The Next Generation: Canon Powershot A520

The Canon Powershot A520: Canon's answer to the deficiencies of its predecessor, the A85. Canon listened and created the A520 to gain back ground in the market. The A250 is smaller than the A85. Canon added a longer zoom lens and scene modes as well. It seems that the A250 is not only aimed for beginner photographers, but even more seasoned picture-takers.

The body of the Canon Powershot A520 is smaller due to the decreased amount of batteries needed to power it; from the four batteries in the A85 to the two batteries of the A5285 to the two batteries of the A520. Certain things were moved around such as the eyepiece and microphone. The improved lens means more magnification. To most photographers is a great improvement, for it allows better telephotos. However, one may need to step back more to take a relatively close shot.

One feature retained in the Canon Powershot A520 is its manual controls. This is a feature which keeps Canon in the market, for it allows the photographer to take great shops with a few tweaks to the settings. A photographer can control almost every aspect of taking a shot: Shutter priority and Aperture priority are just a few of the manual options one can control. The A520 model still retains the stitch mode; enabling the taking of several photographs to create one panoramic image. The menu interface is easy to use, but to some may not be as efficient as Casio's.

In field testing, the Canon Powershot A2520 performed slowly. The response of the buttons is not quick as it feels there is a delay when taking a shot. The pictures were actually quite nice; the colors being vibrant and accurate. In certain situations, there might be some noise in the picture and purple fringing especially in high-contrast areas. The images were generally sharp; in some cases, some images could use more detail. When using flash, the images were even. In general it takes good images, but nothing greater than that.

This camera is a great buy, although it lacks in image quality as with other competitors. Canon has done a great job improving upon the A85. It has extreme flexibility in preparing for shots; the only downside of the Canon Powershot 520 is its image quality. A better buy would be Kodak's EasyShare LS743.

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