Careful - zoom lens mechanism is VERY breakable - E18 error
What this means is that the gears that move the zoom lens are exposed to the elements by means of the gap between the lens and the body. All it takes is a piece of dust or sand to blow in there and the lens will freeze up and you will get an E18 error. Then you have to mail your camera to Illinois and wait several weeks. If it happens after a year has passed and the warranty is void, your camera is a paperweight. If you have scuffs on your camera, Canon might even choose to void the warrenty due to neglect.

This happens to alot of people, google "Canon" and "E18" to see for yourself. I had my A75 (same camera as A85 with 1 less MP) for only 4 days before the E18 error happened.

If you get this camera, keep it in an airtight dust free case at all times!

A75 and A85: you can't get a better camera at this price!!
The A75 and A85 are Excellent follow-ups of the A70, and offer some very nice improvements. The most noticeable is the larger LCD, scene modes for those who don't like to tinker with the settings, "C" dial position to save your custom settings, and the print/share button to make things easier. For those who don't know, scene modes are easy-to-access presets of a combination of manual adjustments, optimized for shooting in different situations such as when you are indoors, at the beach, taking shots of kids, shooting at night, or shooting fireworks, etc. The camera features full manual controls over shutter speed and aperture, manual focus, saturation, exposure compensation, custom white balance, ISO, metering, and a histogram in playback mode. I know most people think they won't ever use some of these, but when you have an important shot that just isn't coming out, you'll be really glad you have it (or wish you did). For those who don't know, control over shutter speed means you can use a fast shutter speed to capture fast action or you can use a slow shutter to avoid using a flash or for taking shots of night scenery.

The areas where the Canon A75, A85, and A95 really excel at are:

Being fairly small(small price tag too!) for a camera with this many features and having picture quality this good.

Creative shooting: this is a great camera for those who want to do creative shooting but can't afford to plop down $600+ for a Canon G6 or more for a Digital SLR. It's got all of the most important controls, and with your memory card, you can do all the creative shooting and experimenting you want virtually free compared to using film. It's even expandable with telephoto, wide angle, or close up conversion lenses and there's also the waterproof casing.

All Canon cameras also come with an excellent software package that lets you stitch panoramic photos, retouch photos or rescue those that came out wrong, add special effect, and view thumbnails of pictures so you don't have to open them up to see what the picture looks like (good for those who are using an older version of windows, I know there are still a lot of you out there). The best part is that it's free! It does more than Kodak's software(which is pretty decent), you have to pay $20 to get the better version of Olympus's software, and Sony's editing software is pretty much non-existent. Those who already have Photoshop won't be excited.

For those of you who are concerned that the camera doesn't come with rechargeable batteries, don't worry, it's really not a big deal. Good rechargeable AA's, type NiMH are super cheap at around $10-$15 for 4, compared to $50 for Lithium Ion battery packs, and at that price, everyone can afford a spare set, which is really important to have. I've seen people who bought much crappier cameras at the same price, just because they came with rechargeable batteries - not a smart choice in my opinion.

Yes, there is the problem with purple fringing, but it's not a very common problem and most people either don't know what it is or don't even know think it's much of a problem when they see it. Some people think it looks cool. With full control over aperture, you have the ability to get rid of it or at least reduce it. Compared to the problems that other manufacturers have with their cameras, I'd take a bit of purple fringing over noise, soft/fuzzy images, and over-sharpening any day!

If you want 5 megapixels of resolution, a very useful rotating LCD screen, and Flexi-Zone (lets you choose an area that is off-center to focus on), then look at the A95.

Please note: my review of the A75 is the same as the A85 because they are pretty much the same camera with the 1 megapixel different. There are some differerences between my review of the A95 and this one.

Good stuff... at a low price
Eh, I don't really agree with the review saying that the zoom is very breakable. Yes there are quite a few items that will come up if you do a search on google, but considering how many millions of cameras are out there, the percentages are pretty low. I have a Canon A-series digital camera from last year that I took everywhere with me. I just threw the thing in my pocket without a cover or anything, and it never gave me any problems. I recently took this new one out to sea on a boat where it was very windy and nothing happened to it. I also read a comment in a review that battery life is so-so. Well, you have to realize that batteries come in all flavors, from cheap alkalines to NiMH and lithiums. The kind of battery used by the review was not specified. I recommend using rechargeable NiMH batteries at 2100 mAH and up. That'll be way more than enough to fill up a 256 mb card. Well, with that said, I'm going to rate this product based on performace instead of bad luck, and in terms of what it can do, it is really very good, even compared to cameras in a higher class. Picture quality is very good and there are more manual controls than any other camera in this price range. This really is the most bang you can get for your buck. It gives great results and is easy even for the beginner to use. I really do like Canon products, even at the "budget" level the A400 blows away the competition, and you really do get more than you pay for. I'm not saying that I'll only buy Canon stuff, but you gotta admit that they are pretty good. Oh by the way, if you're looking for a sealed up camera, the Olympus Stylus 310/410 has waterproof seals, but is locked in fully automatic mode. If you don't like the way your pictures are coming out, too bad. Some of the 4 meg Kodaks offer pretty good competition, with a nice amount of manual features and 4x zoom, but the trade-off is that you get a noticeable decrease in picture quality compared to the Canons, especially with shots taken at night.

