Canon PowerShot A530 as Compared to the A520; Same box, Same body, A Few Differences
Written: Jan 05 '07 (Updated Mar 06 '07)
Product Rating:
Ease of Use:
Durability:
Battery Life:
Photo Quality:
Shutter Lag
Pros: Much like the A520 that has been good to us the last couple of years.
Cons: A bit larger body camera and small LED than other comparably priced cameras.
The Bottom Line: For the sake of comfort and familiarity my wife upgraded from an A520 to the A530. They are much the same with a couple of improvements.
popsrocks's Full Review: Canon PowerShot A530 Digital Camera
My wife and I purchased a Canon PowerShot A520 Digital Camera for her the spring before last. She was quite happy with the camera but she needed another because she wants to use the Power Shot A520 exclusively with the camera club she runs at school. The new one will be her family camera that we will sort of share. Well, whenever I can get my hands on it.
She was quite happy with the A520 and I too used it to fine satisfaction. The only problem we have had is the automatic lens opening fails to open all the time. We must manually open it at times. It always closed.
Some Favorites Features of the 520-530 series
We decided to upgrade just a bit and purchased the newer A530. There are newer and better quality Canon cameras but we decided to purchase by price, comfort and the fact we were familiar with the camera's basic functions. We liked the overall feel, weight and design of the A520. It's not tiny like some cameras out there. We have always been used to a camera with a bit of body, that doesn't feel like a toy. The A520 met those needs as does the A530 now.
The boxes they come in are nearly identical in colour and shape. In fact except for different specs listed they are the same. It may seem silly but that made me feel comfortable with the purchase.
One thing I particularly like about Canon is the easy to read guide to get started. It's a fact as to why we have stuck with Canon. The set up is easy following the guide that takes us through Preparation, Shooting, Playback/Erasing Menus and Settings, Printing, and Downloading Images to a computer. Both cameras are nearly identical in these basic functions. We were quite happy and able to quickly learn how to use the camera with our computer to show, store and work with images. The cameras come with AV cable and an Interface Cable that make Canon's Print/Share and non canon "PicBridge systems easy to use. A disc comes with the camera for set up and giving more instruction. We have Windows but the cameras can also work with Mac products. The included software starter guide is easy to follow, even for us computer challenged folk.
We like that it takes the common AA battery and though the camera comes with two batteries we have a four battery charger and can now continue using the same batteries as with the A520.
Both cameras have the same 4X optical zoom lens, 35-140mm F2.6-5.5. Both have macro ability for 2" close-up. My wife uses this when taking pictures of flowers in the garden with good success.
We also like the many shooting modes the cameras offer that are easy to understand and set up.
A feature we both like is being able to easily magnify images. This gives the ability to see a part of an image up close and crop it by pressing arrows left/right and up/down. Doing this gives a before hand idea as to whether a larger picture might be made using just part of the image. Because we do this we wanted something with a little more quality to do so. More on that in a bit.
The LED screen on both cameras are easy enough to see even in brighter light. Though many upgrade cameras are so much brighter and larger, we are content with the size and quality.
Newer Features
Though the Power Shot A530 does have the same feel, basic design and weight of its predecessor, it does shoot with better clarity due to the 5 pixel vs the 4 pixel of the A 520. This is better appreciated when making larger prints as my wife does with her camera club that works more on the use of balance, structure and finding artful images rather than the use of camera features to create them.
The actual set up of the buttons on the rear of the camera are designed a bit better. They are easier to use due to being a little larger and more bold The Camera/Image button that changes the mode from being set to take pictures to actually viewing them is now in the right hand thumb corner of the camera making it easy to find by feel rather than looking for it. That's a pleasant plus.
More features can be found by the wheel on top that has a very distinct stop and lock feel that makes it feel right when in positioning from auto use to photo choices like portraits, landscapes and night shots. My wife has been doing much more experimenting with manual settings rather than on Auto that is easy to set and use making the camera into a basic point and shoot.
A Bit More
The camera has capabilities of some short movie shots and sound that we just are not interested in. My kids use them from time to time. The movie function was on the A520 too and my daughter borrowed it when in Spain. She did take some fun shots of her friends on the city streets this way giving a real deal feel of the area.
The camera comes with a 16MB card that holds next to nothing so purchase another higher capacity card right away. Ours did have a special deal where we did get another card free with purchase.
Like the A520 this camera also has a shutter lag that is slow. We have gotten use to it but that doesn't make it good.
I like the function of continuous shooting that can be set on the A530. Just set it and then hold the shoot button in. The camera will take shot after shot.
The user guide for the A530 also gives information for the A540 another sister camera that can take additional lenses and be set for more automatic settings than the A520 and A530. We were happy with the single jump up of a camera that has been around for a little bit and has received some good ratings.
Though we do not wish it on the A530 we have been a bit rough on the A520 over the past couple of years. It has been dropped and taken into extreme weather from snow storms to outings on sandy and damp beaches. It stood up well and that's why we are sticking with a camera that is much like the original.
After we use this camera a while we may bring the rating up to five stars as we have the A520 right now. I hope I don't have to down rate it. I expect the best!
Update Jan 17, 2007
After a few weeks with this camera my wife decided she really wanted to step up in quality. She found herself making more enlargements and compared them to other cameras that offered additional pixel. Though she was happy with the general use of the A520 and this newer A530, She took the leap to a Sony Cyber-shot 8 pixel camera, the DSC-W100. We made the purchase a week or so ago while keeping this camera and making comparisons. The review will be posted withing the week and a link will be noted at the bottom here.
5.0-megapixel CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 13 x 17-inch prints 4x optical zoom; 1.8-inch LCD display ISO 800 shooting; widescreen (16:...More at Amazon Marketplace
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