The Digital Elph line continues its trendy reputation with the Canon PowerShot SD40. The 7.1-megapixel digital camera comes in four colors and has a slim, pocket-sized body. The SD40 was introduced in late 2006 with a batch of Canon cameras equipped with the manufacturer’s new image processor. This processor offers a significant upgrade, since it brings face detection technology that can automatically find faces and focus on them. Translation: never mess up a portrait again.
The SD40’s face detection system can quickly recognize up to nine faces in a frame. It then focuses and adjusts the exposure accordingly. This isn't entirely unique: Fujifilm has a slew of cameras with the feature. The Fujifilm FinePix F31fd has 6.3 megapixels and can detect up to nine faces in a frame, like the SD40. The FinePix sells for much less, though. This cool feature isn’t the only thing the Digital Elph has to offer. It has ISO sensitivity up to 1600 for better pictures in low light, a Self-Timer mode that snaps up to 10 pictures in a row, and lots of Color modes that can be applied before or after taking the picture.
The My Colors mode adds color filters and can even tweak skin tones to make subjects look tanner or lighter. Pictures can be taken with the Auto setting or 13 Scene modes. There is also a “Manual” mode that doesn’t allow the exposure settings to be changed, but provides other manual controls like white balance and ISO.
The cell phone-sized Canon PowerShot SD40 has a tiny 2.4x optical zoom lens and a 1.8-inch LCD screen. Both of these components are smaller than average. The $299 Casio Z700 has a 2.7-inch LCD, the $349 Kodak V705 and Pentax S7 have 2.5-inch LCD screens, and the $349 Nikon S7c has a 3-inch LCD. The SD40 is definitely the bottom of the barrel in this category. The flash is also small, and not very effective. It can only reach 6.6 feet at best, so subjects will have to be close enough for you to smell their breath. If you don’t care for such closeness, you can buy the accessory flash Canon sells for $99 that extends the flash power to 30 feet.
The SD40 is constructed from stainless steel and measures 3.8 x 1.8 x 0.9 inches. Its body is boxy with few rounded edges, and there aren’t many handling features. The SD40 is available in Precious Rose, Twilight Sepia, Olive Gray, and Noble Blue colors. It comes with a remote control and a dock that can charge the battery while transferring pictures to computers, printers, or televisions. The SD40 may have to sit in there often; its battery only lasts 190 shots and that isn’t much compared to the competition.
The Canon PowerShot SD40's 7.1-megapixel resolution proved very effective, and its Burst mode showed serious endurance. It shot 1.6 frames per second – and did so until the memory card filled up. Unfortunately, its colors weren’t as vibrant as previous PowerShot cameras. Noise in images was a problem when the camera automatically set the ISO – especially when snapping shots in low light.
The SD40 has a decent selection of Automatic modes and its videos look decent too – but only in optimal lighting. If you shoot mainly outdoors or otherwise bright scenes, the Canon SD40 is a tempting purchase. If you shoot lots of portraits or candids of people, the face detection system may be the only reason you buy this camera. The biggest drawbacks of the SD40 are the wimpy components and the relatively high $349 price. For that price, you shouldn’t have to deal with noisy pictures, poor handling, and a sorry flash.