Cannon Powershots are the best.
I have been using the powershot for a while now and I really enjoy it. Very user friendly and shoots the highest quality photos.

Delroy Meadows
Nassau, Bahamas
www.bahamasissues.com

Flawless performance so far
I got the Canon A85 a few weeks back. I was clicking away within 10 min of opening the package. The camera is extremely user friendly, is very intuitive, and has the right dimension and weight for a solid comfortable feel.

It also has enough advanced features to keep one curious about it.

Competitive camera for the price
This is my first digital camera having used film cameras for a very long time and I must say that I have no buyer's remorse over my purchase of the Canon Powershot A85. I agonized over a month comparing this camera to many others like the Powershot A80 and the A95 but it finally came down to pricing and what I needed the camera to do, which made the A85 more than enough camera for me. I didn't need a 5 MP camera to start out with and so I figured this was a good starter. It's a solid camera that produces great pictures and videos. The camera is well balanced for someone like me who wants to experiment with camera settings and someone like my wife who wants a simple point and shoot. 2 sets of rechargeable Nimh batteries are a must. I've had a little bit of difficulty shooting pictures of people at night without getting a lot of red eye. Fortunately I think this is something that will require more practice to perfect. If not the software, ZoomBrowser EX, that comes with the camera totally corrects the red eye for me. It is an easy camera to use and navigate. Over the past month I've tried to take a variety of pictures ranging from portrait shots to landscapes and I have been very pleased with the pictures. Once again I highly recommend this camera for someone who is just starting out and wants a reasonably priced quality digital camera.

Why A80 may be better than A85 for you (AND cheaper too!)
I have given the A85 4 stars although I would have given it 4.5 stars if possible and A80 5 stars. There are 2 basic reasons why I like A80 more than A85, but you may decide otherwise:

1)Bigger CCD Sensor - 1/1.8" on A80 vs. 1/2.7" on A85 - which means 5 million pixels compared to 4 million leading to better image quality.

2)Flip out LCD screen (1.5" on A80 vs 1.8" fixed LCD on A85)- The flip out screen is very useful when taking certain shots. I typically used the flip out screen most when taking
-shots of crowds down the center and of tall buildings by holding the camera above my head,
-in tight spot situations on hikes/treks where I could not shift much by twisting the screen sideways,
-of children/smaller objects on the ground without having to kneel on a sidewalk etc.

And NOW the A80 is cheaper too at Officedepot.com. At Amazon it is selling for much higher than the price of A85 which alone proves its popularity.

What A85 offers over A80:

1) SCN modes (beach, fireworks etc.)which may not be useful for people who like using more mnual controls as they have many presets for ISO etc. which may not give the best shot. The A80 offered an extra customizable setting in place of the SCN modes which can be useful too.

2) A85 also offers 3 resolution settings for video including 640X480 (VGA max 30 sec)while in the A80 the highest setting is 320X240 (max. 3 mins). However, the 30 sec video seems a bit short to me. I usually use this feature to capture special moments of children when my video camera is not handy.

3) Print share button: The A85 has a print share button which enables direct printing of images /downloads for marked images. This feature is not very useful for most people especially if you have Windows XP which enables slection/rotation of images and direct download as soon as the USB cable is connected to your computer even without using any Canon software.

What all AXX series cameras offer which makes this series Canon's most successful consumer series - so you won't go wrong buying any camera in the series:
--Complete Manual functions available - shutter priority, Aperture priority, White balancing, Manual focusing etc.
--Photostitch - For stitching together panoramic views. I have shot countless seascapes, 'bridge'scapes, landscapes etc using this function. It is really easy too!
-- Tone settings (Tungsten, Sunlight, Cloudy etc.),
--Special effects (B/W, Sepia, Vivid, Nuetral etc.) I have used sepia a lot when taking potraits giving them an 'old world' feel. Vivid has been helpful in special situations like a red kite against a blue sky to bring out the colors.
--Free Canon software, which works well and allows you to edit images, stitch images, make fun photos, maintain an album, change camera settings, edit videos, upload images back to camera to transfer to another computer etc.
--Use AA batteries which are available anywhere in the world. A Sony Super Quick Charger (5hours) with 4 rechargeable NiMH batteries is available for under $23 on Amazon! Charge these batteries upto 1000 times. I keep the LCD on for all my shots and usually I get 270-360 shots from each charge from the A80 including the battery power used to download these images to my computer with the USB cable and playing back these images for friends! That is quite a feat by Canon.
--Macro mode - Great for close ups of children or product shots
--Many other useful features in the latest models (including A80)like being able to edit the movies in the camera, being able to see multiple images on the LCD, auto rotation of images, ability to add voice notes to pictures, evaluative graphs on the LCD, and much much more. After thousands of shots I still keep discovering new features I haven't used or better ways to use existing features.

