Canon PowerShot SD850 IS / IXUS 950 Digital Camera
Written: Oct 26 '07
Product Rating:
Ease of Use:
Durability:
Battery Life:
Photo Quality:
Shutter Lag
Pros: Price, image stabilization, features and performance, 4x zoom, face recognition
Cons: Soft corners and chromatic aberrations at wide angle, no wide angle, red eye
The Bottom Line: I like the Canon SD850 IS overall. It has its issues with soft corners of the frame and chromatic aberrations, but it is a very good camera overall...
dkozin's Full Review: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS / IXUS 950 IS Digital Cam...
Once the Canon SD850 IS appeared on the market, I developed a desire to get it. I have always liked Canon Digital Elph cameras. I liked the 5-Megapixel SD450 and the 7.1-Megapixel SD550. I really liked the 6-Megapixel Canon SD600. Well, I did not like the Canon SD700 as much. I did like the SD800 IS, especially after the price came down from $320+ to a more reasonable sub-$280 level.
The SD850 IS promises 4x optical zoom, but no wide angle lens of the SD800 (the SD850 features 35-140 mm), 8-Megapixel resolution, image stabilization and a compact stylish body. Is a good buy?
What Is Canon PowerShot SD850?
The Canon PowerShot SD850 IS Digital ELPH is a 8-Megapixel compact stylish digital camera with 4x wide-angel optical zoom (35-140 mm equivalent) with optical image stabilization, 2.5-inch LCD screen, the acclaimed fast Canon DiG!C III (DIGIC 3) Image Processor and 9 face detection autofocus technology, powered by a compact rechargeable battery. The camera can also record videos up 4GB.
The camera stores pictures and videos on SD (Secure Digital) or MultiMedia memory cards (ships with a 32-Mb SD card) and features fast USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection to PC and Mac computers. It also supports direct printing (without computer) with PictBridge compatible printers. The strap, cables, software and rechargeable battery with charger are included. The proprietary Li-Ion battery pack lasts, according to Canon, 230 shots.
Getting Started
Traditionally, the Canon SD cameras were either ob boxy kind (SD400, sd600, etc.) or the same but with rounded elements (almost like there is excess pressure inside that makes the camera develop convex surfaces). The SD850 IS is the latter, whereas I like the former. Still, there were no surprises upon the camera arrival. The SD850 IS arrived in a box similar to ones the other cameras of SD series use. I opened the package with a suspicion that Canon still ships a small 16-Mb memory card with their cameras and finally, to my surprise, I founded a 32-Mb card. No matter, they are still far behind the curve of memory card capacity expansion.
Basically, you are getting a card that will only allow you to see if the camera works, after which you have to buy a memory card of higher capacity. Good thing they are cheap now.
The camera looks similar to the SD550/SD700/SD800 IS - thicker than the SD600 with rounded corners. The SD850 IS looks larger and feels slightly less sturdy than SD600. Of course, the 4x optical zoom vs. 3x, wide angle optics and the optical image stabilization necessitated thicker body.
The camera has a retractable lens that extends and has a lens cover that opens when the camera is powered on. When the camera is powered off, the lens retracts and the lens cover closes.
The SD850 has a zoom rocker and a large shutter release button on the top deck. The bottom of the camera has a metal threaded tripod mount and a battery and SD card compartment lid.
The rear panel has a large 2.5-inch LCD screen, control buttons and menu controls with a select button in the middle of it. There is also an exposed mode wheel. The side has a small cover, underneath which you can find a USB jack, A/V jack and a DC power input jack. The camera surfaces have a nice matte finish throughout.
After charging the battery, I was ready to shoot. The battery is a compact proprietary Li-Ion type that looks like a cell phone battery, which is similar to other cameras of the SD line. I used my own SD card (they are so cheap nowadays, I have half a dozen around the house).
Usage
Just as other SD-line cameras from Canon, the SD850 IS is very easy to use. The menus and icons are slightly more descriptive than that of the older Digital Elphs like SD400 or SD300 due to more available space on the screen (2.5-inch vs. 2-inch). For example, the pictogram that shows mountains now says Infinity underneath to tell you that in this mode the focus is fixed on infinity. The SD850 IS uses the latest Digic 3 processor by Canon that provides responsive operation, low power consumption and a cool feature: face recognition that actually works.
If you have used a Canon camera before, you will be able to use this camera in no time. I have not read the manual (I have not even opened it), but was able to use the camera and all its features in no time. The camera can be used by any member of the family and by photographers of all levels of expertise from novices to advanced ones (albeit it will not give you much control over the shutter speed or aperture; even Manual mode will only allow you to use exposure compensation and that is about it).
The camera is very fast and responsive. The large bright LCD screen shows pictograms of selected modes (e.g. Macro, Flash mode, etc.) appear large and legible on the screen (sometimes with subtitles) and then move to the side of the screen. A very cool and useful feature, especially for people with impaired vision.
