nice 28mm wide angle lens. great camera with fast responses

Author's Rating:

Pros: Good camera for family and kids shots. 10 shot self timer.

Cons: no autoexposure bracketing. case scratches too easily

The Bottom Line: 
It's a great 2nd pocket camera for professionals, and a good point & shoot for most others.

Author's Review
So now I own 2 Canon digital cameras. After owning digital cameras from Sony(3), Panasonic(3), and Nikon(2), I'd have to say that I am very impressed overall with the SD850 IS as a point and shoot camera.

I usually start reviews with problem areas, and there's really only one major one and two minor ones that I have:

===Case Scratches Too Easily===
This is not a camera to toss into your pocket with a set of keys. Even in normal handling, the gorgeous silver finish has worn off in the corners. This happened after just 2 months of ownership. It should be noted that I never have any sharp objects or keys in the same place with the camera. You will need to invest in a camera case for this one. It scratches just too easily.

===No Autoexposure Bracketing===
Comparably priced Panasonics have this feature. Not a big deal, but would have been nice to have.

and now for the good stuff....


===Fast Flash Cycle Time===
Reasonably fast flash cycling times make this a good camera for indoor shots.

===Short Time To First Flash Shot===
It's a very useful camera for catching kids moments as the flash fires up very quickly. We find ourselves reaching for this camera first indoors.

===Wide Angle 28mm Lens===
This is my first camera with a 28mm wide angle lens and I'd have to say that I am a convert now to wide angle. Now that I have it, I realize how many pictures I can take with it that wouldn't have been possible with a normal 36mm or 38mm "wide" angle found on most cameras. I took a quick look back at the history of my 10,000+ pictures and realized that 95% of them were taken at the widest angle setting and only about 5% were taken at 3x or greater zoom. 28mm wide is the way to go.

===Bright Sharp 3" Display ===
This is probably the nicest display I have seen on a camera yet. You can have several people gather round it.

===One Button Video Recording===
You can program one of the buttons on the back of the camera so that video recording starts immediately in any mode.

==Other Great Features==
-The 10 shot self timer is just a fabulous Canon feature that the put in many of their cameras. It is a bonanza for capturing at least one good picture in a family self timer situations
-Pictures outdoors and indoors have nice rich color depth
-Movie quality is very good
-Very good and intuitive menu system that doesn't force the user to open the manual every few minutes