If you are considering the A95, it is a great camera and a upgraded version of A80, however at a hundred bucks less than the A95 (amazon price) the A80 (Officedepot price) is a great camera with almost the same features except a few differences.
-A95 offers 5 MP, and the extra MP may not be useful for you if you don't want to go over 8X10 prints
-a slightly larger flip out LCD screen which is great but it will also use up the battery faster
-SCN modes (see above)
-Print share button (see above)and
-Flexizone (you can set the focus in any one of 9 zones) which is a nice feature if you like being creative with your compositions.
Overall you have to decide whether you want to pay a hundred bucks more for these differences or any one feature may be the deal breaker for you.

In a nutshell, if you are thinking of buying the A85 consider the A80 too!

Flawed in Several Ways
I bought this camera to replace a three-year-old Nikon Coolpix 990, because I was tired of the Coolpix's only flaw--redeye. I had bought an external flash, and an L-bracket, and toting around all that junk was tiring. I wanted something to point and shoot. Well, the PowerShot A85 isn't it. The Coolpix is an old 3 megapixel camera, and it dances circles around the just-released, brand-new 4 megapixel PowerShot in picture quality. The PowerShot, out of 20 pictures, had a white "flare" circle appear when using the flash. This was a against blue velvet drapes--no glass or anything to reflect off of! My brown-eyed 17-year-old had redeye, which means the blue-eyed people looked EXTREMELY demon-possessed. (Yes, redeye-reduction was on.) And the pictures had noise in them. The quality of the pictures is just plain poor. I sure hope this camera is just a lemon and not an indication of the quality of the A85. Regardless, it's going back to Amazon, and I'm going back to Nikon.

First Digital Camera ever and NOT disappointed!
I think this is a great camera for the price. My picture are beautiful though there is some red eye. It is very easy to use and very compact and light.
Unfortunately, mine is broken already due to someone putting the memory card in upside down. So I upgraded to the A95!

The Best Camera Ever
I love this camera. I has so many wonderful features... the flip out screen (used to protect the screen, shoot from odd angels, take pictures of yourself that you can line up), the option to hold the picture you just took to share (you know everyone wants to see the picture after it's taken and it takes just too long on normal digital cameras to load the picture).

A great buy!!!

Excellent camera!
THE GOOD: Excellent images, fast 9-point autofocus, full manual/shutter priority/aperture priority modes. Scene modes are very effective. Very strong flash unit with fast recycle time. Menu system is easy to navigate. Fast startup/next-shot delay. Excellent battery life on 2300mAh NiMH cells.

THE NOT SO GOOD: It's kinda big, because it uses 4 AA cells. Battery life is worse on alkalines , but still acceptable. Camera-computer transfer is slow due to USB 1.1. Movie files can get big if shot at 640*480 (500Kbytes/sec)
---
A 256MB card will store 124 highest resolution/lowest compression images, or 375 seconds of highest resolution video.

Love it
Not an experienced photographer, and first digital camera, but took on a vacation and loved the resulting pictures. Especially loved the flower setting for closeups and the scenic setting for stitching a bunch of pictures together for a panoramic view. Easy, easy, easy! And beautiful! Only feature I had trouble with was the fireworks feature, I could never stay still enough for the longer exposure, so ended up with fuzzy night time pics. Probably a photographer fault and not the camera! A 256mb card with the camera set at 1024 x 768 allows for 700 pictures, The 400 I took came out beautiful in 4 x 6 prints.

Good camera, but not the improvement I had hoped for
I bought the Canon A85 as an upgrade to my 5-year-old Canon S10. I liked the slightly smaller size, doubling the pixels, and greater optical zoom. I wanted to take advantage of improvements made over the last 5 years. Immediately impressed with ergonomics -- grip, buttons and playback zoom are excellent. The camera just feels great, and the price is unbelievably low. However, in doing picture comparisons with my S10, I'm saddened that the picture quality of the A85 is not as good as the old S10. Even with double the pixels, many details are not as crisp and colors are not as accurate -- more oranges and pinks. I am a point-and-shoot picture-taker, and yet I want the pictures as clear and accurate as possible. I liked this camera better before I did the side-by-side picture comparison with the old S10. I still think the A85 is an excellent, affordable camera -- but I may be putting it under the Christmas tree for someone else.

Awesome camera
This camera is awesome. I tried several Kodak cameras first -CX7430, DX7440, CX7300 before settling in on this jewel. I really wanted in a big way to use the easyshare stuff for printing and ease of use. I tried to make the Kodaks work but the Kodaks seem to have underpowered flashes. I got lots of blurry and dim shots with the kodaks. The A85 has a dynamic flash and an auto focusing lamp to help focus in dim light. I had much better results with this canon. I highly recommend it. I am even using the picbridge capablity of the A85 connected to a kodak EasyShare printer dock plus -- Awesome results. There is no question that this camera focuses extremely well. Colors are very representative. The biggest negative to the camera is the cheesy plastic cover over the compact flash (the design for this is horrible). But the power of the camera smooths this negative over very quickly. I get an occasional fuzzy shot once in a blue moon (unlike the kodaks I tried - every third shot in the lighting of my home). I would have loved it if cannon would upgrade to USB 2.0 for faster transfer, but the kodaks I tried were USB 1.1 as well. If you are looking for a great point and shoot with room to grow (including manual focus), look no further. This camera rocks. Be sure to buy a rayovac 15 min charger and their NMH batteries (they will save you tons of money).

