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DPInterface Canon PowerShot A540 Review
Brad Soo - June 26th, 2006
The Canon PowerShot A530 and A540 twins are updates to 2005's A510 and A520. This time, they're each equipped with the latest DIGIC II processor. The Canon PowerShot A540 features 6 megapixels, 4x optical zoom, a 2.5 inch LCD, full manual controls, a nice movie mode and unlimited continuous shooting.
The A540's watered-down sibling, the A530, is now distinguished not only by lower resolution (5 megapixels) - It has a smaller 1.8 inch LCD, no priority modes, no expandability and a stinky movie mode.
Let's get down to business and find out more about this little budget camera.
Canon A-series comparison
Canon has released about 5 A-series cameras, all with manual controls, over the past year and there may be some madness, questions and confusion about these cameras going on. So here's a helpful comparison table:
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*As of June 26th, 2006
Size and Weight
There are many entry-level cameras out there, a lot of them with more than the usual 3x zoom:
(197.6) 90.4 x 64.0 x 43.2 mm (170 g) - Canon PowerShot A530/A540
(219.9) 104.8 x 66.0 x 49.1 mm (235 g) - Canon PowerShot A610/A620
(204.4) 94.5 x 66.5 x 43.4 mm (200 g) - Canon PowerShot A700
(177.2) 90.0 x 60.0 x 27.2 mm (137 g) - Casio Exilim Z110/Z120
(183.1) 93.0 x 60.0 x 30.1 mm (145 g) - Fujifilm FinePix A600
(196.1) 104.7 x 60.6 x 30.8 mm (170 g) - Fujifilm FinePix F650
(177.8) 91.0 x 57.0 x 29.8 mm (170 g) - HP Photosmart R817/818
(192.0) 91.0 x 66.0 x 35.0 mm (150 g) - Kodak EasyShare C533
(184.9) 84.7 x 64.7 x 35.5 mm (147 g) - Kodak EasyShare C663
(177.5) 91.0 x 60.5 x 26.0 mm (120 g) - Nikon Coolpix L2
(185.0) 96.0 x 63.0 x 26.0 mm (130 g) - Olympus FE130/FE140
(199.5) 99.5 x 65.0 x 35.0 mm (180 g) - Olympus SP320
(207.0) 100.0 x 62.0 x 45.0 mm (186 g) - Panasonic Lumix LZ3/LZ5
(179.0) 87.0 x 60.0 x 32.0 mm (130 g) - Pentax Optio E10
(174.0) 89.0 x 60.0 x 25.0 mm (120 g) - Pentax Optio M10
(185.0) 96.8 x 61.8 x 26.4 mm (136 g) - Samsung Digimax S600
(169.0) 89.0 x 57.0 x 23.0 mm (127 g) - Sony Cyber-shot W30/W50
(188.7) 99.9 x 52.0 x 36.8 mm (133 g) - Sony Cyber-shot S600
As you can see, the Canon PowerShot A540 is a mid-sized camera and one of the largest. While there are some cameras which are larger, most of those entry-level cameras are quite a bit smaller. Anyhow, none of those other cameras give you full manual controls in a pocket-sized package.
Open up the Box
Inside the box, the Canon PowerShot A540 includes:
- 16 MB Secure Digital card
- 2 AA alkaline batteries
- Wrist strap
- USB and A/V cables
- User's manual
- CD-ROM
Storage and Power
Since the A540 comes with so little memory, I'd recommend at least a 512 MB SD card to start with - more if possible. A high-speed card (preferably 60X) makes things noticeably faster and lets you do indefinite continuous shooting.
