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Powershot A1400 any good?

Started Dec 30, 2013 | Discussions
Gary Barnett
Gary Barnett Senior Member • Posts: 1,083
Powershot A1400 any good?

Hi, I have Powershot A495 and it has served me very well with sharp pictures. Last year, its battery door came loose after a fall and I am fed up with having to put the tape to hold the door in every time I take out the memory card so I am looking for a replacement. I am aware that A1400 lens (5x) is different from A495 lens which is sharp so I am wondering if this camera can take sharp pictures? I have looked for reviews but only found a couple so far but their sample pictures (lack of) a bit unconvincing.

Also I was looking at SX160 but its f3.5 at wide is far too dim for my liking (A495's f3).

Regards

Gary

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CameraCarl Veteran Member • Posts: 9,197
Re: Powershot A1400 any good?

My wife uses an A1400 because it is the only under-$500 compact on the market with a real live viewfinder.  Given its limited focal length range, at low ISOs it is a pretty good camera.  It appears to be sharp enough for small prints and for web viewing.  I just wouldn't push it much beyond ISO400.  I would also get good rechargeable batteries like the Eneloop.  Some brands don't seem to work right in the camera and give a "replace batteries" error message, but the Eneloop work fine and seem to last forever.

Gary Barnett
OP Gary Barnett Senior Member • Posts: 1,083
Re: Powershot A1400 any good?

Ok I have just bought A1400 today and took some shots, I was expecting them to be a slighty worse in image quality than 10MP A495 but I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised.

I don't print much so I always shoot the image in M1 size on A495 which is 6MP and now 8MP with A1400, however under the dim conditions, at 100% view, the details in A1400 images look a bit sharper and less noise. Coupled with faster f2.8 lens, wider 28mm and a viewfinder so it's the icing on the cake!

However, when shooting with the flash on, even with object or person a couple of feets away, Auto ISO tends to go to 640 (in both Programs and Auto mode) which is excessive and not needed especially when using the flash & the subject on close up. I checked the same scenes with A495, abit with slower lens, it choose ISO 400.

But if I use A1400's Live mode which is new to me, with the flash on, the Auto ISO is low on 400, the same as A495. However, if using Portrait mode, it goes much lower to ISO 100! Anyhow, you can manually set ISO on Program mode but I prefer to leave it in Auto.

So there's a big difference with the camera using Auto ISO & flash enabled, between Auto/Program and Portrait/Live! Worth remembering that when taking pictures of the people in the evening.

People using the full Auto mode with flash enabled would be disappointed because the flash pictures taken with high ISO do look worse than the ones without the flash, for any camera! Knowing how to use the camera, especially in the evening is the key.

Hope this information is of some use to you.

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OpticGlass Contributing Member • Posts: 514
Re: Powershot A1400 any good?

barnettgss, congrats on your new A1400!

>Live mode which is new to me, with the flash on, the Auto ISO is low on 400

Please post some full size ISO 400 images with and without flash.

With the SX160IS you get PASM but yes the lens is slow (f3.5).

Gary Barnett
OP Gary Barnett Senior Member • Posts: 1,083
Re: Powershot A1400 any good?

OpticGlass wrote:

barnettgss, congrats on your new A1400!

>Live mode which is new to me, with the flash on, the Auto ISO is low on 400

Please post some full size ISO 400 images with and without flash.

With the SX160IS you get PASM but yes the lens is slow (f3.5).

Thanks, I will be away for at least a couple of days so I will take some pics when I have the chance.

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Gary Barnett
OP Gary Barnett Senior Member • Posts: 1,083
Re: Powershot A1400 any good?

OpticGlass wrote:

barnettgss, congrats on your new A1400!

>Live mode which is new to me, with the flash on, the Auto ISO is low on 400

Please post some full size ISO 400 images with and without flash.

With the SX160IS you get PASM but yes the lens is slow (f3.5).

Here are some pictures.  You can judge the exposure for yourself.  Like Powershot A495, with high ISO, as long as the pictures look great, I do not mind the noise as it looks more like a film grain.

Some pictures taken with ISO 400 seem to retain the details well.

However, the flash pictures come out brighter than with A495, see for yourself if they are correctly exposed?

As I mentioned about AUTOISO selecting higher ISO for shooting with the flash enabled, I just read some reviews that other Canon compacts including G16 doing the same when shooting with the flash.  I guess that is normal for Canon compacts nowadays but it seems strange to select higher ISO than is necessary.

PROGRAM MODE ISO 400 FLASH ON

PROGRAM MODE ISO 400 FLASH OFF

PROGRAM MODE AUTOISO 800 FLASH OFF

LIVE MODE AUTOISO 160 FLASH ON

PROGRAM AUTOISO 500 FLASH ON

HOTEL ON A VERY DULL DAY ISO 100

IN RETAIL PARK AT DUSK & STREET LIGHTING ISO 800

SLEEPING ON MY LAP ISO 400

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I2K4
I2K4 Senior Member • Posts: 1,441
Re: Powershot A1400 any good?

My experience was with the A1200 which I broke.  To me the "any good?" question starts with the build quality, since I don't know of any other Canon that would have broken so easily or has the almost toy-like plastic of this line of camera.  Since breaking my A1200 I got an LG smartphone with a mediocre smartphone camera.  It's just about on the plane of A1200 for image quality, though fewer pixels.  I would not buy this line of camera with the money it would take to upgrade a smartphone, except for one single thing:  it has an OVF.  I replaced my broken A1200 with a much better and even smaller Ixus 300 at $130, but it's all LCD.  I do miss the OVF.

Eventually I'll get something in the G15 line of cameras to get an OVF, but would rather spend on a good smartphone than the plasticky A1400 series.

Gary Barnett
OP Gary Barnett Senior Member • Posts: 1,083
Re: Powershot A1400 any good?

I2K4 wrote:

My experience was with the A1200 which I broke. To me the "any good?" question starts with the build quality, since I don't know of any other Canon that would have broken so easily or has the almost toy-like plastic of this line of camera. Since breaking my A1200 I got an LG smartphone with a mediocre smartphone camera. It's just about on the plane of A1200 for image quality, though fewer pixels. I would not buy this line of camera with the money it would take to upgrade a smartphone, except for one single thing: it has an OVF. I replaced my broken A1200 with a much better and even smaller Ixus 300 at $130, but it's all LCD. I do miss the OVF.

Eventually I'll get something in the G15 line of cameras to get an OVF, but would rather spend on a good smartphone than the plasticky A1400 series.

Ok my question was that if it is a good shooting camera, I'm not bothered about the build quality.  I bought Powershot A3400 last summer and despite having the same lens/sensor as A1400, the images it took was so inferior to my Powershot A495 that I returned it to the shop, even after lower the resolution for a fair comparsion.  Recently I read few online reviews which have confirmed that.

With the same sensor/lens combination as A3400, A1400 took me by surprise and the images it take are just as great as A495 despite having higher megapixel sensor.   I can't point it to why but it seems that there is something more to do with image processing beyond the sensor/lens combination.

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