Powerful Powershot (Canon Powershot A520)

Member Name: Kukana

Product:	Canon Powershot A520
Date:	24/09/06 (169 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent quality, easy to use, pleasant weight, uses AA batteries

Disadvantages: Rather basic video function

We had a basic digital camera for a couple of years, which was fine for web photographs, but not good enough quality for prints. In July last year I managed to lose it. It was the excuse we needed to look for a better one! With our first, we did almost no research. This time, we spent several weeks considering all the options. We looked at camera shops locally to find out what various makes felt like, and how easy they were to use. We researched online, and were particularly impressed with the site dpreview.com which gives full specifications for every camera, a gallery showing what kinds of pictures can be taken, and a useful search facility for narrowing the choice down.

We had several criteria in our minds which immediately ruled out quite a few possibilities:

- Size: we didn't like the very lightweight cameras. They feel flimsy to us, even if they're quite strong, and it's hard to hold them steady. We wanted something that felt reasonably substantial, and decided that 150g was the minimum. On the other hand, I wanted something small enough to fit in my handbag.

- Zoom: we wanted an optical zoom. Our old camera had no zoom facility at all, and that was often a disadvantage. Digital zooming has no advantage over zooming in on images with a photo editor, but an optical zoom allows close-up photos from some distance. A little experimentation and research told us that 3x optical zooming was the minimum we wanted, preferably 4x.

- Batteries: we wanted a camera that took ordinary A4 batteries. Digital cameras do get through batteries quite fast, so we wanted readily-available replacements and the possibility of using rechargeable batteries.

- Memory card: my husband wanted to ensure that the camera would take a non-specialist memory card - one that could be found at various places rather than being brand-specific, and which was unlikely to be discontinued.

- Budget: we had a maximum budget of £200. We weren't particularly worried about the megapixels, realising that these days most digital cameras can take pictures with resolution good enough for prints. There are very few that have less than 3 megapixels, and with a good lens we could expect results as good as from a 35mm film camera.


Using the dpreview site, we narrowed the field down to about twelve possibilities. Then we browsed their galleries, to find out what kind of quality we could expect. Not surprisingly, we found all the cameras we had chosen (or similar ones, if there were no pictures for the actual models) produced good photographs. But both of us noticed an unexpected theme: the Canon camera pictures were not just good, they were outstanding. The colours were bright and realistic, the subjects were sharp but not artificially so. On my flatscreen monitor, the differences were even more obvious: some cameras were good, but the Canons were brilliant.

There were four Canon cameras that fit all our criteria. Two of them, the A85 and A95, were older models which had been upgraded to the other two possibilities: the Powershot A510 and A520. Since the older ones were more expensive, and took four batteries rather than two, we decided to buy one of the Powershot models. The A510 was cheaper, but it also had lower resolution: 3 megapixels as opposed to 4.

We looked at local shops, and browsed several online stores. Eventually it became clear that the cheapest place for us to buy a camera was Amazon UK, which (at the time) was selling either of these cameras bundled with a free case. The A520 was £165, and a 256 megabyte memory card would cost us another £15. So since we could get all we needed for around £180, we decided to opt for the A520.

We've used it now for over a year, and are extremely pleased with it. In its most basic mode, it's very easy to use, even for someone like me with little technical awareness. A button on the top switches it on or off, a little knob at the right adjusts the zoom, and a button in the middle of it is for taking pictures. There's an ordinary camera viewfinder as well as the usual LCD screen on the back, and if I want to see what's on the camera already there's a little switch on the back which enables me to go into viewing mode rather than taking more pictures.

Equally, there are many varied settings for the more advanced user. There's quite a complex manual, full of diagrams and technical detail, although my sons assure me it's mostly intuitive. I learned easily enough how to switch off the flash, how to go into 'macro' mode which allows extreme close-ups (for instance of flowers), and how to use alternative settings such as those intended for snowy days, or for artificial light.

Obviously a big advantage of a digital camera is the ability to experiment without wasting film, and the A520 has plenty of scope for experimentation. I particularly liked the 'panoramic' mode, which enables me to take several photos, moving around, and then 'stitch' them together on my computer. One of my sons likes being able to adjust the focus, the shutter speed and the f-stop, as with a manual camera, and my husband is pleased to learn that it's possible to attach other lenses. Not that we have any need to at present: the quality is every bit as good as we had expected. We've had prints made of several of the photographs taken, and they're excellent quality.

Transferring photos to the computer isn't very difficult either. We had to instal some software from a CD which came with the camera, but that didn't take long. Now all I have to do to upload photos is to plug in the USB lead (also supplied), turn the camera on, and switch it to viewing mode. This prompts the camera software to open on my computer, and shows me all the photographs currently on the camera. I'm not an expert at learning how to use new software, but it was all quite straightforward. The software for organising the photographs is rather basic so I don't use that; instead, I open Google's Picasa software and edit or sort my photos in that. For some reason, Picasa will not recognise the Canon camera, but this is only a minor inconvenience.

There's a video clip mode which we've used occasionally: it will take up to about 30 seconds at a time of fairly low-quality video, including sound. Useful if you want to catch something quickly and only have your camera to hand, but obviously nothing like the quality of a video camera.

The battery life is considerably better than that of our previous camera. Of course, if we use it a lot (particularly with the flash) and then look on the LCD screen at what we've taken, they won't last long. But for regular use - a few snaps here and there, mostly without flash - I find a pair of batteries lasts at least a month or two, sometimes more. We did try using rechargeable batteries for a while, but were not so impressed with those as they seemed to run down more frequently. But inexpensive regular batteries are just as good as the higher-priced ones, in our experience.

There are several different qualities of picture that can be taken; but with our extra memory card we can fit nearly 200 highest-quality photos on the camera, so it's rare that we bother to reduce the quality. When I want to send a picture to someone, or use it on my blog, I Picasa to reduce the size to something suitable for a screen, but when we're having prints made it's best to use the highest possible quality. It's rare for me to take as many as 200 pictures in a month, so I leave them all on the camera when I'm uploading them to my computer until the end of each month, when I make a CD backup.

Of course, companies improve their range all the time, and I see that it's now less easy to get hold of an A520. Amazon has them available at the Marketplace, and there are two new editions: the A530 (at just over £110) and the A540 (at £140). They look very similar to our A520, with yet more megapixels.

Since buying this camera, we've seen more and more people using digital cameras, and had the opportunity to compare results. Taken overall, it seems that our initial conclusion was correct: most of them take good pictures, but those from Canon cameras are stunning. Naturally the results from our A520 aren't as good as those from the highest-priced cameras used by professionals, but compared to other basic digital cameras in this price range (and, indeed, some more highly priced) this one stands out for quality.

Highly recommended for anyone looking for an inexpensive but good quality digital camera.

Summary: Excellent and inexpensive camera in a great range by Canon

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