Canon Powershot A520 | Digital Camera Review | Storage and Energy
Following others, this model has also left the old trusty CompactFlash card behind and embraced the compact and nowadays standard, Secure Digital SD memory card. Memory manufacturers, like SanDisk, founder of the present flash memory cards, have invested hugely in speed and storage capacity. As if it was yesterday I remember the introduction of the 64MB memory cards, an almost exotic storage capacity at that time! Nowadays Secure Digital memory cards with a capacity of 2GB are available in the shops around the corner. Besides enlarging the storage capacity, plenty development is going on concerning the speed of storing and reading the data. Nowadays memory cards with a speed up to 20MB per second are available. Such a speedy card is not necessary for the Canon Powershot A520. It's more important to invest in storage capacity. The camera is standard delivered with 16MB of storage capacity, which is a nice gesture of Canon, but completely inadequate in daily use.
Canon Powershot A520 - Secure Digital flash memory card The battery compartment of the A520 is placed underneath the multi-controller. The Secure Digital card can only be inserted in the compartment in one way. If you happen to have a close look at a Secure Digital card, and if you wonder what the little catch is doing on the card; it serves as read security lock. If you push the catch down, no data can be stored on the card and the existing data, like your photos or videos, are secured. Sliding the catch upwards, the security lock is unlocked and stored data can be deleted etc. The memory card is ultra light, weighs less than 2 grams and only measures 1.10 x 0.8 inches. The standard delivered 16MB storage capacity is not very useful. It is advisable to purchase an SD memory card with at least 256MB and preferably 512MB.
Resolution 640x480 pixels, 10 fps, 6 min. 2 sec.
Resolution 320x240 pixels, 15 fps, 11 min. 50 sec.
Resolution 160x120 pixels, 15 fps, 28 min. 58 sec.
Powershot A520 - Energy and Interface The Canon A520 is delivered without (quick) charger or rechargeable batteries. Simple AA format Alkaline batteries will have to do the job. There are no more than two AA batteries in the box and we are rather disappointed having to activate the camera with this presumably poor lot. But, once activated, the feeling of disappointment changes into a positive feeling. The energy consumption of the Canon Powershot A520 digital camera is obviously incredibly well controlled. Of course it would have looked better if Canon had standard delivered a charger and NiMH batteries with the A520. I used standard 2000mAh batteries to experience the use in practise. Considering some fully charged batteries, an environmental temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and the LCD turned on, a shooting time of 2.5 hours is possible with the set of batteries I mentioned. If high capacity NiMH 2300mAH batteries are used; the photographer will enjoy more than 3 hours of photography. Despite of the energy economical character of the camera, it is recommendable to purchase an extra set of high capacity batteries with a good battery charger. In case of an emergency one can always swap over to the standard Alkaline AA batteries. The batteries have to be inserted in the handgrip. The lid does cover it neatly, but you have to beware when changing the batteries. They are not kept in their compartment by a small catch or anything else, so when opening the compartment they can just come rolling out with possible damage as a result. The stored data can be transferred onto a notebook or computer through a relatively slow connection. The USB 1.1. interface. It surely needs replacement; at least a USB 2.0 interface would have looked better on the A520!
