Reviews for Canon PowerShot A530 Compact Camera

a530

Strengths: outstanding camera for the money.

Weakness: battery life.

I keep reading reviews about the battery life being short. the memory card being small and the picture quality. I bought the recharge pack (4 batteries and charger) and also a larger memory card. If you read the manuals front to back you should be taking EXCELLENT pics with this camera. I have taken closeups, outdoor , indoor, movies, you name it and the images are great if you just take the time to learn the functions. I love this camera.

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Excellent point and shoot!

Strengths: Small, compact, high zoom, takes SD cards, easy-to-use

Weakness: Only takes two batteries, doesn't last as long as four batteries

This as an excellent compact camera for those looking for a nice trade-off between zoom and size. I am only giving this four stars, though, because it only has two batteries and they will run out sooner.

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By member: docfreeze - May 26, 2006

Snapping away at baby!

Strengths: Good ergonomics, pretty intuitive menus - didn't take too long to figure out controls, handy software package, crisp images and video. Optical viewfinder is nicely centered.

Weakness: Flash recharge time is quite long (as with most 2-AA cameras) and had to turn off Red-Eye correction to increase snap speed (the AF delay can be annoying). Flash eats batteries, so buy rechargables!

I needed to upgrade my trusty 2.1-megapixel Olympus to capture my niece's first years... so I hunted around for 4~5MP cameras that use SD cards (which is the common and cheaper flash media now).

Firstly, I really like the physical shape and design of these Powershot A-series cameras, as the more squared-off digi-cams tend to be too bothersome for my bigger hands to hold for long periods. Having 4x optical zoom and an optical viewfinder which gives a center view and 80% accuracy of the final image is great as well.

I like the camera and the included software package's panorama creation capabilities, which can make interesting shots out of "blah" outdoor locations. Using it took me just one try to get it right... yayyyy! :)

The one annoying thing I found was the flash delay. Having being pampared by the Olympus (4-AA powered), I found that having 6+ sec delays (during that time the LCD is off and you cannot take any shots, even non-flash shots) can be a problem when trying to capture quick snaps of a baby moving about.

Rouding off this review is the A530's video + audio capture capability, it's pretty quick to capture and produces nice little clips at 640x480 (which tend be to small enough to carry around in a USB flash drive). I would recommend this point-n-shoot camera to any consumer (prosumers probably wouldn't appreciate having flash delays esp for rapid snapshots).

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A very good product for the price

Strengths: Its handy and feature rich for the price. Battery runs great. Its the best buy between 3x and 10x.

Weakness: No rechargeable battery supplied and only 16 MB memory card given with the camera. Flash has only to options: no flash or auto flash.

I just purchased the digital camera model Canon PowerShot A530 4x Zoom Digital camera a week back and I have used it extensively since then. Its good and handy. It gives very good picture quality and battery life. Only thing I felt odd about is the flash which has only two options: auto flash and no flash. Thats still not a big problem. The main plus point I found with this is the short time required for shooting a picture. I recommend 4 out of 5 for this model.

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Great little camera

Strengths: Small size, fits a woman or child's hand perfectly. Sharp pictures. Flash is very adequate.

Weakness: I can't think of one yet.

I bought this for my teenage son. He is so thrill about it. It fit my hand perfectly. It's very lightweight and can fit in a shirt pocket. We took some pictures of a vase on top of a chest inside a dimly lit bedroom and was surprised at how the pictures turned out. Looking through the LCD screen, it seems like the picture will be dark. However, with the flash, the flowers inside the vase were true to colors and stood in sharp contrast with the white wall. The 16MB SD card that came in the package can't hold many pictures nor about 15 seconds of video. We are shopping for some 512 MB cards. I would recommend this camera if you are looking for something compact.

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Excellent inexpensive camera

Strengths: Great price for 5Mp and Canon shooting modes.

Weakness: Does not come with a rechargable power source and the screen is kinda small but at this price you can't complain much. 16Mb SD included, why bother?

I got this camera on sale and can't belive the value. This camera takes great pictures, is easy to use and has a variety of shooting modes like Canon's higher cost power shot models. However the included accessories are a bit lacking.
I guess the reason they only give you a 16 Mb SD card is because by the time you fill it with 7 pictures the included alkaline AA batteries are sucked dry.
It would have been nice to include some rechargable batteries and at least a 32Mb card but for less than a bill and three quarters you can't be too greedy.

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Nice camera

Strengths: great pictures

Weakness: small lcd

I am particularly impressed by the quality of the close up photo's.
The 16MB SD card that came in the package is not enough. You need to buy a bigger one.
I am also very happy with the ease of use - the Quick Start manual was easy.

