Upside: Like the PowerShot A75, this camera offers a lot of versatility for an affordably priced model, including fully manual exposure, a good selection of automatic settings, and a broad range of adjustable controls. You can add a lens converter to the A85's 3X zoom lens to get a wider or longer view, and Canon also makes a compatible underwater housing for the camera.
Downside: If you're looking for an ultracompact pocket camera, the Canon PowerShot A85 isn't it. You'll need to purchase four rechargeable nickel-metal-hydride cells and a charger to get decent battery life, since only alkalines come with the camera. More-advanced photographers might not be satisfied with the A85's JPEG-only image file option.
Outlook: The PowerShot A75 has been very popular, for both its versatility and its image quality. There's no reason to expect this higher-res version of the camera to fare worse, unless some unexpected image quality or performance problem crops up. However, photographers who like to make large prints and shoot at odd angles should consider Canon's new 5-megapixel PowerShot A95, which adds a flip-out LCD along with the higher resolution.
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Rafael
17/01/2008, 02:55 PM
rating
9/10
I have owned more than one of this series of Canon cameras and I loved them all. They have all failed after years of use, but they share many features which I believe are vital to a compact digital camera.
Pros: 1] Full manual controls
2] AA batteries [easy to find rechargables, easy to find alkalines]
3] CF card [as I upgrade I use my old cards]
4] very intuitive interface
5] did I mention manual controls?
6] superior battery life
Cons: 1] I can't get one to last more than about three years, but that coincides with my upgrade cycle anyway
2] no RAW output
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