Digital Camera Review
Oct 13, 2006
- By Richard Baguley
The Canon PowerShot SD40, also called the IXUS i7 Zoom in Europe, is in a batch of fresh Digital Elph cameras that include the new and improved Digic III image processor. The new ultra-compact camera has 7-megapixel resolution and now includes trendy face recognition technology, courtesy of that Digic III processor. The small size of this $350 camera means some compromises have been made: The zoom is a 2.4x model, and the screen is only 1.8 inches. So do these compromises make the SD40 a party animal or a gatecrasher? Read on to find out.
Picture Quality / Size Options
Three options are provided for image quality, which Canon refers to as Superfine, Fine and Normal. No option is provided for shooting in RAW mode. The image size options are as follows: Large - 3072 x 2304, Medium1 - 2592 x 1944, Medium 2 - 2048 x 1536, Medium 3 - 1600 x 1200, Small - 640 x 480, Postcard - 1600 x 1200 and Widescreen - 3072 x 1728.
Picture Effects Mode
Canon provides a number of picture effects modes, which it calls My Colors modes. The effects offered include Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Positive Film, Vivid Blue, Vivid Red, Vivid Green, and Custom Color. The latter allows you to tweak how the colors will be processed with sliders for red, green and blue color enhancement and controls for saturation, contrast, and sharpness. Some pretty freaky effects can be created, but I’m not convinced by these; you could do the same thing with more finesse and better results in an image editing program.