Canon’s A-series are known for their performances. The new 4-megapixel digital camera that replaces A85, allows manual focus and has a lot of scene modes.

Canon PowerShot A520 weighs only 8 ounces but feels a bit large in the hands though it measures only 3.6 x 2.5 x 1.5 inches. It uses two batteries and SD memory cards. The controls are easy to access and locally laid out. On the back there is a slide to toggle between taking photos and recording. If you press the pad’s key up you can set the flash options, while if you press it down you can select the flash mode (normal, macro or manual).

The traditional Menu includes three tab listings for adjusting sound volume, turning digital zoom, formatting the memory card, re-eye reduction, while the Function button controls the shooting features like ISO, exposure modes, image size or compression. The manual controls are also very easy to use.

The camera is equipped with a 35mm to 140 mm set of optics, 4x zoom, it has a f/2.6 maximum aperture and f/8 the smallest stop at both ends of the scale. The manual shutter speeds range from 15 seconds to 1/20,000 second. You can use the automatic exposure or the basic modes such as Portrait, Landscape, Fast Shutter (sports), Night Scene, Stitch Assist (panorama) and Slow Shutter or the six special scenes: Snow, Foliage, Beach, Kids & Pets, Underwater, Night Snapshot and Indoor.

The camera can snap off 7 full-resolution frames in less then 4 frames while the shutter lag measures 0.6 second (high-contrast lighting) and 0.9 second (low-contrast lighting). The LCD washes out under direct illumination while during camera it displays the usual ghosting.

The image quality is good enough though the camera tends to favor the shadow areas at the expense of highlight areas which look washed out.

Author : Cristina