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lens problem and screen
I paid $279 brand new and after 6 months my lens stop working, i send the camera to cannon for rapairs. After a year the screen just goes black and it happens almost all the time. I will not recommend****************** Anonomous & Clueless! THIS IS WRITTEN FOR CLUELESS PHOTOG DUMMIES LIKE ME- IF YOU ARE NOT CLUELESS, SKIP THIS REVIEW! Got this camera last year, knowing only a few of the most basic features to look for, & having satisfied those criteria, chose based upon availability, price, comfort/convenience (lightweight, has a wrist strap, & felt good to handle for use in taking pictures of my child. I had no idea it was such a highly rated/high tech/quality camera! The bottom line is, this is an absolutely FABULOUS, easy to use, dummy can-do camera! BTW, the features I knew to look for were: 1) Decent MP resolution (ie 3 or above, which just isn't an issue anymore- any/all 'real' cameras have at least 3 MP resolution, this one has 4. In laymen's terms this means how many tiny grains per area, or how 'sharp' the photo quality will be- allowing for larger pictures overall to be nice & sharp, vs. photographed subjects/objects 'dulled' at the edges). 2) OPTICAL zoom resolution, at least 3 or 4X. This Canan PowerShot A520 has $X OPTICAL zoom. Again, in laymen's terms, this means an actual zoom lens that you can adust from where your'e standing in relation to the subject of the picture your'e taking. So you can zoom right in on that mean eating lion, & make it look like your'e in the cage with him at the zoo. Alternatively, you can zoom out, and take a more panoramic (larger range) photo. Digital zoom resolution, on the other hand, simply means that the camera's software zooms in- it's really practically a meaningless term- of course a digital camera has digital zoom! You really want to make sure you have OPTICAL zoom. Decent cameras have both. Cheap/undesireable camera's have ONLY digital zoom. 3) Battery type- some accept only hard to find/expensive to replace batteries (Sony is guilty & known for this- apparently thinking the Sony name can carry them to additional profits by requiring only Sony-specific batteries, counting on clueless people like me who just unquestioningly have trusted the Sony name over the years... No more!) This Canon PowerShot accepts readily available non-name rechargeables, and/or drugstore AA's. Battery power is decently long lasting, DEFINITELY bring along spare/back-ups for any important event, or for a trip. (Or just bring your second set of rechargeables, camera takes 2, 4 fit in a standard re-charger). I'm realizing that after a year, my rechargeables have about outlived their re-chargeable capacity, & I just need to purchase a replacement: ~10-$20. NBD for a year's worth of picture taking! 3) Ease of software installation & use: Self explanatory. Couldn't be simpler! Easy to initially load camera software & plug in using USB port (you need to make sure your'e using a decent/recent PC- if it's more than a few years old (this means 2 or 3 years at most!), your Desktop is outdated, and you'll likely have compatibility problems- this means you'll spend hours becoming increasingly frustrated because your'e too cheap to buy a decent, entry level PC, & your camera will not work with your computer. Provided your PC & your camera are compatible (if unsure, call Canon before buying, or before opening packaging, to ask!), it's SO easy to install software/configure camera, take & upload pictures, learn to modify them in all sorts of ways to improve them, etc., easy to attach them as e-mail attachments &/or send photo's independantly, etc. This is really a 4 year college degree in itself. But you can easily learn & use the basics, such as red-eye elimination, cropping photo's, etc. If you do run into software/useability problems, just call Canon right away for technical assist. (Make sure you call RIGHT away- after the return period has elapsed, & later the warranty period, they're less & less desireous of helping you). This has a zillion photo settings, including a highlighted 'Auto' selection- Hello! Works great! 4) Lightweight, small (fits in purse), wrist strap, easy to carry with you without severely weighing you down. Feels 'right' in the hand to snap photo's. 5) GREAT sized screen on back for both original picture taking- can use either actual eye-view hole, OR the digital screen, to see what your'e photographing. ALSO needless to say, this screen is FABULOUS for playback/review. You can set it a gazillion different speeds, as well as other options- I just left it at the factory setting, works great! 