Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS / IXUS 130 / IXY 400F

14.1 megapixels | 2.7" screen | 28 – 112 mm (4×)

User reviews

Average rating: 3.90
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s_m
0 out of 0 users have found this review helpful
By: s_m posted on Jul 29, 2010 UTC

Opinion: Pros:
Small, handy camera, easy to operate, good price.
Not bad low light image quality.
Good videos.
Good quality of construction.
Looks like a good toy.

Cons: See at the "Problems" section below.

So, this is good camera when using indoor, but, on my opinion is
not good for outdoor shooting involving people or using the
Portrait mode.
I lost my Olympus C7000 2 months ago. My Olympus did not have
any new functions such as image stabilization, wide-angle lenses,
high ISO settings, etc, but had a SUPER image quality and broad
range of manual settings. (Unfortunately Olympus don't have
now any new cameras to replace my beloved C7000).
I returned SD1400 back and bought the Panasonic Lumix DMC-
LX3. It's more expensive but image quality is just INCREADIBLE
for both outdoor and indoor shooting.
look at:
http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/reviewsamples/albums/pana
sonic-lumix-dmc-lx3-review-samples
I don't recommend to buy the SD1400 camera, unless you don't
care of real image quality.

Problems: BAD image quality for the following situations:
1. Flat and discolored people faces (outdoor shooting)
2. The glare is very strong in high noon sun.
3. Softness and discoloring on trees and grass images.

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NoiseFree
0 out of 0 users have found this review helpful
By: NoiseFree posted on Jun 21, 2010 UTC

Opinion: Bought the camera and used it for a few hours.
Overall it's not a bad camera, but it didn't suit my needs.
I use my P&S cameras mostly for videos and this one shoots big video files (3x the size of my existing P&S camera).

Problems: -As others have mentioned, a little slippery to hold because of round edges.
-Small buttons are difficult to press.
-Can't turn off general camera sounds but leave on the audio for video recordings (unless I overlooked something).
-Doesn't have 15 fps QVGA (320 × 240)
The 30 fps QVGA were 3x the size of my V530 (.mov)

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tom sugnet
0 out of 0 users have found this review helpful
By: tom sugnet posted on Jun 4, 2010 UTC

Opinion: I wanted a small HD-capable pocket cam, but this one is just not the camera for me. HD video is ok, but the photo quality is not acceptable.

Problems: Noisy and soft photos.

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rob Ernsting
0 out of 0 users have found this review helpful
By: rob Ernsting posted on May 4, 2010 UTC

Opinion: Next to my EOS 5DII I desired to have an easy to carry pocket size camera. The Ixus
130, SD 1400, is a wonderful small camera with surprisingly good indoor qualities,
the flash works well particularly in the fill in flash position it creates delightful
pictures. `outdoors under different light conditions it gives remarkably good
pictures. The features are easy to select and allow sufficient freedom for personal
settings. Of course one should bare in mind that it is only a tiny CCD sensor and
keeping the ISO demands within limits it produces wonderful pictures, sharp and of
excellent colors.
Read the manual and you have a wonderful tiny camera giving lots of good quality
pictures up A2 size format.

The Zoombrowser software is good but not really great. I rather use Adobe
Phtoshop or DXO, even Canon's Digital Professional Photo software is better.
Yet for stitching and Video viewing the Zoombrowser is quite useful.

Problems: No problems occured sofar and I don't expect any either.
Remember it is not a G11 or S90 with an elaborate feature set but very good ioverall.

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MountainMan21
0 out of 0 users have found this review helpful
By: MountainMan21 posted on Apr 13, 2010 UTC

Opinion: This camera is capable of getting excellent results with a little practice. I bought it to
replace a stolen 5 year old SD550 which had always done very well. My primary
camera is a DSLR and I always carry a PS for a back-up. The SD1400 gets sharper
pictures than the SD550 and has a more useful zoom range. Good points for me are
the picture quality, exposure accuracy, good auto focus, quality of construction,
useful flash, and long battery life. I find the lens performance excellent compared to
the super-zoom compacts I have owned, from Canon and others. This is a great
quality 'toy' for the demanding photographer.

Problems: The only downside for me is that it is almost too small (and slippery) for my big
hands. I am always worried about dropping or losing it.

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marcoaz
0 out of 0 users have found this review helpful
By: marcoaz posted on Apr 5, 2010 UTC

Opinion: I have used all of the Canon Ixus/powershot that Canon made and this is the best in my opinion. Very very light material, hard, fast on the response with the menu option (that needs some practice to understand how to use it at the best, and not to coomplicate the life). The flash it is fast in the response and the intelligent feature of the auto-shots it works perfectly and it is very comfortable and funny. I pushed the camera to the ISO1600 with/withous flash. it works perfectly in accordance of his possibilityes. The stabilizer is magic. Very nice camera for a confortable use and to hide in the pocket. The lcd screen it starts very quickly as you push the on/off button and the shutter is very fast to response if appropriate used in accordance with the set up of the pic and the mode you use to shot them. The video runs very smooth and bright, also during the night in a very poor light condition, the audio is ok for a compacted camera. oh.. the pictures? Well no noise also in a very strong close up on the computer, it seems to have the reflex hiding inside this little baby (obviously with all the limits of the sequence shutter speed if you shoot 8/9 frame in a sequence it is not comparable to a 3d/4d/5d obviously) but as I wrote above, it is small, light, fast, clear pictures with no noise!!! A very goog deal between money/good. With one battery I shots 498 pictures, 318 with flash and LCD on. what are we asking more to a little camera? just the word :-)

Problems: None to be relevant

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bjarne
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By: bjarne posted on Mar 28, 2010 UTC

Opinion: I usually shoot with a DSLR, but I have had several small point-and-shoot cameras for casual/discrete use. The SD14000 is by far the best I have tried. In particular, it's low light ability is stunning. I have taken several candid indoor shots both of individuals and of whole rooms. Of course you have to be careful not to push the camera beyond its ability and indoor shooting requires a steady hand (any support is a help) and a subject that doesn't move much, but it is a very capable little camera.

Problems: The rubber cover over the battery/storage compartment is shabby.

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amaphoto
0 out of 0 users have found this review helpful
By: amaphoto posted on Mar 7, 2010 UTC

Opinion: I have had several point and shoot cameras and SLR cameras... I am an amateur photographer and shoot hundreds of photos every week. I bought this camera to replace a Panasonic point and shoot I have. I usually shoot my SLR, but there are times when you simply don't want to lug it around and want a small compact camera. On paper this camera looks very good, and since there were no reviews of the camera at the time I bought it, I decided to give it a go. At first I thought the camera was great. Staging several photos of my kids and different photos of scenery seemed to come out great. However, in real life situations where you can’t pose people or take the time to compose a proper photograph and simply want to snap off several shots, this camera loses its appeal. With its very quirky autofocus and sometimes long delays from button push to actual shutter release, this camera quickly became frustrating to use and was very difficult to achieve good picture results. After shooting at an event the real test is looking at the pictures on your monitor. With nearly ¾ of the shots taken being slightly out of focus or blurry, it becomes very clear how poorly this camera performs. The shots taken aren’t too bad, in fact they usually look pretty decent on the small LCD preview screen. But when viewed on a computer screen, it is quickly evident they are not sharp at all, very soft and slightly out of focus. Not acceptable in my eyes. So this camera was returned and I will wait for the new Panasonic ZS7 to be released.

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