Canon PowerShot 520 HS - Hands on - world's slimmest 12x zoom camera

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Posted on 11 Jan 2012 at 03:10, by Seth Barton at CES in Las Vegas

The standout compact camera on Canon’s stand at this year’s CES was the PowerShot ELPH 520 HS – or at least that’s its American designation, it may change when a European announcement is made. What won’t change is the fact that this is the thinnest camera on the market with a 12x optical zoom.

That zoom runs from a wide angle 28mm to a telephoto 336mm, and although no measurements were given for the camera (and we’d forgot our tape measure) we can say that it’s an amazing compact and cuboid device. Even more impressive is how little the zoom extends from the camera, making it very easy to handle even when fully extended.

Moving away from the styling and size there’s little more to say. It uses what we’d imagine is the same 10.1-megapixel sensor we’ve seen on so many of Canon’s impressive and award-winning compacts of late. Plus there’s the usual 1080p video mode and a fixed 3in LCD.

With Canon’s recent run of excellent compacts, we look forward to getting this one in for testing. We suspect we know the results already though, and if the price is right Canon will have itself another winner.