Canon sd 400

[Jilly16]

Hi, I was wondering if anybody had the Canon sd400? I wanted to know if it was a good camera and what people thought of it. I was thinking about getting it before my Disney trip. Its very small and compact and I thought it would be good to take out to dinner and not have to lug around my larger camera.

-Jill

 

[Mugg Mann]

Hi, I was wondering if anybody had the Canon sd400? I wanted to know if it was a good camera and what people thought of it. I was thinking about getting it before my Disney trip. Its very small and compact and I thought it would be good to take out to dinner and not have to lug around my larger camera.

-Jill

We have the SD500; it's a tad bigger, and has a better internal chip for a slightly better picture, but otherwise it's the same camera.

I can enthusiastically recommend it; it's gone to WDW twice now and we've taken at least 2-3000 pictures with it, and we've gotten some exceptional pictures from it considering the size of it.

Like any other smaller digital camera, the zoom lens leaves something to be desired, and the battery life of the Canon is nothing to write home about (make sure you charge it up every night while you're down there, or else...) but those are the only negatives.

What was really surprising on the Canon was the movie mode. It eats up memory space rather quickly (we went down with over 1.5 meg in SD cards and had to download to disc several times), but the quality of the movies was surprisingly good considering the size of the camera.

Be aware there's an SD450 out that's replaced the SD400. My understanding is that the only difference is that the SD450 has a bigger LCD screen, but you might want to check that out to be sure. My brother has the SD400, but we like the quality of the SD500 more.

Hope this helps!

Here's a shot of the Tower of Terror main lobby using the SD500;

 

[cryssi]

we have the sd 400 and love it. I think the price may have come down now on the sd 500, so you might want to consider that, though.

my recommendation with either camera you get is get an extra battery and a 1GB sd card. Trust me on this one. Also, will you be having a way to download your pics each day? DH always takes his laptop to empty the card each day. If not, then get more cards. LOL

 

[txtxyeha]

The SD500s have a reputation for having their LCD display crack. Amazon customer feedback is full of these comments, and EACH ONE claims the crack was not the result of misuse. I freely admit that I cracked my LCD as I was celebrating after Vince Young scored the winning touchdown at the Rose Bowl (Go Horns!). Factory replacement of the LCD is ~ $125. I bought the screen itself for $40 and am going to try to replace myself this weekend.

Purchased an SD550 for two reasons:

1) Available in the after market for $30 is silicone camera case with a clear plastic protector that covers the LCD (could not find case/protector for the SD500, but it is available for the 400 http://www.boxwave.com/products/flexiskin/flexiskin-canon-powershot-sd400_957.htm), and

2) The SD500 makes a very low whirrling sound when recording video. Admittedly it took 3 or 4 playbacks before we asked, "Do you hear a noise?", but once you figure out it's there it's annoying. The SD550 fixed this problem.

The larger screen is nice, but not "Wow!" nice. For the WDW trip we're taking both the 500 and 550, then upon our return I will sell the 500 on eBay. I'm sure the SD400 or SD450 will suit your needs very well, however, I would recommend spending the extra $30 for a protective case.