Overview
The Canon Powershot A520 is a four megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens. The lens has a focal length equivalent to a 35-140mm lens on a 35mm film camera. One of the main attractions of the Powershot A520 is the number of features it offers for a relatively low price. This gives you the option of using the camera either as a simple point and shoot model or trying out some of the more advanced features.
This type of camera often appeals to families where some members are looking for a camera that is easy to use whilst others are looking for one that gives them greater control over how the final image is produced.
Image Quality
Overall I would describe the set of pictures that I managed to produce with the Powershot A520 as being impressive outdoors, but not so good indoors.
One area where I felt the Powershot A520 performed very well indeed was in the colour test. The colours produced were vibrant with plenty of depth. This is an important test because the colours carry over into just about every picture you will take.
This clearly comes into play with the outdoor shots. Apart from the colours the camera handles contrast very well too. The first outdoor test shot is set up so that there are plenty of white areas in the picture and also a number of darker areas. The point of the test is to see if the camera can reproduce the shot and retain detail in both the light and the dark areas. A lot of digital cameras struggle with this, but I felt the Powershot A520 handled this very well. I would say that you should be able to produce a range of pleasing landscape shots with this model.
Indoors there were problems. The test shot of bottles is taken in very poor light. Here the camera doesn't manage to focus quote as well as I expected it to. The shot is also overexposed. The indoor portrait is another shot that suffers from poor focus.
The macro shot is of fairly standard quality with a touch of purple fringing showing.
Shutter Lag and Recycling Times
Shutter lag is the time it takes to take each picture. A constant criticism of digital cameras is the delay in between clicking the shutter button, the picture being taken and the camera being ready to take the next picture. From a pure shutter lag view the Powershot A520 took a picture and recorded it in 0.59 seconds. That is a slightly slower than average time.
In terms of recycling times I was able to take five pictures in the space of 10.19 seconds. That works out at a rate of 2.03 seconds per picture. I am not claiming that this is the most scientific tests, but it should give you an indication of the recycling speed of the camera. At the time of writing this is a new test I have added for my reviews. Early indications are that this is on the fast side. My test is carried out indoors under standard conditions and it is possible that you would see better results outside.
Features
When you buy the Powershot A520 you can get started by placing the camera in automatic mode and let the camera make all the decisions relating to the exposure. All you need to do is point the camera at the subject and press the shutter button. As you get used to the camera there is a wide range of predefined shooting modes that you can try out. These cover a variety of typical photo opportunities and help you to take better pictures in each situation. The scene modes available are Portrait, Landscape, Night Scene, Fast Shutter, Slow Shutter, Stitch Assist (for panoramic shots), Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Underwater, Indoor, Kids & Pets and Night Snapshot.
For composing photos and accessing the menu system there is a 1.8" LCD screen. There is also an optical viewfinder for lining up shots if you prefer to use one. This can also come in handy on bright, sunny days when the LCD screen can become hard to see.
To help you with low light photography there is a built in flash unit. The flash unit has a maximum range of 3.5m. If you are using the zoom lens this drops down to 2.2m. You can select from different flash modes. The modes are Automatic, Always on and Always off. Slow Sync Speed and Red-eye Reduction are available too. You can significantly boost the power of the flash by adding an external flash unit, Canon's High Power Flash. Indoor shots in low light are helped by the AF (Auto Focus) Assist Beam.
When you would like to appear in the picture yourself there is a self timer. The self timer can be set to a two or ten second delay. You can also set a custom delay time between one and ten seconds. After you have taken a picture you can add up to sixty seconds of commentary to it. This can help to jog your memory at a later date.
There is a macro setting for close up photography. You need to be at least 5cms away from the subject for the Powershot A520 to be able to focus properly. To back up the optical zoom there is a 3.6x digital zoom facility.
Movie mode is limited compared to some digital cameras. You can shoot TV quality footage at a resolution of 640x480 at a rate of thirty frames per second. The drawback is that shooting at this high quality level is restricted to thirty second bursts. Lower resolution movies can be shot at resolutions of 320x240 or 160x120 at a rate of 15 frames per second. The maximum duration for these movies is three minutes.
A number of more advanced features are available to you. Photo Effects allow you to shoot in black and white, sepia, low sharpening, vivid colour and neutral.
Continuous shooting is catered for by a burst mode. This lets you fire off up to eight pictures at a rate of 1.9 frames per second.
For more experienced photographers or someone who would like to experiment you can use fully manual exposure settings, plus aperture and shutter priority settings. There is also Evaluative, Centre-weighted average, Spot (centre) metering, exposure compensation between +/- 2 EV in 1/3 stop increments, shutter speeds between 15 - 1/2000 seconds and ISO equivalents between fifty and four hundred. There are white balance settings for Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom and you can also opt to focus manually.
Canon supplies all the necessary software and cables to connect the Powershot A520 to a PictBridge compatible printer, computer and a television set.
You can further increase the capabilities of the camera by buying close up, wide angle and telephoto conversion lenses.
Ease of Use
If you are planning to use the Powershot A520 simply as a point and shoot camera then you should have no problem at all. Most of the controls you will need are on the control dial sited on the top of the camera. If you are planning to use the Powershot A520 simply as a point and shoot camera then you should have no problem at all. Most of the controls you will need are on the control dial sited on the top of the camera. Owing to the number of features the camera has you will need to set aside time to read through the manual if you are planning to use all of them.
Cost
You can pick up a Canon Powershot A520 for around £175. This compares to around £130 for a Nikon Coolpix 4600 and £145 for a Sony DSC P73.
Style
The Powershot A520 has a fairly standard design. Basically it is a typical rectangular camera, but with a grip on the front. This helps you to keep the camera steady when you are taking a shot and makes it easier to produce sharp photos.
With dimensions of 90.7 x 64.0 x 38.4mm and weighing 180g it is a little large to slip into a pocket unnoticed. You should have no problem carrying it around with you though.
Batteries and Memory Cards
Power is supplied by two AA batteries. Two alkaline batteries are supplied with the camera. Despite advances digital cameras still run down batteries quickly and it is worth your while considering picking up a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger to go with the camera.
Images can be stored on either Secure Digital (SD) Card or Multi Media Cards (MMC). Canon supplies a 16mb card with the Powershot A520. Taking four megapixel shots soon fills up a memory card of that size and it is certainly advisable to pick up a high capacity card to go with your camera.
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Points I like:
Very good feature set for the price
Where it is not so hot:
Limited movie recording times
Summary
As you can gather from the Cost section of this review you can buy cheaper four megapixel digital cameras. So the question is why would you pay the extra for the Powershot A520? A lot comes down to the features it has. If you think you will make use of all the features offered by this model then it is probably worth paying the extra money. If all you are looking for is a simple point and shoot camera then although I wouldn't rule this camera out I would take a close look at some of its competitors.
Canon Powershot A520 Front View
Canon Powershot A520 Back View
Canon Powershot A520 Top View
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Canon Powershot A520 Review Canon Powershot A520 Specification Canon Powershot A520 Sample Images
