Please enlighten me

[rbeekol]

I have recently purchased a Canon PowerShot A530. My friends are saying that I should have purchased the Olympus FE-150 or the Sony DSC W5 instead.

At the end of the day have I goofed up by buying a camera which is inferior to the FE-150 or DSC W5.

rbeekol

[slipe]

You got an excellent camera. The only downside I see to it is that it won't fit in your pocket. I feel the camera you have with you is infinitely better than the greatest camera in the world sitting at home when a photo opportunity arises. A 1.3Mp cellphone camera is a lot better than your DSLR if it isn't with you.

But quality and useability wise you have a great camera that will give you better photo quality than the others you mentioned.

[rbeekol]

Thanks for your reassurance. This will prompt me to use it to the fullest extent.

rbeekol

[superakuma]

Dont listen to that friend ever again when it comes to photo advice. If he says that that olympus and sony is better then the canon that you have, tell him to prove it.

I hate it when people band bash without any evidence that x brand is better then y brand.
Also just beacuse one camera is better for him does not mean that it is better for you.

Dont worry, that Canon a530 is a great camera.

slipe wrote:

You got an excellent camera. The only downside I see to it is that it won't fit in your pocket. I feel the camera you have with you is infinitely better than the greatest camera in the world sitting at home when a photo opportunity arises. A 1.3Mp cellphone camera is a lot better than your DSLR if it isn't with you.

But quality and useability wise you have a great camera that will give you better photo quality than the others you mentioned.

Correct. Sometimes people get caught up in the gear instead of the images. A camera is a tool for taking photos. It's fun to get on here & talk about them & share our experiences, but in the end...it all comes down to how well you use your tools.

Learn to get the best from the camera (& yourself using it) & you will be a very happy camper.

[kenbalbari]

I can't even find a review of the FE-150. I can't even find one for sale. I found a press release announcing it, but no evidence of the actual camera. It's not even listed on the Olympus USA site with their current products.

As for the W5 model, it's a design that's a year older then yours. And even then it probably wasn't quite as good as the 520, the camera the 530 replaced.

Those other two cameras are both about the same size as yours, only a couple tenths of an inch thinner. They're also 5MP cameras. You've got a better, more recent sensor, a 4x zoom, better features, better image quality (esp. less noise), better performance, and full manual controls. And Cannon genereally the leader amongst the entry level budget cameras, and has been for a few years.

I could understand maybe thinking you could have got a DSC-W50, which also has some shortcomings compared to the A530, but which is as up to date as the A530, and for just a bit more money is truly pocketable. That's at least a trade off; there are some ways in which each camera is better.

But I can't even think of a single way in which either the W5 or FE-150 would be better than the A530.