Customer Rating: 
Summary: Do Not Purchase
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I am very pleased with it
Comment:
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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great - until it dies...
Comment: 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...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Camera
Comment: 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!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: not happy
Comment: 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.
Summary: Do Not Purchase
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I am very pleased with it
Comment:
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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great - until it dies...
Comment: 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...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Camera
Comment: 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!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: not happy
Comment: 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.