Customer Reviews

Polaroid X530 4.5MP Digital Camera with 3x Zoom

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have waited a long time for a non-SLR digital camera to come along with the Foveon imager. I finally found one and bought it last summer (2005). It is very easy to use. It only comes with a 32-meg card, so at the best setting you may only get a few pictures on it. I picked up two 500-meg (the largest size the camea will take) memory cards. Depending on the detail of a picture, using the best detail setting I can get 55-80 pictures on one card.

- The camera has many features and settings. We have mostly just used it on 'Auto' mode. I don't usually worry about having enough light on the subject because of the great software where you can correct for under or over exposure very easy with just a sliding of a tool-bar button.

- The pictures I've taken in the 'RAW' format have been over 7.2 meg. Depending again on the detail, the pictures I've converted to full jpeg have been as large as 6-meg.

- Due to the nature of the imager, where each pixel point captures the full red/green/blue spectrum, the effective detail is much more than 4.5 meg when compared to other cameras with the normal cmos imager. I had the opportunity to stand in the end-zone for a Phialdephia Eagles football game last year, and I took shots of plays running out of the endzone. The ones i blew up to 8x10's were incredible. You could make out the faces of people half a stadium away when a regular 5 megapixel camera would show a blur.

-Downsides? Well, the caera has a built in automatic lense cover that opens/closes automatically when you turn the camera on or off. That's good. But they also have a plastic cap, attached by a string, that can go over the lens cover as well. When the camera is just in your hand, that cap has a tendency to come off. No big deal, just more of a nuisance.

The editing software is very powerful, and generally easy to use. Due to the nature of the imager and the RAW file format, if you choose to do your own editing (it has auto editing options as well), you may notice a slight blue tint to the pics. This is easily over come by adjusting the color filter.

The size, in my opinion, is a plus too. It has a nice sized display in the back. The battery charge lasts a long time too.

All in all, I am very happy with the camera. The price has come down a lot since I got mine which makes it even more of a great deal. AS mentioned, the imager is what is key in a camera, and this has the best one out there. No mosaicing to worry about. And none of the other goofey things that can afflict CMOS imagers. If you are looking for a camera that will do great work make great images even larger than 8x10's, this is the one you should get.

The other two reviews of this product have hit the benefits and limitations of this camera quite nicely, so I won't go too far into details about that. I bought the X530 as it was an affordable way for me to experiment with the Foveon sensor - as long as you have researched and read some reviews and know what it can and can't do, this camera should satisfy.

The real power of the Foveon imaging comes when you start working with the raw X3F files - so I wanted to let current and future X530 owners that it is worth the time to go to the Sigma Japan website. The software that ships with the X530 is "Polaroid PhotoLab", but it is a renamed version of the same software that ships with the high end Sigma SD9 and SD10 digital SLR's with Foveon imaging sensors. However, the version packed with my camera was version 1.0; version 2.1 of Sigma's PhotoPro software is available for download on their website - sigmaphoto.com under "support".

John Buckingham's review sums up the camera pretty well for 2007. The camera is practically unusable in this day and age due to VERY slow focusing, slow shot-to-shot times, and horrible ISO 200/400 performance. Movie mode is very poor, compared to the VGA 30FPS MPEG4 video most compacts can do now. The camera is light but chunky, and definitely NOT pocketable.

However, now that prices have dropped significantly, this is still an intriguing project camera for those who want to experiment with a Foveon sensor. The camera comes with the same processing software that comes with the Sigma DSLR's (rebranded for Polaroid), and working with RAW images is a joy. The 'Fill Light' feature is in particular very noteworthy. The main negative is that shooting in RAW format slows down the camera even more (we're talking maybe 6-7 seconds between shots, I didn't time it.)

Also, the image quality of the camera is quite good (within the aforementioned constraints.) You can lock the camera at ISO 100 (too bad you need to set it again if you power off the camera). Colors and resolution are excellent, and 8 x 10 prints look very good- really! The colors seem very full and stand out, without seeming overly-saturated. I think the Foveon sensor acquits itself very well in this regard.

Finally, macro performance is excellent, with a focusing distance of under 1 inch. Images can be very sharp and have excellent detail.

This might be a great second camera for you to play with, and you will probably be surprised by the quality of many of your images. But don't buy this expecting it to be your everyday camera, it's far too slow and limited for that.

If anything, this camera shows the promise of the Foveon sensor in a compact digicam, if low light performance can be improved. In fact, Sigma is releasing the DP1 compact with a 28mm fixed lense in 2007, and I will definitely look out for that one. That camera may deliver all the strengths of the x530 without the weaknesses.

Lincoln's review is right on. I just want to add that I waited, oh, so long for this camera. I gave up, but Polaroid finally got their act together and finally distributed it. I, too, bought the camera at its initial price, but have been their best salesman eversince.

I dropped it a couple of times (hope Polaroid techs aren't reading this article!) and it still performed (you know how allergic cameras are to drops!). The third time, though, as they say, was the charm that did her in! I returned the camera within the regular 1-year warranty and Polaroid's service/repair department replaced it!

Another item that Lincoln did not cover was the video feature. I bought the Sigma SD-10 DSLR out of total frustration at waiting for the x530. What I wanted was a video feature that I could add contextual sounds (to my stills - i.e. country sounds, wind, water, surf, etc.).

