Introduction

Ease of Use

It was once the case that Canon had two distinctly different lines in their digital compact camera range. The Digital IXUS: sexy and neat with sharp edges and aimed at the fashion conscious over the feature driven crowd. The PowerShot: Bulky, oozing with tech, features and modes, based on practical use over looks. However, this new line of PowerShot cameras is a far cry from that and only serves to further merge the two ranges together.

Take the new Canon PowerShot A4000 IS for example. It has a slightly convex front face with an 8x optical zoom lens that protrudes from it by around 2-3mm. A small flash and autofocus assist lamp accompanies the 8x optical zoom lens on the front. On the top, the power button is sunken into the body to prevent accidental depressing when you're trying to take a picture. It's colour coded with the rest of the body - which is nice - and we'd liked to have seen this run through to the shutter release button. It would be easier to see in the dark but it looks lower quality.

On the back, the 3 inch LCD screen takes up around 80% of the available space. The buttons are crammed into the remaining space but are surprisingly large. A dedicated video button sits at the top ready to be used by a quick press with the thumb. Below this is the Help button. This useful little feature will give you an explanation of the mode you're in as well as some examples of when it will be useful.

Front	Rear

The Canon PowerShot A4000 IS's navigation pad is a little smaller than we'd like but it fits with the space available. The buttons double up when not in a menu system and access macro, flash options, display options and mode switch. The latter is a simple twin mode option. Pressing the button will switch between auto and the mode that's selected in the Function menu.

To select the mode in the Function menu, make sure you're not in Auto mode and press the button in the centre of the navigation pad. The first option is for the modes available is for the scenes. Choosing Program opens up the most options in the rest of the Function menu such as ISO, white-balance, resolution and drive modes.

Live View Control is a new feature that allows the photographer to see the changes made to the picture in real-time. Selecting Live View Control mode in the Function menu will bring up a small button in the bottom left corner.

Front	Top

There's a feature called i-Contrast on the Canon PowerShot A4000 IS. It's a similar concept to HDR photography. It works by expanding the dynamic range of the picture. It brings out more detail in shadowy areas and caps burn out in the highlights. The best time to try this feature is when there's complex light or strong sunlight.

This new breed of PowerShot digital compact cameras has shown a push in build quality from Canon. As well as the metal casing, there's a metal tripod bush which is generally reserved for higher specification cameras such as bridge, prosumer, CSC and DSLR. Compacts usually have a plastic bush because they don't experience as much use. In fact, the tripod bush is a weird benchmark to signify a leap in build quality. The camera fits nicely into the hand being palm sized but still crams an 8x zoom into the body. The buttons are responsive and the requests are actioned with a smoothness synonymous with Canon. There's no rush in the actions.

Canon menu systems have always been easy to use and the A4000 IS is no different. The camera has two menu systems; the Function menu and the Main menu. The Function menu is a quick access list of most used features such as picture modes, resolution, ISO, white-balance, drive and self-timer options. The Main menu is more in-depth and accesses more core functions such as AF framing, red-eye correction, i-Contrast and the Set-up menu which can change the whole actions of the camera such as LCD brightness and Date & time. It can also format the card so be careful venturing in there if you're unsure. The layout is a simple black background with white writing and an orange highlight. Photographers who are hard of sight will find this approach more agreeable.

Memory Card Slot	Battery Compartment

The Canon PowerShot A4000 IS has only one drive mode in the Function menu and it's not really that fast. The camera obviously doesn't have a large buffer for holding picture information because the continuous mode simply plods along taking pictures when it's ready. We managed 7 frames in a ten second period which equates to an average of 0.7 frames per second (fps). Not even 1 fps which is pretty slow. Start up time shows more promise with a power up to first shot time of 2.3 seconds. Shutter lag tests came out a little slower than what we're used to seeing which is unusual considering Canon cameras we've tested in the past have had faster lag times. Our own reflexes need to be taken into account though.

Playback can be activated in two ways. More precisely, it's using one button but can be done either when the camera is powered on or not. There are three displays to try by pressing the Disp. Button on the navigation pad. They are: full image, no information, full image, basic information such as image resolution, number, date & time. The final option is for more seasoned photographers and holds more information such as Shooting mode, ISO, Exposure Compensation setting, resolution, file size, shutter speed and aperture. In the playback menu, there's a search feature, you can create a slideshow, set up a photobook, edit functions such as i-Contrast, red-eye and resize. There are also two more tabs for setting printing options and the set-up menu again.

In the box there's a sealed package that contains the CD software, basic starter pack to set the camera up and understand it's primary functions along with some promotional and health and safety paperwork. With this pack, the Canon PowerShot A4000 IS comes with a lithium ion battery, charger, USB lead and wrist strap. This is the usual stuff to find in a digital camera box these days. Memory cards used to be included and canon was one of the last bastions of this tradition but even they gave in to the fact that with the internal memory, they simply don't have to.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 4Mb.

