Front (6.5)
At the upper right of the A520's front face sits the flash. It is small, and seems to be far too close to the lens. Since it is off-center, it’s likely to throw ugly shadows onto backgrounds. If a camera’s flash is directly above the lens, the shadows cast will fall neatly behind the subjects and out of view.
The lens is mounted in a very large assembly near the center of the front. A removable outer ring around the assembly covers a mount for accessory lenses. At the lower left of the assembly, there is a semicircular button which releases the ring.
There is a very small viewfinder window along the top edge, slightly offset to the left of the lens. It’s a very small window, which probably contributes to the unsatisfactory quality of the viewfinder. To the left of viewfinder, there is a small autofocus illumination light. A cluster of four holes below and to the left of the AiAF lamp covers the microphone. It’s a problematic location, because it's right next to the right hand grip, making it easy for an errant finger to brush against the holes during recording and ruin the sound quality.
A bulge on the far left side forms a hand grip for the user's right hand. There's an end cap on left side of the grip, running vertically up the left side of the frame. It has a darker, glossier finish than the rest of the camera, providing a visual accent. An embossed "Canon" logo runs vertically up the inboard side of the grip in raised, brushed metal letters, while the model name, PowerShot A520, runs vertically up the left side in white paint. In the lower left corner the camera is labeled "4.0 MEGAPIXELS" in a distinguishable dark green typeface.
Back (7.0)
The A520's dominant controls and general interface is concentrated on the back of the camera. The 1.8-inch, 115,000-pixel LCD is on the left, with three control buttons below. From left to right, they are: the Printer/Share button, the MENU button, and the Function/Trash button. The feeble little optical viewfinder sits above the LCD display, flanked on the left by two status lights. The upper one reports the ready status of the camera: steady green means ready to shoot, blinking green means the camera is writing data to memory, steady orange means it's ready to shoot with flash, and blinking orange means the flash is charging, or that camera shake may be a problem at the current exposure. The lower indicator light glows yellow when the camera is in macro mode, and blinks yellow when the camera can't find focus.
A button to activate the image display is placed at the lower right corner of the LCD. Above and to the right is the dish-shaped four-way controller, which allows navigation on the LCD display. A "SET" button is centered in the controller. The top of the controller determines the flash mode, and the bottom activates macro focus. A beefy switch above the controller sets the camera to either shooting or review mode.
The door that covers the memory card slot is placed off center to the right and moves down to the camera's base plate.
Just under the spot where the user's right thumb will fall, Canon designers placed three thin ridges to enhance the grip. The contrasting dark grey plastic end cap follows a curve down the right side of the back. The chromed wrist strap lug juts out of the right rear edge of the camera, about halfway up the side. The lug is admirably sturdy, but can get in the user's way when shooting.
Left Side (7.5)
The sides of the PowerShot A520 are spare when compared to the rest of the camera. On the left side, a long flap of gray resilient plastic covers jacks for, from top to bottom, analog A/V out, USB connection with a computer or printer, and a 3.15-volt DC external power supply. Below the jacks, but also protected by the cover, is a small tray for a lithium button battery. Canon calls it the "Date Battery," and it supplies power to save the date, time and other camera preference settings during the frequent changes of the AA cells that power the camera's operations.
Right Side (7.5)
The right side of the A520 sports the large chrome wrist strap lug. A bit more about that lug - some care was exercised in its design. The shape of its swooping curve that loops outward from the edge is incongruously reminiscent of a duck's head The right side is otherwise punctuated only by two Phillips-head screws, some seams that should mate better, and a (fortunately) removable sticker that touts a few of the camera's features.
Top (7.0)
The top of the PowerShot A520 is dominated by the shutter release and the control dial. The large chrome-toned shutter release is far to the right, on the hand grip. Pressing the shutter release partway activates the autofocus system. I found it easy to activate the autofocus without accidentally taking a picture. The shutter release is surrounded by a control ring that activates the zoom in shooting mode and the image magnification in picture review mode.
The Mode dial is also large, making it easy to read and easy to use. It is flush with the top of the camera, a bit to the right of the centerline, but projects beyond the back a bit, right where the user’s thumb lands. The power switch is smaller than the other buttons of the top, nearly flush, and surrounded by a small collar. The button is just about on the centerline of the camera, toward the front.
The left half of the top is smooth. “PowerShot A520” is printed on the surface, and Canon added another gauche sticker, this one touting the camera’s “13 Shooting Modes.” Really, it’s gotta go.
At the far right, toward the back edge of the camera, a 3 x 3 matrix of small holes forming the camera’s speaker rounds out the feature set on the top of the PowerShot A520.
Bottom (6.0)
Camera designers make the tops and sides engaging and delightful - but they cram all the scars and baggage onto the most obscure surface of the camera, the bottom. The PowerShot A520 carries on this tradition. There are four screw heads awkwardly scattered across the bottom, along with a plastic tripod attachment hole far to the left side. It's generally better to put the tripod mount under a camera's center of gravity, but with a camera this light, it could hardly make a difference. The hole is threaded for a standard 1/4-inch x 20 tripod, and could easily be ruined by over tightening. But PowerShot A520 users probably won't put the camera on a tripod much, which in this case, is a good thing.
The bottom also features six small bumps that the camera rests on if it's set on a flat surface. The bumps protect a small panel of vaguely-comprehensible text, including the camera's serial number, a legal declaration required by regulators in Canada, and a notice that the camera was made in Malaysia. Two of the bumps are on the face of the battery compartment door, which closes with a secure latch. The latch is an important detail - it's much more durable and secure than the snap fittings on many competing cameras.
