User reviews for Canon PowerShot A540: Digital Photography Review

Opinion: Perfect camera for carrying around. Easy to pull out of
your pocket without being noticed. Handy if you want
to take photo's in places where a big expensive camera
is in danger of being stolen, or makes it a bit uneasy to
blend in, but also good to take spontaneous shots of
people who don't realise that they are in the image.

All basic variables are there. Av Tv and Manual. And
very important: workable manual focus. Lens 2.6
makes a lot possible even in low light.

Nice bokeh to, specially considered the small lens. Only
with quite close focus off course.

Plastic housing works suprisingly well. Altough i carry it
around for a few years now, sometimes in a sidepocket
of a jacket along with things like keys, it still works. Off
course there are some scratches and bumps .

Overall imagequality is suprisingly good. Usable up to
400 iso.

Problems: The batteries seem to drain out fast, but this problem,
that probably occurs with more a-series camera's is
often a result of dirty or oxidised battery contacts. The
ones on the outside on the door are easy to clean, the
ones inside are more difficult.

On site solution:

-open the battery compartment
-apply a little pressure on a battery while turning it
around.
-do the same with the other battery
-clean the contacts on the door and the battery
contacts that are on the outside with a dry cloth or
something textile
- close the door.

This realy works well. By turning the batteries around
you scratch the surface of the contacts exactly were
they touch. These contact area's are very small, which
results in a significant resistance when there is only a
very small layer of oxide. When the camera starts up
with all the motors running and the processor at full
speed, the camera will use about a ampere for a short
time. Then this resistance will make the voltage drop,
which makes the camera think that the batteries are
dead.

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Opinion: This nice little A540 was purchased form my wife's birthday in 2006 so she would have something to take to the Grand Canyon without having to take my bulky Digital Rebel.

She came back with some of the most gorgeous pictures I've ever seen from a point in shoot. The camera performs like a champ, has never had a single glitch, it durable, and in Program mode with the ISO set to 80 takes smooth beautiful photos.

We also take the camera out hiking with us a lot and this past summer I stumbled while taking some wildflower photos, lost my grip on the camera as I almost fell and slammed the camera into a solid rock wall. The case was sprung partially opened exposing some of the internal parts. I figured it was a gonner.

I squeezed the case back together as I cringed at the though of having to replace it and hit the power button. Bling! It powered right up and still takes the same great photos as before. I'll never own anything but a Canon when it comes to a point and shoot.

Problems: I've had zero problems with this camera. The only wish is that it supported the newere SDHC cards, but the 2Gb cards hold lots of photos and are cheap enough these days to keep a spare on hand.

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Opinion: I've owned this inexpensive camera for years now, and it's still the one I
compare new cameras to! The pictures are beautiful, colorful, saturated. All my
best pix have come from this camera, and I've owned quite a few brands!

Problems: The battery door DOES seem weak and flimsy, but I've not had it break. Other
than that, no problems at all!

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Opinion: I got this canon powershot A540 form a friend who is a megapixel hypo.. well i am not .. ;) this canon (which i have found out that it can be off too (sorry for that old joke)) is a 6mp (5.9 effective) digital compact camera with great manual functions and scene modes and movie mode , i like the 4x zoom lens, the large lcd screen , the ease of use (no manual needed) the fact that it takes penlight since that can be bought almost erverywhere in any part of the world and that it takes popular SD memory for storage.

6mp gives you the posibilty to at least 20 x 30 cm print out wich is large enough for the common 10x 15 cm portfolio card photos moste people use to show to others

The manual settings are plain and easy to use once you know digital camera's (like my nick name says i doo..(hi hi))

of course there are WB settings , ISO settings (to 800 iso) and panoramic view and standard view, like with most compacts is this model also has a flash wich locks up the camera while charging the flash , the switch between playback mode and record mode is handy but could be moved more away from the corners .. not that i have a problem with it it is just a tip for canon

the camera is big and sturdy for a compact but i like it, like all camera's with a large screen (2.5inch) using the lcd eats up your batteries

Using high power nimh accu( recharg. batteries) is recommended since the lens extention is motor powered and so is the zoom.

the worst thing is the battery compartment door .. it looks like it can break any second , so be carefull dont let childern do the swapping but take your time and do it your self as a adult..

Problems: battery compartment door feels weak and wobbly

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Opinion: This is the second power shot camera that I have owned. The first being the A-40, and now the A-540. The quality of pictures is fairly good. The color is true. The only thing that I feel that Canon did not do a good job with is the recharge time when using the flash. I feel that when they went from 4 batteries to 2, this really slowed the recharge time down. I get very frustrated with this time delay. When trying to shoot pictures in rapid succession it is nearly impossible with the flash on. The size of the camera is great, small fits in a shirt pocket no problem. The other thing that was not a great idea from Canon is the placement of the flash card. The card is in the same location as the batteries. I fear that over time this door will fail and break.

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Opinion: A great camera like my other Canon A series ones. BUT...buy a Nikon L11 camera. I gave up trying to carry my Canon A540 around to take impromptu photos, the battery would go dead within a few days. NOTE - My camera is NOT one of the recalled models. Anyway, I bought a Nikon L11, put the alkaline batteries that came with the camera in, and it has been going strong for over 3 weeks. The Nikons also have a setting for what kind of battery you are using - alkaline, NiMH recharable ot lithium. Seems Canon is falling short on that technology

Problems: Yes, a major problem keeping the battery charged up enough to even turn on the camera.

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Opinion: THIS CAMERA HAS PROVED EXELLENT. THE RANGE OF MANUAL CONTROLS INCLUDING APERTURE PRIORITY
AND SHUTTER PRORITY, VARIOUS ISO SETTINGS ETC
PROVIDE LOTS OF OPPORTUNITY FOR CREATIVITY.
I RECENTLY SHOT MANY PICS. AT A FLOWER FESTIVAL
INSIDE A CHURCH. SET AT ISO800, NO FLASH, THE PICS.
WERE GREAT. SOME USED BY THE CHURCH FOR CHRISTMAS CARDS. OVERALL 9 OUT OF 10

Problems: SLIGHTLY SLOW TO USE DIFFERENT SETTINGS
AND OCCASIONALLY THE LENS COVER FAILS TO OPEN

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Opinion: I have owned the Canon A540 for nearly a year now. It generally delivers sharp pictures, though it's fairly noisy at high ISO settings (ISO 400 and ISO 800). It has lots of manual controls for such a small, inexpensive camera, along with a decent zoom range. And its speed performance (shutter lag, next-shot delay) is about average for a recent digital camera.

This review just goes to show you that a higher megapixel rating isn't better.

Problems: --The mode setting dial on my particular A540 is stiff and rather difficult to turn

--The tripod mount is plastic, not metal

--The LCD is very difficult to see in bright sunlight, and its brightness isn't adjustable (but this shortcoming is compensated for with the inclusion of an optical viewfinder -- a rarity in compact digital cameras these days)

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Opinion: When I got my 540 I was looking for an easy to use point & shoot, that used SD and AA batteries, for my wife
I got this and more
I find the photos can be a bit soft in low light on auto or program, and the shutter lag can be a bit annoying, but generally, I find it to be very good. I take it with me when I don't want to take my D-SLR, or when I don't have the room
I have taken over 3000 photos and probably 45 mins of video, and I have only just inserted my 3rd set of energiser lithium batteries a few days ago
It has all the features I wanted, and more

Problems: My only criticisms are the battery cover is a bit loose, I had to buy a carry case separately, and what's the point of a 16mb mmc with a 6mp camera?

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