Canon PowerShot A520 Digital Camera

"I initially looked at Canon A510, Canon A520, Canon A95, Nikon 5900, Nikon 5600, Fuji's F440 and F450 and decided on the Canon A520. The big thing for me was the great image quality it has, great optical zoom (4x instead of 3x for most other cameras in this price range with 4 mega pixels), nice and compact BUT not too small and the manual controls that it has. This was my 1st digital camera for myself and I take a lot of nature photography and let me say that it is great for that. I also took many indoor shots with low light conditions and they did pretty well. Our living room is dark and cozy (with dark red walls) and it still focused quite well and tookpretty good pictures WITHOUT the flash.Don't pay any attention to those out there that want to complain about it's lag time between pictures..etc. Unless you absolutely need to take a lot of continuous framepictures the lag time that this camera has is acceptable. I'm not trying to take 10 pictures in a minute anyhow. Look if you want to take pictures of your kid in soccer or something go get a camcorder. besides you can film the whole game that way and they usually have better zoom capabilities than digital cameras. Besides I would rather watch a soccer video instead of a few continuous frames photos.Batteries since the A520 has only 2 AA instead of the A95 having 4 AA's, I HIGHLY recommend getting rechargeables - you should get them anyhow!! Make sure you get a camera case that has room for an extra 2-4 AA's depending on how many pics you take at a time. I bought a pack of Energizer 2500 mAh (mili Amp hours a term telling you how much punch or power a battery has. The higher the mAh is the better it is for devices like digital cameras, pda's etc. Only Kodak and Energizer have a 2500 mAh although there are some no name brands out there with a little higher ratings. I've used other batteries but these Energizers are really good and last a lot longer than my previous 1800 mAh. Just watch out for getting newer mAh batteries because you will need a newer type charger than will load the batteries up to that capacity.Good Luck!!



Expertise: Intermediate



Problems Encountered: N/A



Previous Equivalent Item Owned: n/a



Items I Recommend: 256MB SD"

"I have always been a canon person and will always remain a canon person. My husband bought me this camera for our wedding so I could use it on our honeymoon. It is my first digital camera. Being an owner of a 35mm canon, I picked it up and instantly knew what all of the modes were. Even if I had not known what all the modes were it would have still been really easy to use and figure out.While I hope to upgrade to another canon one day, this was definetly a great first digital.



Expertise: Avid amature photographer



Problems Encountered: My only problem with this camera is that batteries need to be changed often. My husband used his own digital camera while I used mine on our honeymoon and I went through batteries twice as fast as he did. Thank goodness for rechargeable batteries."

"This was bought as a replacement for my Ricoh G4-Wide whichone of my children had an accident with.After having the feature-packed G4, I found it hard findinga point & shoot digital camera that could compare andreplace my G4.I eventually settled on the Canon A520 and have enjoyedevery minute using it.It has outstanding features, is easy to use and producesexcellent quality photos.Definitely worth every cent spent on buying it.



Expertise: Amateur SLR photographer - 5 years experience.



Previous Equivalent Item Owned: Ricoh G4-Wide, Olympus 2MegaPixel, Mustek,



Items I Recommend: Energiser 2500mAh rechargeable"

"This camera is one of the best I've used. Canon's full set of features is aways a big bonus. I don't think that I will ever buy another brand of camera. Canon has never failed me. Yes, buy energizer 2500 Mah rechargeable batteries, and go have some fun. This camera will not let you down.Happy shooting,



Expertise: Mid Level



Problems Encountered: NONE, and don't expect to.



Previous Equivalent Item Owned: Elan 7e, which I still own.



Items I Recommend: Energizer 2500 MaH rechargeable batteries"

"Bought one of these 2 months ago, it goes everywhere withme, taken maybe 2000 pictures with it - outstanding, great rangeof features. Only downside is it's slow to power up theflash (couple of seconds) - this hasn't presented a problemfor me but if you're after fast action shots in a low-lightenvironment, this probably isn't the camera for you.



Expertise: Semi-Pro



Items I Recommend: 1gb memory card, rechargeable batteries, charger"

"I do not have this camera but it looks AMAZING!!! I love all of its awesome features!!!!! its easy to use, not to expensive, looks really nice and sufisticated, and meets all of my expectations!



Expertise: non



Problems Encountered: i have had no problems



Previous Equivalent Item Owned: non



Items I Recommend: non"