Canon A530 file sizes

Just got this camera and it generally seems like a nice bit of kit,
easy to use straight off and sits in the hand nicely. One previous
poster said it does not not act as a USB drive in Windows without the
Canon software but I plugged it into the computer via USB and it came
up as a drive straight off under XP. I have no need for the Canon
software and have not installed it.

I have set it on large superfine but file sizes are only around 1.2MB
and I was expecting twice this size. However, a couple of files later
turned out to be over 2MB, the only difference that I set the camera on
portrait rather than auto. Am I doing something stupid?

BTW the A530 is made in Malayasia, note this in passing as I have an
aversion to buying Chinese products.

It does occur to me that the A540 may have the same components
internally as the A530 and there may be a way to hack it to upgrade?

Just realised that the settings for the various modes such as portrait
and auto are independent of each other, so although I set one to
superfine large the other was only fine-large.

writes:
Just got this camera and it generally seems like a nice bit of kit,
easy to use straight off and sits in the hand nicely. One previous
poster said it does not not act as a USB drive in Windows without the
Canon software but I plugged it into the computer via USB and it came
up as a drive straight off under XP. I have no need for the Canon
software and have not installed it.

But it does not appear as a drive, does it? When you plugged it in,
did XP bring up a photo import wizard that transferred all the files
automatically? That's the PTP protocol which the A530 (and XP)
support, not the same as the USB mass storage interface.

I have set it on large superfine but file sizes are only around 1.2MB
and I was expecting twice this size. However, a couple of files later
turned out to be over 2MB, the only difference that I set the camera on
portrait rather than auto. Am I doing something stupid?

Large superfine should be 2+ MB. Large fine would be about 1.2MB,
which is what you should get on full auto mode.

It does occur to me that the A540 may have the same components
internally as the A530 and there may be a way to hack it to upgrade?

Not likely and anyway not worth it. A540's big differences are
the accessory lens threads and the bigger LCD screen.

wrote:
Just got this camera and it generally seems like a nice bit of kit,
easy to use straight off and sits in the hand nicely. One previous
poster said it does not not act as a USB drive in Windows without the
Canon software but I plugged it into the computer via USB and it came
up as a drive straight off under XP. I have no need for the Canon
software and have not installed it.

I have set it on large superfine but file sizes are only around 1.2MB
and I was expecting twice this size. However, a couple of files later
turned out to be over 2MB, the only difference that I set the camera on
portrait rather than auto. Am I doing something stupid?

BTW the A530 is made in Malayasia, note this in passing as I have an
aversion to buying Chinese products.

It does occur to me that the A540 may have the same components
internally as the A530 and there may be a way to hack it to upgrade?

I might have been guilty of stating Canon does not show up as a drive in
xp and that statement is true. It (and my little music player) show up
as a device under windows explorer (no additional software required).
There is something called MTP that is the protocol that permits this for
supported hardware, but I haven't pursued info on this.
Note, you don't see the true file structure on the device and I'm not
sure what determines what you do see, but if you put the card in a card
reader you will see the difference. The camera wizard in xp is an
alternative way to download.
Best bet is to get a card reader and use that for many pics, direct
connection for just a few. Note, some cameras do appear as a true drive,
not Canon (or the ones I've used).
Dave Cohen

Yeah, some menu popped up but I cancelled that (not sure what it meant)
and hit the computer icon where the canon was listed as a drive (called
canon, amazingly enough), with a list of the photos taken which I
copied and then deleted from the camera using the computer. You are
right in that the drive did not open automatically in a window of its
own but no problems getting to the files. It was actually quicker than
my previous camera, a Fuji A101, which although the camera drive opened
automatically (most of the time) the actual photos were buried away in
sub-folders that took three clicks to access. No great problem either
way.

A quick test of the camera with some portrait shots taken on auto in
daylight and printed out at the local photo store wihtout any work done
on the files at A4 size revealed that though only 5MP the results were
excellent! And, yes, these were 2M plus files at the best resolution.

So far I can recommend this camera, although the bright red focussing
beam is a bit intrusive! I was going to buy a Sony W5 or W30 but
decided the memory sticks were a rip-off but don't have any complaints
about the speed or general handling of the Canon which was about twenty
percent cheaper.

I am a Chinese.I want to buy the CANON A530,but I don`t know how the
machine is.i wonder if some people could give me some advices.I am a
student,I have a little money.please help me .