The camera comes pre-set to Auto mode, in which you have no need or way to adjust settings. You do not have to do anything other than point and shoot - the camera takes care of the rest. The camera uses intelligent autofocus. You press the shutter release button halfway to make camera focus and the camera shows you (on the LCD screen) where it focused by displaying one or more green rectangles. Then you take the picture by pressing the shutter release button all the way. In dim conditions, the camera uses its focus-assist light, which is effective in focusing upclose. And the face recognition feature makes sure the camera focuses on faces of people it finds in the frame and not on the other objects when you are shooting portraits/groups of people. I was surprised, but this feature does work well. I had hard time trying to trick it by asking my subjects to cover their eyes or mouths.
In Auto mode, you can select Macro setting, but not the Infinity focus setting. The latter becomes available in Manual mode. Both are accessed by pushing the left arrow button (there are no actual arrows on the menu control ring, but I will use this terminology throughout anyway). Also, the ISO settings are immediately available by pushing the arrow up button and can be set to Auto or Auto Hi Sensitivity in Auto mode. In Manual mode, you can select fixed ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 or 1600.
In case you want more control, you can select Manual mode, which is not a real manual mode where you would be able to select the shutter speed and aperture, but rather a mode in which you get access to selection of several parameters. In Manual mode, you can set the ISO, white balance (several presets and custom), use exposure compensation to make pictures darker or brighter, use picture effects, etc.
In addition to fast ISO selection, the camera gives you instant access to the flash mode selection (flash off, red-eye reduction, night portrait, auto flash), macro or infinity mode as well as drive mode (single frame, timer or burst/continuous shooting) at a push of a button: arrow down and arrow right.
Combined with a wide range of sensitivity settings, the optical image stabilization lets you shoot handheld in dark environments with no flash or at telephoto and still get sharp photos. The camera is similar to the SD800 IS in this. Too bad the SD850 lacks the wide angle of the SD800.
More on Features and Controls
The camera has maximum apertures of f/2.8 at wide angle, f/5.5 at telephoto. The camera doesn't let you control the aperture or the shutter speed directly and that there is not indication of the aperture (or shutter speed) on the screen during the shooting or even in review. It does show you the shutter speed if it thinks it is too slow for handheld shooting and shows you a red icon that looks like a shaky hand. This serves as a warning that the shutter speed might be too slow and you should use a tripod or place the camera on a stable surface.
The camera has are a bunch of scene modes as well, which help the camera tweak the focusing and exposure settings according to the type of scene. You can use the exposure compensation in the manual mode (1/3 EV increments) and it comes in handy in the morning or sunset hours as the camera overexposes the picture trying to preserve the shadow detail.
Remember, you can use the image stabilization continuously (default), only when taking a picture or turn it off (to conserve energy or if the camera is on a tripod). I use the second choice – stabilization is on only as the picture is taken. This preserves the battery and
Build Quality and Ergonomics
Just as with any recent Canon, the SD850 IS has a solid feel and good build quality. The camera is convenient to hold and its compact size lets you put it in a jacket pocket or a purse easily. The major controls are within easy reach and the tactile response is good.
Performance
The SD850 uses the latest version of Canon DiG!C processor - DIGIC III. It gives this Digital Elph excellent speed. The camera takes less than a second to power itself on in review mode and only about a second or two to power on and extend its lens in shooting mode.
The camera features zooming, which is reasonably fast. You can fully zoom in or out in about 3 seconds. I find the 4x optical zoom the camera has sufficient for most situations and the image stabilization makes its telephoto end more usable in less than perfect light. But, unlike the SD800, it does not have the wide angle of 28mm equivalent focal length. It means you have to move further away from the subject to get the wide angle coverage you want.
The camera can capture images at about two per second in burst mode (I used Kingston Elite Pro SD memory card). In single-frame mode, the camera could snap pictures as fast as I could push the shutter release button. The focusing takes less than a second, even in dim lighting, at wide angle. But at telephoto the focusing can take a little more than a second and the camera sometimes fails to focus at all. The shutter lag, when pre-focused, is almost unnoticeable.
The face recognition feature makes sure the camera knows to focus on people’s faces when they are present and works surprisingly well.
Battery Life
Although I have not tested the battery consumptions until empty, I did take more than 130 pictures and the low battery warning has not appeared yet. Canon claims you can take about 230 photos on one battery charge with the LCD on and I have no reason to doubt that this estimate is somewhat accurate.
LCD and Viewfinder
The camera has a 2.5-inch non-articulated (fixed) LCD screen and a tight optical viewfinder. The LCD is large, bright, gains-up in the dark (increases brightness) and is fluid in good light. The resolution of the screen is good, but competitors from Panasonic offer higher resolution.
The LCD coverage as 100% - you can see exactly what will be recorded. It works pretty well in the sunlight as well and there is an optical viewfinder for times when you need it (something competitors from Panasonic do not have).
