Customer Reviews

Canon PowerShot A540 6MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(151)
4 star:		(72)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

***NOTE: Canon has once again upgraded its A-series of compact digital cameras for 2007. I have upgraded to the outstanding A570IS, which adds optical image stabilization, lower noise, and a better LCD. Check out my review of the Canon A570IS***

After many years of fantastic pictures (as long as the subject was stationary!) my trusty Olympus D40-Zoom died - luckily at the end of a vacation. I spent about 30 hours researching a replacement that would satisfy my goals of (a) compact size, (b) standard AA batteries, (c) full manual controls, (d) outstanding image quality, (e) speed, (f) optical viewfinder.

In my opinion, the Canon A540 fits the bill almost perfectly. It's small enough to fit in a coat pocket or small belt case yet uses 2 AA batteries. Overall processing speed is blazingly fast unless you're taking flash pictures (and then you should expect about 4-5 seconds between flashes). Note that flash time is significantly better with rechargeable NiMh batteries than with standard AAs. And, unlike some other cameras I tried, the speed of the user interface (especially during playback) is very fast.

Picture quality in general is excellent, even in night situations. You have the option of ISO 80 - ISO 800 with the latter being noisy but usable. (Would you rather miss a shot completely or have a little noise? How about the ability to take a picture in low lighting without the flash?) And, you have full manual controls, in addition to the 21 predefined scene types. I'm not sold on the usefullness of the Color Swap and Color Accent modes, but the other modes are well thought out.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the movie mode, which offers up to 30 fps VGA quality 640x480 continuous shooting up to 1GB per clip, to the maximum size of your SD card. This is still no substitute for a high-quality camcorder, but it's a nice option to have in those situations where you just have the camera. (And note that unlike this camera, most camcorders offer some form of image stabilization.) Note that the movie mode on the A540 is significantly more capable than the lower-megapixel twin A530 (which is limited to 2 minute clips at 15fps).

I was close to getting the Canon A700, which uses the same 6MP sensor and user interface but offers a 6x optical zoom instead of a 4x zoom. In the end, after trying both cameras in the store, I settled on the A540. Why? The A700 is ever-so-slightly larger (about 0.25 inches wider and slightly taller), and the more complicated lens takes longer to startup and to zoom. Maybe it was the lighting, but the noise quality on the A700 seemed higher than the A540, although they use the same sensor. Perhaps this has something to do with the different lenses? Finally, the A700 doesn't offer an underwater case which I'd like to have as an option some day.

In summary, Canon A540 Pros:
- very fast startup and shot-to-shot speed (flash not withstanding)
- excellent and speedy auto-focus even in low light (although the AF assist light can slow this down)
- extremely fast user interface and playback performance, even zooming in on photos
- outstanding photo quality, even in relatively low light (good color balance, noise levels at high ISO are acceptable, almost non-existent chromatic aberation)
- 6 megapixel sensor, 4x optical zoom
- ISO 80 to 800 (800 has noticeable noise but still usable)
- surprisingly usable movie mode (unlike the A530, can record up 30fps of continuous video at 1GB sections up to size of the SD card)
- outstanding user interface: options are well laid out and easy to locate, very well thought-out record and playback options
- full manual controls (shutter priority, appeture priority, full manual)
- custom white balance option in addition to presets
- flash adjusts angle based on wide-telephoto zoom
- well built case, very comfortable grip
- uses SD cards (and takes advantage of high-speed SD)
- uses 2 AA batteries
- unbelieveable battery life (approx 350 shots on 2 rechargeable NiMh AA, with the display on)
- supports optional conversion lenses and underwater case

Cons (to me, all very minor):
- screen while large isn't very high res (85k pixels)
- flash recharge time is acceptable but not great (4 - 5sec between pictures using NiMh batteries)
- preview display blanks while flash recharges
- it's possible to insert the SD card upside down and you don't realize until you try to close the cover (would be easy to break the cover if you force this)
- the markings for the battery orientation are difficult to read
- no RAW image support, but you can select from 3 different compression ratios for image quality
- dubious color accent and color swap modes

