Compare Prices : Canon PowerShot A520 - Expert Reviews

Review summary: The $300 Canon PowerShot A520 is an affordable point-and-shoot for the budding photography student. This camera is essentially a 4-megapixel version of the $200 PowerShot A510 (a 3.2-megapixel camera that won a Best Buy in our May 2005 issue). The two ...

Pros: Many manual controls and features

Cons: Very limited battery life

Verdict: Canon offers a variety of accessories for the A520, including wide-angle ($99), telephoto ($129), and close-up ($120) converters. To attach one of these, you have to remove a plastic ring around the lens and attach a $20 lens adapter tube. Also, you ...

Review summary: Canon's PowerShot A520 compact digital camera combines the sought after simplicity of a family-focused camera, a phenomenally faithful four megapixel image sensor and a powerful 4x optical zoom t...

Review summary: The Canon Powershot A520, is available for £176 / $249 - and is a 4 megapixel digital camera, with a 4x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 35-140mm on a 35mm camera), and a 1.8" TFT screen. The camera is enclosed in a silver metal and plastic body. It ...

Pros: Very good image quality - very good colour 4x optical zoom lens Quite compact Manual controls (shutter, aperture, focus, custom white balance) Take AA batteries Focus-assist lamp Auto-rotates images Expandable with additional lenses / additional flash

Cons: Plastic tripod mount (despite the metal body) Sluggish (compared to the IXUS 30, and Sony S60/S80) Outdated movie mode (limited to 30seconds, or 3minutes depending on size) Slightly high noise at ISO200 and ISO400

Verdict: The Canon Powershot A520 is an excellent all round camera, with a decent 4x optical zoom lens, and features to suit every need, from basic point and shoot operation, to full manual controls. The camera takes AA batteries so can travel with you ...

Review summary: The 4-megapixel Canon PowerShot A520 offers full manual controls and takes very good images, but its handling is marred by poor design.

Pros: Excellent color ; 4x optical zoom ; full manual controls

Cons: Poor feel and handling ; no live histogram ; limited movie mode

Verdict: The body is too bulky to qualify as a pocket camera and, while its contoured grip makes it comfortable enough to hold, it feels slightly cheap. The tripod mount is plastic. The Playback/Camera switch is hard to move, and the mode dial clicks stiffly ...

Review summary: Canon's "A" series digital cameras have always provided consumers with impressive ease of use, exceptional performance, excellent image quality, and "best in class" bang for the buck, the Canon Powershot A520 doesn't deviate from this family tradition.

Pros: Compact, proven platform, 4X optical zoom, full manual controls, and very good battery life

Cons: Noisy ISO 200-400 images, LCD doesn't automatically "gain up" in low light

Verdict: Entry-level digicams are generally fairly tame, but Canon's new Powershot A520 challenges that stereotype by re-defining the performance and usability parameters that have always typified entry-level Point & Shoot cameras. Even neophyte snap shooters ...