An absolute winner!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Face detection, image stabilization, good videos and photos with tweaking, great screen and battery life.

Cons: Limited control, poor high ISO performance, soft optics, size, weak flash, poor flash positioning.

The Bottom Line: 
I looked at a lot of cameras and this was by far the best.

Author's Review
The previous reviewer pretty much touched on all of the bases so all I can do here is confirm what he said and add some personal opinions. I have a Canon 1Ds Mark II with lots of L glass so I will not even begin to compare the quality of images taken with a P&S with what I am used to getting from a pro top of the line DSLR. I bought the SD870IS because it had IS, the Digic III processor and the face detection feature. With 3 kids, I carry a P&S with me at all times. It's not practical to carry the 1Ds so I figure a picture from a P&S is better than no picture at all. It performs as expected with a few surprises.

1. Face detection can be a blessing and a curse. It works great when you have a face in the photo but it's a royal pain in the you know what to turn it off for regular shots. I use single point AF with focus lock quite a bit.

2. Higher ISO shots are useless as stated above which also means that full auto mode is not a good choice for most situations. I prefer to shoot in Manual mode (not really full manual because the does not allow manual shutter/aperture selections) so I can lock ISO at 100 or 200. This is really your best bet for sharp usable photos.

Since the camera allows manual ISO selection, you use what you can get. I find that I adjust ISO to fit my needs and it has worked out for me. Once again, a mediocre photo is better than no photo.

3. Video mode is surprisingly good.

4. Photos are quite soft so a touch of sharpening during post processing is a good idea. Not bad considering it is a P&S.

5. It's a little big for a compact P&S. I used to use a Sony DSC-T9 which is a super compact fixed lens (internal zoom) P&S so this is a beast in comparison. No problem though, instead of slipping it in my pocket, I found a really nice Olympus holster that sits horizontally on a belt so I wear it externally.

6. The screen is absolutely beautiful and probably one of the best I have seen on a P&S.

7. Battery life is excellent and SD cards are so much better than Sony memory sticks.

8. Nice barking dog sound to make the kids smile when taking a picture.

9. The flash is on the wrong side of the camera IMO. I always cover the flash with my finger because it's on the same side as the shutter release button. To avoid it, I look like I spirit fingers when I take a shot because I have to splay my fingers out.

10. The menu shows a date stamping option but it's grayed out so you can't change the setting. Not that I would use it anyways since the date stamp is on the file but I'm sure my wife would use the feature. She likes to see the date on the lower corner of the family photos.

Overall it's a great camera that produces some great shots. There are some drawbacks, you will not get great shots out of the box in program mode but you will get some excellent shots with a little bit of tweaking and knowledge. I highly recommend it!