300 shots - Canon PowerShot A510/A520
360 shots - Canon PowerShot A530/A540
500 shots - Canon PowerShot A610/A620
400 shots - Canon PowerShot A700
180 shots - Casio Exilim Z110/Z120
400 shots - Fujifilm FinePix A600
150 shots - Fujifilm FinePix F650
200 shots - HP Photosmart R817/818
300 shots - Kodak EasyShare C533
250 shots - Kodak EasyShare C663
325 shots - Nikon Coolpix L2
N/A - Olympus FE130/FE140
N/A - Olympus SP320
390 shots - Panasonic Lumix LZ3/LZ5
300 shots - Pentax Optio E10
640 shots - Pentax Optio M10
N/A - Samsung Digimax S600
400 shots - Sony Cyber-shot W30/W50
460 shots - Sony Cyber-shot S600
While the Canon A-series used to be known for their excellent battery life, competition in 2006 have caught up a lot. The Canon A540 can take 360 shots per charge (CIPA Standard) which is only about average. Non-rechargeable batteries are included with the Canon A540 so you'll have to go out and buy a set of 4 AA NiMH rechargeable batteries (I'd recommend 2300 mAh or better) plus a quick 15 minute charger for yourself.
Extras
As with the other A-series PowerShot cameras in recent years, the A540 is quite expandable:
- Conversion lens adapter
- Wide-angle conversion lens (0.7x, 25 - 98 mm)
- Telephoto conversion lens (1.75x, 61 - 245 mm)
- Close-up conversion lens (Minimum focus distance: 4 cm [W]/14 cm [T])
- Various 52 mm filters
- Underwater case
- External slave flash
- AC adapter
- Set of batteries
Camera Tour
Aside from minor styling differences and a bigger LCD, the A540 looks just like the A510/A520. The camera feels solid and the grip is big enough to hold and small enough for the camera to fit into larger pockets and bags easily.
The Canon PowerShot A540 carries forward the 4X optical zoom lens from last year which is equivalent to 35 - 140 mm, f2.6 - f5.5. The lens seems to move faster and quieter than on the A510/A520. A little button to the bottom left ejects the ring around the lens so you can attach the conversion lens adapter, and then lenses and filters.
The small holes forming a diamond is the microphone. Going up and there's an AF-assist/self-timer lamp and viewfinder. Then there's the "zoom flash" which zooms along with the lens. Still, the range isn't as good as you might think - reaching 3.5 m at wide-angle and 2.2 m at telephoto.
The Canon PowerShot A540 has a huge 2.5 inch LCD with tiny resolution - it packs a horrible 85,000 pixels. While it's not that sharp, it's still useable outdoors and brightens a lot in low-light. There's an optical viewfinder on top which is both small and covers a small area.
There's a speaker on the top right; where your thumb goes - so watch it while playing back movies! There's a mode switch as well which moves you back-and-forth between shooting and playback.
Next are the exposure/delete photo and direct transfer/print buttons. The exposure button's main function is exposure compensation (±2 in 1/3 increments). Then there's the 5-way controller:
- Up - Flash setting (Auto, on, off)
- Down - Focus setting (Auto, macro, manual)
The FUNCtion/SET button confirms things and brings up a menu with almost all the settings you'll need including:
- ISO sensitivity (Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800)
- White balance (Auto, daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, fluorescent H, flash, custom)
- Drive (Single-shot, continuous, self-timer 2 or 10 seconds, custom timer)
- My Colors (Off, vivid, neutral, sepia, monochrome, positive film, lighter/darker skin tone, custom color)
- Flash exposure compensation (±2 in 1/3 increments) or in manual mode; flash output level (1/3, 2/3, full)
- Metering method (Evaluative, center weighted, spot)
- Still image size and compression
The Photo Effects sub-menu and My Colors mode have merged to form the My Colors sub-menu you see here. I personally think that Photo Effects would've been a better name but anyway, the sub-menu allows for quicker access to changing those options. The custom color allows you to customize contrast, sharpness, saturation, red, green, blue and skin tone values.
The DISPlay button which toggles the amount of information displayed on the LCD and even turns it off so you can use the viewfinder. The MENU button brings up a menu with most camera settings such as AF-assist beam, Canon's AiAF (Artificial Intelligence Auto Focus), camera time and stuff like that. You can exit the menu by pressing the MENU button again or pressing the shutter button half way down.
