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Introduction
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01.Product Tour
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02.Color
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03.Noise
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04.Resolution
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05.Video
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06.Sample Photos
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07.Playback
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08.Hardware
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09.Controls
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10.Design & Handling
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11.Sony DSC-TX7 Comparison
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12.Panasonic DMC-ZS3 Comparison
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13.Canon SD970 IS Comparison
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14.Conclusion
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15.Photo Gallery
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16.Comments
Resolution
Images are very sharp. Still, there is some distortion and aberration, and the image stabilization doesn’t make much of a difference.
Resolution (11.37)
We found that the images that this camera captured had decent sharpness and only slight chromatic aberration, but we did see some evidence of distortion at both ends of the zoom range. More on how we test resolution.
Distortion (7.75)
Using the zoom lens of the SD4000 did introduce some distortion into the images it captured: we found barrel distortion at all 3 of the points on the zoom range we test. This was most significant at the widest and middle zoom settings, where we measured a 1.5 per cent distortion.
| Distortion Examples |
|---|
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| Wide (4.9mm): 1.62% Barrel Distortion |
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| Mid (11.0mm): 1.44% Barrel Distortion |
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| Tele (18.6mm): 0.17% Pincushion Distortion |
Sharpness (14.93)
The images that the SD4000 captured were very sharp, although they did get a little soft at the edges. This effect was most noticeable at the widest zoom setting, but it was also visible at the middle and telephoto ends of the range, as you can see from the crops below.
Chromatic Aberration (7.91)
We also saw a little bit of chromatic aberration (where the lens diffracts colors of light differently, producing color fringing) at the edges of the frame at all of the zoom levels as well, but again this effect was most noticeable at the widest zoom settings of the camera.
| Image Sharpness and Chromatic Aberration | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Click blue squares to change sample crops below |
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Quality & Size Options (10.00)
The SD4000 offers two levels of image compression (Normal and Fine) and six shooting resolutions, ranging from 10-megapixel down to VGA. All of the image sizes use a 4:3 aspect ratio, except the last one, which shoots 16:9 images that will fit better onto a HDTV.
| Large | 3648 x 2736 | Medium 1 | 2816 x 2112 |
| Medium 2 | 2272 x 1704 | Medium 3 | 1600 x 1200 |
| Small | 640 x 480 |
Image Stabilization (2.14)
The SD4000 IS, as the name suggests, offers image stabilization, shifting en element of the lens in response to the movement it senses. In our tests, we found that enabling this feature offered some improvement, producing slightly sharper images. However, the improvement was not huge, and we found it to be less effective than the Anti-Motion Blur processing system that the Sony DSC-TX7 offers.
The IS feature of the Canon SD4000 IS has three levels: off, Continuous (where it runs constantly), Shoot Only (which acts only when the shutter is pressed) and Panning, which ignores left to right motion. More on how we test image stabilization.
| Stabilization Comparisons | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Canon SD4000 IS | Sony DSC-TX7 | Panasonic DMC-ZS3 | Canon SD970 IS |
| Stabilization Off | |||
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| Stabilization On | |||
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Shop for the Canon SD4000 IS
Latest News
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Canon SD4000 IS Manual
Top Rated Point & Shoots
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Canon's SX30 got a CMOS makeover that resulted in the SX40 HS, an impressive ultrazoom that captures beautiful shots in almost any scenario. Read full 16-part review
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