Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HS 10.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 12x Ultra Wide-Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom Lens and Full 1080p HD Video (Black)

For some years, I have had a Canon Digital ELPH S100, with which I have been very pleased.But time marches on, and the 2MP resolution of that fine little point and shoot has long been left behind. As I recall, the camera also offered only three or four times optical zoom, if I'm not mistaken.So when I saw that Canon was offering this ELPH 520 with 10MP and 12X optical zoom -- and Amazon was selling it for less than half the price I paid for the S100 back when -- I couldn't resist.Incredibly, this new model is even more compact -- both thinner and lighter -- than the S100. As other reviewers have stated, I don't know how Canon gets a 12X zoom into this little body, but they did. Needless to say, this gives you much more flexibility framing shots from one vantage point.I didn't know if I would miss the optical viewfinder of the old model, but the 520 has a large (3-inch), bright LCD screen, and I just went out and shot some beautifully composed pictures of nearby architectural landmarks here in the Gramercy Park area of Manhattan. As someone wearing both glasses and a brimmed hat on a cold day, I appreciated being able to compose pictures despite those encumbrances.I have barely begun to delve into the wealth of features this mighty mite of a camera offers, including HD video capture with stereo microphones, plus a long array of shooting modes to handle particular situations and subjects, including fireworks, portraits, low light, under water, snowy backgrounds, and more.The camera also offers some artistic special effects like vivid color, posterized shots, fish-eye lens, monochrome, plus the color accent so popular in advertising photography (one object in color -- the rest of the photo in monochrome).Best of all, you can set the camera to AUTO mode, and it will determine the best settings for any situation automatically.The camera comes with a USB cable to download photos to your computer, a proprietary battery and charger, wrist strap, plus photo software. You will need to buy a MicroSD memory card; I thought I had one or more in the house, but found this card is smaller than the ones I had bought a few years back.I must also state that the red color of the camera body is MUCH more attractive than it appears in the photo on this page. It is a beautiful red wine color, with an iridescent glow. If you like gadgets in red, you will NOT be sorry buying the camera in this color, I assure you!I will report back if I encounter any drawbacks or problems. (I saw one reviewer complaining about slow read/write to the memory card; after reading the camera instructions, I believe he needed to conduct a "low-level" formatting of his memory card, which is supposed to solve such a problem.)Until then, I am thrilled with this little gem and can't believe what a superb and convenient camera you can buy for the money...UPDATE: it was a beautiful, sunny, early spring day today, and I took a walking tour of lower Manhattan, bringing along this little Canon. THIS MIGHTY MITE TAKES THE MOST INCREDIBLE PHOTOS!!! EVERY single shot was perfectly exposed and in focus.In addition, I think there's something in this camera that even improves the photo composition. The image stabilization works perfectly too, which is handy when you're zooming in on the top of a sixty-story building.Decades ago, I used a fine (and expensive) Nikkormat 35mm camera, and out of 100 photos there were sure to be a few clunkers. I took 103 photos today, and every one was a winner!Trust me, folks, you will NOT be disappointed with this camera. I only wonder why anyone would need anything larger or heavier to take great pictures; I don't think you do anymore.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

At the time I ordered this camera, a black one, there were some 300 reviews posted. I read them all. Some people had valid gripes I suppose but after trying three other small 5x zoom cameras, 2 Samsungs and a Fuji for about 1/2 the price of the Canon I decided to try the Canon Elph 520 despite some negative comments. I was also intrigued with the 12x optical zoom in such a small package. I have two other cameras that I use but wanted a more portable / pocketable camera but didn't want to loose out on the higher zoom that I need once in a while for bird pictures. I have shot some 160 pictures, including a few videos and have transferred via cable to my laptop many of the recordings. I have also used the mini SD card in a card reader to transfer photos to my ipad and my laptop. It all works well. the SD card is a bit small but isn't really all that hard to handle but you do need to be careful where you are when you are handling that dime sized card.The picture quality has been terrific with great colors and sharp clear images. I have not experienced any of the softness or graininess some people have reported. I have the P mode set for ISO 200 and the Auto mode for auto ISO. If there is any question of grainy photos I use the P mode and a tripod. But so far I am just super pleased with this camera's performance and it is becoming my #1 goto camera.I wouldn't call this a drawback but there is no manual control for aperture, shutter speed or focus so the really creative types won't be pleased by that but they can buy some other camera instead of griping about this one. I'm not much of a fan for the included Canon software either.I have taken good photos by the light of our street light and got a good moon shot with it too. It's a small camera with a 1/ 2/3 sensor that works above it's pay grade because of the Digic 4+ help.The battery charger I received is just a little box with a flippy plug on the back side. It plugs in easily and stows away cleanly. The charger has a separate light indicating the charge is complete. I like that feature. One of the cameras I tried left me guessing about when the battery was done charging.One of my other cameras is an old Canon SX 120 IS I've used for a long time and the new Elph 520 takes a very similar picture (maybe a bit better). I like this camera.