A mode dial is one of the few things located on the top of the A540 so I'll start with that:
- Manual - Full manual control with the same value limits as below
- Aperture priority - You choose an aperture between f2.6/f5.5 to f8.0 and an appropriate shutter speed is automatically chosen
- Time (shutter) priority - You choose a shutter speed between 15 seconds to 1/2000 sec and an appropriate aperture is automatically chosen
- Programmed auto - The A540 chooses both aperture and shutter speed while you control other manual functions
- Automatic - You choose only image size and compression
- Portrait
- Landscape
- Night scene
- Other scene modes
- Stitch assist
- Movie
Despite having a gap between the movie and manual modes, you can turn the mode dial a full 360 degrees. Something that I dislike about most of the Canon PowerShot cameras is the shutter speed limitations:
Lens position Aperture value Fastest shutter speed Wide-angle f2.6 - f3.5 1/1250 sec f4.0 - f8.0 1/2000 sec Telephoto f5.5 - f7.1 1/1250 sec f8.0 1/2000 sec
So anyway... Other things you'll find on the top is the shutter button with zoom lever and a power button.
The side of the A540 harbors three ports: USB 2.0 High-speed, A/V Out and DC-IN. At the bottom, there's a tripod mount and a battery/card compartment with a very sturdy door to protect those 2 AA batteries. Two quirks about the tripod mount: it's plastic and not inline with the lens.
Shooting
You can select one of the Canon PowerShot A540's many image resolutions which include 6 megapixels, 4 megapixels, 2 megapixels, widescreen 16:9 and VGA plus three compression options - Superfine, Fine and Normal. I find that most users (not only me) normally use Fine for everyday shooting and SuperFine only for very important shots.
The A540 doesn't have other bells-and-whistles except manual focus frame enlargement. There's no manual AF point selection here, unlike on the A700.
The scene modes here include portrait, landscape, night scene, foliage, snow, beach, fireworks, underwater, indoor, kids & pets, night snapshot, color accent and color swap.
The Canon PowerShot A540 has a pretty standard 5 cm macro mode. If you wanna get even closer, you can buy the conversion lens adapter and close-up lens (4 cm) or upgrade to the A700 (1 cm).
Recording
The Canon PowerShot A540 has a great movie mode turned bad by the limit. The camera can record VGA (640 x 480) sized movies at 30 FPS. Each movie clip is limited to 1 GB and that's about 8 or 9 minutes at the highest setting.
If you want to record more movies for less space, the frame rate is selectable with 30 FPS or 15 FPS. You can lower the resolution down to QVGA (320 x 240) as well. A QVGA 60 FPS option records at that speedy frame rate up to 1 minute and a 160 x 120 mode records at 15 FPS up to 3 minutes which is great for e-mail purposes.
The camera adjusts exposure automatically and allows you to use digital zoom but you can't focus while recording. The A530 can do most of that too except you're restricted to 2 settings (VGA 10 FPS and QVGA 20 FPS), it records at a much slower frame rates and doesn't have the 60 FPS option.
Video and audio quality were both very good.
Performance
The Canon A540 (finally) features the DIGIC II processor versus DIGIC I on the A510/A520. The Canon PowerShot A540 starts up and extends its lens in just 1.2 seconds - that's way faster than on the A520. When it comes to autofocus, the A540 takes about 1/3 to 2/3 of a second to focus in typical situations though it may take a little over a second in low-light. Shutter lag is a little obvious at telephoto (especially in low-light conditions) but not noticeable at wide-angle.
Shot-to-shot speed was 1 shot every 1.5 seconds, longer if the flash is used. Flash recharge time using fully charged batteries took 10 seconds.
In continuous shooting, the Canon A540 can shoot indefinitely till the memory card is full - you need a high-speed card for this though. Based on my experience with the A540, it can shoot at 2.1 FPS.
The A540's zoom lens reaches telephoto from wide-angle in just two seconds. The A540 powers down in 2 seconds from shooting and instantly in playback. Overall performance was quite snappy with the exception of autofocus.
Image Quality
Check out how the Canon PowerShot A540 fares in image quality:
ISO 80 (f2.6, 1/8 sec)
ISO 100 (f2.6, 1/10 sec)
ISO 200 (f2.6, 1/20 sec)
ISO 400 (f2.6, 1/50 sec)
ISO 800 (f2.6, 1/100 sec)
As expected, ISO 80 is clean and ISO 100 as well. Noise starts to appear at ISO 200 but is not severe. At ISO 400, things are looking noisy but still acceptable. I don't think ISO 800 is useable unless you do a lot of cleaning up. Chromatic aberration (color fringing) is slight and not irritating.
