IXUS 400 - A Tough Beauty (Canon Digital Ixus 400)

Member Name: Nibelung

Product:	Canon Digital Ixus 400
Date:	20/01/04 (1433 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent build quality, Good sharp results, easy to use, Very good colour rendition

Disadvantages: Even Cano make cheaper 4.0 megapixel cameras

I have always liked the Canon range of IXUS* pocket cameras, ever since I bought the first, and to my way of thinking, best built model, finished as it was in a hefty satin stainless steel case with just a touch of black plastic around the lens. I guess you'd call this the IXUS 1, except back then it was not numbered, it was THE IXUS.

*In other parts of the globe, this may be called an ELPH, as in, ?......still, as long as you've got your ELPH? (another missed marketing opportunity!)

Over a 6-year period it has served us well, except for a failure during its guarantee period, which was fixed free-of-charge. However, last Summer while on holiday in Portugal, it developed the same fault, which given its age, I was forced to conclude was an un-economic repair.

Just lately, I have been putting a greater and greater emphasis on using my Nikon Coolpix 5700 digital camera for most of my best shots, but even I have to admit that something approaching the size of a 35 mm SLR camera is not an ideal holiday companion, hence the IXUS as well.

Since its original inception, the IXUS has kept up with the times - the version II APS camera was a cosmetically revised effort with a few extra features. Then the digital revolution took hold, and Canon were quick to exploit the IXUS? dinky looks and solid gold build quality, by turning out the first Digital IXUS, and all credit to them, in the same dimensions as the APS film version.

As most people will have noticed, digital cameras are largely judged by their ?mega pixel? capacity, these being the number of dots which go to make up the picture, i.e. more = good. You will probably have noticed also, that last year?s bees-knees is this year?s entry-level, when it comes to mega pixels, and although some top-end cameras are flirting with ratings beyond 10.0 mega pixels, somewhere between 3.0 and 4.0 is capable of giving excellent results, especially as hardly anyone prints beyond A4 size.


This is where the new Canon IXUS 400 comes in.

It is no bigger than previous models, and yet packs a very creditable 4.0 mega pixel maximum definition, stored on Compact Flash cards, which gives it the added advantage that it can share cards with my Nikon. The latest 'entry-level' digital IXUS, the Digital IXUS II now uses the newer SD cards, but frankly, it's not an awful lot cheaper, despite sporting a 'mere' 3.2 mega pixels and I'd have to buy a new card reader for the new format.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The first thing you notice is that this camera is a slight deviation from Canon?s all-stainless look. It IS constructed of metal but the outer casing is a mixture of satin steel and a silky coating of a (hopefully) durable ceramic material called Cerabrite.

This really is a return to ?dinky-ness? which some of the other IXUS?s, (or is that IXII?) were creeping away from, millimetre-by-millimetre. My daughter?s older IXUS V3 feels quite thick compared to a ?celluloid? cousin, but this 400 is a little beauty with the emphasis on the ?little?. One minor bonus here - I get to use the quality leather case from the old IXUS -, aye lad, them were?t? days when yer got a PROPER case wi? it.

The flashgun is built into the front plate of the camera, so unlike my original APS IXUS, there is no need for it to pop up like a sleepy alligator raising one eyelid when needed - it's always there. The 3x zoom lens retracts fully (and covers itself) when the camera is switched of, and only protrudes when switched on, curiously for about the same amount whether zoomed or not. This camera embodies a long optical zoom for its size, and this is further augmented by a ?digital zoom? i.e. a centre-of-picture magnifier, to take the overall zoom range up to about 11x.

Personally, I?m not impressed with digital zooms, since they are not really zooms at all, and achieve nothing that you couldn?t do ?back at
the ranch? with your chosen graphics package. At least if you do a selective print later, from the centre of a picture let?s say, you haven?t compromised the actual picture content, whereas, if you use the digital zoom on the camera, the rest of the picture, which might later decide you really wanted is lost forever. Stick to the optical zoom is my advice.

All credit to Canon, despite that camera having so many hatch covers, buttons and screens it doesn't feel or look too cluttered. The top of the camera only really has two main buttons, one the on/off switch and the other, the shutter release. The zoom control is an outer ring around the shutter release, which you work with your right thumb. The on/off switch has to be held down for a second or two to prevent accidental powering up, perhaps inside a soft case. Many people with a Nokia cell phone will be all too aware of the ease with which you can make an accidental call to the first person in your phone book, and turning the Canon on unknowingly could waste precious battery life, and possibly strain its lens mechanism if it?s still in the case.

Annoyingly, the IXUS doesn?t give you a fuel-gauge type display to show you battery life. It holds off from telling you anything until you?re nearly out of ?juice? ? I?ve seen it opined elsewhere, that this is a fiendish Canon plot to get you to buy a spare battery. Unlike my Nikon, which will also run on 2CR5 throwaway batteries, the Canon will only run on its unique-fit Lithium-Ion batteries, and not for too long, it would seem.

There are ways round this. One is to use the optical viewfinder for taking pictures, with the rear-mounted LCD screen turned off. Another is to refuse to show anyone your work until you get home!

Camera makers will insist of showing battery life as a total of shots - what they fail to mention is over how long a period. There?s no point in telling me that I?m good for 500 photos, if the battery will only
stand up for 5 hours, even fully charged. The spontaneity for which digital cameras are famed is tarnished a bit when someone shouts ?grab the camera, you never know who we?ll meet? only to find that you need to stay in for a couple of hours while the battery charges.