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High quality family photo's

Strengths: Excellent colour, contrast and clarity in photo's. Easy to get started. Flexible manual control options. AA batteries - cheap and available widely

Weakness: Small LCD screen - accurate to photo's but limited. Inaccurate optical viewfinder - smaller than final shot. Slow recharge on flash when taking quick shots.

Excellent value camera. Very satisfied in early stages. The first photo's look fantastic - not even any red eye to worry about in photo's of the kids.

We are particularly impressed by the quality of the close up photo's. I am also very happy with the ease of use - the Quick Start manual was easy.

The 4x optical zoom is just enough for standard photos - but we are keeping our film based SLR for serious photography.

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Great Camera

Strengths: Quality, operation speed and easy to use design.

Weakness: Recovery after flash

Camera has only been out for a few weeks now, so far I have had it for 1 week. I bought the A520 and tried it out. It was a pretty good camera but decided to go with A530 because it has 5 mp compared to the 4 mp on the A520 as well as the higher 800 iso and in general a camera with a slightly faster operation rate. Takes great, high quality pics. The only let down is the recovery time after the flash goes off. Besides that I am very happy so far.

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Great Camera! Great Price!!

Strengths: I paid just $139 for a 5MP Canon. Great price for a great product.

Weakness: None

Great value for the price. I'd highly recommend this camera for it's size and functionality.

Takes great day time and also great night time pictures. The automatic controls are excellent. Also, the camera provides you with many manual controls if you'd like to test your skills. The battery life is excellent, make sure you get yourself rechargeable batteries.

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Great all around camera at an affordable price!

Strengths: Powerful camera with lots of nice features. Great picture quality. 4x optical zoom.

Weakness: 1.8" LCD is a bit small.

I got this camera at a bargain price (around $150). Although it is often classified as an entry level camera, it has a lot of nice features and manual functions. Not much difference from a "prosumer" level camera I got a year ago. The controls and menus are very easy to use.
I love this camera very much but I wish it had a 2.0" LCD.

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PowerShot A530 Digital Camera

Strengths: Excellent camera.Great pictures. Simple to use.

Weakness: None that I notice.

My first digital camera ( been with 35mm for years ). I'm
very satisfied with the digital format = endless ways to
deal with the pictures; instant results and the freedom to share them ( via internet ) with the whole family and friends. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm sure is going
to be a great experience. I would recommend this camera to
anybody that's considering digital photos.Excellent camera.

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awesome camera

Strengths: Sleek, lightweight, great features, easy to use

Weakness: once a snap is shot, it takes a bit time to take an other one,kinda slow but works

It is a well made camera with lots of features for the value. Easy to learn, lightweight and fun. The only con about the camera which is not such a big deal. the only problem is it takes a while to take an other sanp once a snap was shot, but not a big deal. I do highly recommend this camera to everyone who rlooking for a great quality camera for under $200 dollars

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very good for the price + it is canon

Strengths: very small, very good flash, 5MP, and it is canon!!!

Weakness: I can't think of one yet

i just bought this for $175, it has x4 digital x4 optical zoom and 5 Megapixel.
i think this is a very good price for a camera like this. plus, it is a canon!!! canon makes just great cameras!
i am using canon SD for almost a year and it is very good. and a while ago we had a problem with the flash and the technical service was very helpful and they changed the flash and cleaned it for no charge!

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canon A530

Strengths: light weight, easy operation, great image quality

Weakness: n/a

The Canon A530 is the most amazing camera I have ever used.It was really small but full of function. Also comes with 4x optical zoom for great quality. I will highly recommend this camera if anyone need to buy one.

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Good Average camera

Strengths: Canon brand and lence

Weakness: Eats up Battery very fast within 7 mints it will start to blink low battery. Manual setting picture gets blurry

Auto mode it gives average good picture but on manual mode it gives poor snowy picture.
If you wants basic camera for cheap price between $124 to $145 then its a great camera.

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Nice Little Camera

Strengths: Good feel in the hands, compact, very nice pictures outside.

Weakness: At only 5 MB, it is surpassed in memory by newer cameras.

I think this is a very nice little camera. Its not the smallest on the market, but it is still small enough. Also, it takes great pictures for its price. I really cant complain at all.

I often take pictures outside and I really enjoy how it brings out good colors. Again, it is not as good as a $500 camera, but it does well for what you pay for it.

One of my favorite things is that I think it fits my hands very well. Sometimes, with really small cameras, I have a hard time steadying them because they are so small. This one fits very well and I find I can steady it well without a tripod. Maybe its just my hands, but I like it a lot.

If you plan on taking many pictures that you want to save forever and that you want to blow up into bigger pictures, you might want to think about spending more. But if you want a good, entry level camera, this is it.

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Canon Powershot A530

Strengths: Price, Lightweight, Nice Features

Weakness: Havent found any yet.

