Rating: 
Summary: Things you want to know before you decide to buy Canon S40
Review: (1). There is 30 seconds length limit on each movie clip. When reach 30 seconds, the recording stop automatically!! I wouldn't have bought S40 if I knew this limit. Think about it, if you are recording a important event which last longer than 30 seconds, you are going to miss something you do not want to miss! To me, this is unacceptable.(2). After you start shooting movie, you can't zoom. This is unbelievable inconvenient. (3). Only AVI format for movie clip is available. I think mpeg format is better. File size will be smaller. (4). Amoung about 100 pics I took, I bearly remember any one that does not have red eye, even though I used red-eye reduction flash. (5). Distortion on the photo edge, as you see in all other small cameras. (6). My friend has a Sony digital camera, when it is connected to PC, you see the camera like a hard drive or CD. It is very easy to download/upload files. In S40, you can't do it this way.
Rating: 
Summary: Durable, Easy to use, lots of features
Review: I recently purchased the S40. Once the battery charged we were taking photos in a few minutes. This is a camera for the serious amateur. The automatic setings are user friendly. Lots of manual options as well. Order a larger flash card (128 MG) to get the best resolution and hold maximum number of photos. Only drawback is the rechargeable battery, lasts about 1/2 hour with the display screen on. Order an additonal battery to make sure you have power when you need it. Easy upload to your PC with the software provided. Still trying to figure out how to modify the photos we take.
Rating: 
Summary: Great pictures in a small package
Review: This is my first purchase of a digital camera format. I purchased this camera for my trip to China and was daring enough to just bring this one camera. Well, in general, I was not disappointed. In addition to the camera, I also purchased a 256 CF from SimpleTech. This was more then adequate. When I selected the medium format, I got ~ 220 pictures. As for the quality of the pictures, in bright sun, the pictures came out quite wonderfully. I felt the camera had problems with lower light situations. I did find that the camera has the ability to control the shutter speed for longer exposure but it's not as convenient during a trip. At the same time, I also compared pictures taken from the S40 to my friend's Elfp S200 and you can definitely see a quality difference. I shots from the S40 have much more color depth. A improvement I would like to see is a better zoom. It seems that 3x zoom is acceptable given the size but more would be better. Obviously there is a digital zoom but I tried it and without a tripod for stability, it can be quite useless. On of the nice features I've found in this camera that didn't exist in older digital models was when you take a picture, this camera actually sounds a clicking noise. I realize this is a really small thing but when you give your camera to a stranger to help you take a picture, you'd be surprised what a different this makes. To sum it up, you can't go wrong with this camera if you're looking for a compact digital camera with some flexible features.
Rating:
Summary: Big things come in small packages
Review: I can remember owning one of the first digital cameras that came out, the one by Apple computer. It was a very low resolution and was very battery hungry. Today's digital cameras has gone a long way. In fact, they can actually compete with film cameras in quality! Developing film is now in the past for me. This S40 will be my forth digital camera. I chose the S40 for it's size, all metal construction and Canon's name tag for their photography expertise. I knew if Canon put something out, it must sure be decent. The S40 retails for $..., I paid a hundred less by shopping around. I did however buy it from a Canon authorized dealer which cost a lot more than the "gray market" cameras online. I don't trust those discount places, I never read anything good about them. At first, I was disappointed with the S40 as I was playing with Canon's G2 right before I bought it. The S40 isn't as point and shoot as the G2 due to it's smaller size. It is much more sensitive to lighting conditions. Also due to it's small size, it is more difficult to hold steady. However, after a few days of playing with it and tweeking out the adjustments I was able to produce some very high quality pictures. The auto mode on the S40 is terrible and almost can not be used. It always seems to focus on the wrong part of the subject. For some reason, it tends to focus on the background more than the object you intended to shoot. This is due to their 3 box focusing system. Very similar to their Automatic SLR's. But I didn't have this problem with my Elan EOS. However there is a counter to this problem. I simply use their Tv or Av mode. This allows for focusing only in one box rather than three and it allows you to adjust the aperature or speed at touch of a button. This is truly a real camera and not only a point and shoot. It can be switched to full manual mode in just one click. I like the way it tells you exactly what f stop your are at and at what speed you are going to shoot. And with a simply push of a button you can change the f stop and speed very easily right before a shot. It's like a fully digital manual camera! The flash is slightly inadequate but not as bad as some other brands that I have tried. Also the battery is very short lived. It uses a proprietary lithium ion battery and is rated at giving you 180 pics with the screen on and 420 pics with the screen off. Not bad considering my last camera gave me about 30 pics with a set of batteries.