Noise

At low ISO, image quality from the Canon PowerShot A4000 IS is great. In the highlights and mid tones there's no hint of noise and edge definition is marvellous. It's not perfect in shadow areas, there's a degree of smoothing out from the noise reduction system and evidence of black and white noise showing through. This is at full magnification though and looking at a picture normally shows no signs of any distress.

In fact, the image quality doesn't start to drop visibly until ISO 400 where colour noise becomes more aggressive in the darker areas. At ISO 800 JPEG artefacts are starting to peep out of the picture and make themselves known. Canon have capped the ISO settings to ISO 1600. It's a smart move because the flash is intelligent enough to cope with any darker situations. 

ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

Sharpening

In our sharpness test, we think that on the whole the added sharpening from Adobe Photoshop did the picture some good but there were places where it looked too overdone.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Canon Powershot A4000 IS has quite a versatile 8x optical zoom, as shown in the images below.

28mm	224mm

Chromatic Aberrations

Chromatic aberration is presentin the Canon PowerShot A4000 IS pictures but it shows up rarely and only on the high contrast edges.

Chromatic Aberrations 1 (100% Crop)	Chromatic Aberrations 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

At first glance, we were really impressed that Canon had put a 1cm macro facility on the A4000 IS. However in practice it's a different matter and our optimism soon dropped when we saw the picture results. The exact centre of the photographs is sharp but it drops off after leaving only a small circle of focus. The edges are extremely blurred to the point we thought we had a speed filter in front of the lens.

Macro	Macro (100% Crop)

Flash

With the flash off, the Canon PowerShot A4000 IS suffers from a little vignetting at wide-angle. The flash should ideally remove this but it serves to simply make it lighter. At full zoom there's no issues with vignetting with or without the flash.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm)	Auto Flash - Wide Angle (28mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (224mm)	Auto Flash - Telephoto (224mm)

Taking portraits, exposure using the flash leaves a natural result with no bleaching. However, with tiny amounts of red eye present, the red eye reduction struggles to get rid of it which is a problem in an otherwise flawless performance.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye Correction	Red-eye Correction (100% Crop)

Night Shot

There's little difference in image quality between the program and night scene shot taken in the dark. However, choosing the Night scene mode will afford you a longer exposure if you need it. Noise is kept to a minimum though and images are lovely and sharp.

Night Program	Night Program (100% Crop)
Night Scene	Night Scene (100% Crop)

Sample Images

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Product Images

Front of the Camera

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Movie Mode

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Function Menu

Rear of the Camera / Effects Menu

Rear of the Camera / Camera Menu

Rear of the Camera / Settings Menu

Rear of the Camera / Playback Menu

Rear of the Camera / Help Mode

Top of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

We got a lot of pleasure from the little Canon PowerShot A4000 IS. It's a digital compact that works well as a day tripper camera - something to throw in a bag pocket or slip in a coat before setting out with the family. The wide-angle lens will help capture those vistas while the 8x optical zoom should provide adequate coverage to afford you the luxury of not having to walk places. The menu has always been easy to use on a Canon digital compact camera and the A4000 IS is no different. The buttons are firm and precise and the only thing we would like to see is a touch-screen, although that would inevitably increase the asking price.

We love the build quality of the A4000 IS. It's a metal casing with colour coded buttons, except for the shutter release button and the lens. We would've preferred to see these colour coded too but you can't have everything. The metal tripod bush is a big surprise - but a welcome one. It suggests the camera is of a higher calibre but the build quality is let down in places such as the flimsy battery door and rubber USB port cover. While we applaud the use of a cover on the USB port, both of the lids are difficult to get open.

The pictures we got from the A4000 IS are very good. We received the A4000 IS in the middle of one of the wettest and gloomy Aprils in the UK's history, so the first sunny day we got was when we shot. The camera handled complex light well as well as strong colours. Primaries aren't too over saturated, subtle colours are accurate and skin tones are realistic. What we do have to grumble over is the dynamic range. It's not very good on the A4000 IS. That's where i-Contrast comes in and it's worth using if you have a lot of shadow and sky in the same shot, especially on a bright day.

For £140, the A4000 IS is a great little camera. It's positioned at a price point that, if you lose it or break it, it doesn't matter too much. But the great thing is all the features you get for the money. This is a camera that will suit a family down to the ground. It will capture great pictures of the kids (just don't use the continuous shooting mode), will fit nicely into a small bag for carrying around and accepts SDXC cards for larger storage capacities. This means you can keep shooting and not worry about filling the card up. If this sounds like you, then take a look at the excellent new Canon PowerShot A4000 IS.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4.5
Value for money	4.5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Canon PowerShot A4000 IS from around the web.

Specifications

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