For $199.99 the Canon Powershot a530 seems to be a very nice camera. We have only used it a few time so far but am impressed with it compared to our 5 year old Samsung. With 4x optical zoom and 5 megapixels I think its a good value for the price.

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Not good at all

Strengths: fast in uploading photos.

Weakness: Very Low battery , doesnot even survive for 15 min... Cant see any picture on LCD Very slow in rereshing rate , while taking snaps.

I bought a brand new one from BeachCamera for 171$ and i feel that it is worst in all aspects when compared to other cams.

My major concern is Battery; After just 10 min it says "low battery" , which is very pathetic.

It takes a more time in between photos, I mean i cant click immediately..I tried for changingteh default timer value but it did not work.

I can not see nay image clearly on this LCD screen

Thus I am not suggesting anyone to go for it..

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Get an A540

Weakness: slow processor speed and small LCD

The A540 is the better deal due solely to the faster processor speed and the larger LCD. Don't waste your money on the piece of processor junk! The A540 is only 50 dollars more or so too!!

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Not so good as other Cannon camera

Strengths: Small, light, cheap

Weakness: The picture quality is not so good as other Canon models.

I bought this camera because I had a Canon A610 which is very good. But I am very disappointed with this one - it's quality is not so good as my A610.

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Canon A530 5.0 4X

Strengths: Great light weight camera

Weakness: The view is a 1.5"

I really think this camera is great it is light weight and takes excellent pictures. It also takes regular batteries and a secure digital card. 5 MP is plenty for me I dont plan on making poster sized prints. I wish it had more of a movie mode.

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Great camera for under $200

Strengths: Good image quality for a camera under $200; Excellent clarity in macro mode; Good battery life;

Weakness: LCD screen somehow hard to see in very bright conditions (comparing to Olympus I had)

This camera (Canon A530) is a good choice if you are looking to have a good-enough digital camera (my experience: no need to go with 6mp or 7.1mp).

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This is a good camera

Strengths: not too expensive

This is my first digital camera and I love it. If you need a camera for everyday use, I will recommend this one. It is affordable and reliable. It is not as small all Canon SD series but it is small enough for you to carry around.

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Great camera!!!

Strengths: quality, price

Weakness: bulky

I've been using this camera for a couple weeks and just LOVE it! The camera is well-designed and solidly built and has good optics. Most importantly, it takes great pictures! 5MP pixels allows one to judiciously use the digital zoom (in addition to the optical) without giving up enough pixels to compromise the picture quality. There are numerous, well-chosen automatic settings, but for those who want to experiment, there are an incredible number of manual shutter controls as well.

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not that good as I have expected

Strengths: affordable price for a 5M 4x digital camera; light weight

Weakness: Hard to see the picuture through the LCD screen outdoor.

I think it's due to the too strong reflection with the LCD screen making it really hard to see the picture in the bright condition (you just see your own face). In such conditions, I like my (very) old canon S30 more. Actually I would have returned it if I could.

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Completely satisfied by A530 Digital Camera

Strengths: Picture quality, good resolution, color combination

Weakness: Size, bigger LCD

Completely satisfied by the Canon products. I have always used canon as its more reliable and also ever lasting. Never had to repair or throw away any canon product. I would recommend everyone to but this product.

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A530

Strengths: easy operation, great image quality

The PowerShot A540 is a great choice, it is affordable, have great manual controls, expandability, and great photo quality, With 4x optical zoom is a plus. So the A540 gets an easy recommendation from me.

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Great Camera

Strengths: Easy to use seems to be well built

Weakness: Not the smallest camera available

So far this is easy to use and takes good pictures. Not for the professional but greater for personal events. Haven't used it much but so far so good.

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PowerShot A530 Digital Camera

Strengths: Takes great photos! The zoom feature works very well, especially outdoors.

Weakness: The 16MB SD memory card is too small.

I am a first time user of a digital camera, and found that the PowerShot A530 was very easy to handle. It took great photos. I took photos of my son's football game and the action shots turned out beautiful.

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Canon PowerShot A530 Digital Camera

Strengths: Light, compact, intuitive, incredibly easy to get started with.

Weakness: None that I can see.

I selected this camera after extensively reviewing comparison literature, so I wasn't surprised to find that I had a winner on my hands. As a long-time film camera user I approached my first use of this camera with some trepidation, but I needn't have; I was taking remarkably good shots right from the start. I've only scratched the surface; I've worked so far in just the fully automatic mode, and now I'm really looking forward to learning how to use some of the more sophisticated features.

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a530

Strengths: Great quality pictures, zoom is amazing

Weakness: flash recharge time ridiculous

I have had this camera for about 2 years now. I have NO COMPLAINTS on the pictures that it takes, however, it is a big deal that there is a ridiculous flash recharge time after shots.