Easy to use digital camera!
Point and shoot, very easy to use digital camera.
The picture quality was great too!

GREAT CAMERA!! Very User Friendly - Easy Setup With XP
Got this as a Christmas present from my folks - wonderful! Just put the batteries that come with the camera in - set the date by following the easy prompts and you're shooting pictures within 2 minutes of taking out of box. I have used only the auto setting, and it's great! Downloaded to my Dell 4600 computer very quick and simple!! It uses the same transfer cord as my MP3 player and my Dad's Olympus camera so I only need one cord to download 3 different things! So far, I'm very impressed! It is bigger with the 4 batteries, but also provides a much nicer, easier grip - good for husbands like mine with bigger hands.

The only things I don't like are only a small 128MB card is included and I'll defintely have to buy a bigger card. Second, there is more of a delay than I'd like before flash recharges and you can take another picture, but i think that's a factor of price - this camera really delivers for the price - a faster shutter speed costs more and i don't really need that anyway! It's not much slower than my olk Nikon 35 MM camera. For amateurs like me who just want nice family photos, you can't go wrong with this camera! I'll update my review if there's problems later, but I don't think there will be.

was mine just faulty?
After many days of resource and asking many professional opinions I heard that this was the best 4 megapixel camera that fit all my needs: excellent picture quality, compact and had manual controls.
However, when I finally got the camera I took it everywhere with me to test out the photos, and 50% of the time they were out of focus, or the camera had focused on the wrong thing. I used both types of focus available to no difference. The photos that were in focus were very nice, but not worth the price and the chance of only half of them turning out properly. Also, the camera speed is slightly slower than what I wanted, it had trouble catching a cable car in San Francisco as it drove down the street!
I've returned that camera and have replaced it with a Minolta, my favorite brand though i'd been hesitant because it had fewer manual controls, however, I prefer it much more!
I loved the controls of the A85 though, very convenient and easy to use and the lcd screen was quite large. It's just too bad the pictures weren't of the caliber I was expecting.

Not worth it
I had a Kodak, which had failed to open shutters, so I bought Canon A85. I took over 240 pictures of which atleast 40 of them were blurry. I have never had so many blurred pictures. This camera eats battery like crazy. I had a battery tester, which showed the battery to be still in good condtion - but this camera indicates time to change the battery. The color is NOT as good as Kodak - especially when used with Flash. I returned my camera and am going back to Kodak.

not as good as I thought
I had a Canon S100 over 3 years and took thousands of photos. it was great. now its charger is broken, so I bought A85. the print color is somehow wrong. it is cold and whitened. the plastic body feels cheap. my S100 is better than A85 in print quality.

now i switched to sony P100. it is very good. I want to stick with Cannon but A85 is really disappointing. The only good thing about A85 is that it uses cheap battery and memory card. But the prints are bad.

my advise is that do not buy A85. buy Sony or Cannon's S series.

great product !
have given the A85 4 stars although I would have given it 4.5 stars if possible and A80 5 stars. There are 2 basic reasons why I like A80 more than A85, but you may decide otherwise:

1)Bigger CCD Sensor - 1/1.8" on A80 vs. 1/2.7" on A85 - which means 5 million pixels compared to 4 million leading to better image quality.

2)Flip out LCD screen (1.5" on A80 vs 1.8" fixed LCD on A85)- The flip out screen is very useful when taking certain shots. I typically used the flip out screen most when taking
-shots of crowds down the center and of tall buildings by holding the camera above my head,
-in tight spot situations on hikes/treks where I could not shift much by twisting the screen sideways,
-of children/smaller objects on the ground without having to kneel on a sidewalk etc.

Incredible Camera, easy to use with advanced features
Absolutely amazing camera.

First a little backhistory. I owned Canon products for the most of my life. My first digital camera was an HP however.

After my HP broke about 2 years after purchase (hardware failure, nonspecific, 150 bucks to fix at HP) i went with this camera. The difference is amazing.

Canon products have always been a favorite choice of mine due to ease of use. Its settings dial makes it fast and simple to change from mode to mode for various uses.

Say for example your filming your son at the soccer field. you want a nice portrait of him with the field faded in the background. use the portrait mode. Then you can use the same camera to get a fast shutter shot of him playing on the field simply by turning the dial.

you can even shoot a 3 minute movie of him playing on the field using the same camera! All it takes is the turn of the dial.

In addition to the different settings modes, there are 'creative' modes that you can enjoy by changing the shutter speed and the amount of light the lens lets through (arpeture? value)

this can be used to create some amazing effects of sparkling and flowing streams and waterfalls, or of glowing fountains or fireworks... or even "Light trail" photos.

The creative zones are great when you've got plenty of time to play around, and the preset modes are top notch.

Its hard to take a bad picture with this camera.

