Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon PowerShot A40 Digital Camera [2.0MP 3xOptical]

A great camera for a great price. The only problem that I can tell is when the batteries are running down the autofocus fails to reliably focus. Easily rectified by keeping a spare set of batteries.

Once again I *MUST* recommend you go out and get NiMH rechargeable batteries as it kills AAs super-fast. (about 100 photos with LCD on) Also the 32 meg CF card is the smallest you want, think about a 128meg card as an upgrade.

I recently got this camera from amazon and what can I say but that I have been turned. This is probably the best 200 quid I have spent in a long time. The camera has a quick mode where you can simply snap away to your hearts content, or manual modewhere you can set everything, flash, red-eye reduction, shutter speed, light values and many more. It also does movies and although there is an unchangable time limit to it. 30 seconds is more than enough time. The 32 Mb card also does wonders, I managed to fit 24 pictures and 6 15 second movies on it and the card could still take more. I recommend this camera to anyone new or an expert in the field of photography. And you can catch on quickly and you will soon be taking pictures photographers would be jealous of in a matter of days. And at £200, no one could argue at this price. 5 stars and 2 more

I was looking for a quality digital camera because I was sick of wasting time and money on developing regular film. After alot of searching the internet I came across the Canon PowerShot A40. After checking numerous sites, amazon came up trumps as far as price was concerned, as they offered a free 32MB flash card.

The camera passed all expectations I had about it. It's simple, and complex to use... Stick it on auto for simple snapping away, with no fuss and non-sense, or choose manual to tinker with shutter speed, exposure and effects. The variable shutter speed is excelent for shots in low light with a tripod, being upto 15 seconds long. The black and white effect makes any shot look profesional, and being able to see what effect adjustments have on your shot, with the LCD is the best!

Last word of warning is to buy some high power rechargable batteries and a charger!

All I can say is BUY THIS CAMERA... IT ROCKS!

I wanted a smaller camera for holiday snaps etc, as my Canon EOS500 35mm kit is both bulky and heavy to carry about. The A40 is nice and compact, with all of the controls well placed and easy to understand.

I'd never used a digital before, and wasn't expecting the picture quality to be particularly good, but I've been very pleasantly surprised. Even in fully automatic mode it takes sharp, properly exposed pictures in most conditions, and with the manual settings I've managed to get good results where the automatic mode has struggled. I'll certainly be taking it with me whenever I go out now.

I'm extremely pleased with my purchase, and with Amazon's speed of delivery and price -

In agreement with other buyers, I'd reccomend also buying the following, especially if you plan on using it a lot:

64 Mb or 128 Mb compact flash card - The 8Mb card that comes with the camera gets filled in no time at all if you're shooting in superfine mode. I got the Viking card from Amazon... nice perfomance and I haven't found cheaper.

1800MaH NiMH rechargable batteries and charger, otherwise you'll end up spending a fortune on alkalines.

I also bought a Compact Flash Card reader. The download software that comes with the camera worked fine, but it took about 3 - 5 seconds to download one picture in superfine mode. Downloading an entire cardfull seemed to take forever. With a card reader you can do it about 40 times faster.

I have had this camera, plus 64mb cf card and NIMH batteries for 4 days now and am blown away by it. This is my first foray into the world of digital cameras and must admit am a complete convert. The novelty of being able to take as many shots as you like (memory and power permitting) allows so much creative freedom in my photography.
This camera feels rock solid for a sub £200 piece of kit and has substantial manual controls for a camera at this price point.
Having said that the automatic metering is very dependable and will invariably return spot on exposures.
The ability to magnify your exposures in the display menu allows you to check for fine focussing and the included AV cable makes showing your photos and video much easier.
I have done a lot of research into the various cameras at this price point and would recommend this camera for anybody looking to take their first steps into digital photography.
Sure the CCD is only two megapixels but when do you print anything larger than 6X4 or 8X10.

Buy this camera!