Here are the stats on the compression format that is used with my Mac:

Apple OpenDML JPEG, 640 x 480, Millions

16-bit Integer (Little Endian), Mono, 7.760 kHz

The image size, as you can see, is double the size of other digital cameras that have this function due to the Foveon X3F chip. For me as a videographer, the image comes out a bit too contrasty and the mono sound is far from superior, but that may change as the camera evolves.

It does the job and I don't have other cameras to compare. The price can't be beat and the quality of images (color, sharpness) are far superior to digital cameras in general (because of the X3F color chip).

I would add that one of the drawbacks would be the focusing time needed. Having a DSLR, the speed of motor-driven lenses spoils you. The X3F chip, though, compensates with the absence of the dreaded shutter lag (which CMOS camera manufacturers don't like to print in the spec sheets!).

I caught an eagle (the nest had been pre-focused!) just as he slung a large fish into the waiting beaks of hungry recipients! The last image I saw in the LCD monitor is what I got!! Monsieur Cartier-Bresson would have been very satisfied with "the moment" being captured as it happened!

I bought this camera in Dec. In Jan. the autofocus and autofocus assist lamp stopped working and the camera would not shut off properly. After calling Polaroid and sending it in for repair per their instructions, I found out that the warranty has a "replace at their discretion with a comparable item" clause. They called me, claimed they don't have the parts to fix them any more because they are discontinued, and wanted to replace the X530 with an extremely lesser Polaroid, the A520, which retails less than $100--by their judgement "comparable" because "it's 5MP". Don't consider the facts that the X530 has a Foveon imager, a great Ricoh 3x lens with macro focusing down to 1 cm, a rechargable lithium ion battery with charging cord, a 32MB SD card, autofocus assist lamp, etc. etc. etc. which the "comparable" model does not. I had a huge hassle over it, and they finally replaced it "just this one time" with a "demo" camera that they claimed had been "checked by three technicians" and a warning cast in stone that if anything goes wrong with the replacement camera, it will be replaced with another (much cheaper) model. Then, insult to injury, when the used replacement camera arrived, it had no manual, the autofocus assist light aims 45 degrees to the side of the lens and so is useless, the battery they included is bad and my options are to trade it in on a crummy point and shoot or pay to fix it myself. I'm no lawyer, but I would think Polaroid is slipping over into class action suit territory here. The image quality of the Foveon sensor is breath taking, but buy at absolutely your own risk.

If and when you do buy this camera, first read and re-read the manual. Download the manual fro the internet. A quick start guide is included. Let your first set of pictures be your test. Once you learn how to use both the ArcSoft and the Polaroid Photo Lab software, you will never take a bad picture again. At the price that it has come down to, this camera is a steal. One thing about this camera; though it lacks a real manual override, you have to mentally be the manual control. You have to continually think "what type of light am I shooting in," "Should the ISO be at 400 instead of 200," etc.. You have to become the brain for the camera. Only then can superior reults be achievable. Daylight settings are outstanding. It's shooting at night is when you have to be it's brain. The technology is worth the price alone. Camera's that use the same technology cost almost$2000.00. Working with the Foveon X3 Fill Light scene technology, the x530 is the perfect camera for the novice or experienced pro, looking for point and shoot technology with excellent performance. The video film clips work decently. The only draw back may be the battery. To remedy this problem, buy another with charger. It can also expand to a 1G card. The camera is a little noisey and a little slow. You also have to realize that this camera has been out since 2004, with no real improvements to it. The current technology has caught up and probably surpassed it. If you would like to see photos taken with this camera, go to your seach button and punch in "Photos taken with Polaroid x530 Digital Camera. I still love this camera.

I got the camera about a year ago because I was very excited that something affordable came out with the X3 chip. I have used it quite a bit for a hobby camera, but it also does pretty well with day to day situations. It is a very easy to use camera, and the battery life on it is phenomenal. In a previous review I read that it could only hold a 512 SD card (this is also what the manual said) but I like to push my luck and a gig chip, works great. The camera is small enough to where if you don't mind a bulge it can easily fit in a coat or cargo pocket. It's fairly light and pretty sturdy. I dropped it once right after I got it and the lens came out of place a little... but I managed to just pop it back in and it still works like it never happened. The camera is mildly featureless, it basically has an auto setting and some focus range settings but that's about it other than ISO control and exposure settings. I've never actually had good luck with the auto setting; I've found it to be much easier to just flip back and forth between landscape and portrait modes. The macro mode doesn't allow for any zoom or focal point change, and once you start recording with the movie mode zoom is disabled. All in all I do like the camera except for its biggest problem, it is extremely slow. The taking of the picture is quick, you get what the screen shows you before the snap, but saving the files to the card takes a good 8 seconds. Also I found that even if the flash won't help the picture in any way (i.e. landscape shots) it helps to keep it on (as long as it wont hurt the picture), for some reason it seems to trick the shutter into being faster and the pictures turn out much crisper. Also the first thing I noticed was that when you're looking at the LCD screen when a picture is not being taken the image looks a little grainy and has very faded colors. After the picture is taken however the image looks just great. One of the best parts of the camera though is the software it comes with, it really is almost like developing film (without the cool effects that can be done) but exposure settings and color manipulation is very powerful. Overall I am pretty happy with my camera. I would recommend it to anyone who really likes film photography and wants to go digital, it really does a good job mimicking film.

For the money, I don't think you can beat it. The foveon chip provides excellent color, even under low light. The capability to save in RAW format and the included image software gives you a lot for your money.