Customer Rating: 
Summary: Lens assembly replaced, no more blurry pictures
Comment: 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).
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Achluophobic Silver Beast of Photon-Sucking Prowess
Comment: 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:
¤ Red wood gives a Matrix-like green result
¤ A lemon results in a power-blue color
¤ A green digital clock bathes your photos in darkroom red (you lose focus a bit)
¤ "White" computer screen (actually blue-ish) results in a nice orange filter
¤ 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!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Camera I have owned
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good backup camera
Comment: 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.
Summary: Lens assembly replaced, no more blurry pictures
Comment: 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).
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Achluophobic Silver Beast of Photon-Sucking Prowess
Comment: 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:
¤ Red wood gives a Matrix-like green result
¤ A lemon results in a power-blue color
¤ A green digital clock bathes your photos in darkroom red (you lose focus a bit)
¤ "White" computer screen (actually blue-ish) results in a nice orange filter
¤ 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!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Camera I have owned
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good backup camera
Comment: 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.