Canon PowerShot SD4000 IS

At $349.99 (list), the 10-megapixel PowerShot SD4000 IS sits at the top of the price spectrum of Canon’s compact point-and-shoot Elph line. The camera’s most compelling feature is its lens, which can let in a lot of light—making it ideal for those who tend to shoot in less-than-optimal lighting conditions.

Despite being the flagship shooter in the Elph line, the SD4000 doesn’t offer a flagship-quality LCD—less expensive models offer larger, sharper screens. 3-inch, 230K-dot screen has a 16:9 aspect ratio, but the 10-megapixel images the camera captures are at a 4:3 aspect ratio, so you only get a 2.5-inch (diagonal) image surrounded by black bars.

The full focal range of the lens is 28mm-105mm (35mm equivalent) and it offers 3.8x optical zoom.

The SD4000 can fit comfortably in pretty much any pocket, but at 2.13 by 3.94 by .93 (HWD), it isn’t exactly slim.

High-definition (720p30) video captured by the SD4000 looks and sounds great. Slow motion video is also available (240 frames per second played back at 30 frames per second), though the size is smaller than standard-definition at just 320 by 240.

The SD4000 features industry-standard ports, so if you lose a cable you can replace it easily and inexpensively. There’s a mini-USB port for connecting to a PC, and a mini-HDMI so you can play images and video back on your HDTV.

The camera writes media to SD cards and supports fast, high-capacity SDXC.

At $349.99 (list), the 10-megapixel PowerShot SD4000 IS sits at the top of the price spectrum of Canon’s compact point-and-shoot ELPH line. The camera’s most compelling feature is its lens, which can let in a lot of light—making it ideal for those who tend to shoot in less-than-optimal lighting conditions.

Canon includes Aperture and Shutter priority shooting modes so you can use the scroll wheel to select the f-number or shutter speed—like a D-SLR. Fully automatic shooting is also available.

Manual shooting is available, but so is fully automatic shooting along with face detection.

Canon includes Aperture and Shutter priority shooting modes so you can use the scroll wheel to select the f-number or shutter speed—like a D-SLR. Fully automatic shooting is also available.

Canon has been using the same excellent interface in its Elph cameras for a few years now; the menus have smart transitions and attractive animations, and are overlaid on the onscreen image. It’s pretty snappy and clean, so it never feels cluttered or confusing.

The $349.99 PowerShot SD4000 will please power users who want manual controls or tend to shoot in low light.