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

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

Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Vacation Camera
Comment: Have had this one for a year. It's a little tricky getting used to the function options, but once you set them, it takes great pictures. Not as prone to catching "orbs" or dust as much as my Daughter's Casio. Images are sharp but "red eye" still a problem with some night shoots. (you can correct on your computer before uploading to shutterfly or other photo services). Lag time between shots is quick, a lot better than my old Nikon Coolpix. This one really shines in outdoor lighting coloration and depth. While I prefer a full sized SLR digital, this is the next best thing when you travel light.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Amazing camera
Comment: I'm not a professional photographer... I'm a person who likes to take pictures of almost everything I see :). Most of the time I have my camera with me, and I like just to point-and-shoot in order to take pictures, without any complicated setups.
I have this camera for about two years now and I can recommend it highly, and here are the reasons why:

- With camera, I bought rechargeable batteries with a charger... Batteries are Nickel-Metal Hydride; 1.2V 2000mAh. I can take about 500 pictures with two batteries (without a flash; with flash it take less pictures). Camera takes two AA batteries, and I have 4 of them, so I always have backup in case I need one... but since they are only AA batteries, even if backup goes off - I just go to any store and buy some more.

- With this camera, I bought 1Gb of memory which is quite a lot of storage space, but since I'm taking a lot of pictures and videos, I have one more 1Gb memory (as a backup). It's very easy to replace memory card - almost the same as replacing batteries.

- Picture quality is very good. I take pictures from a moving car (my husband is driving), and the pictures are very sharp. I was taking pictures during rain, and on the pictures I can see rain drops! Also, there are no red eyes.

- Video quality is amazing! The microphone (located: small holes above lense, oposite from flash) picks up sound really great. When I play the video on my PC, video and sound quality are really amazing - considering that this is "only" Canon PowerShot Digital Camera...

- Size is great. Not very small so it's not easy to missplace it, and not big - easy to put in my bag or a jacket pocket. It's also not heavy, so it's easy to carry it around.

- Canon PowerShote A540 is a "point-and-shoot" camera. In order to take picture, you need to press "On" button, to point and press button to take picture... it's that simple, and quite fast. It slows down (you need to wait sometimes few seconds between pressing button to take picture and actually taking the picture) when batteries are low; I also noticed delay sometimes when Flash="Auto" and when light is not so bright, so I a have feeling that camera 'is thinking' if the flash should go off or not.

- I like that it has 4x zoom, however, when I use zoom, my hand needs to be really-really still in order to get a clear picture - slightest movement will make picture fuzzy.

One con from my side is that display is not protected... after two years in my pockets/purse, I can see light scratches on the display.

This camera has many modes/options... buy honestly, for my picture taking needs, I'm not even using them - I tried them out, but for every day use, I use modes: "Auto" (for pictures) and "Video" (for video)... and that's about it.

Overall, when I look at my previous 2 yrs experience, price, and all features provided, I must say that this is a great camera and I would recommend it to everyone who wants good quality photos with only Point-And-Shoot.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Quality
Comment: I've been using this camera for close to 2 years now and have been impressed with it's durability and image quality. I find it is not the best in low lighting situations but over all this camera has helped me capture some awesome images. I will be hanging on to it even though I'm upgrading to and SLR soon - a good point and shoot is invaluable.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great scenic shots for a painter
Comment: I have had the Canon Powershot A540 for about 2 years. I upgraded from a Nikon 3200 series. I am always on the lookout for things I can turn into a painting. This camera has served me well. I can take a picture through the front windshield while moving and get a great shot. I do however find that to view the pictures taken you have to move the mode switch down to do a review. If you forget to put it back in camera position nothing happens. I like the factor that it allows me so many different shooting modes. It has portrait, landscape (although I've never used it when filming landscape),night snapshots, kids & pets, indoor, foliage, snow, beach, fireworks and underwater. You can change the shooting mode using the button on top of the camera. Can't get any easier than that. Normally I've not had to change my setting to shoot a picture of an amazing color sky. It's response is quick, red eye is reduced but not totally eliminated as I have found out in some shots I've taken. It is lightweight and small enough that it fits in a small cosmetic case in my purse. Uses 2 AA batteries. I use the photo batteries and for me they last a long time. I've been amazed at how long they last. For me downloading is very convenient. I remove the SD memory card and put it in my computer. Then I can go in and crop, stitch, and do whatever I feel has to be done to make the picture better.

The zoom is great, brings what I want closer without losing any detail. In normal setting, I've taken indoor pictures of the grandchildren and my husband and they are perfect. Color is very good. The one thing I would really like to have on this camera is image stabilization.

Looking now to getting either the new Kodak Zi6 pocket camcorder or the RCA small wonder EZ201 so I can capture pix of my great grandchildren doing their thing.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: good quality, slightly overpriced
Comment: good quality, everything it said it would be, etc. but i went to staples the day after it arrived, and newer model was 20 dollars less. so i think it was overpriced.

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