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| Reviewed by Ed Krimen - May 2005 |
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Whether you decide to buy the Canon PowerShot A85, or take photos with another digital camera, be sure to share your digital photos with your own online photo album on Photobird.com. Your photo albums on Photobird.com are easy to make, easy to use, attractive, and fun!
If you're shopping online, consider buying the Canon PowerShot A85 at B&H, the sponsor of this review on Photobird.com. B&H is celebrating over 30 years of quality, service, selection, and price.
Camera Introduction
If you're looking for a simple, compact point-and-shoot digital camera at a great price, then the Canon PowerShot A85 might just be the camera for you. The Canon PowerShot A85 can easily fit into a small bag or purse and is very easy to use. Simply turn it on and start taking photos. The Canon PowerShot A85 has lots of manual features, but I expect that most people will never use them. They'll just leave the camera setting on "Auto" and will keep shooting.
Once you realize that the photos you're taking at night and at sporting events with the camera's "Auto" mode don't always turn out as good as they should, you can start to experiment with the different shooting modes that the Canon PowerShot A85 provides. This is one of the great things about the Canon PowerShot A85: Even though it's compact and works well with just a few button clicks, as your desire and abilities grow, this digital camera will be able to work with you.
The Canon PowerShot A85 box includes the following items:
The 4-megapixel Canon PowerShot A85 digital camera -
On the left, you can see the various photos of the camera, including the front and top of the camera in photos 2 and 3 respectively. The left side of the camera, where the USB and A/V cables connect, is shown in photo 4. Photo 5 shows the back of the camera. The CompactFlash memory card door is shown open with a CompactFlash memory card inserted in photo 6. Photo 7 shows the bottom of the camera, with photo 8 showing the difficult-to-use battery door open.
Four AA alkaline batteries -
The four AA alkaline batteries that ship with the Canon PowerShot A85 are not rechargeable. If you take a lot of photos, you should be using rechargeable batteries in your digital camera; otherwise, you'll be throwing away a lot of alkaline batteries because they usually don't last long. For more information on rechargeable AA NiMH batteries, check out the excellent overview at Steve's Digicams, the NiMH Batteries and Chargers listing at B&H, and Section 7, "Battery type" in the Photobird Top 10 List for Buying a Digital Camera.
Wrist strap -
Canon includes a good quality wrist strap to make carrying the camera easier.
32MB CompactFlash card -
The Canon PowerShot A85 comes with a 32MB CompactFlash card, but you're going to need more. 32MB doesn't hold many photos -- about 10 to 20 depending on the resolution. I recommend at least a 256MB CompactFlash card, so you can take a lot of high-resolution photos without worrying if you're doing to run out storage space on your memory card.
USB cable -
The USB cable is used to connect the camera to your computer. Be sure your computer has a USB port so that you can transfer your photos to your computer.
A/V cable -
The A/V cable is used to connect your camera to standard RCA jacks so you can view your photos on your television.
CD-ROMs
featuring Canon Digital Camera Solutions, ArcSoft Camera Suite, and USB drivers - The USB drivers enable you to transfer photos to your Windows or Macintosh computer as if the camera was another hard drive or storage device. You may not need these drivers if you are using Windows XP or Mac OS X, since the drivers are already built into those operating systems. The photo management software that Canon includes with the Canon PowerShot A85 is actually pretty good.
154-page camera user guide, software guide, and quick start guide -
The 2-page quick start guide is a nice addition, but it could be designed to be easier to read; there are a lot of arrows on the page which makes the instructions hard to follow, ironically. Even though many people won't read anything when they open the box, more people will look over the quick start guide than the camera user guide, so it's good that Canon included it. The camera user guide is quite standard: it's difficult to read and hard to follow the instructions. It's a good thing that the camera is relatively easy to use.
Review criteria
The Canon PowerShot A85 has a lot of useful features packed into its tiny body. The camera captures photos with 4 megapixels, which isn't the most available today, but it's definitely enough for most people. The 3x zoom lens is very handy and enables you to be flexible with your shot compositions. As I mentioned earlier, the manual features that the Canon PowerShot A85 has will enable you to expand your skills beyond "Auto" mode when you're ready.
The ability to record voice memos for each photo is really a nice feature and something that should be in every digital camera. This voice memo feature allows you to record details about the shot that you may not remember later. For example, you might record your location ("in front of the Guggenheim") or what your friends were doing when this happened ("Mary couldn't stop laughing...").
Finally, one feature that the Canon PowerShot A85 doesn't have that I really miss is a tilt and swivel LCD screen. The tilt and swivel LCD screen would enable you to see what you're shooting when you're adjusting the photo's composition. It's difficult to move the camera to get the composition just right while looking into the unadjustable LCD screen; instead, you need to move your head and contort your body to make sure you can see in the LCD screen well enough to position the lens for the shot. Every digital camera (except for the smallest models perhaps) should have LCD screens that can be adjusted and positioned separately from the camera lens.
The Canon PowerShot A85 is very easy to use. There aren't many digital cameras out there that are easier to use than the Canon PowerShot A85. For novices, simply turn it on, start shooting, and let the camera make the decisions. For those with more experience, the familiar Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and Manual modes are right there on the command dial.