USING ITS FEATURES

To kick off with, you'll probably want to take some photos under the fully automatic mode. Quite literally, this involves turning the camera on, and pressing the shutter release. Canon do now seem to have (almost) licked the time lag problems encountered when trying to ?snatch? a shot - this camera boots up in about one second, which is a considerable improvement over my ?big boy?s? Nikon.

Using one or other of the viewfinders, you aim and fire ? that?s all there is to it. Of course, by using the Mode dial, you can introduce a degree of over-ride into the process if you so desire, using the manual setting, the panorama stitch setting or the movie mode.

AUTOMATIC - Even in fully automatic guise, you can still manipulate the flash gun in a carousel of options, ranging from not firing at all, through the ?anti-redeye? setting to ?slo-sync? which fires the flash in anti-redeye mode whilst also using a slower shutter speed to prevent the background from being almost completely blacked-out - a common problem with outdoor night shots. You can also access the closer focussing needed by macro mode here - this enables you to focus from within a couple of inches from the lens out to a foot or so.

MANUAL - Whilst not a truly manual setting, this does give you more control over the exposure used, but not as you would expect by stipulating the shutter speed or aperture. No, here you can only adjust facets such as under- or over-exposure, and the white balance (i.e. the light qualities encountered under a range of settings - daylight, fluorescent and incandescent bulb etc). I guess anyone looking for true over-ride had better loo
k elsewhere, bu
t most people would buy this camera for its looks and pocket-ability - I know I did (sorry, WE did - it looks like my wife has taken a very big shine to it!).

PANORAMA - The panorama stitch mode is useful. Unlike a celluloid APS camera with its various format options, the digital camera?s screen format is strictly a TV-shaped 4:3 aspect ratio. However, you can take a panorama of several photos, which are later stitched together. The Canon has a useful little feature to help you get the overlapping of frames more or less right first time. After taking the left hand shot of the panorama, the viewfinder then shows the right hand portion of the previous shot in the left of the viewfinder. Because this is semi-transparent, this makes lining up the next shot very easy. You continue in this manner for several shots. These are all retained as single shots but earmarked as participants in a panorama for later processing by PC software.

MOVIE MODE - Personally, I can never get too worked up over digital cameras that can shoot movies for several reasons, not least of which is that I?ve got a camcorder, and you know what they say about horses for courses - after all, it can take still photos but I don't use the facility.

Another good reason for not using the movie facility is that the sound is only steam mono, the picture definition in this case is limited to maximum of 320 lines definition, compared to 520 on the camcorder, and it only shoots 15 frames per second compared to 25 on the camcorder. Yes, it does shoot movies of a sort, limited to a three minute maximum, but just don?t expect to have much Compact Flash Module memory left for photos at the end of it!

CAPACITIES

Using the 32megabyte Compact Flash module supplied, you can only store 14 of the top definition (i.e. 4 megapixel) pictures. Not wishing to compromise the camera?s picture quality just to squeeze some more shots in, I invested in the cheapes
t 128 megabyte
chip

I could find, for around £20 from www.dabs.com. This gives a much more acceptable 61 shot capacity with the 14 on the original chip held in reserve, or maybe to shoot a quick film epic (it?d have to be quick, too!).

In theory, using the lowest definition setting, the new 128 mbyte job will store 1355 VGA quality pictures, easily good enough for Internet use, and twice as good as a video still, but don't forget, once you?ve taken your pictures at this setting, there?s no going back if you don?t like what you see when you print them.


CONNECTIVITY

In common with most digital cameras, the IXUS can be plugged directly into a PC USB port after which, most modern versions of Windows (and MacOS) will recognise it as a new drive, allowing pictures to be view, copied over, what-have-you. The IXUS also shares a common direct-to-printer protocol that many cameras have started to use, so that, given the right printer, the PC can be cut out of the loop. Of course, this assumes that your print composition is perfect first time, since you won?t have the luxury of straightening horizons (yes, why do they all slope after closing time?) or taking out Auntie Flo?s red-eyes and that alluring hint of knickers-elastic peeking out from under her party frock.

In addition, the IXUS can also connect to a TV so that you can view your pictures as a slide show. This can be adjusted to PAL or NTSC output to suit which side of the Atlantic you happen to be on at the time.

THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING

Yes, its results are pretty damned good, and you have to look hard for any difference between its results, and those from my 5.0 megapixel Nikon 5700, costing 2.5 times more. If anything, I prefer its colour rendition, but that?s purely subjective.

To be perfectly honest, apart from occasional manipulation of the flash mode, either to turn it off of get rid of the anti-red-eye facility to make the batteri
es last lo
nger, I don?t anticipate using its over-ride features. The instruction manual is 150 pages long, and ALL in English, but don?t put off, after page 13, you?ll be thrilled with the results and wondering whether to bother with the rest of the book.

LIKES AND DISLIKES

a) THE HOORAHS

Build quality 10/10

Compactness 10/10

Ease of initial use 9/10

Extensive Manual 8/10

Long zoom lens 9/10,

Picture quality 9/10

b) THE BOOS

No carrying case - how cheapskate is that? 5/10

Short battery life, but then it would be difficult to put a big battery in such a small camera 6/10

No alternative dry battery for emergencies 5/10

Poor battery life warning - too much like only having a low fuel warning light instead of a gauge 5/10

CONCLUSION

If you?re looking for a snazzy, if slightly pricey (£299 at Amazon*) digital camera capable of damned-near top-flight results, that feels like it's well-built (it is, by the way), and that?s quite a lot smaller than a cigarette packet, then the IXUS range should be on your shopping list. Oh yes, it?s a doddle to use too.

*If it?s just results you?re after, then even Canon has a range of larger, cheaper and it has to be said, more plasticky cameras that perform just as well.

Summary: