Canon PowerShot A40 Digital Camera, When Only the Best Will Do - SEE THE PHOTOS!
Written: May 22 '02 (Updated Mar 09 '03)
Product Rating:
Ease of Use:
Durability:
Battery Life:
Photo Quality:
Pros: Crisp, clear images, lightweight, compact. Loads of features. Records short movies. 2 megapixels
Cons: Price, icons on LCD screen are small, small 8mb flashcard, bought $200 accessories
The Bottom Line: Great to use for vacations; lightweight and easy to use. SEE THE PHOTOS! Loads of features. 2 megapixels;
3x Optical zoom, 2x digital; built-in lens cap
remnjava's Full Review: Pentax Optio A40 Digital Camera
This camera produces crisp, clear, well defined images in an easy to use camera. The camera is small, light weight and we use a carrying case designed to fit on a belt. A myriad of features are discussed below.
When my husband and I went on a vacation recently, we considered what camera we would bring along. We had our trusty Pentax K1000 that I bought 15 years ago for photography class. That tended to be heavy, and with all the accessories such as zoom lens, it weighed more than my purses ever did. Would I remember to bring the flash at the times when I would need it, or would I leave it behind, wanting to conserve space and weight? We missed a LOT of great vacation photos recently because of the weight and bulk of the Pentax. Also, my husband despised having to manually set the focus and aperture.
We also have a Polaroid PDC300 digital camera that I purchased using the images to post on Ebay. No wonder the items didn't sell. That camera would never do for a vacation. It produced poor quality photos and it ate up batteries. Another camera we have has an automatic focus. It is a 35mm Vivitar that occasionally forgets to flash…
Digital or 35mm? Price - Retailer
My husband and I considered whether we should buy a traditional 35mm camera or a digital. We are cheapskates at heart, and the digital cameras seemed very high priced. The one we ultimately chose was the Canon Powershot A-40. My husband checked the internet, various consumer reviews and various local electronic and department stores that had websites. We found the camera at Best Buy for $299.00, which seems a little higher than the Epinions website suggests. It was one of the few stores locally, (actually the only one we found) that carried this particular model.
Some of the following information will be paraphrased from the owner's manual (as I am no technical expert, by any means.)
Viewfinder:
This camera has a traditional viewfinder as well as an LCD color monitor. The camera could use some backlighting on the LCD monitor, as my brother suggested. I am not sure if it is currently available on cameras at this point. It is difficult to see an image in bright sunlight. You just have to go with your gut instincts.
Focusing:
The camera has auto focus. If you want to take photos of buildings or folks who will pose for you, , this camera takes LOVELY photos! The photo images are crisp and clear. I have had many compliments on the photos I emailed to co-workers, (overloading their mailboxes in the process. I sent about 100 images.) If you want to take a photo of your Canine Americans playing in the yard or the kids romping about, I'm not sure this camera is for you. Then again, I've never had a camera with auto focus, except for the things that pass for cameras at the supermarket checkout counters. Basically, you depress the shutter half way, and then wait for the camera to beep twice. You then depress the shutter all the way. This can take a second or two and that can be all the time it takes to lose a great shot.
Modes:
Auto: where the camera makes the decision about focus and lighting.
Manual: you adjust the aperture and shutter speed.
Stitch Assist: Take multiple shots and use the camera to make a panorama photo.
Movie: Capable of recording a short movie, with 2.5 frames per second.
Replay: Replay or delete images from the Compact Flash memory card, display and download photos on your computer, print images directly from your printer.
Compact Flash Memory Card:
The camera stores images on what is called a CF card. It is approximately a 1" rectangle and is about 1/8 " thick. It can hold anywhere from 8MB to 128MB depending on the card you purchase. 256MB cards are available. The 8MB card that came with the camera, held about 12 images. I did not reset the resolution from how it came from the factory. We purchased a 128MB CF card from Best Buy for $89. It became about 60% full when it had about 125 images on it.
We purchased a CF card reader for about $35. This plugs into the USB port (if your computer is antiquated like mine, you can add an expansion slot to your computer if you don't have these). Just pop your CF card into the reader. Your computer will detect the reader, indicating it as a drive. Just click on the drive. Click a couple of more times to discover what file you need to be in. Your photos will show up as icons. Just click on the icon to see each individual image. Each file will hold about 100 photos. I started to panic as I was looking for images taken at the end of my vacation. They were MISSING! Actually they were moved into the second file. Most of my photos were in Canon100, with the remainder flowing into Canon101. Ours is a little mouse shaped device with a cord. The CF card just slips into the "device." No, you cannot use this to scroll or click with. It only reads the card.
Software:
OK, how do I share these photos with coworkers and friends who live a long ways away? You can store them on CDs. I haven't quite mastered burning CDs, but I try. You can also transfer them onto your 3.5" floppy, but you may need to reduce the DPIs (dots per inch). Getting frustrated, I went to my computer menu and discovered my husband had loaded a Canon program that comes with the camera into the hard drive. It is a VERY NICE program that will put your photos onto a "mat," or backdrop. There is a default background, different colors available, as well as different borders for your photos. Some are geared towards kids and various other themes.
It will load the default of three images per page. It will show you different possibilities for arranging. You have about five possibilities for auto arranging or you can manually push your images on a page. If you choose to have one image per page, it will take up almost the whole page. One set of our Marriage Renewal Photos, it cascaded them diagonally across the page, overlapping them slightly. This is a very nice effect. You can even insert captions. I inserted my captions on the mat rather than on the photos themselves. You can drag the captions anywhere you want. If you "grab" them in the middle, they will move. If you grab them on the edges they tend to resize. You can even reorient them on the page, so they are at an angle.
It makes it a lot easier when passing them around the office to have the photos pre-labeled, "Our Bed and Breakfast," "Toronto," etc. rather than keep folks guessing or having to be there and tell them over and over again. I used plain printer paper. I’m sure if I would have used a “quality” printer and professional photo paper, the prints would have looked MUCH nicer. But then again, they weren’t bad.
See the photos!
Here is a link to some of the photos I've taken with this camera. Apparently I didn't have the red eye set. I have shrunk them considerably, from 1600x1200 to 400x300 pixels, and resampled them as well (so they load quicker). Unfortunately at the cost of a quick loading photo, resampling costs the photos a small amount of crispness.
Print that Masterpiece!
You decide that you REALLY want to stay friends with the folks you share photos with, but they live across the country and don’t have a computer. Optional Canon printers are available that print credit card sized images, as well as those that print postcard sized images. You will have to check with your electronics store or Canon for these. You can also take your CF card to “participating” stores that do photo processing. Check with your local photo processors for further information.
You Ought to be on TV!
Well, you CAN be! With a power converter you can download your photos to your television set through the AV jacks. We saw GREAT photos on our 35” Sony TV. There was not a bit of grain to them. We have not experimented much with the movie mode, but it is a thought to watch them on TV. We had a hard time finding the correct A/C converter locally. Canon is VERY specific what type of voltage converter you need. This must be a proprietary item. We sought the help of Best Buy and they showed us the one they used on their demo cameras. I will let you figure this out for yourself. Damaging your camera may void the warranty.
WARNING: If you decide to call your photo "Beach" instead of "img001", the original name, it will not display on the television or replay on the LCD display of your camera. You might want to make a notebook with which img corresponds to which photo.
Speaking of TV, there is a microphone on this camera. I think I read that the only way the sound can be accessed is when you view the MOVIE images on the television. Resolution can be set to 320x240 or 160x120 pixels. You will get more movie time with the lower resolution, 160x120.
Photo Effects
On – normal photos.
Vivid – emphasizes the color and contrast resolution to record in bold color.
Neutral – tones down the contrast and color saturation to record neutral hues.
Low sharpening – records subjects with softened outlines.
Sepia – records in sepia tones, similar to the olde tyme photos you see in store windows.
B&B – black and white.
Zoom!
The zoom can be set for anywhere between 35 to 105 mm in 35mm terms. Images can be zoomed up to 7.5 times. Digital zoom: 3.8 times, 4.7 times. 6.0 times, and 7.5 times. 3x Optical Zoom Lens, and 2.5x Digital Zoom (taken from their website, I’m not sure how to phrase this.) The previous zoom information was taken from the owner’s manual.
Other Lenses
It is possible to purchase other lenses for this camera. A wide converter changes the lens by a factor of .07 while the teleconverter lens changes the lens by a factor of 2.4x. A close-up lens (52mm) is available so you can shoot subjects that are 3.9 to 9.8 inches away and 5.1 to 9.8 inches away. (See manual for details.) You will need an adapter ring for these lenses.
