Canon PowerShot A520

Overall the Canon PowerShot A520 is a very good camera.

I wanted to buy a cheap digital camera to take some family and work shots. I prefer adjustable settings and a good camera before lots of low quality functions. I read some reviews, but only Canon could give me what I needed. I decided to go for the Canon PowerShot A520 because other more expensive models had bigger resolution or ISO 400, but output images were worse.

I must say, I am glad I chose the A520. It's an almost perfect digital camera. At first the small body impressed me. I thought that it would be bigger. I then turned it on. Auto mode is normal, and I think you can use it for most photos that you take. The semi-automatic mode gives you more choices for nice pictures, and it has manual options if you understand them. It's easy to set it up and take a picture. It has a 4x optical zoom, zoomable and power adjustable flashlight, it takes good shots, and is easy to use for normal photos and modes. The only unpleasant thing is if you want to perfectly adjust it, you must study the manual settings, but I an not sorry that I go it. It's a nice camera with many features. I don't know of a comparable digital camera for the same amount of money. It is almost godlike! Only the ISO ruins this statement, but if you can withstand a smaller resolution, you can buy the better A510 model with smaller noise.

When I got the Canon PowerShot A520 digital camera I was working in a camera shop, so I had a lot of opportunities to try out all the different models. I was firstly looking for a camera which takes aa batteries, and this one does, and there are not many compact digital camera's that do. I was planning on travelling with it, and you can always get aa batteries, but you can't always find a power point. I use high powered rechargeable batteries, which last a really long time, and I always have a couple of spare sets.

The camera itself is really easy to use, and it has lots of functions if you want to play around. The underwater setting works great on sunsets. It even lets you set the aperture and shutter speed if you want, which is really useful when you have no tripod and want to get a steady night shot without flash. The camera isn't quite as small as others, but it needs the space for two aa batteries, it is also slightly heavier. It is in no way bulky, and I haven't found the size a problem. Where the batteries are means that side of the camera is slightly bigger, which is perfect because it gives you something to grip.

The 4x optical zoom is a bonus, and generally cameras of this spec. are only a 3x. The movie function is good for fun small clips, but they are by no means video quality, and they take up lots of space on the memory card. The picture quality is really good from this camera, even at A4 size, although I don't keep it set on top quality because I only print at 5x7, so I get more pictures on my card. They aren't the sharpest photos I have seen from a camera (the Sony w12, 15 etc. series produces excellent quality pics), but they are very very good. The only function I have missed at times is the lack of a self timer, but other than that I have been really happy with this camera.

I definitely made the right choice (it even got covered in water and still works)!