The Canon Power shot A530 is actually a compact digital camera fits into a shirt or pants pocket which requires a two AA/LR6 Alkaline Batteries and a 16MB SD memory card

This model consists of a tripod socket which captures 5.0MP images on a 1/2.5 in CCD . After that images can be viewed on the 1.8 in TFT color LCD with approximately 77,000 pixels of resolution. The camera also has an optical viewfinder which can turn off the LCD viewfinder as well.

Certain features of the model are consists AF: TTL AiAF 9-point auto focus system with focus-assist lamp, Shutter speeds: 15 – 1/2000 second,: Evaluative, Center-weighted average, and Spot (fixed to center) system of metering, White Balance: TTL Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom, Flash Exposure Compensation, Self Timer, Built-in microphone and speaker.

Images can be captured at resolutions of: 2592 x 1944 (Large), 2048 x 1536 (Medium 1), 1,600 x 1,200 (Medium 2), and 640 x 480. There are three settings for quality: Superfine, Fine, and Normal. The Power shot A530 lens has a focal length range of 5.8mm – 23.2 mm giving the camera a 4x optical zoom. The lens has an aperture range of f/2.6 – f/5.5. The digital zoom, cannot be used when the LCD is turned off. The A530 accepts both SD and MMC memory cards. It consists of 9 shooting modes available on the A530 and a series of pictures can be taken in the consistent outdoor light, varying the ISO setting throughout the range of possible values, which are ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, and 800. The digital noise (grain) was noticeable only in ISO 400 and ISO 800.

The Software CD in this camera consists of Zoom Browser EX 5.6 ,Photo Stitch 3.1,Camera TWAIN Drivers ,Camera WIA Drivers (PC Only),Apple QuickTime (PC Only),EOS Utility and Arc soft Photo Studio.

To sum up, it a very handy and useful camera with a lot of essential features but is not devoid of its Pros: Handling, Extensive Menu Options, Optical and cons: Viewfinder, Smallish LCD screen, Manual Mode Limitations.