Canon A530-Say Cheese!!!

Basic Specifications:

Resolution: 5.00 Megapixels
Lens: 4.00x zoom
(35-140mm eff)
Viewfinder: Optical / LCD
LCD Size: 1.8 inch
ISO: 80-800
Shutter: 15-1/2000
Max Aperture: 2.6
Mem Type: SD
Battery: 2 x AA
Dimensions: 3.6x2.5x1.7in
(90x64x43mm)
Weight: 6.0 oz
(170 g)
MSRP: $250

By Harshyt Goel

The Canon A series has proved itself to be a very reliable one even in the competitive

market of the sony coolpix and nikon...and here we have the A530...
To be truthful,ive grown quite fond of this one(not to mention that i own the same

model!!).This one is for the Wannabe photographer who cant afford to buy a full fledged

pro-digicam.If you have a budget from around 180$-200$(not high considering the features),

then this one is for you.

The Camera body is a mix of lustrious casing with a great ergonomic touch..the button

placing is easy to reach and it has a sturdy feel.The picture quality of the camera can be

compared to some higher models.eg its big brother the A540.in actuall it is almost the same

as Th 540 though lacks some sensor and some exposure control offerings, but still offers a

great deal of exposure control.It stores data in a SD/MMC slot which are fast becoming the

standard of chip storage.it also provides USB 2.0 high speed connectivity to your comp. for

lightning fast transfers.With cannons trademark picBrodge you can print pics without a PC

faster than you can say 'Canon'!
The Canon A530 also offers a range of metering modes, including evaluative, center-weighted,

and even spot metering. In its continuous shooting mode, the Canon A530 is rated at 2.1

frames/second, good speed for a modestly priced camera.

To conclude,:the Canon A530 should be a very strong-selling model in the popular PowerShot

line, providing not only easy use for beginners (in full-auto mode), but a nice complement

of advanced exposure and metering modes for the more experienced shooter. This is a camera

that offers novice photographers plenty of capability to grow into, and should make a great

choice for families or couples with widely varying levels of photo expertise."..as some

people say.
Below is an Extract from a previous review of the

Model(courtesy-http://www.image-resource.com/)

"Performance. The Canon A530 was always ready when I was. I did cycle the power an awful lot

for the review, but the A530 was responsive. It fired right back up quickly.

The shutter seemed quite responsive, too. I habitually half-press the shutter button anyway,

so it should have been responsive. But half-pressing is something I do just to check focus

and exposure options, too. It's a very good habit.

The A530 offers an ISO 800 setting that seems to be a new trend in digicam design. Sony has

bumped the ISO ceiling up to 1000 in this year's Cyber-shots, obliterating the old 400

limit. This can be something of a mixed bag, as many have pointed out. The price of higher

sensitivity is more noise. In fact, with more megapixels crammed onto the tiny sensor

surface, even ISO 400 exhibits more noise than it did in the good old days when a 3-Mp

sensor was hot stuff.

But the alternative, shooting at ISO 200 or below, guarantees blurry images from camera

shake with indoor lighting. So I'll take the noise. I know what to do with it: reduce it.

Even Photoshop CS2's default Noise Reduction filter does a very nice job of making the noise

in an A530's ISO 800 shot look no worse than that in an ISO 200 shot. My point is that you

can't do anything about a blurry shot in your image editing software, but you can do

something about noise. Sure, it would be nice to be able to shoot at ISO 800 and not have to

edit the shot later -- but at least you have the shot to edit.

With the exception of the A540, the A500-series has limited movie modes, and the A530 is

included in that. You can only get 10 frames per second (fps) at 640x480, and 20 frames per

second at 320x 240, which is a far cry from the 30fps we've come to expect from most digital

cameras. You can zoom digitally up to 2x, but not optically. This causes some pixelation,

but it's better than the noise you'd otherwise hear from the zoom lens.

Finally, let me point out once again the benefit of a PictBridge-compatible digicam. Like

every other Canon camera, the A530 needs only a USB cable to become a printing kiosk when

connected to any PictBridge printer. That means you can leave a set of prints behind when

you take shots at a party or just quickly get an index of your latest shoot without

bothering to fire up the computer. It's a terrific convenience with the full range of output

options, so you really don't give up much."

Bundled software includes the whole Pic Solution 28.0 with Zoom browser and camera Window

with a nifty Stitch Assist, the camera sports various shooting modes from inddor to

lanscape views with a ahndy manual setting.The LCD is 2.5" and crystal clear,the camera also

boasts of 4X Optical Zoom and 16X Digital Zoom giving great picture clarity.

With fast shutter speeds great resolution and a light pocket/wallet weight(litterally and

Metamorphically!!!)..this should be a great buy!!