The Canon Powershot SX530 HS is this years update to the SX520, and increases the optical zoom to 50x, adds built-in Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity, whilst keeping the sensor the same with a 16 megapixel backlit CMOS sensor. Full manual controls are available, as well as numerous automatic and scene modes to make it easy for the beginner.
Canon Powershot SX530 HS Features
The updated SX530 offers a new 50x optical zoom lens, covering the equivalent of 24mm to 1200mm in 35mm terms, with optical image stabilisation ensuring sharp shots, and steady video. The camera offers an impressive macro mode that will let you focus on subjects 0cm away from the front of the lens. Zoom framing assist buttons on the side of the lens helps you keep your subject in the centre of the frame if you lose it.
Canon has resisted the urge to increase the megapixel count with this new model, and the camera has the same 16 megapixel BSI (Backside Illuminated) CMOS sensor for improved low-light performance and speed. With a top mode dial, there are full manual controls including aperture and shutter priority, as well as numerous auto and scene modes to make it easy for a beginner as well as a more advanced photographer to use.
There are numerous creative effects and filters available, as well as Creative Shot that will automatically generate a number of stylish shots. You can also adjust the colour settings yourself.
Wi-Fi and NFC connectivity make it possible to connect the camera to a compatible smartphone, with the Canon app available for iOS and Android devices.
FullHD video is recorded with stereo sound, and optical zoom is also available while recording.
Key Features
- 16 megapixel BSI CMOS sensor
- 50x optical zoom lens, 24-1200mm equivalent
- Optical Image Stabilisation, 2.5stops
- 3inch screen, 461k dots
- Wi-Fi / NFC connectivity
- FullHD video with stereo sound
- ISO100 to ISO3200
- 0cm macro focus distance
- Creative shot and Hybrid auto modes
Canon Powershot SX530 HS Handling
The camera has a good-sized hand grip, with a good rubber covering to help ensure you have a firm grip on the camera. This will help avoid you dropping the camera, as well as help ensure the camera is held as steadily as possible. Useful for long zoom photographs, or low light photography. Despite the plastic construction, the camera feels quite well built with little flex or obvious build quality issues. The pop-up flash is manually activated, and you simply pull it up to switch it on, and push it down to put it away again.
The camera does not feature an electronic viewfinder, and for this you'll have to look at the bigger brother model to this, the Canon Powershot SX60 HS. The 3inch screen has a reasonable resolution screen at 461K dots, that is reasonably easy to see the majority of the time. There are a good number of controls and buttons on the camera, including a dedicated exposure compensation button, as well as a control wheel on top, making it quick and easy to change settings. To change additional options, you simply press the FUNC / OK button and this will bring up common photographic settings on screen. This means you should rarely need to go into the full menu system, however, if you do, you'll be pleased to find built in help.
Wi-Fi features - Using Canon's Camera Connect app, available for compatible iOS and Android devices you can view images and video on the camera, and transfer them to your phone for sharing on social network websites, such as Facebook, Twitter etc. You also have the option to remotely control the camera, and you can change a number of camera settings, as well as take photos. Another feature of the app is to add GPS location information to photos taken with the camera.
Battery life - Battery life is rated at 210 shots according to Canon / CIPA test results, which is a little short, although this can be extended to 290 shots with the Eco mode enabled.
Canon Powershot SX530 HS Performance
The performance section is where we look at the image quality performance of the camera. Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.
Speed - We took a number of shots to test the camera's responsiveness, from switch on to first photo, shot to shot, focusing speed etc. We take a number of shots and then use the average to ensure accurate and consistent tests, making it easy to compare with other cameras.
| Shutter Response | <0.05secs |
| Wide - Focus / Shutter Response | 0.1secs |
| Full zoom - Focus / Shutter Response | 0.5secs |
| Switch on Time to Taking a Photo | 1.4secs |
| Shot to Shot without Flash | 1.1secs |
| Shot to Shot with Flash | 2.5secs |
| Continuous Shooting - JPEG (shots before slow down) |
5fps (2 shots, then slows to 0.7secs between shots) |
| Continuous Shooting - Flash | 1.1secs |
High-speed burst shoots 4-megapixel images at 7.5fps
Canon Powershot SX530 HS Sample Photos
Sample Photos - Photos have good colour with bright saturated reds, blues and greens which are pleasing. Exposure is reliable, and to increase dynamic range the iContrast setting can be used with good results. Portrait photos taken with flash show no red-eye, which means you can take pleasing portrait photos with good skin tones.