I bought this based on the reviews, and am satisfied, but not jumping out of my chair with excitement about it.I've been using it for about a month, mostly in settings that are easy for just about any camera to handle: outdoors in daylight. I've mostly used the "auto" setting, but have also played around in "Program" and with some of the cooler features like the movie clips (each time you take a photo, it takes a tiny video and stitches a day's worth together). What I've found:***THE GOOD-Nice macros. For a little point-and-shoot, it handles macro detail well.-Compact. Really small and easy to carry around in my pocketbook.-Most photos come out reasonably in focus, with good lighting.-You can zoom like crazy. My results have been mixed; some of the ultra-zoomed photos have come out well, others are out of focus.-Cool features. I haven't played with all of them yet, but there's a nice range of effects and features to try out here.***THE BAD-Too much noise overall. That's the only significant disappointment I have. Zoomed in or not, ideal lighting or not, there's just too much noise in the photos. (Noise = graininess, or spots of discoloration throughout the photo, seen when you look at the photo on your computer monitor afterward. It's most obvious when you blow up a photo on your computer screen and zoom in.) I did switch from "fine" to "super fine" and that helped, but not tremendously.-Buttons are not entirely intuitive. I have to keep stopping and thinking to remember how to delete a photo, for instance.-Doesn't handle moving subjects reliably. It's not *bad* at this, but not particularly good at it, either. My daughter is a constantly moving subject, so she frequently appears as a blur in photos.-Battery needs recharging every day that I actively shoot photos.All things considered, I'm still okay with this camera, but am left wondering if there's another at the same price range that takes sharper photos.

I had been using a Canon Powershot 1200 IS for a long, long time, and while the picture quality was normally pretty good, it had a limited number of sizes/resolutions it could photograph in. I am a light-use camera user (mostly use the camera for vacation pictures and cute pet moments). I wanted a Canon camera that was inexpensive, quick to turn on, could photograph in more resolutions (especially 1:1), and would have a general increase in picture quality over the IS 1200.I've been using this camera for a few months now. General impressions:--Really pleased with the picture quality improvement over the 1200 IS. It does much better in low light, and in general, the colors appear richer.--It is super small, about the size of a deck of cards. The case I was using for the 1200 IS is a little loose on the ELPH 520.--The camera menu navigation buttons on the back of the camera differ from the vast majority of other Canon cameras, and I HATED it at first. There's no external "delete picture" button and I couldn't easily find a delete option in the menus; I actually had to get out the manual and look for instructions in order to find it. This camera takes 4-5 clicks to delete a picture instead of 3 because is does not have an external delete button.--Battery life isn't as good as the 1200 IS. I only use mine in short bursts, but I still noticed that the camera needed recharging sooner than my IS would've at similar rates of use.--Uses a microSD card for storage. I fortunately already owned a USB microSD card reader, but for others, it's not as widely used as SD cards.I am mostly satisfied with this camera. I think that it is a good camera for the money, and I definitely prefer its photo quality to the 1200 IS. But I'm not 100% convinced I got the best possible camera for this price range (especially because of the irritating design issues with the buttons/menus).[UPDATE 8/9/2014] Took this camera and my old IS 1200 on vacation. (The battery life on this camera is so bad that I didn't trust it to last the whole 5-day vacation.) However, the picture quality when at max zoom level is SUBSTANTIALLY better on this camera than it is on the IS 1200.

I am unhappy even awarding one star to this review. This is the third Canon Power Shot camera we have purchased. It is also the third camera that has a defective lens(doesn't open completely) which ruins pictures. when I spoke to someone at Canon "Customer Service" they suggested since it was only a couple of months out of warranty, maybe Canon would cover it out of "goodwill" or under some "customer loyalty" option. So, per their suggestion, I sent it off to Canon Customer Repair, only to get an estimate of $205 to repair it. I paid $125 for it originally. I inquired as to their sanity, asked again about the "loyalty", or "goodwill" programs. I was told those don't exist and that they only offer a 2 month grace period, which I had missed by 2 weeks. Great! Well, they did check and offer me a 20% discount, which I kindly declined. I hope they don't send it back postage due. What a crock! I will NEVER buy another Canon product-PERIOD. very unhappy with how I was treated and the performance of these cameras. DO NOT BUY THIS MODEL!! Pay teh extra money for something better.