The "auto" mode is so powerful that you can literally open the box and start taking photos immediately. After a quick read through the manual you'll know how to take photos like a pro, and with just a little bit of learning and experimenting you'll be taking some real artsy shots too ;)

The battery life is amazing, especially with the optional canon NIMH batteries. The batters that came with it are not rechargable, but i was able to shoot over 100 shots + film 5 or 6 highest resolution movies (30 seconds a shot) before the batteries were dead. My NIMH batteries fully charged have taken over 100 shots and are still hot.

Now, about memory. Flash memory is some of the least expensive and better quality memory for digital cameras. The fact that they've gone with flash memory cards here is ideal. It ships with a 32 meg memory card (retail of about ten dollars as of this writing) and getting 256 meg and up is generally under 50 dollars.

Finally we talk about printing features. The canon camera has easy printing and easy sharing with any canon printer with a camera dock. This is largely most Canon printers. You absolutely will love any canon printer you buy, i believe them to be the best printers you can purchase. Canon has entry level printers for well under 100 bucks, some under 50 bucks in some cases (as of this writing, the IP1500 sits on my desktop) and they're the best in their price range, across all price ranges.

I honestly think it would be difficult to make a mistake purchasing this camera.

My only suggestion is to consider the Canon a95 camera, which is 1 megapixel higher, and has a swivel LCD screen. I had no use for the swivel screen and the larger picture depth wasnt worth the extra cash at the time of my purchase, but its something to consider if you're reading this review.

A great camera, the perfect point-and-shoot
This canon is a decent point-and-shoot digital camera. Its size is great you can pretty easily, stuff it in a pocket. The one thing, this doesn't have is the flip out screen that the A80 had.

The camera has all the extras that make a little more powerful than your standard point-and-shoot. It is aperture priority and shutter priority selection, which is great. If you're new to cameras, shutter speed allows you to control how long the shutter stays open. So the picture you took his dark too dark to use. Just drop your shutter speed from 1/250 of a second to 1/125 of a second this will let in more light. And maybe salvage the picture.

That's what makes these cannons so powerful and great if you want to go beyond the basics of point-and-shoot, but it still will be a great point-and-shoot camera. And the price in these cameras just can't be beat. It's a deal at less than $250.

you can't go wrong, one last bonus to note is that this uses four AA batteries and not a battery pack, which is totally important. If you're on the go and out of juice. No matter what camera you got your not taken pictures. You can buy AA batteries anywhere bonus!

It has awesome case for only $5.95. Search for Amazon item number: B00009U0XI

Have fun and get it done!

Great Camera
Personally, I own the A80, and I like it so much that I got the A85 for my father-in-law. He is an avid picture-taker and loves the ease of the Canon. There are many picture taking options with this camera, and even a rookie can take good, quality pictures. I remember some advice I got when I got my first camera--stick to the companies who make cameras their business. You won't be disappointed with Canon.

Very satisfied!!! Learn the bells and whistles
If you want to take good pictures leave it on Auto all the time no matter what the condition. If you want to take stellar pictures you will need to Read and study all the aspects and settings and learn when to use them for what kind of photo it is. This camera has a setting for every environment. When you figure it out your pictures will be Professional quality.

Final thoughts- Realize you can spend 500.00 on a camera with 7 mega-pixels and not know how to use it. If I use the features properly of this camera I will match you quality for quality.
Practice every feature in many lightings, you will be amazed at how 1 setting affects the entire picture!

PROS- Image quality is excellent, Grip of the camera, Battery Life excellent, Low-Light conditions are great if you know how to work the settings. For what you get the price is perfect!I see no reason to get anything better than this unless I am a professional photographer. FOr Home, Family Trips, sporting events, etc.. It's excellent

my images, must not look like yours...
I'm not sure why I am not as happy with this camera as everyone else seems to be. The image quality is grainy and not very sharp. I have a four year old 2MP Kodak that takes much better pics. (well it did, until it stopped working) I've done a lot of research and there always seems to be that one person on each user opinion section that has the same problems I do. I would think that if anybody would look at these pictures they would agree, so maybe one camera in 100 has this problem.

I'm just going to have to return the camera... these images are not acceptable.

This is a great camera
I got this camera for myself. I am a big fan of 35mm film but I must say that this does come close in quality for picture type. One reviewer has mentioned that his pictures were grainy. the manual says if this happens it is likely that the camera has been malfunctioning dur to dropping, or extreme temperatures. it has a lot of nifty buttons to impress anyone, and the best part is that it makes movie clips with sound. It comes with softwars to transfer photos and clips.

