Digital camera offers four megapixels

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

There is no doubt about it: Digital cameras are quickly replacing film-based ones. One of the reasons is the aggressiveness of the camera makers, such as Agfa, Epson, Fuji, HP, Kodak, Nikon, Olympus, Toshiba, and many others in introducing new products with a higher resolution and more sophisticated features.

In the meantime, you can now find low-end digital cameras at US$200 to $300 that will not disappoint.

Early this month, Canon introduced two new cameras -- the PowerShot S30 and PowerShot S40 -- into the Indonesian market.

I was lucky to get a chance to play around with a review unit of the higher-end S40 for a week. It was too bad someone had just borrowed my color inkjet printer, so I was unable to find out the actual print quality of this camera. However, users of PowerShot S40 have reported a fairly high level of satisfaction at CNET (cnet.com/electronics).

The only difference between the two PowerShots is that the $584 S30 has a 3.2 megapixel resolution while the $680 S40, thanks to its higher density charge-coupled device (CCD), is capable of capturing images at up to 4 megapixels. Among its growing list of offerings, which now has grown to 10, Canon has only one other digital camera capable of 4 megapixels, ie. the slightly bulkier PowerShot G2.

The unit that PT Datascrip let me use for this short review turned out to be a brand-new one, so I was a little bit apprehensive when I first took it out of its box.

Like the other Canon digital cameras that I have reviewed in the past, PowerShot S40 also has an aluminum casing and a very sturdy feel. It is not as tiny as the Canon Ixus, but it is smaller than my own PowerShot A50, which was already the smallest camera when it was first introduced.

Their weight feels more or less the same. The S40's thin lens cover slides to the right to let the lens out. It also serves as the power switch for the camera. The tiny buttons all over the rear panel overwhelmed me a little at first, but the manual clearly says what each of them does.

Both the S30 and the S40 come with a 3x optical zoom capability, which means that you can enlarge an image up to three times just by adjusting the lenses. The zoom button is placed just in front of the shutter button, which makes it easy to find.

To zoom in or out, just push the button to the left or right. This is more intuitive than what I have in PowerShot A50, where I have to push down one button to zoom in and another to zoom out.

Digitally, the image can be enlarged up to 3.6 times, although this will perhaps compromise image details slightly. The built-in flash is very small but is powerful enough to light objects up to 4.8 meters away. The optical viewfinder also zooms in and out as you adjust the lenses. Images can be previewed on the sharp, 1.8- inch LCD display.

A rocker button, one that you can press in three dimensions -- left-right, up-down and in -- is located near where your thumb would normally fall. This button, termed "multicontroller" by Canon, is used to move to the next captured image in the preview mode, or to select an option in the menus displayed on the LCD screen, etc.

This camera not only captures still images. It can also record short digital video and audio clips. A small electret condenser monaural microphone is found on the top panel next to its speaker, so you can annotate each image with your own voice.

The small Li-ion battery took only around an hour to be fully charged. My PC recognized the camera the moment the USB cable (included) connected them together. The software (included) also installed on my PC without any problem.

You can choose superfine, fine or normal for the compression ratios of the image files. PowerShot S40 allows you to choose between 2272x1704, 1600x1200, 1024x764 or 640x480 pixels. Using the 16 MB compact flash (included), I was able to shoot 19 pictures with the highest resolution and fine compression. The result looked very good, both on TV and the computer screen.

This camera has a number of different shooting modes to suit various shooting conditions: portrait, landscape and night scene modes, plus fast and slow shutter, movie mode and macro mode.

The portrait mode will result in a sharp object and blurred background, for instance. The slow shutter is very useful under low lighting conditions, while the macro mode allows you to capture an image as close as 10cm to 60 cm away.

The versatility of this camera does not stop here. Besides the standard features found on most other digital cameras, you can adjust the shutter speed and let the camera compensate with the aperture, set the aperture and let it compensate with the shutter speed, or manually set both of them.

You can adjust the output of the flash and set its autofocus to focus on the left, center, right or all three areas within the image frame. The camera is one of the few models that can be connected directly to a Canon CP-10 printer, which enables you to print credit card-sized photos directly from the camera.

The camera's soft case is optional, and so is its DC-coupler that allows use of the camera while the battery is being recharged. I think both of them should be included in the box. The rubber cover that protects the digital and AV-out ports from dust and water splashes takes some learning to open properly. I think Canon should replace it with a tiny sliding door. You would also need to buy a larger-capacity Compact Flash if you want to use this camera.

Apart from these trivial complaints, this latest camera from Canon is another cool gadget that will make both beginners and professionals happy. Those new to digital photography can rely on its automated functions, while those who want to produce special effects or to experiment with digital photography have a lot of controls at their disposal.

The problem is, what are you supposed to do with the digital camera that you bought six months ago? You tell me!