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...
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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.

By chiefgtx - Mar 4, 2007

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.

By j_h - Jun 7, 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...
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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).

By docfreeze - May 26, 2006

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...
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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.

By bsmanoj - May 21, 2006

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...
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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.

By Hanaleimom - Apr 9, 2006