Nonetheless, I think a couple of improvements can be made to make the camera easier to use. The On/Off power button could be larger and more responsive. I know you don't want to accidentally turn on or off the camera, but the button can be hard to push for large hands and it's been unresponsive a few times; I wasn't sure if I had turned on the camera or not. Also, the CompactFlash memory card door can be difficult to open. If you don't open it gentle enough, it feels like it might break off. The battery door is also difficult to open and close, and seems like it might break if you're not careful. These are usually not issues with other digital cameras and I'd expect that Canon can make improvements in these areas.
The Canon PowerShot A85 is compact and fits nicely into a purse, small bag, and big pockets. It's small enough to be easy to carry around, but it's not too small that it's hard to use or to lose.
The Canon PowerShot A85 is very solid and feels like it will last a very long time. Canon seems to know how to build tough digital cameras: My first digital camera was a 3-megapixel Canon G1 in 2001, and within 2 weeks of using it, it got a huge dent in the metal corner of the camera, near the zoom lever. I was surprised when I saw the dent for the first time because I wasn't sure how it happened. I think it got the dent when I dropped the bag that the camera was in. Over 4 years later, the camera is still working great and the dent is still there.
On the Canon PowerShot A85, as I mentioned above, I'm skeptical of the construction of the door to access the CompactFash memory card and the batteries. I found them difficult to open and close, and I feared permanently damaging them. Surely, there must be a better way.
Finally, the LCD screen on the Canon PowerShot A85 seems to be well-designed because it appears to be scratch resistant. Nonetheless, be sure to keep the camera in a good camera case. Canon sells a good case just for the PowerShot A85.
In general, the Canon PowerShot A85 looks like a basic digital camera. It's square, silver and gray, with buttons and an LCD screen. There's not much to set it apart from other compact cameras, except for the ugly gray bulge on the front left side of the camera, where it says "PowerShot A85". I understand the need for the extra space there to store one of the four AA batteries, but the bulge just doesn't look good and makes the camera look lop-sided. Otherwise, the rest of the camera is fairly pedestrian and looks like a standard digital camera.
The Canon PowerShot A85 starts up fairly quickly and has little or no delay between shots. The most significant delay is when the camera engages the auto-focus right before you press the shutter button all of the way down to capture the shot. There's a 0.5 to 1.5 second delay during that time when the camera and the auto-focus are working. Other than that, the camera is pretty quick and should be fast enough for all but the most demanding professional photographer.
With the LCD turned off, the Canon PowerShot A85 can go through about 250 shots on one set of four alkaline AA batteries. With the LCD on, the Canon PowerShot A85 goes through about 150 shots. In any case, it's wise to invest in a set of rechargeable batteries if you take a lot of photos.
The Canon PowerShot A85 takes excellent photos, as you can see in the unretouched photos on the left of the southeastern coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Most people should be very pleased with the quality of the photos. The Canon PowerShot A85 will work well for all but the most professional photos needed. This camera will definitely work well for casual photo takers, for vacations, family events, and other situations that don't require professional results.
The Canon PowerShot A85 takes good pictures with the flash in low light conditions. As you can see in photo 15 on the left, the Canon PowerShot A85 lit up the scene well, showing a lot of detail. This shot was made under a heavy canopy of trees where there was little light, less than some indoor locations. Photo 14 of the koi in the pond was also taken with the flash with great results.
At just over $200, the Canon PowerShot A85 is tough to beat. It's a good, solid digital camera with a wide range of useful features at an excellent price.
If you're shopping online, consider buying the Canon PowerShot A85 at B&H, the sponsor of this review on Photobird.com. B&H is celebrating over 30 years of quality, service, selection, and price.
My Favorite Features:
Simple, easy-to-use, good for novices
Small, compact size
Excellent quality photos
Good assortment of manual features
Included software is pretty good
Voice memos
Solid construction
Excellent value
Areas of Improvement:
Small LCD screen
Doesn't ship with rechargeable batteries
Quick start guide and manual could be easier to read
No tilt and swivel LCD screen
CompactFlash door and battery door are difficult to use
Design - it's very basic looking
The Canon PowerShot A85 is a great, compact digital camera, perfect for pointing and shooting. It's very easy to use and takes great photos. The Canon PowerShot A85 is also well-priced at just over $200. This combination of price and performance is tough to beat.
Be sure to also check out Canon's replacement for the PowerShot A85, the PowerShot A520. The A520 model has a 4x optical zoom lens and a smaller, more compact body. The A520 uses two AA batteries (instead of four in the A85) and uses the tiny SD/MMC memory cards (instead of CompactFlash in the A85).
Whether you decide to buy the Canon PowerShot A85, or take photos with another digital camera, be sure to share your digital photos with your own online photo album on Photobird.com. Your photo albums on Photobird.com are easy to make, easy to use, attractive, and fun!
Related Links
Photos of the Canon PowerShot A85
Sample photos from the Canon PowerShot A85
Sample photos in their original sizes from the Canon A85
Canon's PowerShot A85 website
Review of the Canon A85 at Digital Camera Resource Page
Review of the Canon A85 at Steve's Digicams
Review of the Canon A85 at Imaging Resource
Photobird's Top 10 Tips for Buying a Digital Camera
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Ed Krimen is an accomplished photographer who has taken thousands of digital photos. As co-founder and CEO of Photobird.com, Ed wants to make it truly easy for you to create attractive online photo albums to share your photos with your friends and family.
Special thanks to Jessie for her time, effort, and talent.
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