I have missed several important shots (mostly action and quick response) because of the recharge time. I sent it back once to the Canon warranty department for an unrelated issue and was taken care of quickly and accurately, ever since then, the flash recharge time has deminished to a few seconds to just about a minute or more.

I also use Energizer chargeable batteries and seem to get great battery life (I even use the LCD screen)

All in all, I'm satisfied with the quality of photographs I get from the camera.

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POWER HUNGRY

Strengths: easy, great pics, good price

Weakness: comes with tiny capacity card,, sucks power, no carry case.

I love everything about this camera except one little thing, It seems to be very power hungry., got this camera for my little sister, has had it for 24hours and just ate up its 3rd set of AA's. with a brand new set of energizers, if you use normaly you get maybe 40 pics and the batteries are gone! if that. so unless you have alot of disposable cash laying around I would suggest getting some rechargabal batteries and a charger to go with this camera. Especialy if giving it as a gift. This goes through batteries like a standard camera goes through film. Other than this I love the camera, even comes with a cord you can plug directly into your TV to review your pics.
Also its such a nice camera and with the exposed view screen it would have been nice if it came with a cheep carry case.

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a530

Strengths: -cheaper -value of money -more campactable

Weakness: -eat up batteries -slow recharge flash -dark LCD in day light -to much noise ISO 800 not recommend -small range of aperture -less shooting mode eg. no speed shutter control mode -macro 5 cm

That's OK for beginner. average feature is OK. but i think the construction is rally weak. i think it should more shooting mode. the one problem is batteries life time is so short eventhough fully charges.

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the best!

Strengths: the color

Weakness: battery

i would say this is the best picture taking camera i have ever worked! the colors, and the vidid effect is beatutiful! I bought it for my daughter and she is 14 years old... SHE LOVES IT

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Excellent value for a low priced camera

Strengths: Good build quality and excellent image quality for an entry level camera. Fast startup and almost no discernable shutter lag. 4X zoom and available 800 ISO setting unusual for this class of camera.

Weakness: Slow flash recycle time, LCD monitor has slow refresh rate.

I got this camera, a 128mb SD card and 4 rechargeable AA batteries all for well under $200. The value for a 5mp camera at this price is amazing. Image quality is very nice. Camera is easy to use. Lots of manual options, menus easy to access and understand. Takes decent pictures on Auto, too. Highly recommend.

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A very good buy!

Strengths: good features; good price

Weakness: none

This camera is a good buy for the price. It is not a perfect camera, which cost a lot more. You,however, get some good things: full manual settings, manual focus, focus lock, flash compensation, ISO adjustments, etc. It is small and very nice to handle. It's definitely worth the money!

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Great little camera

Strengths: Low price, good picture quality

Weakness: Small LCD

It is a decent camera that runs well with AA batteries, I use rechargeable 2000mA batteries and it is able to shoot over 100 pictures. Also it comes with a lot of features, especially many manual functions. This camera is compact and lightweight with stylish design, and easy to figure out the functions and navigate the menus. My only con is that the LCD screen a little too small, but for the price, this camera is really a good-buy.

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Canon PowerShot A530 5MP 4X Zoom Digital Camera

Strengths: easy shot, light

Weakness: medium megapixel, 4x zoom

there was a deal with printer, that's why i prefered this model than A520. it is a quick shot camera, easy to use. the right term is, worth to price of ~ $100-.

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good camera

Strengths: It takes great pictures. What do you want?

Weakness: not so far

It takes great pictures. What do you want?
With manual mode ability, they had to have picture quality to make it worthwhile, and Canon did. Can't think of a negative for the price and size.

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Nice

Strengths: Great camera

Weakness: Not yet.

This is a great digital camera for the price. It takes beautiful pictures and is very easy to use. You can take it right out of the box and start shooting great pictures, or if you're like me and need to know every ability of the camera, you can take a minute and read through the manual. The manual is not long and is very easy to understand. I don't know why some people have such a hard time reading instructions... Anyway, this is a perfect point-and-shoot camera. The only thing I would change is the size of the LCD.

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Canon Powershot A530

Strengths: picture quality, uses 2 AA batteries

Weakness: Included 16 MB memory card is too small. They would be better off having 16MB internal memory.

This is a very nice camera for the price. I will give it 5 stars when comparing this to other cameras in its class. I was looking for a camera that could use 2 AA batteries. It gives you the option of buying batteries on the street if you forgot to charge yours. You can use rechargeable AA batteries to save money. This is just what I was looking for and the picture quality is very good.

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Canon Powershot A530

Canon Powershot A530 receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 2.29 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #243 standard digital camera of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value, and a...

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