The Polaroid a520m Digital Camera

Designed for the first-time user, the Polaroid a520m Digital Camera has some easy-to-use features. Here are a few examples of what you can do with the Polaroid a520m camera:

* Enjoy point & shoot operation. The resolution is adjustable for print or email.
* Store video clips and pictures to an SD card or the internal memory.
* Shoot pictures or video clips, and play them back on the LCD screen or on a computer.
* Send your friends and family your pictures and video clips over the Internet.
* The camera has PictBridge capability.

The camera offers a splashy break from the sea of traditional black and silver cameras, being offered in a cute theme of colors: pink, light pink, and magenta—sure to appeal to young girls—in support of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.


The list of technical specifications and additional features are as follows:

* PC and Mac compatible
* 4x digital zoom
* Standard 16 mega byte integrated flash memory
* Supports MultiMedia Card and SD Card for extra memory
* 5.1 mega pixel resolution
* Built-in flash
* 2.0” bright color TFT active-matrix LCD which offers a preview of images before shooting
* Video recording in AVI format
* Built-in microphone
* Built-in tripod stand (tripod sold separately)
* Still image compression in JPEG, EXIF 2.2 and AVI format
* Settings include flash off, auto, red-eye reduction, and fill-in flash
* Automatic white balance
* Automatic exposure
* Features an electronic 10-second delay for taking pictures of yourself
* Optical sensor type: CCD
* Image sensor type: CMOS
* Minimum focus range: 38.4”
* Image resolutions: 640 x 480, 2592 x 1944, and 2048 x 1536
* Video resolution: 320 x 240 (QVGA)
* Aperture range: f2.8/f8 (w/t)
* Shutter speed: 1/8 – 1/2000 of a second
* Unit dimensions, metric: 60mm high, 94mm wide, and 21mm deep
* Unit dimensions, English: 2.4” high, 3.7” wide, and .8” deep
* Retail package dimensions, metric: 222mm high, 267mm wide, and 69mm deep
* Retail package dimensions, English: 8.74” high, 10.5” wide, and 2.7” deep
* Unit weight, metric: .13 kg
* Unit weight, English: 4.5 oz
* Retail package weight, metric: .49 kg
* Retail package weight, English: 1.1 lb
* Comes with a wrist strap, skin, USB cable, 4 “AAA” batteries, and a software CD which includes drivers and utilities.

People who have purchased this camera describe it as a good camera for first-time users especially young teen-agers: it’s cute, it’s light, it easily fits into a pocket, it’s easy to use, and it seems to be priced with this young demographic in mind, coming in at around $65.00 US.

Many users complain about the photo quality, stating that even in moderately well-lit indoor settings photos are too dark without the flash, but that photos come out too bright with the flash or outside on a bright day—sometimes to the point of washing out people’s faces. However, this problem seems to be more pronounced when the subjects photographed are close to the camera—subjects further away photograph better.

Some users also complain that the LCD display is too dark when used indoors as well. In addition, the LCD goes black for a few seconds after a photo, which some users find frustrating. On a bright note, the LCD is considered large enough to be eye-friendly.

The lack of a view finder is aggravating to users who are used to having this functionality in their digital cameras. Users sometimes find background objects to be out of focus. However, users do find it easy to upload photos from the camera to the computer.

Bottom line: it’s a good camera for younger first-time users who will be more excited about owning a pink camera than being discerning about the quality of pictures they take.