I began, years back, with Canon's Powershot A20 2MP), then promoted myself up to the A70 (3.2MP) about two year ago. Three days ago, I received my newest self-indulgence: the new Powershot A540 (6MP). So far, I have used it to take 40=50 shots, indoors and out, day and night, using both the Automatic and Custom settings. In every instance, I have been more than simply pleased.
The 2 1/2 inch LCD display is a particularly welcome feature for me at nearly age 60 - everything is a LOT easier to see. I bought a 1GB Secure Digital card for it (Canon insists in shipping their cameras with a useless 16MB card) and a set of 2500s (NiMH batteries.)
Compared to the A70, this camera is easy to manage, quite light (requiring only two batteries, not the four needed by earlier models.) A simple delete button also simplifies the immediate dumping of bad shots. The 4X optical zoom is also a welcome change to the older format.
I am purely an amateur photographer.
Other criticisms I have seen re the poor definition on the LCD screen are, I feel, kind of 'nit picking' - looking for something to criticize about a really good camera.
I found this one online for $223. (Shipping included), sold the A70 used through Amazon for $160 in 24 hours - so the upgrade cost me about $60 net. Well worth every penny.
The pictures themselves are clear. The white balance is great and I leave the setting at 1600x1200 - unless I feel I will need a poster size print. This setting allows over 1700 images on the 1GB card!
I think it will do quite nicely.
Light, easy to handle and good quality images. What else could we realistically hope for at this kind of price?
I recommend it heartily.

The short version:
This is a great camera for people who want an easily portable camera that is FAST and takes great pictures out of the box (but has some versatility for those who want to be able to do more).



The long version:
I'm a decidedly novice photographer, although it is something of a running joke in my family about just how many photos I take. I was looking to replace my previous digital camera, which took great pictures of stationary objects but wasn't fast enough to catch the shot I wanted if the subject wasn't holding still-- e.g. kids at play. I've now had this camera for a month and taken approximately 450 photos in various conditions. Some things I've noticed:

1) Battery life: not great, but frankly better than I expected. I'm on the third set of disposable batteries; the set that came with the camera lasted about 100 photos, and I switched out the second set a couple days ago before leaving on a trip-- they weren't "dead" but I figured they were close to the end of their usefulness. Partially charged batteries are most noticable when using the flash, when they can really delay getting that next shot. And it is GREAT to be able to use AA batteries.

2) Red eye: Wow!!! What a dramatic improvement from my old A95! Yes, I still occasionally have to correct red-eye, but far less often. I do have the built in red-eye reduction set to "on"

3) Speed: again, WOW!!! There is virtually no shutter lag-- I press the button, and get the picture I wanted. Ok, I've also learned to partially depress the button to focus the camera and wait for the shot I want-- but even when my subject is in motion and I don't want to pre-focus I can virtually always catch the moment I meant to catch. Assuming I either have fresh batteries or am not using the flash, I can take the next photo just a few heartbeats later-- and I understand that there is a "burst mode" I haven't used which takes 2 photos a second until terminated or out of memory.

4) Ergonomics: There are smaller cameras out there, but this will fit if awkwardly in my pants pocket. It is significantly lighter weight than my old camera. Controls are logical and easy to use; they don't get bumped accidentally but aren't hard to adjust on purpose.

5) Settings: There are a multitude of pre-determined settings on this camera; I've just scratched the surface and have been impressed so far. This lets those of us with skills best described as "push here dummy" get better shots under special circumstances-- on the beach, snow scenes, indoor shots, objects in motion. The manual settings are wasted on me, but I understand they are there, too.

6) Zoom: the 4x optical zoom means is more than you'll find most anywhere else (with a few notible exceptions). This camera also has a on-screen icon that will blink at you if there is camera motion that might compromize your shot. I have noticed that I just plain can't hold the camera still enough at maximal zoom to avoid having this warning flash at me. I haven't noticed that snapshot quality was affected, but I suspect that if you blew it up to 8x10 (or perhaps larger) that you might notice it. It does make me wonder if a 3x zoom would have been adequate for my needs, since the odds of me hauling around and using a tripod are virtually nil. I have the digital zoom turned off on the camera; I figure I can crop if I want to after the fact but am starting with a maximal resolution.

7) Memory: get another card. Period. I have a 1 GB card that I've never come close to filling despite setting photoquality at maximum resolution, but I download frequently and haven't used burst mode or video.

8) Photo quality: Great! I can see the individual water drops glisten in mid-air in the shots of my son splashing my husband, colors are rich and accurate. Some shots, especially if I'm using the "kidsnpets" setting, are a little "soft"-- not quite crisp images, but I only notice this when I really blow the image up on my computer screen and I doubt I'd appreciate it otherwise. I think if you are ordering an 8x10 or smaller you wouldn't recognize it at all.

