Canon Digital Camera IXUS 400
(Powershot 400)
Personal Opinion

Pro:

• The size and weight of the camera are ideal for slipping into a pocket
• The speed of turning on and firing is not instant but in most situtations it has not presented any problem at all.
• A good combination of automatic and manual options.
• The battery is small, and can be recharged so running costs are zero.
• The orientation sensor automatically rotates portrait photos (and apparently also helps to improve the white balance algorithm).
• Helpful panorama modes and easy to use stitching software.

Con:

• No case is supplied with the camera!
• The supplied memory card is a bit of a miserable size too.
• The battery is non-standard so you need to buy spares if going on holiday. But very few cameras take AA batteries anyway.
• There is no indicator showing how much battery capacity is left. One minute it works fine, the next it says "replace battery" and refuses to work.
• The cover on the USB/AV port looks flimsy and I can imagine the hinge breaking quite soon if used regularly.
• The movie mode cannot do 640 × 480, even though the IXUS v3 can.
• Not as beautiful as the IXUS v3.
• Easily suffers from a jammed lens, giving an E18 error. My first camera did this brand new from the shop! The replacement suffered the same a week later. My v3 didn't suffer this, although I didn't own it very long before I lost it!
• There are reports that the "Super Hard Cerabrite Finish" is not as scratch-resistant as claimed (experienced myself) and that on some cameras it even rubs off (the camera can be used as a pencil!).

Comparison:

• Compare with my comments on the Canon IXUS v3.
• The switch by the shutter release now only does record or playback; there is another dial (slightly harder to adjust) which selects between Manual, Movie, Panorama or Normal (Automatic) mode. This may or may not make the camera easier to use than the v3; time will tell.
• The bottom row of buttons is harder to use although this may prevent accidental pressing.
• The function menus have moved around onto different buttons.
• You can customise sounds for all camera functions. I find this very annoying as I prefer silent cameras but thankfully all can be turned off.

Batteries:

• The battery which came with the camera is rated at 850 mAh. I wish the larger capacity batteries (1200 mAh) were available in the UK, but I've only seen them at after5pm and others in the USA.

Summary:

• Don't let the negatives put you off; this is a very fine camera for the price. (But not Jessops' price; it's over 100 pounds cheaper at Amazon).

If you get an error relating to the memory card: first try reformatting the card, then try a diffrent card, but if you still get errors then please read this Canon web page:

http://tinyurl.com/z7hla (This is a Canon UK web page offering repair of this problem.)

Please see the problem section on my IXUS v3 page. These may be common to all digital cameras; I am investigating.

I still haven't found my perfect photo management software but there is one good thing about the supplied ZoomBrowser: simply open up a window on a directory containing your new photos and it automatically rotates the images to the correct orientation (landscape/portrait). Neat feature! It uses information (embedded in the image file) from the orientation sensor in the camera. Make sure you upgrade to the latest ZoomBrowser

Other software

Download the Epson Print Image Matching Photoshop Plugin which allows images files to have a different colour profile applied, supposedly better quality colours. I haven't tested this fully yet.

Driver

Windows XP does not need a driver if you just want to download the photos from the camera (it uses PTP mode). However you can install a TWAIN driver (Windows 98,2000) or WIA driver (Windows ME,XP) to access the camera if you want. At the time of writing the latest driver is 6.0.0.

Firmware

Version 2.0.0.0 is available (see below) which implements PictBridge allowing the camera to print directly to any PictBridge-compliant printer.

• Latest news / drivers / firmware etc.
• Specifications
• Manual (PDF)
• Developer programme (Europe)
• IXUS 400 on Linux
• ZoomBrowser latest version
• Useful review (Terry Ashton, 24 Nov 02)
• Reviews of all Canon cameras

Contact me

mail arb if you have any comments, questions, or would like to see some sample photographs.

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