Canon PowerShot ELPH 530 HS Digital Camera Review

Color

The ELPH 530 HS produces accurate yet punchy colors. The default (Off) color mode proved to be the most true-to-life, with near-perfect saturation and a color error of 2.92 (anything under 3.0 is excellent). Blues and reds are a bit exaggerated, greens are darker than ideal levels, and yellow has a bit of a green tint. More on how we test color.

NOTE: Because of the way computer monitors reproduce colors, the images above do not exactly match the originals found on the chart or in the captured images. The chart should be used to judge the relative color shift, not the absolute captured colors.

Color is very subjective, so take these numeric results with a grain of salt. But the Sony HX9V produced the most accurate colors of the group, while the Canon ELPH 510 HS, Casio ZR100, and Panasonic ZS20 all finish a step or two behind the ELPH 530 HS.

Color Modes

Tons of other color modes are available, including Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin, Darker Skin, Vivid Red, Vivid Blue, and Vivid Green. These profiles are fixed—that is, there's no way to adjust saturation, contrast, individual hues or anything of that nature. But there is one Custom profile, which allows users to tinker with contrast, sharpness, saturation, red, green, blue, and skin tone settings along sliders.

White Balance

On average, auto white balance on the ELPH 530 HS is more accurate than we typically see on compact cameras, though shots under incandescent lighting are still very jaundiced. Custom white balance improves the accuracy even more, but not as much as most custom white balance modes do.

White Balance Options

Aside from auto white balance, the ELPH 530 HS has white balance presets for daylight, cloudy settings, tungsten light, fluorescent light, fluorescent H lighting, and a custom white balance setting.