PowerShot SD850 IS 8.0 Megapixel Digital Camera

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PowerShot SD850 IS 8.0 Megapixel Digital Camera

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PowerShot SD850 IS 8.0 Megapixel Digital Camera

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were very intersting but hardly surprising. With the exception of a somewhat noticeable difference in the telephoto and zoom ranges, at a 4x6 size, there is essentially no discernable difference in the pictures generated by the Canon SD 850IS and the Canon SD 800IS. There was no difference indoors, outdoors, or anywhere else. This is not surprising, because the cameras are very very similar, use the same processor, and only differ in the lenses.

The Panasonic was another story. It regularly failed to perform, had zoom hunting, poor focus, fringing, etc. on the indoor shots. Outside, with plenty of light, it performed very well and produced excellent photos, but because I don't shoot exclusively outside, that was a deal killer for me. You basically cannot shoot anything moving indoors with the Panasonic camera. Based on the reviews, I understood that the Panasonic had limitations, but did not realize how much the processor hobbled the camera's indoor performance.

Here's the review for the SD 850 IS:

PROS:

FAST: Very fast. Not quite as fast as the SD 800 IS, but faster than almost any other point and shoot digital camera you will find. Considerably faster than the Panasonic.

PROCESSOR: Excellent super sharp photos in a wide variety of conditions.

LENS: This is a very nice range lens with excellent edge to edge sharpness that performs very well in a variety of conditions.

SIZE: very small, fits anywhere. Marginally smaller than the SD 800 IS, which itself is a small camera. The SD 800 IS and the SD 850 IS take different batteries because the SD 850 IS is marginally smaller. Extremely pocketable.

VIEWFINDER OPTIONS: Optical viewfinder, the screen is so good that you don't use this that often, but it is nice to know it is there for those really really sunny days (and they come up every so often).

BATTERY: Battery life is exceptional. Camera seems to go on for months with one battery (I think it is rated for 400+ shots, which is an astounding battery life for such a small camera).

CONTROLS: I would say of the three cameras, this one had the best layout of controls. The half hidden wheel on the back is an excellent design touch and the on/off button, while not where you would expect it to be, prevents accidental on/off switching. A very well laid out camera from the ergonomic standpoint. Also, the four way control pad has an external touch sensitive ring which is pretty cool (when it works well) but Canon maintains its highly regarded and often imitated control layout on this little gem.

NEUTRAL:

APPEARANCE: The looks of the camera. I prefer black cameras as I used to own a film SLR and black cameras remind me of that beloved camera. However, my wife seems to like the looks of this camera.

CONS:

LIMITED ZOOM: Would like a drop more zoom range, perhaps a 5x - 6x would be preferable. The replacement model for this (890) has a 5x zoom, but from initial reviews, the 890's performance is not quite as good as that of this camera.

FLASH: Flash is a little weak, but this is par for the course on a point and shoot.

OPTICAL VIEWFINDER: Optical viewfinder is really small, is off center and not useful for every time composure on this camera, the camera is made to be used with the LCD on.

Can't go wrong with either this or the SD 800IS, as they are essentially the same camera with different lenses, it just depends on whether you want a wide angle lens or not.

Good luck with your shopping.