Canon PowerShot A4000 IS Pro Reviews

The Canon PowerShot A4000 IS faces some stiff competition from other entry-level cameras. It might be smaller and lighter and offer a larger LCD than its nearest rival, the Nikon Coolpix S6300, but in terms of key specifications, the Nikon has the Canon beat. With the Coolpix S6300, you get higher resolution movies (1080p vs 720p), a bigger zoom (10x vs 8x), a wider lens (25mm vs 28mm) and a much longer battery life (230 shots vs 175 shots). There are also cameras that offers bigger zooms for similar cash, such as the Panasonic Lumix SZ1. Ultimately, though, if you can live with some of the drawbacks of the Canon PowerShot A4000 IS, then you're getting a camera that's capable of taking excellent images in good light at ISO 100-200 - although its performance at higher ISOs is less convincing. The Canon A4000 IS is easy to carry with you all the time, so you'll be inclined to use it more often - and it's for this reason that it represents good value for the money.

The Canon PowerShot A4000 achieves a number of highs: it’s affordable, there’s an 8x optical zoom range with image stabilisation and the close-up macro mode are all appealing points. But the auto mode’s autofocus is hit and miss, the camera’s image quality is nothing special, it’s rather slow to operate, has so-so battery life and, despite its low price, there are other models out there with wider-angle lenses, longer zoom ranges (10x with image stabilisation) and longer-lasting batteries that cost about the same price So as much as we can see where the Canon A4000 fits into the budget camera range, it’s the strength of its peers’ features that leave it somewhat lacking.

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.

A mixed bag, but it might be worth living with image quality concerns and slow performance to get an 8x zoom in such a slim, low-cost camera

The Canon Powershot A4000 IS is a stylish compact camera, with an 8x optical zoom lens and image stabilisation packed into a very compact metal body. The Canon Powershot A4000 IS' strengths lie in its image quality, with excellent colour, exposure, and good levels of detail. Macro performance is also very good for a compact camera. Although chromatic abberations and purple fringing can be seen in areas of high contrast. However, it's in the finer details where the camera starts to disappoint, particularly as you can't use optical zoom on videos, it also lacks an automatic panoramic mode which is now the norm on a lot of cameras, the screen resolution is low at 230k dots, and generally there is very little to make this stand out compared to the competition.

We wouldn’t recommend this camera to anyone except beginners or buyers who don’t want to learn how to shoot – they just want to do it. And that’s plenty of people. You don’t have to be a electronics junkie anymore to want a capable camera; it’s pretty much just a standard utility everyone has now. Canon continues to fill the market will affordable yet above-average point and shoots, including the PowerShot A4000 IS. There are a few things consumers should require in a pocket cam (with few exceptions): a 3-inch screen; presets, auto, and manual controls; filters or effects; li-ion battery, and some amount of instant controls (i.e., instant power on when hitting playback or a dedicated video record button). The PowerShot A4000 IS can check all of these off its list, and then some. But it isn’t paving the way for the next generation of point-and-shoot cams (that’s up to other products from Canon): Touchscreens, panorama, and/or some degree of instant-sharing are becoming more common for cameras of this genre. So while the PowerShot A4000 IS isn’t going to blow any minds, it will fit the bill as a dependable, quality camera for quite a few. And you might as well get used to it now: Close to $200 is very, very rapidly becoming the minimum you can spend if you want a camera that you’ll be happy with six months down the line.

The Canon PowerShot A4000 IS can capture sharp photos and has a nice 8x zoom lens. It keeps noise low at higher ISOs, but sacrifices a good amount of image detail in doing so.