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

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(More customer reviews)***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

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With a full 6.0 megapixels of imaging power and a high-quality 4x optical zoom lens, the super-intuitive PowerShot A540 is ready to produce impressive results right from the start. This camera is packed with value from its high-end specs to its high-performance capabilities, yet easy enough for beginners to use.

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