Canon Powershot A540 Review

The Canon Powershot A540 is a six megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens. Where it is different to the majority of digital cameras in this price bracket is that it has a full set of manual exposure controls. This is likely to make the Powershot A540 attractive to anyone who is looking for a clear step up from a simple point and shoot camera, but does not wish to spend a fortune.

This type of camera can also appeal to families where one person is more serious about photography than others. This is because it can also be used as a point and shoot model with its fully automatic mode.

Overall the Canon Powershot A540 produced an impressive set of images. The camera works well both indoors and outdoors and I was unable to unearth any real weaknesses.

Starting off with the outdoor landscape shots the photos were a shade sharper then I have become use to. The sharpness was retained right up to the edge except when the zoom lens was not being used. When this was the case the sharpness did tend to fall away slightly away from the centre.

Another feature I liked was the brightness of the pictures. This help to produce quite a vivid feel to the photos in general. Areas where other cameras have struggled such as in very light or very dark areas were handled well too. The Powershot A540 was also to cope with any flare and glare from the sun.

As I expected the test for colour produces a strong image. Colours have plenty of depth and no one colour dominates. I always feel this is an area where Canon have an edge over many of their competitors and rivals. A combination of sharp images and strong colours is a very strong hand to have.

I was impressed by the outdoor portrait. It has a pleasant warm feel to it despite the fact it was taken under an overcast sky. I set the white balance to cloudy and the result looks like one of the best of the current batch of digital cameras I am testing.

The indoor portrait is another that works well. In terms of brightness and sharp focus this is one of the better results. The only drawback is the on going problem of red eye. It is hard using the set up I have to eliminate red eye. Even so the red eye here is fairly prominent compared to other cameras.

The second indoor shot of beer bottles is taken in almost complete darkness. Nevertheless the Powershot A540 manages to take a sharply focused and well lit photo. When you consider this is in automatic mode I have high hopes for the camera in lowlight.

The macro shot is another winner. The photo is bright, clear and sharp. This camera should be able to handle shots for Ebay and other online catalogues.

Finishing with the high ISO tests the results are in line with many other cameras. There is a clear decrease in picture quality at ISO 400 and I would only use ISO 800 in extreme conditions where I was unable to get a picture any other way.

I was able to take a single photo in 0.33 seconds and five photos in 9.43 seconds. These times are average and are in line with times I have noted from other Canon Powershot models.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

The 4x optical zoom lens has a focal length of 35 - 140mm. There is also a 4x digital zoom feature.

Although it is becoming a bit of a rarity this camera has an optical viewfinder. The LCD screen is 2.5" and consists of 85,000 pixels. The LCD screen is used by the camera to show key information such as battery low indicator, memory card space and a histogram.

The built in flash unit has a range of 3.5m. This drops down to around 2.2m when the zoom lens is in use. You can adjust the power of the flash to suit the situation you are in. As well as being able to boost flash when required this means you can also adjust the flash downwards to produce a more subtle effect as well.

The flash modes available are Auto, Manual Flash On / Off. Red eye reduction and slow sync speed are available too as is Flash Exposure Compensation. To further enhance the power of the internal flash unit there is a high power flash unit available to be bought separately. This is the HF-DC1.

As well as automatic and manual shooting modes there are a selection of scene modes available. These use predefined settings to help the camera take the best possible photo in the circumstances. All you need to do is select the most appropriate scene. The scene modes available are Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Stitch Assist, Movie, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Underwater, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Color Accent, and Color Swap.

For different effects you can also try the colour filters stored under My Colours. The filters are for Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Positive Film and Custom Color.

Canon have implemented a very advanced movie mode on the Powershot A540. You can shoot a standard movie at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and a frames per second speed of 30. This provides you with a TV quality movie. You can zoom in and out while shooting a movie and sound is recorded too. Up to IGB of footage can be recorded for each movie.

There is a second type of movie you can shoot. These are short movies of up to one minute. They can be recorded at a resolution of 320 x 240. The clever part is that they can record at 60 frames per second. This means that they can be replayed in slow motion. Many people use this to analyse something. For example their golf swing.