Flash Modes
Auto - self explanatory
Red-eye reduction, auto - red eye reduction fires with each shot
On - the flash will fire
Off - flash will not fire
Red eye reduction flash on, will always fire
Slow syncro - Flash timing is adjusted for slow shutter speeds such as at
night. A tripod is recommended.
The flash takes about 10 seconds to recharge.
If the image you are shooting is in poor light and will require the flash, this can happen
automatically, depending on the mode selected. An orange indicator will come on if it will be using the flash.
This camera takes 4 AA batteries. I chose to get the NiCad rechargeable batteries from Energizer. The batteries recharge in 4 hours. The recharger pack fits snuggly against the wall. This, including four AA batteries, was an additional $30. The original alkaline batteries lasted us for about 50 shots (approximately) before my husband saw a red warning light come on. Most of our shots were taken in bright sunlight.
Rotate it
You can rotate the completed images on the LCD display of the camera if you wish. I’m right handed. When I take tall shots, I hold the camera one way. My husband is left handed, and he holds his the opposite way. This can be difficult to view without cocking your head from side to side. There is a control so you can rotate them all to an upright position. You can also have a slide show presentation where each photo is shown on the monitor for about 3 seconds each. You can also display 9 photos at a time on the monitor , 3 across and 3 top to bottom.
Erasing Images
You can do it all at once, or individually. You can also protect individual shots from erasure, then later erase them if you decide you don’t want them anymore.
LCD Display Icons
I am over 40 years of age. Formerly far sighted, I now have trouble reading the newspaper without eyeglasses. The icons on this camera are tiny. My brother, who is VERY nearsighted, needed to take his glasses off to read the icons. Most of the time on the trip my eyes were pie-eyed from driving so many hours. I “guessed and bygoshed,” and we came out pretty good taking photos. I guess what I’m saying is that this camera is intuitive. Otherwise, my husband has no problems reading the monitor icons.
Before I forget, the camera will put a date and time on the image you capture. You will NOT be able to see this once it is out of the camera. Ours was off by a day. You can correct the date and time if you wish. (Note: According to the owner's manual, it is possible to replace an inner battery that controls date and time over the long term.)
WARNINGS: - taken from owner's manual:
Never put your camera close to strong magnetic fields such as electronic motors. This can cause malfunctions or lost images.
If condensation forms, remove the CF card and stop using the camera until the condensation evaporates. Moving the camera between hot and cold environments can cause condensation to form.
Take the batteries out of the camera if you will not be using it for a long time. Leaving the batteries in can damage the camera and run down the batteries.
The camera may become warm when using for an extended period of time. We did not experience this, but we used the camera for a few minutes each time. It also has an auto shut off feature that will bring the telescoping lens back into the camera and the lens cover will securely protect the lens.
Don't store the camera in a damp or dusty environment.
Don't store the camera in the trunk or glove box of your car where it can become overheated with the result of the batteries leaking.
Rather than bore you with a LOT of specs, save me a couple of hours of writing and Epinions about 69000 bytes of their hard drive, I will direct you to their website:
The bottom line: I like this camera, but will probably miss the ease of taking it to Kmart to get the regular photos developed. I hear they cost about 50 cents apiece to develop, slightly more than developing 35mm film. The images on the computer and TV screen are GREAT, crisp, clear and true to color.
Cost: $299 at Best Buy, which seems higher than others have paid.
I also bought:
CF card reader, so I could download photos to my computer - $35.
USB port for my CF reader so I could view photos on my antiquated computer - $25
Energizer rechargable batteries and charger, charging in 4 hours - $35
128MB CF card so we wouldn’t run out of “memory,” for photos on our trip. - $89
AC adapter so we could view photos on our TV - $25
Camera case that can be attached to one's belt, with an extra pocket for additional CF card and a latched as well as Velcro closure - $10
Prices above are approximate, but in the ballpark. Best Buy threw in a few packs of photo paper and gave me a 5% discount on the camera for applying for one of their credit cards.
Final Cost – just over $500
When looking for accessories while writing this review, I found the following website for accessories. The prices look good, but I have never ordered from them:
http://www.shop4tech.net/digac.html
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 299 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
3x optical, 6x digital zoom, 2.5" LCD, triple anti shake, face recognition, digital zoom enhancement, 21MB internal plus SD/SDHC slot, MPEG4 movie mod...More at eCOST.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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