Digi Deep is a good place for comparisons. For easier side-by-side views, here's the info...
Canon A40
:: purchase informations
street price (USA) - n/a
street price (Europe) - 429 EUR street price (Japan) n/a
manufacturer- Canon
availability- available
model (no.) - PowerShot A40
warranty - n/a
:: technical specifications
type- compact zoom camera
sensor pixels- 2.11 million
resolution- 1.600 x 1.200
image ratio- 4 x 3 (display)
dimensions-
batteries) - 250 g / 0.6 lbs
working temperature - n/a
battery duration- n/a
color - silver-metallic
:: flexibilty, interoperabilty
media type- Compact Flash Type I
microdrive compatible - no
tripod mount- yes, but plastic
external strobe- no
internal strobe- yes
flash modes- off, on, auto, red eye reduction auto,
red eye reduction
:: camera features
max. shooting speed - 2.5 fps
maximum burst - n/a
digital zoom- yes, 2x in 0.1 steps
optical zoom- yes, 35 - 105 mm (3x)
movie clips- yes, AVI Motion JPEG: 160x120
(~30 secs) and 320x240
yes, works with the uw WP-DC200s
housing as well
white balance- yes, 5 presets
Sony DSC-P2
:: purchase informations
street price (USA)- 400 US$
street price (Europe) - 600 EUR street price (Japan) n/a manufacturer- Sony
availability - available
model (no.) - DSC-P2
warranty - 24 months
:: technical specifications
type- compact zoom camera
sensor pixels- 2.1 million
resolution - 1.280 x 960
image ratio- 4 x 3 (display)
dimensions- 114 x 52 x 38 mm/4.56 x 2.08 x .52in weight (inc. batteries) - 214 g / 0.5 lbs
working temperature - n/a
battery duration- 2200 shots
color - silver-metallic
:: flexibilty, interoperabilty
media type- Memory Stick
microdrive compatible- no
tripod mount- yes
external strobe- no
internal strobe- yes
flash modes- off, on, auto, anti-red-eye
:: camera features
max. shooting speed- 2 fps
maximum burst - 2 shots
digital zoom- yes, 2x in 1 steps
optical zoom- yes, 39 - 117 mm (3x)
movie clips- yes, MPEG, 320x240, 160x112
sound recording- n/a
white balance- yes, 3 presets
Formatting is way off but you get the drift of it! The digideep site will also show you pictures taken with each camera.
My vote would be the Canon. Compact flash is more stable than the Memory Stick, it's cheaper, and I've seen way more Canons in use for u/w pics than the Sony.