Barrel distortion is a little noticeable while pincushion distortion is not. Color accuracy was good and you can turn things like saturation down should the camera confuse colors.
Overall image quality of the Canon PowerShot A540 is good and the same as on more expensive cameras like the Canon S3 IS.
Photo gallery
The full set of photos, all in the Canon PowerShot A540 photo gallery.
Playback
In playback, the Canon PowerShot A540 can playback stills and movies (With sound) as well as do all this: Protect image, print marking, audio clip (Limit: 1 minute), slideshow, rotate and simple movie editing.
You can also magnify still photos by 10x and take a look around using the 4 arrow buttons. Choose to see no info, basic info or lots of info about your photos. A histogram is available as well. The amount of info displayed is plentiful and complete.
Unlike the higher end Canon cameras, you can't post process any photos with the My Colors features from the FUNCtion menu.
Appeal to the crowds
Who's the $299 Canon PowerShot A540 for? Check out the target audience rating:
Penny pinchers - The Canon PowerShot A540 is very affordable and offers things like a big screen, good battery life and full manual controls. Definitely worth it.
Digital camera newbies/beginners - Simple to use, having an auto mode for initial use and full manual controls when you pick them up later, the A540 is perfect for beginners.
Everyday shooters - Everyday photographers will appreciate the manual controls they can use and also the more simple programmed auto mode for quick shooting.
Advanced amateurs/enthusiasts - While it has full manual controls, the A540 does not have very advanced features like bulb mode, color temperature white balance or things like that.
Professional photographers - Professionals will be happy to find that the A540 can act as their "backup" camera when they don't feel like lugging that digital SLR around. Besides that, the full manual controls and small size will please them even more.
Upgraders - The A540 is definitely worth upgrading from an A510/A520.
Users jumping ship - Those who are using other camera brands should have no trouble upgrading though Fujifilm, Olympus and Sony camera owners who are jumping ship need to get SD cards.
Conclusion
The very affordable Canon PowerShot A540 offers 6 megapixels, a 2.5 inch LCD and a 4X zoom lens. The A540 offers full manual controls too, in addition to auto and scene modes - making it a good choice for most people.
The PowerShot A540 also has good battery life though competition is getting better. The LCD is at its largest size as well (for an entry-level camera), being a good 2.5 inches with nice visibility. Despite that, the resolution is not at all high. Got a problem with the LCD resolution? At least there's an optical viewfinder.
Delivering fast performance in almost all aspects - except autofocus - the Canon A540 also offers unlimited continuous shooting and a VGA 30 FPS movie mode. There's also full manual controls plus a range of accessories as well. Still, the faster shutter speeds are available only when using smaller apertures and the movie mode is limited to 1 GB (That's around 9 minutes at the highest settings).
The A540's photos are good as well, with fairly low noise till ISO 400. I'd definitely recommend the Canon PowerShot A540 to anyone who wants a versatile, compact and affordable camera (Who gives you that nowadays?). In short, the A540 is a good all-rounder with no major problems - only a few quirks here and there.
Camera rating upon 10 (more about this): [Category: Mid-range]
- 8.0 - Body/Exterior
- 6.0 - Bundle, batteries and memory
- 7.5 - Lens
- 6.5 - Feature set
- 6.5 - Controls and operation
- 8.0 - Performance
- 8.5 - Image quality
- 7.3 - Overall rating
What's hot:
- Nice 4x zoom lens
- Good (not excellent) battery life
- Large LCD with good visibility
- Full manual controls with many accessories
- Unlimited, fast continuous shooting
- Fast performance
- VGA 30 FPS movie mode
- Produces good photos, acceptable till ISO 400
- Affordable
What's not:
- Low LCD resolution
- Faster shutter speeds restricted to small apertures
- Overall performance could be faster and better; especially autofocus
- Movies limited to 1 GB; around 8 or 9 minutes at the highest settings
- Redeye and ISO 800 needs some cleanup
Recommended Accessories
- 512 MB Secure Digital card
- A set of 4 rechargeable AA NiMH batteries with a fast 15 minute charger
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