Computer Connectivity
The camera uses USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection to transfer pictures to a computer. You can remove the SD memory card and use a memory card reader (if you have one), or use the camera with the USB cable supplied. I did the former to conserve battery power and to avoid dealing with cables. Memory card readers (if your computer does not have built-in) are very cheap and widely available.
Flash
The camera's flash is quite bright for its size. It has a red-eye reduction mode and is sufficient at up to 10-12 feet away (wide angle, telephoto up to 7 feet). It has a recycle time of about 6-8 seconds. But just as the case with other cameras of the SD line, the SD850 produces red-eye problems in dimly-lit indoors. You can fix them in Adobe Photoshop or other image editing software later.
Note: Panasonic produces red-eye issues two, but to a lesser extent.
Image Quality Settings
The camera lets you select between Super Fine, Fine and Normal compression levels (regardless of resolution). You can detect occasional JPEG artifacts in the mode of highest compression and some fine detail may be lost. But the two lower-compression modes (Fine and Superfine) are rather good. I suggest that you use SuperFine mode exclusively if you plan on cropping or printing larger than 10x8.
White Balance
The camera's automatic white balance is usually quite accurate with the exception of the incandescent lighting, where you are better off either selecting Incandescent white balance setting or using the available manual white balance.
Focusing
You let camera focus using its AiAF 9-area focusing system and the camera will show you green rectangles over the areas where it focused so that you can confirm the focus areas. There is no manual focusing provision.
There are also two special focusing modes, accessible at a push of a button: Macro mode and Infinity (Infinity available in Manual mode).
The face recognition improves focusing accuracy in pictures that have people.
Image Quality
I usually take photos that contain all primary colors at different focal lengths, apertures and compression ratios. Some photos are taken outdoors, some indoors with and without flash.
Oftentimes, I take a bunch of photos from my window. Those photos feature all colors: blue sky, green foliage, red curbs, yellow fire hydrants and cars of different colors.
Taking photos at different focal lengths and apertures reveals the camera's optical quality: corner sharpness, chromatic aberrations, overall sharpness.
Taking photos at different ISO settings shows how well a given camera can keep noise levels low in dim light. I mostly evaluate the image quality using my computer monitor, but I also print some photos at different sizes using either my printer or online services like Shutterfly, Snapfish and Sam's Club's online photo center.
The image stabilization system worked well in this camera. I could take pictures using the SD800 at longer exposures (slower shutter speeds) than possible without image stabilization. For example, at wide angle indoors at ISO 80, I could take sharp pictures at 1/8s handheld. This is a good result since this represents 2 stops slower than the shutter speed I should have been using. Pretty impressive for the camera of this size and weight.
So the SD850 IS has very good image stabilization, which helps it take handheld photos indoors without flash or at high zoom levels in situations that would result in blurry or even unusable photos with other compact cameras. It is a good thing that Canon followed Panasonic’s lead in introducing optical image stabilization to the full range of the models.
Even aside from that, the camera produces good photos that are well-exposed, contrasty and richly-colored. The photos have pleasing "Canon" color with slight oversaturation and nice blue skies - the kind of color consumers like.
There are very small issues. The corners of the frame are not as sharp as the center at some focal lengths, especially wide angle. This will be mostly unnoticeable in printed pictures since corners normally don't make it to the print due to the aspect ratio difference and other factors.
The chromatic aberration (purple fringing) is significant at wide angle (in the corners of the image), which is relatively common in wide angle-lens cameras. But the SD850 isn’t one, so I feel they could have done better.
The image noise is detectable even at ISO 80 and grows as the ISO increases. The ISO 800-1600 are noisy, to a point where I would not consider using it at all. If you are printing 6x4 or 5x7 pictures, the noise should not be visible up to and including ISO 400. At ISO 80-100, you can print your photos at up to 11x14 inches with good detail and ISO 200 should be good up to 10x8. You can print ISO-1600 images at up to 5x7, but I suggest that you don’t do that unless necessary.
Overall, for its size, the camera produces good pictures, especially considering the fact that you can shoot handheld in situations where cameras without image stabilization would not let you take usable pictures.
Movie Mode
I tried the 640x480 movie mode at 30 fps. The video was fluid and sharp, although not a replacement for a camcorder. The camera also has a 320x240 mode at up to 60 fps.
Competition
The major competition is Panasonic DMC-FX07, Panasonic FX50 and newer models from Panasonic. They sell for about the same price, have similar resolution and features, but no optical viewfinder. The FX50 looks particularly attractive since its LCD screen is larger and has higher resolution. In the past, I would prefer the FX50 over the SD800.
But since the SD850 is cheaper than SD800 and is comparable in price to Panasonic offerings, I would have to say that I like Canon color and image handling overall better than Panasonic, even though Panasonic seems to have better optics.
Bottom Line
I like the Canon SD850 IS overall. It has its issues with soft corners of the frame and chromatic aberrations, but it is a very good camera overall. It is inexpensive, versatile, performs well and looks nice.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 260 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
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