The one thing I liked better about my old canon A95: The rotating LCD display, which was also a bit more visible in bright light (possibly because I could adjust the angle)

This was purchased to replace our stolen A520. I shoot thousands of photos per month with a Canon DSLR system, and have used other super-compact Canon and Sony digital cameras for their small size, but the sweet spot in value and performance is the Canon A5xx series, even over the A6xx series. The A6xx series (or possibly the S2 or S3) would be my recommendation for someone who wants more manual controls and is not also carrying around a DLSR (like the Rebel or 20D/30D) and knows how to shoot more creatively. But for 90% of our needs, the A5xx series is ideal for 1) its outstanding performance in Auto mode -- rarely need any post editing, 2) its compact size but large LCD display that works fairly well in daylight, 3) good performance on two AA batteries, making it ideal for traveling overseas without needing proprietary battery chargers --- does particularly well with AA Lithium batteries, 4) SD cards in 1GB-2GB are fairly inexpensive now and you get enough storage to capture an entire vacation's worth of photos on one card, 5) flash works very well indoors to 15-20 feet for normal snapshots of groups without a lot of noise (smaller cameras like the Powershot 700 or other Casio/Sony super compacts tend to have weak flash that gets noisy photos when shooting beyond 10'.

Additionally, the 4x zoom is nice and can give decent 'portrait shots' with background softening, macro is decent enought for most needs, and it has easy to learn controls.

One downside over the older versions: the batteries share same compartment with SD card, so it's easy to forget, when getting the SD card out, that you can also drop the batteries which isn't good, especially for NIMH, if dropped onto pavement.

I've probably sold 7 of these via recommendations in the past 6 months and every single person has called to thank me. They are thrilled with the images and ease of use and the price point. One person went with the A620 on sale, and it, too, has been a good camera thus far, although it has smaller LCD -- though it flips out, and has some nice features if it's your only camera and you want to be more creative in your photography. (I would probably skip the A6xx series though, and move to the S2/S3 Canon if I wanted more pro-features in a less expensive, less complicated camera and it's not all that much bigger than the A6xx series.)

This is a fantastic camera, especially for the price. The optical zoom of 4x is more than most cameras that cost $100 more and is invaluable for getting the perfect shot especially when coupled with 6 megapixels. Close ups are very nice and the picture quality is very good.

The features go on and on. It can be pure point and shoot in "Automatic Mode" or it can replace a full-sized SLR in "Manual Mode" when you can't lug around a big camera. And with it's stitch assist and variety of lighting options, it can be anything in between.

Though I haven't done so yet, you can apparently buy a variety of lens attachments for it, including a 10x optical zoom and a wide angle adapter. I cannot, however, vouch for these, though Canon's reputation for lenses would indicate good quality.

I pretty much use it in place of a regular video camera now. It picks up sound as well as any camera without a boom-mike. I originally thought that the 1 gb limit on video clips would be too much of a limitation, it turns out that this gives you about 25 minutes (depending on your settings) of good quality video in one single clip, which is more than I ever use for one clip anyway. I tend to shoot shorter shots and edit them all together later.

Though I don't use them much, there are also editing features for video on the camera itself. This is fine if you need it in a pinch and it lets you do just enough to do on-the-spot editing if you really need to.

The one drawback, as others have stated, is the relatively low flash refresh time. I have found this to be tedious only in the darkest of circumstances. In medium light, it's fine with the flash. Also, because of the great amount of exposure and aperture control you have (especially for a 'point and shoot') the flash isn't always as necessary as it would be with other cameras.

Finally, I used regular batteries for exactly two days before I bought rechargeable ones. I went through 6 batteries in 2 days, though admittedly these were not high end batteries designed for digital cameras. Still, spending $20 on batteries and a charger is a no-brainer, espeically when you end up using the camera as much as I have.

And with all its great features and picture quality, it's hard not to.

I had a friend who had the A510 and I loved it but it was only 3 megapixels, so I was going to buy the A520 but I decided to wait for a higher megapixel version to come out. The A610 was too big, so I continued to wait. Finally the A540 came out. I read online reviews for it before it was in stores and decided that I was going to buy it.

I've had it now for a little over 2 months, I haven't had any problems with it. I've dropped it twice and I haven't noticed any defects with functionality...like with my last digital camera, after I dropped it the 1st time it stopped working properly. Anyway this camera is great for beginners and has some stuff for people who like to go beyond using the auto button. The start up time is good. If you take a picture with the camera horizontally, when you're viewing the pictures, the camera automatically rotates the image to be right side up, so you don't have to turn the camera. There are many different settings but I haven't really explored all of them. So far I only really have two complaints:
- Flash recharging time, and battery life
If in conditions where you have to use the flash a lot, be sure to carry extra batteries because it kills the battery much faster. regular betteries die quickly in this camera...be sure to buy rechargeable. If the battery is dying the flash takes what seems like an eternity to recharge which is really inconvenient at parties and other functions where people are not standing and posing to wait for you to take the picture.