It will however give you about 1 day of heavy usage, that's about it. You will almost definitely need a extra just to be safe. One of it's best feature is the design. I like the fact that I don't have to fumble with a dangling lens cover. The S40 incorporates it's lens cover with a clam shell design. Just slide the cover over and it turns on automatically, snap it closed and it shuts off. I also like the all metal construction. I hate plastic cameras! It also doubles as a camcorder. You can record short avi/mpeg movies. 30 secs in high resolution and 120 sec in low resolution. However this eats up memory in a hurry so if you like this feature, get ready to put out for some higher memory. The camera uses Compact Flash, which is slowly starting to turn into the industry standard in storage. It also allows you to use micro-drives if you are really into storing large batches of pics. This is a good camera for those who like things small. It's a beutifully designed piece of equiptment considering it's size. Does it compare to it's bigger brother, the G2? NO. But it's not designed to. This is a good compromise for those who want 4.0 megapixel in a small package. For those who need and want the best pictures possible from a digital camera I would recommend the G2 but for those who don't need the very best from a picture, this is a very good and well made camera.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera, not so great autofocus
Review: This camera only has a bit higher resolution than my old S20 (4 versus 3.2 megapixels), but pictures are much better. White balance is better, there is less noise, there seems to be higher dynamic range, and I get fewer washed out pictures outdoors. Shutter lag is much less (although autofocus seems slower), and it has a 3x versus 2x zoom. Flash also seems stronger. I also like the image dial, not sure why they didn't do this from the start (or just copy all the controls from their 35mm SLRs). The best new features are the video clips and RAW mode images that are not much bigger than superfine JPEG. I can now get lossless images off the camera and play with them without paying a TIFF-sized penalty. I've been using Breezebrowser to do batch conversions and it works well. The video clip capability is also cool - I always thought it was stupid when this started showing up on digicams, but it is great for filming kids. The 30-second limitation isn't as much of an issue as I thought, though the quality is lacking. Can't wait until these little digicams get 640x480 at 30fps - would still not be as good as the miniDV camcorder I have, but I hardly ever use the camcorder, whereas I almost always have the digicam. The only negative I've seen so far is that the autofocus seems to be worse than on the S20 - slower, noisier, and has problems in low light conditions. Part of this may be the AF focus assist light on this seems dimmer than the S20. Overall though, the focusing system is more flexible - settable focus points plus manual focus if you really want. And you can set metering too. And finally, hitting the AE lock button while holding shutter button halfway will fire the preflash, letting you use this camera with standard slave strobes - kind of kludgy, but cheaper than springing for one of the new "digital" ones that support cameras with preflash. In addition to the camera itself, there is a nice underwater case for it that is under $. For most other digicams you have to shell out major $$$, often more than the cost of the camera, for third party underwater housings. This alone would have been a major factor in choosing the camera; in addition to using it when diving, which I do infrequently, it's also great for taking beach or pool pictures without worrying about getting the camera wet, and even with the case the size is pretty small. All in all, a pleasant upgrade - twice the camera at half the price I paid for my S20 two years ago. Of course in another two years the S60 will be twice as good and half the price of the S40. Such is progress. As far as problems go, I was unable to get USB cable connection working at first.( I only wanted this to set the owner name, I use a Firewire compact flash reader for downloading photos). Turned out to be a compatibility problem with my Bearpaw 1200 flatbad USB scanner. Now I have the camera working, but the Bearpaw is broken even after driver reinstalls :-( It would be nice if this camera were smaller. Like the digital Elphs, but with the S40 features. Oh well, I guess in a couple of years...
Rating:
Summary: Canon's Statement on the Powershot S45
Review: "Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately Canon USA has not announced plans to release the PowerShot S45 in the United States."
So there you have it - looks like the S40 will have to do. I wanted to originally purchase the Olympus Camedia D-40, but I've seen so many excellent reviews written by outside vendors on this particular camera, I figured this was a better purchase, although I'd like to hear more about the Camedia C-50Zoom coming out....
Rating:
Summary: Canon S40
Review: Small, lightweight, and great pic quality with tons of features. Everything I wanted in a Canon G2 but with a lower price and smaller form factor.
Rating:
Summary: Wait For Canon PowerShot S45
Review: This is probably a decent camera, but in Europe, Canon recently introduced the PowerShot S45, which is significantly better. Information about the PowerShot S45 is on Canon's UK web site, and on Internet camera review sites.
Rating:
Summary: Built Like a Brick!
Review: This is a GREAT camera! Built VERY SOLID, easy to setup nice set of software and features. Get a good case for it, Canon didn't supply one (that bites). Took a ton of pics and all crystal clear! If you are thinking of this camera save up for a microDrive so you don't have to deal with storage issues. 16MB isn't enough for a 4MP camera. Brite Flash, fast and easy, bye bye my Film Camera, now I need a good ink Jet to print too! ONLY GRIPE!
I didn't like that Amazon didn't sell it direct, it went thru J&R...
Rating:
Summary: A great rugged little camera!
Review: I purchased this dandy little camera as out 1st digital camera and somewhat of an interim as we await the pricing on the more expensive models that I can use our existing high quality lenses on. I am very happy with this camera! It has great range for its size and many of the semi-professional features avid photographers will enjoy! You can use it as a quick snapshot camera but if you want to this baby can do a great many things other higher end film camera's can do with the added benefit of seeing a very good representation of the final picture on the mini LCD screen. On some of my treks I have accidentally dropped the camera from a few feet, a few times on some rocks ( ouch ) but it is fine! I am not a fan of the "digital" zoom since I think you can do that fine yourself with your photo editing software later - you just have to shoot at a higher resolution first. For instance - while in Rocky Mountain National Park I saw a Marmot sticking its head up from between some rocks. I simply shot him at maximum resolution and the 3X Optical Zoom - that creates a HUGE picture but then I used my software and cropped out what was useless and I have a wonderful Marmot picture and it looks like I was about 4 feet away instead of the 15 - 20 I really was. I use the 128 MB Memory Stick I purchased afterwords and haven't needed the 16 MB stick that comes with it yet - not even close. It's easy to hand this to others and let them take the pictures - you know they'll be horrible with feet cut off and too much sky - wall etc. but then you just crop it later and make it look like YOU took the picture :-) It's a great camera for the price!
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