My wife has gotten this little camera a few years ago as a replacement for her older PowerShot point-and-shoot digital camera. It has been her primary camera for some time, and I have used it quite a bit, particularly when I don’t feel like taking my much bigger Canon DSLR camera around. We’ve both enjoyed its features, and as long as you know what to expect you will probably be very happy with it as well.

**** Image Quality ****

For the longest time image quality was (more or less) synonymous with the number of megapixels, although this gauge left a lot to be desired. However, that number has not changed all that much in recent years. 12 megapixels is probably as high of a resolution as most people will ever need for their everyday purposes. The improvements have come mostly from the better sensors and image processing, but even those are more incremental than revolutionary. In other words, this PowerShot camera can definitely hold its own compared to most new point-and-shoots. It definitely has better image quality than even the most advanced cell phone camera. With various settings, you are bound to be able to optimize your photographs for most shooting conditions, although I rarely venture beyond the full automatic. The pictures can be printed even on the full-page layouts, although these days I rarely do that. If you will be primarily viewing your photos on a computer or a similar device, then the resolution and the image quality will be more than adequate, even for the Retina displays.

**** Video Quality ****

When it came out, the 720p was the most advanced video recording standard on the market, and was considered to be the HD recording. However, since then 1080p has become the norm. Even though 720p is still more than adequate for short home videos, if video recording is one of the main features that you are looking for in a camera then you might want to check out some of the newer models. And for everyday shooting, even the cell phone video quality on the new smartphones can be at least comparable to this camera. For the best results I definitely recommend shooting in very well lit places. You should also try to be far enough away from the camera, as it doesn’t handle near-focusing too well. The IS seems to be working well even in the video mode, and this helps with the jitteriness of your video.

**** Style and Build ****

Traditionally these have been some of the strongest points of the PowerShot cameras, and SD940 is no exception. I really like its metallic look and feel. It gives you confidence in its durability, and it signals overall high quality of this product. The camera has been further reduced in size compared to its predecessors, and at just 120 g it’s the lightest stand-alone camera that I had owned. It fits nicely into a pocket or a purse, and if portability is one of the things that you look in the camera, then you won’t find anything much better than SD940.

**** Conclusion ****

As mentioned already, this small digital camera has served us very well for many years, and we are still not looking for an upgrade. Some of the newer cameras have more sophisticated settings and features, but if good quality of still shots is your main concern than you won’t find anything on the market that will far outperform this camera. It’s a very nice little product.