Canon Powershot SX530 HS Lens test images
Lens Performance - Detail is good even into the corners of the frame when shooting wide-angle. Image quality remains good as you use the optical zoom, although purple fringing and chromatic aberrations can be an issue when using lots of optical zoom. The camera is quite resistant to flare, and for the most part vignetting was not visible. Image stabilisation does a good job of keeping the image sharp even when using the full optical zoom. Macro performance is excellent with the camera being able to focus on subjects 0cm away from the front of the lens, the only issue being whether the subject has enough light on it to take a photo, as at this distance the lens is likely to block any light that was falling onto the subject.
Canon Powershot SX530 HS ISO test images
ISO Noise Performance - ISO100 to ISO400 produces images with relatively low noise. At ISO800 and ISO1600 noise increases and detail is reduced as a result, although images should still be good for sharing on the web. ISO3200 shows the highest levels of noise and the lowest levels of detail, and is best avoided.
Canon Powershot SX530 HS White-balance test images
White Balance Performance - Under Tungsten / Incandescent lighting the camera's auto white balance (AWB) performs well, with a warm image that captures the atmosphere of the scene. For more accurate results, the Tungsten preset does an excellent job. AWB performs well under fluorescent lighting, with the fluorescent preset giving a warm colour cast.
Canon Powershot SX530 HS Digital filters
Digital Filters - The camera has a number of creative filters available including fisheye, miniature, toy-camera, monochrome, and others. Creative Shot mode takes a number of shots and then generates six different shots with effects applied automatically by the camera. You have the choice of a number of different styles including Normal, Retro, Monochrome, Special and Natural. The camera does not feature an automatic panoramic shooting mode, nor an automatic HDR shooting mode.
Video - The camera records full HD video with stereo sound and optical zoom is available while recording. Video quality is good, and the optical image stabilisation system does a pretty good job of keeping the image steady, although can struggle when using full optical zoom.
Value For Money
The Canon Powershot SX530 HS is available for £235 which makes it slightly more expensive that much of the competition. Alternatives to look at include the following cameras:
Panasonic Lumix FZ72, 60x optical zoom, EVF, £199
Nikon Coolpix P530, 42x optical zoom, EVF, £219
Olympus SP-100EE, 50x optical zoom, EVF, £225
Fujifilm FinePix S9900W, 50x optical zoom, EVF, Wi-Fi, £230
Have a look at more ultra-zoom / bridge cameras in our Top 10 Best Ultra Zoom Bridge Cameras 2015. You'll also need to buy a memory card and a case or bag to keep your camera safe and protected - have a look at our complete guide to camera bags.
Canon Powershot SX530 HS Verdict
The Canon Powershot SX530 HS is a useful update to the SX520, offering additional optical zoom, with a 50x optical zoom lens, whilst still delivering good image quality, as well as offering built-in Wi-Fi and NFC for those that want to transfer photos quickly to a smartphone. Sticking with a 16 megapixel BSI CMOS sensor has resulted in good image quality, without the noise associated with recent 20-megapixel cameras.
Whilst the Canon Powershot SX530 HS does not offer some of the same features as competitors, such as a built-in electronic viewfinder (EVF), nor automatic HDR or Panoramic shooting modes, there are a wide range of shooting controls, including auto shooting, scene modes, creative effects, as well as full manual controls. This makes the SX530 a great camera for those that want to expand and learn more photographic skills.
Priced at £235, the camera is a little more expensive than much of the competition, however, if the price drops over time, as we expect it will, then the SX530 will make a great ultra zoom camera, with pleasing image quality and a good 50x optical zoom lens.
Canon Powershot SX530 Review - Verdict: The Canon Powershot SX530 HS offers good image quality and responsive performance.