6) THIS AMAZING LITTLE CAMERA EVEN HAS BRIEF 'MOVIE MODE'! You can take up to 3 minutes of sound enhanced movies-my daughter LUVS this feature! (It's a power hog though, to use this function). Works great! Camera itself has limited memory capacity, and a card slot for insertion of a 512 MB (or up to 1G? Unknown?) for dramatically increased memory capacity- translation- you can take & store a lot of pic's, using a memory card (VERY readily available & inexpensive), before the card is full, & then you have to stop, upload those stored pics on your PC, clear ('reformat') the memory card, & start anew. EASILY delete, organize, file, & store photo's on your PC w/ the software provided. 7) Lastly, even the complete dummy (me) can turn out (PRINT on professional, glossy, photograph/cardstock weight paper) directly from your printer attached to your PC. No need to have a matching 'Canon' printer, although they're good too- I have just an inexpensive HP printer/copier/scanner (digital, not laser), it produces incredible quality, color saturated, high resolution photo's! (Tip- while your'e learning, set the printer setting to 'fast draft'- this will use dramatically less ink & produce a much less color saturated picture, while your'e getting the hang of it. Once your'e ready, change the printer setting to a higher level, & you'll get a more colorful, professional looking photo.) I've found that of the 3 printer settings, using the highest level just plain pours out the ink, wastes ink, saturates paper, smears before drying, etc. So I just use the middle setting. I'm tired now, this camera is FABULOUS beyond my expectations! I recommend without hesitation! Sticking lens cover (2x) and shoddy Customer Service We bought this camera in Oct '05, right before we moved to HI from VA - we wanted to be able e-mail all of our friends photos of all the cool tropical things we were going to encounter. Well, the camera worked great for about 6 months. Overall, I was happy with the pics. We had put off a digital camera because I really liked the depth and feel of print film. Now, for the bad things. Slow between shots and seems to be getting slower. The camera goes through batteries in no time - if we're on a trip I plan replacing them at least twice! Occassionally we get a message that says, "no memory card" - if we power down, remove and reinsert the card it normally corrects the problem. The problem, however, that has me really wishing I could give less than one star is that after less than 2 years the lens cover has had the same problem of sticking. We sent in to be repaired Aug '06, while it was under warranty - no big deal, except that we're in Hawaii, so it the shipping took awhile. Two weeks ago it started acting up again and now it won't open fully at all! I called Canon, was told they would e-mail a shipping label and repair request form. I was transferred to the factory repair people and told that I would have to pay to have it repaired because it is no longer under warranty. When I brought up that the camera had this same problem less than a year ago, I was told it didn't matter - repairs are only covered for three months, regardless of the fact that this seems to be a recurring problem that they "canon" seem unable to fix properly. At this point I was not to kind to the rep - didn't use profanity, but did use what my kids refer to as my "grouchy mom" voice. The rep started to yell at me and tell me to calm down and listen to him - all he did was repeat the script that was provided him. I asked for his supervisor, which at first he refused - then he put me on hold for 20 min. I hung up and got on-line and plan on posting this review on every site that rates this camera. If you have this camera do not expect canon to be helpful. The lens cover sticking seems to be a common problem that they know about, but instead of doing the stand up thing and recalling it, they are putting to their customers! Sticking lens cover. It is nice to have a digital camera after using the Cannon AE-1 for 20 years. However, since I bought it the lense shield always sticks partway closed. I have to flick it with my finger until it is open all the way. This is a real pain especially when I want to get a quick picture. Also night pictures have large spots all over, not noticed when taking normal pictures. Broke as soon as the warrenty was up This camera was a good camera for the first year. I did not use it very much. The first time I tried to use it after the warrenty was up the camera broke. The lense became off track. The cost to fix it $90 plus shipping and handeling. | |
