Other scene-mode highlights include Canon's Color Accent and Color Swap modes, which let you bring out a single color in an otherwise black-and-white photo or swap instances of colors in a photo, respectively. You can see examples of those modes in action to the left; in Color Accent mode, red is the only color visible, and in Color Swap mode, I switched all the red objects in the frame to yellow.

Like other recent Canon cameras, the CMOS-sensored PowerShot Elph 520 HS also has a high-speed still-shooting mode (about 7 shots per second at a reduced 2.5-megapixel resolution) and a superslow-motion movie mode that records 320-by-240 footage at 240 frames per second or 640-by-480 footage at 120 fps.

The PowerShot Elph 520 HS also performs well in macro mode, with the ability to capture a clear close-up shot when you position the lens less than an inch away from the subject. All in all, despite the lack of manual exposure controls, the in-camera settings cover a wide array of photo options.

There is only one word to describe the PowerShot Elph 520 HS's physical build, and that word is boxy. It's a solid deck of cards, with sharp corners and few protrusions aside from the shutter button/zoom control on the top of the camera.