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The type of photos
Initially I wonted to buy a 6-7 mp digital camera, but I liked it, the pictures are so clear and nice, I had alot of fun with it, it is so easy to operate it, in fact I it recommend for every body. LOVE THIS CAMERA! I tell ya, every time I use this camera I am happy I bought it. I have yet to learn more about it, so in a nutshell a new-comer to the digital camera world can operate this immediately. It has become my new toy. Downloading the pictures on the computer is a snap and they are terrific. The down side...well, I'm here because I'm looking for a new memory card. The card that comes with it doesn't hold much....10-13 pictures if I remember right. Still....this is one of my best buys for myself! Long time Canon user disappointed We bought the A520 to replace our 4-year-old A20 just prior to leaving for a month long vacation to SE Asia. After getting it home I messed around with it (even read the manual, amazing what kind of information you can find there), taking probably 150-200 photos, checking out exposure etc. and it seemed to work and I was impressed with the quality of the pics and the ability to manipulate the exposure. The control of exposure is remarkably similar to my old Elan II 35mm. I have owned Canon equipment since 1978. But from there it was all down hill. The problems started while waiting for the plane at JFK. I pressed the button to turn the camera on and found the lens cover only a quarter open. Turned it on and off and it was fixed, I thought. Once in Bali it continued to hang up every once and while for the next day or two but it was tolerable, and we are on vacation (good), long way from home (good) 't too many camera repair shops there (bad). A couple of days later another problem cropped up, it wouldn't retract the lens when you turned it off. Ok, I could just push it in. A day later, it wouldn't obviously focus so it wouldn't take the picture, very frustrating. After getting back home I found that even photos that looked in focus on the LCD were actually out of focus but just a little. Shortly after that the zoom quit working too. And we still had three weeks left. Groan What to do? We tried finding a repair shop in several towns but to no avail. We soldiered on with it screwing up regularly and with us getting a couple of decent photos here and there. We also looked at shops to buy a replacement. As an aside. Why don't cameras cost less in Southeast Asia? You think they would. The A520 is made in Malaysia, about 3 hours away from where we were. We never found any better deals than what you can find here and usually it the same camera was significantly more expensive???? On the next to last day in Indonesia it completely broke down, with the lens stuck almost all the way back in. We were without a camera for those two days and the three we spent in Hong Kong. And us with no camera to document the 15-hour flight back to JFK. Ugh to the flight and Bummer on the camera. Called Canon (and actually talked to a person, wow) once I got back only to find out I had to pay for the shipping and insurance to their repair shop. Oh well at least its covered by warranty but I am going to rethink my allegiance to Canon. They need to get better with their quality control as I see others have had the exact same problems. Photography is an integral and incredibly important part of our vacations and we are deeply disappointed with Canon. Positives were Good battery life. Message to others, don't even try to use alkaline batteries. You have to use rechargables in cameras. I like it only uses 2 batteries instead of 4 like in the older cameras. Nice size, I don't like the real small cameras as they don't fit my hand but this still fits in a pocket easily. Control of exposure is great lots of choices with all the priorities just like the big boys but I would like exposure compensation instead of 1/3. Flash compensation is nice, another thing I found out after reading the manual. Amazing piece of literature, with a wealth of information. Additonal info. ********* It broke again. This time I literally tossed it in the river. So long Canon. Not too shabby I think this camera takes great, clear pictures, and its really easy to download them on to your computer. It is pretty easy to use, although all of the different settings can be kind of confusing, even after reading the manual a few times. My critiques of this camera are: 1. It eats through AA batteries really fast. Would be a good idea to use rechargeables and always have fresh batteries on hand. 2. The memory card it comes with does not hold many pictures. Plan on buying a bigger memory card. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this purchase. Excellent Camera in this price range I purchased the Canon Powershot A520 4MP Digital Camera for a family member to replace an older, Nikon 2MP unit, which was passed down. The Cannon pictures simply blew away those made from the older, Nikon unit. Of course the additional resolution contributed somewhat to this but the camera handles flash phoitography much better. The camera allows you to set it up a a simple point and shoot unit or you can, if you are so inclined, change many individual settings to address special photography or hobby needs. Great unit. | |