To help preserve the memory of when a shot was taken you can add up to one minute of commentary to a still image. When you would like to appear in the picture there is a self timer. The delay can be set to either two or ten seconds. There is also a feature that lets you set a custom delay time. You can set a delay of up to thirty seconds and also instruct the camera to fire off up to ten shots in succession at the end of the delay period.

Focusing can either be manual or automatic. The auto focus system can either be set to multi or single point. For close up photography there is a macro mode that allows you to focus from 5cms away.

For taking control over the exposure you can choose between fully manual mode, aperture priority and shutter priority. Shutter speeds can be set in the range of 15 to 1/2000 seconds. The maximum aperture of the lens is f/2.6 (wide) and f/5.5 (tele).

Other advanced features include exposure compensation (+/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments) three types of metering (Evaluative, Centre-weighted average, Spot (centre)) and ISO sensitivity (AUTO, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800).

In addition you can set white balance to Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H and Underwater. If you prefer you can leave white balance to be calculated automatically by the camera. There is also a custom setting where the camera can calculate white balance based on the colour you show it at the time.

Continuous shooting is available. This allows you to take shots at a maximum rate of 2.3 framer per second until the memory card is full.

Canon supplies all the necessary cables and software to attach the Powershot A540 to a television set, computer and PictBridge compatible printer.

There are a number of useful accessories you can buy to go with the Canon Powershot A540. These include conversion lenses for telephoto (1.75x TC-DC52A), wide angle (0.7x WC-DC52) and a close up lens (250D). To be able to fit these conversion lenses you will also need a lens adapter (LA-DC52F).

If you are interested in underwater photography you can pick up a case that is waterproof to a depth of 40m. This is the WP-DC2. You can also buy waterproof weights (WW-DC1).

Owing to the controls and features available with this camera it is not going to be quite as straightforward to use as some digital cameras are. To get the most out of it you will need to be prepared to spend sometime reading the manual and experimenting with the camera.

As a rule I do not find Canon digital cameras quite as intuitive as some other brands. As long as you are prepared to put aside some time to get to know the camera you will be well rewarded.

In terms of getting started the main control is a dial found on the top of the camera. This is used to select the shooting mode. Zoom is controlled by a ring that runs around the shutter button. Buttons controlling flash and macro can be found on the back of the camera.

You can pick up a Canon Powershot A540 for around £165. This compares to around £200 for a Fuji Finepix F30, £240 for a Fuji Finepix E900 and £170 for an Olympus SP-320.

It is getting harder and harder to find a digital camera with this type of specification. The focus seems to be moving more and more towards pocket sized point and shoot cameras. Compared to other similar digital cameras I feel the Powershot A540 offers good value for money.

In my view the Powershot A540 would never win any prizes in a beauty contest. This camera is all about functionality. I must also say it has quite a plasticy feel and look to it. I guess it is what's inside that counts.

It weighs 180g and has dimensions of 90.4 x 64.0 x 43.2mm. This is too large to fit into a pocket. On the front there is a grip that allows you to take a good hold of the camera while you are taking a shot.

The camera runs on two AA batteries. Canon estimates you should be able to take 90 shots with the Powershot A540 before the batteries need to be recharged. You are likely to get more shots out of a set of rechargeable batteries. This will also save you money in the long run. If you do decide to buy some rechargeable batteries then make sure they have a mAh rating of at least 2000 and preferably higher. This will give them a much longer life before they need recharging.

A 16mb SD card is supplied as standard. I was able to take just eight photos before the card was full. Therefore it is advisable to pick up a high capacity card to go with the camera.

Click here to save money on SD cards.

Manual controls
Picture quality
Value for money

Build quality
Red eye

It is becoming harder to find this type of digital camera. It is therefore a good job the Canon Powershot A540 is up to the mark. I was impressed by the picture quality both indoors and outside. If you would like a digital camera with manual controls and not break the bank then this camera is well worth looking at.

Canon Powershot A540 Front View

Canon Powershot A540 Back View

Canon Powershot A540 Top View

Sample Menus

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Canon Powershot A540