I was told the Powershot S400 is outdated junk...

[Radu P]

tsoutij wrote:

h.

ISO400 on your S400 is actually ISO640. ISO200 is ISO320. Multiply the value with 1.6.

what is your authority on that? Why multiply by 1.6????? First time I am hearing it.

Canon changed their ISO measuring standard a while ago. The older cameras ISO 100 is different (in terms of exposure time for the same brightness) than current cameras.

 

[Master Yoda]

That's an absolute fact. Several years ago we covered that quite a lot in numerous threads right here. Canon did make a major adjustment in their ISO standard and the Pro Reviewers right here covered it as well. A search of the issue right here should reveal those threads

 

[Absolutic]

Thanks guys, several years ago I was more interested in Fuji forums than Canon forums, so I missed that issue, but never too late to be educated.
--
Current gear: Nikon D300, Nikon D80, Canon XSI, Panasonic ZS3, Canon SD870IS.

 

[tsinvest]

Agreed, the S400 was a great camera...I recently sold mine on ebay, but I must say it took beautiful photos. If I were to sight any shortcoming it was the shutter lag from the time you pressed the shutter until it actually took the photo. Nevertheless, I have many beautiful photos I took with that camera...by no means junk!
--
My best, Tom

 

[Absolutic]

went to my smugmug and pulled some from 2005 and before:







--
Current gear: Nikon D300, Nikon D80, Canon XSI, Panasonic ZS3, Canon SD870IS.

 

[tsoutij]

I especially like the first image... Thanks for sharing!

 

[donquijote]

Sadly, I know a good number of people who are fooled into believing that each iteration of new digital camera technology means that the past models are rendered instant "junk". I'm guessing this is a lot of carryover thinking from computer related hardware, where that kind of thinking definitely holds more water. The people who called the S400/410/500 "junk" are acquaintances of mine who work in the IT field, so i'm not surprised by that attitude.

I work in the IT field and I believe that S400 is still very usable. I forgot to take my new and expensive equipment in my last trip but the old friend was there to give me a hand.

 

[Robert Hoffman]

I recently returned from a vacation and compared photos from my wife's new, 12MP SD940 and my 6-yr.-old S400. The S400 looks much cleaner at the pixel level. Despite the big difference in pixel-count, the SD940 almosts looks soft, next to the S400. Also, at full wide angle, the SD940 has noticeable corner-softness problems, while the S400 shows excellent sharpness corner-to-corner.

I learned early on that I could get even more performance from the S400, by setting it to low sharpening and neutral color. I found the files to be a lot more flexible, with regard to post processing.

Rob
--
'Don't sneak up on it - surround it'

 

[dave_bass5]

Ive still got my S400 but its only ever used by my 6 year old.

Its certainly outdated in my house and while it might give good images in good light its not as good as my other compacts.
For me things like good video, IS and a bigger LCD are important.
--
Dave.

Gallery @
http://davepearce.smugmug.com
S90 Shots @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/davebass5/sets/72157622647970370/
FZ38 Shots @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/davebass5/sets/72157623847343904/

Videos @ http://www.vimeo.com/user464364/videos