The first point of note about Canon’s competitively priced A540 – which upgrades last year’s Canon A520 – is that it manages to fit in both a 2.5in screen plus, as a battery-saving alternative, an optical viewfinder above.

Perhaps that’s why the A540 supplied with two regular AA batteries as opposed to a longer-lasting rechargeable battery.

Despite being cheaper and less flashy than Canon’s IXUS range, the A540 doesn’t skimp on features. Chief among these are a six-megapixel resolution for poster-sized prints, a 4x optical zoom lens stored flush to the body when not in use, and functions shared with more professional models.

These include a swift DIGIC II processor – meaning images are quickly committed to memory – and nine-point intelligent auto focus, ensuring even the most hapless snapper gets sharply focused pics.

Despite the A540’s plastic look and feel, the build quality is high and, with batteries inserted into the grip, it feels reassuringly sturdy.

If you’re buying the camera mainly for indoor snaps but don’t like that rabbit-in-the-headlights look, the A540 handily boasts ISO800 light sensitivity for low light snaps without flash.

Offering further assistance are 21 shooting modes, while a full manual mode, aper ture and shutter priority allow for greater creativity than similarly priced compacts.

For those with big televisions, there’s the ability to capture widescreen (16:9 ratio) stills, as well as TV-quality 640x480-pixel video clips at a smooth 30 frames-per-second.

As expected, the A540 is easy to operate. The on/off button is slightly recessed to avoid accidental operation, but when pressed the camera springs into action, the lens barrel extending to maximum wide-angle setting. Similarly there’s little noticeable shutter delay.

Photos delivered by Canon compacts are some of the best in their class and the A540 is no exception, delivering colourful yet naturalistic shots when plenty of detail.

However you won’t be able to take many with the measly 16Mb memory card included, and you might also want to replace those AA batteries with rechargeables to get more than 90 shots in total. That said, AAs are easily replaceable should you find power flags when on your hols.

For the price it’s hard to find great fault with the A540, if you don’t mind that its style is more B&Q than Biarritz.

Also consider
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX01
A slim, 6-megapixel camera that offers a greater range of features than you’d expect for the price.
Rating: 4/5
Price: £299