You can make a home movie when you add all the movie clips together with special effects and sound using the software that comes with the camera.
*****recommend getting at least a 128mb compact flash card 32 mb is not much. AND get rechargebale batteries with at least 2100mAh and charger to help avoid those unecessary battery drainage problems

Yucky pictures
Murphy's law must have kicked in on this one. My Dad bought this for me as a wedding gift. We used it for the first time at my wedding. I just had the pictures developed, and they are blurry and grainy. I hoped it was the developer's fault. However, I pulled the pics up on my computer, and they look blurry there as well. I agree with a previous reviewer who said that she had a 2 MP Kodak that took better pictures. Mine did too, except it had a problem with shutting itself off for no reason.
I see where someone below also said that by figuring out how to use the camera, you can take professional shots. Our poor pictures are made on the auto setting, and the subjects of the pictures are standing still in good light.
I just hope someone else at my wedding had a better camera, with better pictues they can share with me. If you get this camera for a special event, please try it out before so you can make sure it works properly.

blurry and grainy pictures
I bought this one for my Dad as a gift. He made some pictures for mom's birthday, but it totally disappointed me. The image quality is not what I read review from somebody else. I used different Pix format, but it was same. Too bad.
I return the camera, and bought the Kodak EasyShare Cx7530, it is 5.0M Pix, but it is cheaper($199) than A85.
I really enjoy this one, very easy to use and with much better quality pics than Canon A85.

Good backup camera
My purchasing decision for the Canon Powershot A85 was most unusual. As a defense contractor (and 'part time' professional photog) and the owner of a Canon Digital Rebel - there are places and circumstances a large digital camera will cause unwanted and undue attention to be paid to one's self. My solution was a compact backup camera - originally a Canon A75 - purchased for its price and ability to share compact flash memory cards with the Digital Rebel and AA Ni-Mh rechargable batteries with my Canon 420EX speedlight. Things got more complicated when I purchased a Canon underwater housing (WP-DC30 - see my review) specifically designed for the A75 while scuba diving in Aruba. Both the A75 and A85 are limited underwater performers - built in flash limits the depth acceptable pictures can be taken. Anything more than 25' - plan to spend time in photoshop!

While the A75 is a "good enough" camera at 3.2 MP, I was looking to upgrade to a better backup camera - still at a price point - and distrustful of any underwater housing - a replacement backup camera. Amazon had a great price on the A85 - and the underwater housing for the A75 is an exact match for the A85. Enough said.

The A85 is lighter and has faster shutter response than the A75. The "feel" of this compact camera is "right" for my (large) hands. It takes astoundingly beautiful daylight pictures. Its 3x optical zoom is "good enough" for a majority of my picture taking - the 4 MP resolution allows additional enlargement and magnification with little loss of quality in Photoshop. Since many of my photo's are e-mailed to my family to prove I'm still alive when on assignment - large picture quality is less important - as most pictures are reduced in size for computer/internet transmission.

Auto focus and auto exposure in low light is still slower than I want it to be. Faster than the A75 - but still has an annoying delay setting up flash and auto exposure in low light.

As with the A75, the movie mode is limited. No ability to zoom - and quality is only 'acceptable' in this mode. Like to take movies?... - buy a camcorder!

Red-eye is still a problem carried over from the A75. The flash/lens positioning allows only a narrow angle of red-eye free picture taking.

You are going to have to purchase 2300ah NiMh rechargable batteries - or even two sets. I share 5 sets and three chargers (might be overkill for some) with my Canon 420EX and 580EX speedlights (used with the Digital Rebel), the A75 and A85 cameras. High heat or extreme cold are battery power sappers. Never want to miss a picture opportunity. I also share a variety of 512MB to 1 GB compact flash high speed memory cards with the Digital Rebel.

The A75's plastic case easily scratches around the lens ring. I expect this with the A85 also. Buy a carry pouch that holds the camera firmly - and still has carrying capacity for a spare set of AA batteries. Dirt and dust have not been a problem - yet - although the camera case and lens mechanism need to be either vacuumed or airblown to keep sand and grit from interfering with the zoom mechanism. Sand and grit get into everything in many places I go.

Under most circumstances - the A85 performs brilliantly. Under water (limited by its' flash) - or above - anywhere a full sized camera presents a problem - the A85 gets the job done.

Best Camera I have owned
This was the best present my husband could have got me. Love the pictures from my camera. The prints are awesome. I scrapbook and love the way the colors come out on my pages. The camera is medium ease to use so if you are an absulute beginner get someone who knows some about camera's to show you how to use it. My husband got some bad pictures because of user error, but after I showed him how to use it he was really pleased. I will continue to buy Canon I owned a Kodak before this no comparison on picture quality.

Pretty Good
I got this camera for Christmas from my parents. I think it's really good for its price. The quality of the pictures are really good, and the zoom is decent. I go to a lot of rock shows, and it can get really hard to take pictures when you're in the mosh pit, but this camera is really good. And, somehow, I can stuff the camera in my pocket when I'm not using it, even though it is really bulky. And I love taking videos as well.

The Achluophobic Silver Beast of Photon-Sucking Prowess
This is the second digital camera I have ever toyed with. The first one was a 3 megapixel camera that was junk in every way. The PowerShot is 4 megapixels. Does that mean it's better? With what Canon shoved into this tiny thing, I'd say a big yes. But to me, the resulting photo is more important than any bells and whistles.

Actually, I've been doing a tiny bit of research on this "megapixel" stuff, and I've had a few chats with the Senior Vice-President of IMAX Corporation (who else would understand resolution than the owner of a quality control business for large-format films?). Check this out. Simply put, a megapixel (defined as a resolution of a million pixels or greater) is actually a marketing scam. A 4 megapixel camera can be marketed as such (they refer to the CCD chip), while the actual image is taken with less than half that. In this case, the CCD chip works UP TO 2272 x 1704 pixels (3.8 megapixels); plus the final image is compressed. In the end, your beautiful photo isn't as beautiful as it could be. And even if it looks good, the company is lying through its smiles.