First and foremost I can tell you that I have been doing nothing but gushing over this camera since my husband and I bought it. For the price it is a perfect little point and shoot. And it literally is that. It took fantastic pictures right out of the box (well technically not, but I'll touch on that a little later). We didn't need to play with the settings or fuss with it in low light. The flash worked great and the face detection system is spot on. And I can't say enough about the optical zoom. There is not too many, if any, cameras out there at this price point with a 12x optical zoom. And it works great. You can zoom all the way to 12 and your shots still are sharp and crisp. Of coarse the digital zoom goes to 48x but you lose resolution the further you go. Now to touch on the out of box functionality. The one draw back with these cameras is no memory. And that is the case here. A couple shots is all you get unless you have a micro-sd ready to pop in. But those are quite inexpensive now and I popped an 8gb in and you can take over 3000 shots at full resolution. In closing, we loved this camera. We loved it so much we bought a second one so we can each have one. I got the cool blue colour though, red is his thing haha. But as DSLR users we totally appreciate the functionality of this little compact camera and fully endorse it. Happy shooting!

I bought the camera to replace a 10 year old Canon S1 IS and I was a little disappointed with some of the features. The one feature I really appreciate is the Low Light Focus of the camera in full zoom. My S1 was pretty useless at full zoom unless it was bright sunlight, but the ELPH 520ES is excellent.The cons are that it isn't as sharp as I expected. I have it set to the highest resolution but the photos are not top notch whenshown full screen on my monitor and they are a little weak on my printer.The camera is VERY small and LIGHT and I am having a major problem shooting Video. I guess I'm just too shakey, but all of my Videos are almost at the point of being annoying to watch with the movement of the camera. I am an old man though, almost 80, and that just may be my problem. I believe that a view finder would probably solve most of my problems but alas, there is none. I have to look at the screen and if I try to zoom in while shooting, it is laughable. I guess I just need to use a tripod while shooting video, but that would only solve the problem half the time. When I move, it really gets bad.Overall, I am satisfied with the camera, but I still use my S1 for Video when I am walking because it has a viewfinder.

I received the 520HS on Saturday. I am coming from the Canon SD1000, so I loved the fact that the 520HS is the same size, but 3/4 of an ounce lighter. You can read about the features on Canon's website. I really want to comment on the face recognition feature. I took some photos on my computer to set up the face recognition. Today, I took pictures of my daughter's three month old twin girls. I was amazed that the camera recognized their faces. The camera did not use flash even though we were indoors. I must say the pictures are truly amazing. They look like a professional photographer took them. I have read some negative reviews that claim the camera gives poor low light pictures. Some reviewers did not even have a micro SD card in the camera. Well, that is not the case. The DIGIC 5 processor is exceptional for indoor shooting without a flash. The reviewers complained that they already had SD cards and did not like the fact that they would have to get a Micro SD card. I got an 8GB, Class 10, micro SD with the Amazon name for $11.99. I can't comment on the battery life yet because I have not had to recharge it. I didn't get the 530HS because I had heard negative feedback about the touch screen. The only thing other than the touch screen that is different is that the 530HS has wi-fi. The 520HS cost at least $50 less. I am leaving on a cruise and will report back when I return.

I had initially wanted a DSLR and actually bought a Canaon T3 with an extra lens and battery and case, and it was just too complicated for an amateur like me. I researched and ended up getting this Canon Power|Shot ELPH 520 on sale and love it. It was a good decision.I have been taking shots and using different settings (pre-set!) and am so happy with the quality. It has a focus zone so you can tell immediately if your subject is in focus. I've used it for flower gardens, family visits, soccer games, lake vistas, and bees pollinating....I can see myself using this camera until it falls apart.The only thing that I'm not too happy with is the3 battery life, however, I have to keep in mind that I preview my shots a lot, so perhaps when I stop doing that it will last longer.

this arrived and it wasn't until we had it all unpacked that we discovered that there is NO MEMORY CARD SUPPLIED, not even a tester to get you started. The memory card that it requires is a microSD card so none of the cards we had in other cameras would fit it. Now having to go to Argos to get a card to see if the camera works.The adapter that was supplied to plug the charger into the wall looks as if it was bought from a market stall, never seen anything so cheap and flimsy on any electrical product, doubt that it complies with HSE requirements in the UK.

I bought this after Christmas 2013, I believe, and it's the worst point-and-shoot camera I've ever owned. Even my older Elph, with its 5x zoom, is better than this, and of all my point and shoots, my old Canon PowerShot S3 IS remains the best. Overall image quality on this newer Elph is poor no matter what my setting (whether one of the scene modes, on auto, or in program mode with my own settings), particularly when taking snapshots of my pets, be they outdoor or indoor shots. (It does pretty well on floral macros, though.)I strongly recommend investing in a better camera, whether that be Canon or another brand. Don't waste your money on this Elph.

it is very good for family use, don't give high quality picture for printing purpose on big poster etc. I did not realize that. other than that it does job very well and also battery very good

Great camera,+ Really easy to use+ Good picture quality+ No touch screen which I like.- Not perfect as the battery life is slightly shorter than I would like, although it lasts a fair few days.