Canon SD1400 IS Overview

Canon SD1400 IS Overview

Priced at $250, the Canon PowerShot SD1400 IS design features a 1/2.3-inch CCD image sensor at its core. Effective resolution is 14.1 megapixels, and sensitivity ranges between ISO 80 and ISO 1,600 equivalents. In front of the SD1400's image sensor, Canon has placed a 4x optical zoom lens with actual focal lengths of 5.0 to 20.0mm, equivalent to a range of 28mm to 112mm on a 35mm camera - a useful wide angle to a moderate telephoto. Maximum aperture varies from f/2.8 to f/5.9 across the zoom range. Helpfully, Canon has included a true optical image stabilization system in the SD1400 IS, which combats blur from camera shake.

Canon SD1400 IS Overview

The Canon SD1400 IS lacks any form of optical or electronic viewfinder, with all interaction taking place through its rear-panel LCD display. The PowerShot SD1400's display has a 2.7-inch diagonal, and offers 230,000 dot resolution, which equates to roughly a 320 x 240 pixel array with three dots per color. LCD coverage is said to be approximately 100%. As well as still images at resolutions up to 4,320 x 3,240 pixels, the Canon SD1400 can record high definition 720p (1,280 x 720) or standard definition movie clips at either VGA (640 x 480) or QVGA (320 x 240) resolution, with a rate of 30 frames per second in Motion JPEG AVI format, and including monaural audio.


Exposures are calculated using the Canon SD1400's evaluative metering system, which also offers center-weighted average and spot modes. No manual control over the look of images is provided, with the Canon PowerShot SD1400 instead providing a choice of Auto, Program Auto, and seventeen scene modes. These include Portrait, Night Snapshot, Kids & Pets, Indoor, Smart Shutter **, Low Light, Color Accent, Color Swap, Fisheye Effect, Miniature Effect, Beach, Underwater, Foliage, Snow, Fireworks, Long Shutter, and Stitch Assist. Seven white balance modes are available, including Auto, five presets, and manual. The PowerShot SD1400 IS has a seven mode flash strobe with a range of one to 13 feet at wide angle, or 1.6 to 6.6 feet at telephoto.

The Canon PowerShot SD1400IS stores images and movies on Secure Digital, SDHC or SDXC cards. Connectivity options include mini-HDMI high definition or NTSC / PAL standard definition composite video and USB 2.0 High Speed data. Power comes courtesy of a proprietary NB-4L lithium-ion rechargeable battery, rated as good for a battery life of 230 shots.