Pro Control, Budget Pricing, and 4x Optical Zoom. I'm sold!

Two months ago, my wife and I lamented at how our Toshiba PDR-3300 (3.2 megapixels, 2.8x optical zoom) broke down right when our newborn son had come home. As with our first son, we wanted to take a slew of pictures of the cute, little guy, but the Toshiba let us down after only two years of use! So, we were despondent. What digital camera could replace the Toshiba, but at a reasonable price?

In order to answer that question, I established some criteria:

1) The camera had to have a higher megapixel capacity than the Toshiba (at 3.2 MP). Admittedly, of all of the attributes by which a digital camera can be analyzed, megapixel capacity is the MOST over-emphasized; after all, who really needs a camera that can shoot photos printable to poster-sized proportions (at 6 MP)? 3.2 was more than adequate with the Toshiba, but 4 MP would allow for crisp 8x10 printing, which could be useful.

2) The camera had to be lightweight. No brainer here!

3) The camera had to use SD (secure digital?) media. The Toshiba used SD cards, so it would be a waste of SD cards if our new camera did not employ them.

4) The camera had to use rechargeable AA batteries, since we had a lot of those.

5) It had to have better optical zoom than the previous camera, which was 2.8x optical zoom.

6) Oh, yes, it had to be inexpensive! Around $200 was considered a good number.

With all of our criteria in consideration, my wife and I narrowed it down to the Canon PowerShot A520, which has done nothing but impress us so far! Lightweight (about half-a-pound, with batteries), good MP numbers (4 megapixels), 4x optical zoom, uses only 2(!) AA batteries (as opposed to 4 in the Toshiba), uses SD media, and was around $212 to boot -- it had it all.

But, how GOOD is the digital camera? As I mentioned before, the PowerShot A520 can generate pictures up to 4 megapixels, which means that pictures of resolutions up to 2272 x 1704 pixels (or 11.7 x 8.3 inches) can be taken. This translates to crisp, sharp images at letter-size printing size -- this is more than enough for most situations. Hint to the average consumer: don't get seduced by megapixels -- more than 4 MP is not THAT necessary.

The PowerShot A520 also features a 4x optical zoom, which translates to greater range than most budget digital cameras, which shoot around the 3x optical zoom. What about the digital zoom? I pay no attention to the digital zoom, since it is simply magnification of an image, but not of the actual subject; too much reliance on digital zoom results in pixelated, grainy pictures. But, if you must know, the PowerShot A520 manages digital zooms of up to 14x, which is not bad.

Besides these numbers, and my aforementioned criteria, the PowerShot A520 has much to offer to the casual user, as well as the aspiring professional photographer. For the casual user, the A520 has no less than seven general photo settings for pictures in certain situations: Landscape, Portrait, Night, Slow Shutter, Fast Shutter, Special Scene, and Stitch Assist, which allows you to take a series of panoramic pictures, and then indicates to the camera that the pictures should be joined together to form an extra-wide angle image. These settings are easily toggled via the dial on the top of the camera and are good for photographers who do not want to think about ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.

However, for photographers who want more manual control, the PowerShot A520 affords those users with all of the manual controls one may want to adjust. Besides ISO, aperture, and shutter speed, manual controls allow the user to select what object to focus on in the picture without having to center the image on that object; to adjust metering; and, to adjust white balance to suit their needs. The manual controls of the A520 almost verge on video control, but one would expect nothing less from the more advanced digital cameras now.

Speaking of video, the A520 also has video capacity. Videos can be shot up to 640x480 resolution, though 320x240 and 160x120 are also possible for video clips that you wish to e-mail to family or friends. Moreover, video is shot with monoaural sound, which sounds impressive when routed through a two-speaker-and-sub-woofer computer sound system; this appealed to my wife and me greatly, since our Toshiba did not have sound. The microphone is omnidirectional, so it will pick up every sound happening during the time of shooting -- it is that powerful. Also, the A520 saves the movie files in AVI format, which is playable by Windows Media, and editable by Windows Movie Maker (which comes with Windows XP), so you would not have to buy any expensive editing software to combine several clips into one video. The A520 does not limit the length of video clips, so you are only limited by the size of your storage media.

What about overall image quality? Based on the numerous indoor shots my wife and I have taken, the A520 has produced bright, sharp images. In low-light, the A520 does have that noticeable level of picture noise inherent to most digital cameras, but the flash does well to compensate for dim situations. I have noticed that the flash does tend to overexpose in AUTO mode, so you may want to adjust settings to suit situations. Color balance has also been true and life-like. Personally, though, color balance is inconsequential if you have a good photo editing program. Canon does bundle image-editing software with the A520, but I use Broderbund Print Shop Photo Pro, and it is more than adequate for cleaning up images.

In any case, with this camera, I have found that by adjusting the settings (even just the basic user settings) to suit the scene, I get images with good exposure, detail, and lighting. Do not get me wrong -- you will not have to be a pro to take pictures; just point and click. BUT, to get superb pictures, you will have to experiment (and bracket your shots) a little.

After having experimented with the A520, I am hard-pressed to have any issue with it, from a budget consumer standpoint. However, there are negative aspects to this digital camera. One is the absence of an active battery level indicator; indeed, the A520 DOES flash a warning if your batteries are low on power, but there is no active indicator that informs you of real-time power levels. Another negative aspect is the lack of internal memory, which seems to be emerging as a standard; some cameras boast 32 MB of internal memory (in addition to user-added media), but this camera does not. A third quibble I have with this camera is that the optical zoom cannot be adjusted WHILE shooting video; if you want to zoom in on the action while in movie mode, you will have to do it the old-fashioned way and walk up to the subject.

Outside of those quibbles, not much is included with the camera. First, no rechargeable AA batteries are included, so you would have to buy those (Ni-MH batteries are highly recommended). However, Canon does include two AA alkaline batteries, which will allow you to use the camera right out of the box. Secondly, the media that Canon includes with the camera is only 16 MB, which would take, say, 8 or 9 shots at maximum resolution; I advise going out and buying an SD card with at least 256 MB of memory for versatile storage capacity. In addition, there is no docking station included with this camera (which would be redundant, unless it could charge AA batteries) and NO camera case (not even a flimsy one!), but there a several key optional items that can be purchased from Canon (e.g., a telephoto lens, additional flash, and PrintShare photo printer for direct camera-to-printer printing).

At around $200, the Canon PowerShot A520 is a bargain that the entry-level consumer would be ill-advised to decline. My wife and I are very happy with this camera, which says a lot because, for budget consumers, we are very discerning. Just remember: buy rechargeable Ni-MH AA batteries, a decent-sized SD card, and a camera case. Once you have those items, you will be set.