The SD/IXUS range is made up of Canon's 'style-orientated' compact cameras and, as the rest of the market has fragmented into innumerable niches, the range has grown to accommodate an increasing variety of needs. The SD4000 IS tops the current lineup, offering a 3.8x wide-angle zoom and (despite its underlying point-and-shoot disposition) aperture and shutter priority modes. In addition the SD4000 IS is the first of its family to be based around a back-lit CMOS sensor that enables several high speed modes and promises improved low-light performance.
The SD4000 IS's low-key styling belies the fact that it's actually a very well-specified compact camera. In addition to the relative novelty of a back-lit CMOS sensor, it also features a lens that starts at a 28mm equivalent F2.0 - impressive even if it ends up at a rather less noteworthy F5.3 at the 105mm equivalent end of its zoom range. We're curious to see the effect of using a back-side illuminated CMOS sensor in the SD4000 IS, because in our experience the promises made for the low-light capability of these sensors (which gather light from what would be the back of a conventional CMOS design and thus remove all the support circuitry from the light path), are not always obvious compared to some of the most modern CCD designs.
However, the SD4000 IS does capitalize on the CMOS sensor's faster readout compared to CCD, using it to offer 720p HD video, 3.7fps full resolution continuous shooting, 8.4fps reduced resolution images and even 240fps movies which are played back at 30fps to give a slow-motion effect. Being the top of Canon's style compact range, the SD4000 IS also has a selection of extra shooting modes such as fisheye and miniature (mock tilt/shift) modes.
Canon SD4000 IS Key Features
- 28-105mm equivalent F2.0-5.3 image stabilized lens
- 10 million pixel 1/2.3" sensor (0.28 cm²)
- 3.0 inch LCD screen (16:9 aspect ratio, 230k dots)
- 720p 30fps HD video capture
- 3.7fps continuous shooting at full resolution
- ISO 125 - 3200 (6400 at reduced resolution)
- HDMI output