And advertisements press the megapixel and digital zoom issues while ignoring the relevant (at least AS IMPORTANT) issues: contrast, brightness, focus, etc.

Here are my opinions about some of the PowerShot A85 features.

Let me get a few quick things out of the way. The zoom (5.4mm - 16.2mm) is atrocious. Compared to a similar priced camera, the A85 cannot zoom, period, and the digital is pixellated and looks like someone did the mosaic effect on your photo.

The flash is super bright, but there is no automatic shutter compensation, so your subject comes out looking white-hot (great for some effects shots). I work around this, since most auto-cameras compensate for the flash resulting in extremely dark backgrounds.

The delay between pressing the shutter is annoying. It's not a large delay, but I've missed some good portrait shots because of this. (But I can take dozens of pictures for "free" as opposed to my film camera, which I now reserve for nature shots only.) There is a feature to photograph 8 pictures in a series within 1.5 seconds which would fix my problem. I'm just lazy about this one, though.

I have taken images with the camera in non-professional settings, and they come out looking pretty good! I've used some of these images on DVDs and watched them on TV and they look impressive on the screen. The colors of the original subject remain the same even on a television (blue-light). Keep in mind there is a difference between images on paper, and images meant to be seen on a monitor or screen. Somewhat of an amateur photographer myself, I would never resort to digital photographs just yet for a show, but I do use the PowerShot for website and DVD/TV applications, as well as pamphlets. (I find that, depending on the subject, a digital picture looks as good as a photo scanned into a computer, and saves me money and time in the process.)

The autofocus features are incredibly high-tech. This camera was purchased for its purportedly amazing macro feature, though, and this is sadly overrated. The macro is impossible to use and never works. Recently, I took a hike up a Colorado mountain into Alpine Tundra terrain and along the way I found a small group of Alpine Forget-me-not flowers. I am able to get serious macro photos with my 35mm and extension tube, while the PowerShot required some serious distance. The photos came out blurry (I took them anyway) even with different focal lengths and camera distances. I made sure the Macro Flower was on the screen.

Speaking of the screen, I have found it to still be pretty easy to see, even in sunlight. It's not so pixellated that I can't focus (meaning that it looks great) and it shows the exact photo area. I use it all the time, and I never use the little viewfinder, which is tiny in size, doesn't quite match the zoom frame of the digital screen, and has a horrible parallax problem (although I am used to shooting SLR cameras). There are no parallax correction guidance lines in the viewfinder, either; those never work anyway.

The auto shutter speed isn't great for shots of people moving or nature in which the wind is blowing or the subject is running away for its life from the photographer. However, I have some great pix of people talking and they're slightly blurry, and the effect came out as a wonderful surprise. I still use it today. Don't let this bother you, though. You can choose from 15 seconds to 1/2000 of a sec, though I never use this feature.

You can take movies up to three minutes (low res), or 30 seconds high res (640 x 480), the latter which looks nearly like true video when watched on TV. I spliced it up against Hi-8 footage (which I personally think looks better/sharper than single-chip miniDV), and the difference was negligible on a Sony TV. Sound is also recorded and played back.

You can take panorama pictures for however many photos you want (I made a 720-degree upward-spiraling panorama to awesome effect).

You can set the White Balance to auto, day light, cloudy, tungsten, two fluorescent choices, and custom: just aim at a colored object and press the set key. For example:
ý Red wood gives a Matrix-like green result
ý A lemon results in a power-blue color
ý A green digital clock bathes your photos in darkroom red (you lose focus a bit)
ý "White" computer screen (actually blue-ish) results in a nice orange filter
ý A dark blue portfolio will give you a great yellow (nice for surreal outdoor shots)
Messing with the white balance works best if you set it with a colored light, rather than a colored object. You can also use these color features to play with contrast; then in a photo program, turn the image into black & white, and voila, a pseudo-Ansel Adams!

A silly thing, but you can change the start-up image (like on your cellphone) with a choice between Canon bluescreen, Morning Star, and Bird, along with theme sound effects (you can change these independently as well).

There are too many other little features that I never use. This camera would be, quite literally, perfect for my tastes if it weren't for a poor optical zoom, poor digital zoom, and macro. I'm a huge macro/telephoto fan, so I had to remove one star for these. Otherwise, it's quite simply amazing, the technology that's out there. I hate to think what a higher-priced Canon can do.

Check out "customer images" to see what people (myself included) have done with this camera!

Lens assembly replaced, no more blurry pictures
I bought the A85 last fall and, like several other Amazon reviewers, was disappointed by blurry photos. The odd thing was that indoor and/or closeup shots turned out OK, but outdoor/landscape shots would be out of focus.

A professional photographer I work with said, "Looks like the camera is having trouble focusing to infinity. Take it back." The Canon service center in Honolulu replaced the lens assembly at no charge (the camera is still under warranty) and now my photos are crisp and detailed.

