rectangular and just about the size of a cell phone. The right side of the camera’s front has a shiny chrome plate with an edge that curves around the lens. The lens barrel is about the size of a quarter, but the actual window of the lens is smaller than a dime. There are two plastic panels that meet in the center of the lens diagonally to protect the glass from scratching. Around the outer rim of the barrel are the lens’ specs: "Canon Zoom Lens 2.4x, 6.3-14.9mm, 1:3.2-5.4." On the far right side of the chrome plate, Canon boasts its resolution: "7.1 Megapixels." In the top right corner is a miniscule built-in flash. To its left is an auto focus assist lamp. On the left edge of the chrome plate, nearly in the center of the camera, is a small hole for a microphone. The left panel of the camera is emblazoned with the Canon PowerShot SD40 and Digital Elph logos; the panel is the main color of the camera body, whether it is Precious Rose, Twilight Sepia, Olive Gray, or Noble Blue (the model shown is the latter). The far left edge is a rounded chrome panel with a wrist strap eyelet in its center.

Back (6.25)
The horizontal frame of the camera makes for an interesting layout on the back of the SD40. The 1.8-inch LCD screen takes up the left half of the back side, and a slew of controls takes over the right half. The display screen is set below the rest of the camera body and has a Canon logo below it. The controls aren’t very neatly organized and are complicated by the abundance of icons surrounding them. In the center of the right half is a dime-sized round control that acts as the zoom toggle and multi-selector. It has four lines on the control pointing in the cardinal directions. At the top is an icon symbolizing the telephoto end of the lens for zooming in on subjects. The bottom has an icon to zoom out and another icon of a trash can to delete pictures. Pushing the right side changes the flash modes and pushing the left side activates the macro mode. To the top left of the control is an oval-shaped switch that moves from the playback mode on the left, to the movie mode in the center, and to the still imaging mode on the right side. Directly below this is a circular button with a LED in its center; this is the Print/Share button. To the bottom left of this button is a small circular LED that blinks when writing pictures to the memory card. To the bottom left of the multi-selector/zoom control is a Func./Set button and to the bottom right is an identical button to call up the menu. Around the multi-selector/zoom control is a moat for fingers to swim in and distinguish the buttons from one another on the back.

Left Side (7.25)
The left side of this Digital Elph is featureless. It has a shiny chrome panel on the front that wraps partially around this side and adds a pleasing aesthetic element. If readers think creatively, they can even see a sideways smiley face on this side with the curve acting as the smile and the two screws beside it making eyes.

Right Side (7.25)
The right side has a protruding chrome plate toward the front with an eyelet for attaching the wrist strap. Behind this is a plastic battery door that must be pushed toward the back before it swings open on its hinge. Beneath the door are slots for the memory card and battery.

Top (7.5)
The chrome plate on the front and left sides also extends a bit on the top and shows an interesting curve. Below its curve on the left side is an AiAF logo. In the center of the top is an interestingly shaped panel. It looks like a comet with the shutter release button being the head and the panel trails off to form the tail. The power button is on the left of the shutter release button. On the right edge are ten leaf-shaped holes that make up the built-in speaker.

Bottom (6.75)
This angle on any camera is never a gorgeous view, but then again, it doesn’t have to be. Still, the shiny chrome panel wraps onto this side the same way it shows up in the top right corner. Each of the bottom’s four corners have a tiny foot on it to keep it from sticking onto a tripod plate or otherwise getting damaged. To the right of the center is a metal tripod socket. To the left of the socket are serial numbers and corporate information, with the single port on the camera (USB) located above the serial info.