Auto Mode (7.5)
The Canon PowerShot A520 provides a range of modes with varying degrees of control. Users who prefer the hands-off approach can switch the A520 into the full AUTO mode, and enable the camera to automate all elements of exposure and most settings. In AUTO, the camera controls the aperture, shutter speed, ISO, autofocus and white balance. The user can still use the zoom control to frame the picture, turn red-eye reduction on or off, turn on the self timer, and adjust file size and quality.
In terms of performance, the A520 proved itself to be reliable in most aspects. The A520 seemed to have a strong metering sensor and pleasantly engaged the flash setting only when necessary, which is surprisingly uncommon for compact digital cameras. Additionally, when tested in profuse lighting, the camera defaulted to the lowest ISO setting and produced clean images with flush tones.
Movie Mode (4.5)
The movie mode on the A520 is far from a replacement for a camcorder. Then again, no still camera is (yet?). The two general parameters for video are frame resolution (how many pixels) and frame rate (how mane frames per second). At its maximum resolution, 640 x 480, the A520 shoots only 10 frames per second, well short of the approximately 30 frames per second you’re used to seeing on television. Motion looks quite jerky in this mode. At the camera’s lower resolutions, 320 x 240 and 160 x 120, the frame rate is increased slightly to 15 frames per second, though the image quality is very limited. At maximum resolution, the camera will shoot 30 seconds of video, and at the lower resolutions, it will shoot up to three minutes. However, if a substantial amount of video is going to be recorded with this camera, a large memory card is essential.
Although no digital cameras can parallel camcorders yet in terms of video quality, many far exceed the A520’s limited movie mode.
Drive / Burst Mode (7.0)
The A520 offers a burst mode for capturing images in rapid succession. In what Canon calls “Continuous Shooting Mode,” the camera can take up to 1.9 pictures a second for up to eight pictures. That’s not fast enough to study a golf swing, but it’s still handy. To compare, the Sony DSC-W5 offers 1.6 frames a second for nine images, while the Casio Exilim does not offer a burst mode at all, so the A520 is competitive in this function.
Playback Mode (7.5)
The PowerShot A520 plays back images on either its own LCD screen, or, via an A/V cable, on a television. When the camera is switched from shooting to Playback the last image shot appears on the display. The right and left buttons on the four-way controller will scroll through the various recorded frames, which appear in the order they were captured. In playback mode, the zoom toggle will control magnification, and switch to a thumbnail display of nine images at a time. The user can navigate through the small images and select one. Turning the zoom control toward telephoto (more close up) displays the selected image alone. The zoom control can increase the magnification so the user can inspect small areas of the image. When the display is zoomed in, the controller buttons scroll across the image. To move to the next image, the user presses the SET button, and then the controller buttons.
Custom Image Presets (8.0)
The PowerShot A520 offers 13 preset image modes, which set many of the controls on the camera to the appropriate settings for specific types of shots. The 13 presets are: Portrait (blurs the background to make the subject stand out better); Landscape (for distant scenes); Night Scene (for people in front of landscapes at night); Fast Shutter (for stopping action with a short shutter speed); Slow shutter (for accentuating motion with a long shutter speed); Foliage (which brightens color); Snow (which keeps snow from looking too blue, and keeps people in snowy scenes from looking unnaturally dark); Beach (which keeps subjects from looking too dark in bright beach light); Fireworks (for photographing fireworks displays); Underwater (which improves color for underwater photos), although Canon warns that the A520 is not waterproof, and shouldn’t be used underwater unless it is in the WP-DC60 waterproof case; Indoor (which tries to maintain natural color, limit camera shake, and use flash only when necessary); Kids and Pets (which is adapted for fast-moving subjects); and Night Snapshot (which allows taking pictures of people against dark or nighttime backgrounds). The 13 available presets is not quite in line with some other point-and-shoot oriented cameras released this year which approach or exceed 20 preset options; however, those cameras do not offer the range of exposure modes that is available on the A520.