The range of settings and controls on the A85 is great. You can shoot full Auto, or get more control with Program mode (my favorite) or use Aperture, Shutter or full manual modes. I get very good photos of my son's indoor band concerts (dark hall, flash off, tripod, long exposure), something that would have been impossible with my previous 2-megapixel digicam that had almost no manual controls.

I give this 4.5 stars, based on the fact I got a factory dud and that I had a twinge of buyer's remorse when, a few months after I bought this camera, Canon rolled out its A510/A520 series, which is a smaller, lighter camera with 4x optical zoom and uses only 2 AA batteries.

Bottom line: This is a very good camera, but the A510/A520 series might be a better deal (see reviews on dcresource.com or megapixel.net).

not happy
I purchased the Powershot A85 8 months ago and was very fond of my camera. It had all of the features I sought in a digital camera. The controls are very user friendly. It fits ergonomically in the hand. It captures sharp photos and made image taking a much better experience over any camera I owned before. HOWEVER, I recently got the "memory card error" message on my screen and lost all the pictures I took over the summer, including kids' baseball games, birthdays, and family vacation. I looked up the problem on the web and found many sites with customer complaints about this problem. Further, many of these customers referenced Canon's lack of help with the problem. I called Canon's tech support number and also got very poor service. What's the point of getting a digital camera if you lose your images and get no advice on how to solve the problem? I won't buy a Canon again.

Great Camera
We have owned this Canon camera for about 7 months now and we love it!!! The pictures come out great! We have not had one problem with it. We recently went away to a B&B and I took pictures of the B&B at night and they came out perfect!!! I wish it zoomed in closer, but all in all I love this camera!!

Great - until it dies...
I've had this camera for 13 months, and I've been extremely happy with it for these 13 months. Very easy to use, with the "scene modes"; AA batteries, so you never really have to worry about charging, because you can have a few batteries at hand; never had to read the manual; very good picture quality, upto 8x10 prints; pops into any computer with USB.

But then, one day, after these 13 months, the camera errors out with E18. For all I can see, the camera is dead.
Search the web for "canon E18", you'll see that it is a fairly frequent problem, and there's even a class action suit.

13months for $300, that's not enough. My previous digical camera lasted 6 years. No more Canon compacts for me, I'm trying another brand...

I am very pleased with it

I know some people have expressed dissatisfaction with the 'grainy' quality of the images. I guess it depends on what you are trying to do with it. I did some research, and this camera was recommended to me for what I like to do, which is take pictures of old buildings and sculpture. As it turned out, this camera was wonderful for that, because the pictures are very evocative. I took it on vacation and I liked the result of my nature pics, too. The photos have a 'softer' look that is a bit different from the usual 'hard' digital photo look, and it suits me. Of course if you are not looking for that, you might want to try something else. This might be a good camera for the more creative types.

I gave it four stars because this was only my first digital camera and don't have much experience with the others, but it is my cherished friend now because of the lovely photos it's given me.

Do Not Purchase
This camera is a wonderful camera when it is working. Which after over the past 13 months of owning has only worked maybe 4 of those months. I finally packed it up and sent it back to canon. I still have not heard from them. I was told that it was errors in the hard drive from camera store techs. I feel that a name like Canon means Quality and Customer Service. This camera and company did not offer me either. I Do not reccommend this Digital Camera. It will break down.

Unuseable Garbage
I've owned this camera for over a year and I have gotten perhaps 2 or 3 decent photos from it. This could be a good camera if you are willing to spend 20-30 hours learning to use it, but I have no idea. I've spent several hours learning this camera and it is always able to come up with a new reason to "not work". The most user-unfriendly devise I have ever owned!

After $600.....
$600 dollars I spent in my first Sony SD40 camera long time ago. 3 years later I was still not able to take my desired pictures and still reading the manual to learn it's features.

With the Canon A85 I can take not only regular pictures but also, close-up using the macro feature, short movies and make my own posters.

For someone who is not a professional photo taker nor a photoshop pro user, this A85 is the perfect, affordable, friendly user and light weighted camera to own.

My 2 cents.

DON'T DROP IT!!!
I've owned this camera for about 1 1/2 years. It worked great until 2 days ago. It fell off the top of my desk top computer (I was uploading pictures) about 16" off the carpet. After that it would not recognize the memory card. Tech said about $100 to fix.

There's no way a little bump like that should break a camera.

A wonderful little camera
I have been using the A85 for about 9 months and have found it to be extemely easy to operate, takes wonderful pictures, and can fit in your pocket. I use rechargeable batterys which give me at least 250 shots between charges. I download right from the camera onto my laptop and make any adjustments using a photo shop tool. Aside for some red eye from the flash shots the pictures are perfect up to an 8x10. I am just shy of 2,000 pictures and 0 problems. I have ordered a new Canon Rebel XT as I have lenses from other Canon equipment and would like to go digital in an SLR. My little A85 will never be left behind. I have friends who have other digital cameras which have a higher megapixel than the A85 and the images are not as clear. You get good and bad in everything and believe me I got a great one in my A85. If something would happen to it then I would buy another one without reservation.