Oh yea and sometimes when viewing my images, the camera toggles between two images before settling to the next image. I consider this a minor problem because it rarely happens. I don't experience that problem with the memory card that was mentioned in one of the other reviews, if i am putting it in incorrectly it will not go in the slot, then I quickly realize that I am inserting it wrong.

Actually, I was not really interested in another camera. I have an Olympus Camedia 3020 that still performs well. I decided to check out the smaller cameras for traveling. The clerk at Office Depot, who is into photography, recommended the Cannon 540 with a $[...] rebate ending that day and 15 day return policy. I have to tell you I bought this camera on a lark and just love everything about it. I took one picture in a dark room with just the TV on in auto mode and it came out beautiful. It even takes good pix with subjects sitting in front of a window. Also took some shots at a stadium of an outdoor graduation and they came out better than my old automatic 35mm ever took. One had a little noise, but other distance pictureS were clear as could be. Took 3 outdoor foliage close ups and they are totally awesome. Mind you, I am still on auto here. Can't wait to read the manuals and get into some fun stuff. This camera looks to be easy to figure out. I can't believe I bought this camera without doing extensive homework and am so HAPPY!!!! Size is perfect....you pay [...]more for the same thing in a SLIM Model and have to use a battery that costs $[...] to replace. I like the fact that you can use regular batteries in emergency and don't have to travel with a docker. It is still small enought to fit into my purse. I only bought this camera 5 days ago and loved it from the get go.While I loved my Olympus, I never got off of Auto because it was so complicated. This is a great little camera for the buck!!!!!!

My three year old digital (2 MP) camera's battery door broke (pretty cheap plastic) and the search was on for a more modern camera. My daughter recently got a very small slim Canon and I was impressed with the features and quality. However I wanted a camera that could use AA batteries and small size was not a top priority. I also wanted a good size LCD display and an optical viewfinder (yes, I know I'm old fashioned). This Powershot A540 seemed to have all the features I wanted. I have had it for a few weeks and have taken it on a trip where it worked flawlessly. The image quality has been very good. The movie feature is nice as long as you don't use the zoom. I recommend getting a 1GB SD card right away. The 16 MB one that comes with the camera is a joke.
One of the most pleasing discoveries was that regular AA batteries lasted quite a long time. I typically don't use the LCD screen when I'm taking pictures so I'm sure that helps. I recommend taking the time to read the very detailed and complete manual as this little gem has a huge amount of features and capabilities to please any amateur/family photographer.
Last but not least, Amazon offers this camera at a very attractive price not found on the street.
Based on the pictures I've taken, I'd say that the quality is very good. Outside pictures are outstanding, and colors well balanced (you can always touch that up in Picasa or other).
If you're looking for a versatile, low priced digital camera this one fits the bill.

For the price of $200-$300 and the quality it provides, this is an excellent camera for a beginner as well as a professional.

I research online for a few months trying to find a decent camera. The main thing for me was mobility, and price. I wanted to buy a camera in the mid 200s but that still had a good quality picture. This camera more than delivers.

--- Pros ---
1. Small and light weight
2. Uses 2 AA batteries
3. Very good feature set in camera
4. SD memory
5. Amazing photos and videos
6. Very well packed box (with lots of manuals in case you want to read them)

--- Cons ---
1. Only comes with a 16MB SD card (not really a problem, but something to know)
2. Flap on side with USB and media plugs is covered by a soft rubber piece that doesn't feel all that secure (not bad, just that I wish it moved a little easier)
3. In automatic mode you can't take too close of photos, about 4 inches when zoomed all the way out and 12 inches zoomed all the way in (I am sure that if you play around the manual settings you can get better result)
4. A small thing about the optical viewfinder, seems to be a little zoomed in (this could be a feature though, just to make sure you don't miss the corners you were trying to line up with)

Just after buying this camera, I took it on vacation. I used the beach scene mode at the beach. Pictures are beautiful. I used the night-shot mode on a cave tour and got some unexpectedly good pictures in the low light. There were a couple occations I had to wait for the flash to recycle (a bit slow). At the zoo, it would sometimes focus on the bars instead of what was behind them, but most pictures have beautiful color and detail. I find the mode dial on top makes setting up a shot easy. Love the big LCD.