1. Introduction 2. Body & Design 3. Operation 4. Timings & Sizes 5. Photographic tests 6. Compared to... 7. Compared to... 8. Compared to... 9. Conclusion 10. Samples

Canon PowerShot A520 Review

Review based on a production Canon PowerShot A520

Announced just before PMA in February 2005, the PowerShot A520 is the replacement for the PowerShot A85, and continues the line of best-selling budget models that goes right back to early 2001 with the A10 and A20. The changes are evolutionary rather than revolutionary; a reduction in size and weight (it's 13% smaller and 20% lighter), the inclusion of a new four times optical zoom lens (the A85 had a three times), zoom-linked flash, a shift from CompactFlash to SD card for storage and a drop to two AA batteries from four.

• 4.0 megapixel CCD
• 4x (35-140mm equiv.) zoom lens
• Manual, semi automatic and fully automatic exposure
• 20 exposure modes
• New 'hold' function
• Zoom flash
• 9-point AiAF focus
• Optional underwater housing, external flashgun and add-on lenses
• AA battery power

Canon PowerShot A520 vs A85 (main differences)

	Canon PowerShot A520	Canon PowerShot A85
Sensor	• 1/2.5-inch CCD • 4.0 million effective pixels	• 1/2.7-inch CCD • 4.0 million effective pixels
Lens	35-140mm equiv. F2.6-F5.5	35-105mm equiv. F2.8-F4.8
Storage	SD/MMC card	CompactFlash Type I
Dimensions	91 x 64 x 38 mm (3.6 x 2.5 x 1.5 in)	101 x 64 x 32 mm (4 x 2.5 x 1.3 in)
Weight (inc batteries)	230 g (8.1 oz)	300g (10.6 oz)
Continuous Shooting	1.9 fps	1.5 fps
Maximum Movie Size/Frame Rate	640 x 480, 30 secs, 320 x 240, 15 fps, max 3 mins	640 x 480, 10 fps, max 30 sec
LCD screen	• 1.8-inch • 115,000 pixels	• 1.8-inch • 118,000 pixels
Power Source	2 x AA batteries	4 x AA batteries

Canon PowerShot A520 Key specifications

* Supplied accessories may differ in each country or area

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (typically VGA) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This article is Copyright 2004 and may NOT in part or in whole be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author.

1. Introduction 2. Body & Design 3. Operation 4. Timings & Sizes 5. Photographic tests 6. Compared to... 7. Compared to... 8. Compared to... 9. Conclusion 10. Samples