The SD40 is a very small camera, available in 4 different colors (Canon calls the colors Precious Rose, Twilight Sepia, Olive Grey and Noble Blue).

The main feature on the front of the long, thin SD40 is the lens, a 2.4x optical zoom model with a very small front element. The lens telescopes into the case when not in use, lying flat so it isn’t likely to get caught on anything. It also has a built-in lens cap. Above the lens is an auto focus assist lamp, with a rectangular flash to its right. The left side of the front is graced with a curve to make handling a little more comfortable and a wrist strap eyelet to make portability better.

Back

The rear of the camera is home to the LCD screen: a 1.8-inch, 118K pixel model. Although that’s not a particularly high resolution, it is more than adequate for the size of the screen, and looks surprisingly good. The controls are all located on a wide area to the right of the screen. From the top left clockwise, they are the mode switch (with positions for playback, movie and camera), the print button, the directional control (which also doubles as a control of the zoom, flash and focus modes), the menu button, and the Func./Set button.

 

The left side of the camera is a feature-free zone.

The entire right side of the camera is taken up by the cover for the battery and memory card compartment and the lanyard loop. The cover for the battery and memory card compartment clicks tightly in place, so dust and moisture shouldn’t get in (although the camera is not waterproof). To open it, you slide it out and then lift it up. This side of the camera is curved to make handling more comfortable than holding a box.

The features on the top of the Canon PowerShot SD40 are (from left to right) the on/off button, the shutter button and the speaker. As you can see from this photo, the lanyard loop is the only part of the camera that sticks out, so it would slide easily into a shirt or other small pocket, or a small handbag.

At the bottom we have the USB socket for the camera station (which is included with the camera) and the tripod socket. The camera clips nicely into the camera station, where the USB and AV outputs are located and the camera’s battery can charge.