Canon PowerShot A85

Opinion: Only got to use a friends once the other day, and got me to really look at it. It was light, easy to use and compact. I have seen her pictures and they are great, nice price ,too.

Opinion: easy to use camera
many features
just handy camera with great pictures...

Opinion: I bought this camera after a lot of investigation on the internet, and visiting stores. Initially I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of features this camera has but after taking time to read the manual (don’t we all do this with our new toys?) I discovered how easy and effective the camera is. I also added a 256MB CF memory card

Construction
Is almost excellent - and the reason is that I really don’t like the rubber dust covers (for USB and DC connectivity) located on the LH side and rear of the camera, I imagine after some use these will start to come loose and be annoying. Other than that everything else is excellent. The Camera is also very comfortable and well balanced

Features
All the features I could want for a camera, and more, I will use mainly for family and holiday memories. Also the canon has the ability to add an additional telephoto or wide-angle lens, and while not as awesome as an SLR - is a 3rd of the price. The panoramic 13 frames feature is also very cool.

Image quality
Again I had to give this an excellent score, initially I was a little sceptical after I took some good photos in the shop, they just didn’t seem as good when I started taking photos at home, but soon figured out that the problem was my lack of creativity, the correct light, flash use/no use situations etc. Once I started thinking about my shots they are really great! Quality is as good as my friends 6mp Digital SLR.

Ease of use
Out of the box - this camera is reasonably ready to go, but I would suggest that you have a play around and customise some of the menus to suit what you want to do with this camera.

Value for Money
I couldn’t find anything as good as the cannon in the same price range.

Also - would like to mention batteries - I already have 4 1800mah NIMIH batteries, and use them in this camera - I cannot believe how long they last - I took at least 170 photos before I got a low power warning.

Yes LION batteries are lighter, but you can pick up AA batteries from most shops if yours go flat.

Opinion: Buy it! You'll be glad you did...
Have used the A85 for several weeks now, and it has not disappointed me. Crisp, sharp pictures and decent movie quality. Looked at the A95, but for $100 less I'll happily do without the flip screen and the extra megapixel. Have gotten great results in sunlight and indoors, and the rapid-shoot mode is great for sports. Macro shots are fabulous! Averaged 50+ shots (128 Meg card) with flash and then download to computer for each set of alkaline batteries.