Canon PowerShot A520

Opinion: Probably the best P&S in the world till now , exelent crisp images , perfect colours exelent pictures no matter what the light conditions.

Opinion: This camera is for beginners, and this is why I will aim my review to people who are interested in going a first step forwards in "serious" photography.

With the A520 you will be able to have a cheap, solid and reliable camera that has some elements even pricier cameras have. There are many options within this camera and when you actually acknowledge their existence ( you must really READ the MANUAL to fully grasp what's available to you ) and use them, you will see that this wonderful piece of technology is an amazing friend. The more you will use it, the more you will discover its abilities along with your *own* abilities. You will develop skills easily with this camera for it only guides you halfway through a great picture, just enough to let you do some work and learn.

On my side I have been making mostly nature photography with the Canon Powershot A520. I brought it with me while riding ATVs, canoes and kayaks and while hiking ( of course, always safe in a "case logic" bag or something similar! ). It never failed me after many years and never broke. I made tens of thousands of pictures with this. It is very sturdy and if you take care of it well enough, it will last forever. It also offers a great first encounter with macro photography ( the smallest things you can get a great image out of are about the size of bees ). I still use it from time to time even if I have cameras who possess greater technological attributes, so I also recommend it for photographers who are searching for a backup camera.

I do not recommend this camera for the followings:

- Pictures after the sunset. This camera is no good when it comes to dark lighting and will only give blurry images. Of course, there is a flash, and a very good one at that, but I am refering to the flashless pictures here.

- High motion shots. Although the camera has some power to recollect an action shot ( riding on the highway, for example ), it is not fast enough ( there is a delay between the moment you click the button and the picture ). You will find frustration if you are aiming to use this camera under high movement ( from you or from the subject ).

- Movie making. Although this camera offers the possibility of making movies to transfer to your computer, you will quickly find out that it will devour the two AA batteries needed to operate ( even if you have rechargeables, it will be frustrating ). Also, the recording stops after 3 minutes. The quality of the video image is relatively high for a camera of that price and age, but this is the only good side as for the movie making.

This camera requires two AA batteries and thus you must make sure to have spare AAs as a backup because it can feed very quickly on them if you use flash, movie making or if you leave the LCD monitor opened for a certain period of time. I have also found out after a couple of months that when the two AA batteries are relatively low, the automatic plastic cover that closes before the lens in order to protect it sometimes opens up only halfway after you re-open it. I have been frustrated by this at first because I did not notice it until the pictures had been made.

Besides these bad points, this camera is an extremely good one if you compare its abilities with its price. I highly recommend it to whoever is interested in discovering photography as a beginning student or just for simple personal entertainment. I can guarantee you that once you have tried this camera for a while and used its full power, you will not only be much more interested in photography, but you will also become a Canon fanboy. :)

Opinion: After 2 years and thousands of pictures, I like this robust little camera. I now use it mostly for underwater pictures, in the Canon waterproof housing, which has worked flawlessly. The only real drawback is the shutter lag, and shot to shot time lag. I have missed many good snorkelling/scuba shots, as a result of this. The camera will be soon replaced with a newer camera (A650is?), and I will likely use a less than full resolution setting, in order to decrease the time it takes to write each picture to the memory card. At 4MP, there is no room to move down, but from 12MP..... who knows what those results will be.

Opinion: Fantastic camera. I have been using it dayly for about 2 years and taken over 10000 photos with it. It is still working fine and I can't say anything bad about it. Doesn't look that good as it used to though. It is small, fits in hand and also in pocket. All the buttons are in comfortable places and menus are very easy and understandable. Takes very good photos even in Auto settings. Batteries last quite long but low battery warning is given about 10 seckonds before batteries die. I have used it in all kinds of light conditions I can imagine and I have made made always usable pic-s. It's still weak in low light conditions, but what can you expect from small compact. Using tripod I have made quite good nightshots too.

Opinion: You mightn’t think it but this is an awesome, awesome bit of kit. Had mine for over two years, never getting rid of it. It takes better photos than pretty much any point and shoot Ive been able to compare it against on the same monitor. I recently bought a Canon A570IS to replace it and was in the lucky position of having both at the same time. I whipped around house and yard taking the same photo with both cameras and compared the two. The A570IS was sold on ebay a week later. I ‘think’ the reason the A520 is so good is because there aren’t too many megapixels crammed onto a tiny sensor. As a result, it has very low noise (graining). It’s also built like a little tank, have taken it into pits at concerts for Slayer, Machine Head, Tool and many more heavy bands where you pretty much get pummelled for several hours. Never missed a beat, and that’s the great thing about this camera, you can take it into places you would never take an SLR. And the very good news is that, if you can find one, theyre cheap! Great bit of kit

Opinion: I bought 2 of these cameras, one for each of my adult daughters at Christmas 05. Both have been back for repairs more times than I can recall. My daughters have taken good care of them. One had been back at least 3 times within a year for various major problems that rendered the camera useless. Wouldn't turn on, or the lens would not come out. The other camera was also in for repair several times. Recently, one of the cameras failed again. Thank goodness I used American Express to purchase it, their "buyer assurance program" is going to refund my purchase price. Every company makes a bad product now and then, so I am going to give Canan another shot and try the A630 as a replacement. I would never purchase another A520, not even for $50.

Opinion: The camera takes good quality pictures. It is easy to use. The chip is excellent and does well in difficult lighting conditions. The features are just right for my use of the camera.

Opinion: Superb for me!

Opinion: I bought this cam in Radio Shack for $199.00+tax, when I bought they offer me a 256 MB SD Card. A few months ago, I bought 1 GB SD Card. The cam store much photos and I can flim more larger videos in 320x240 resolution.