Canon PowerShot SD850 IS

Viewfinder (3.25)
The Canon PowerShot SD850 has an optical viewfinder, but it’s so small you can hardly see into it. When the lens zooms in, the viewfinder zooms too – although what the user sees isn’t exactly what the lens sees. The optical viewfinder seems to crop the image from all sides when the lens is zoomed wide. When zoomed to its full telephoto capacity, the viewfinder sees more than what’s recorded, which is a bit dangerous. If you look in the viewfinder, frame a family portrait, and take a picture, chances are the back row will have their heads cut off. The optical zoom viewfinder is a good backup plan if battery power is running low and a few more pictures are necessary, but its small size and inaccuracy make it hard to rely on.

LCD Screen (8.0)
Another reason for users to avoid the optical viewfinder is the much larger and 100 percent accurate LCD screen. It measures 2.5 inches diagonally and has a scratch and reflection resistant coating. The low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD is populated with 230,000 pixels, giving users a nice smooth view.

The image on the screen can be seen when it is viewed from directly in front or to the sides of the eyes. When viewed from above or below, however, the screen looks more like a film negative.

It’s hard to see the LCD screen in sunlight, even with its anti-reflection coating. The coating casts a hint of purple across the image on the screen and reflects direct sunlight - as well as the grease that collects on the screen. Fingerprints and other grease seem to be attracted to its surface. There is a 15-level brightness adjustment for the screen: this can be boosted for more visibility in bright light, but also dries out the battery faster.

The LCD’s display can be turned off with a push of the display button to the lower right of the LCD screen. Hitting the button multiple times adds mode labels and icons. When the shutter button is pressed halfway, shooting information such as aperture, shutter speed, and ISO are displayed. Though the SD850 lacks a live histogram, there is a histogram displayed with each image in the Playback mode.

The Canon PowerShot SD850 IS’s LCD screen is adequately sized and has great resolution. It is tough to see under bright lights but provides a fabulous view otherwise.

Flash (6.75)
The SD850’s flash is the same lousy unit that was included on the older SD700. It’s is located in the upper right corner of the front where the left fingers often wrap around and block the light emitted from the flash.

Flashes would ideally be placed directly above the lens for more even coverage. With its current placement, the SD850’s flash casts shadows to the side of subjects. There is a brighter spot on the left side of images, while the tops and bottoms of the images are also left in the dark. This spotty flash coverage doesn’t look flattering at all, especially in portraits: it is best avoided.

The flash only reaches 1.6 to 11 feet when the lens is zoomed out and 1.6 to 6.6 feet when the lens is zoomed in (with the ISO set to auto). The most flash modes are available in the Manual mode from the right side of the multi-selector: Auto, On, and Off. The Red-eye Reduction and Slow Synchro Functions can be turned on in the Recording Menu. The Canon SD850 IS’s flash is unimpressive, with weak and spotty coverage.

Zoom Lens (7.5)
On the front of the SD850 is a Canon 4x optical zoom lens with an optical image stabilization system. The lens has Canon’s exclusive UA glass and measures 5.8-23.2mm. The lens extends outward in three segments when the camera is turned on, but lays flat in the body with a plastic lens cover over the glass when turned off. The lens is equivalent to 35-140mm in the more traditional 35mm format, which isn’t very wide. Big group pictures and landscape shots will have to squeeze in the frame, or users can opt for the Stitch Assist mode or wide-screen image size for extra-wide shots.

The Canon PowerShot SD850 IS’s lens is controlled by a small ring that surrounds the shutter release button. The ring barely moves right and left; it feels a bit too tight and cramps up fingers. The lens control isn’t that great. There isn’t a zoom display to show where in the range users currently are, like on most other digital cameras. When tapping the ring lightly to zoom in, users can only stop at eight focal lengths. There are seven stops zooming out. Most unfortunate is the sort of backfiring motion the lens performs before settling on a focal length. This will be frustrating for users who want a perfectly-framed subject.

The lens has a maximum aperture of f/2.8 when the lens is zoomed wide and f/5.5 when zoomed in. The telephoto’s max aperture isn’t very impressive: it doesn’t let in a lot of light.

This digital camera has 4x digital zoom available, which can be made available in increments of 1.6x or 2x. It can be turned off too, as it should because it degrades the image quality.

More impressive is the optical image stabilization system included on the SD850. It can be set to function in the Recording menu with its three modes: Continuous, Shoot Only, and Panning. The Continuous mode keeps the image stabilization working at all times, the Shoot Only turns on the image stabilization when the shutter release button is pushed down halfway, and the Panning mode only corrects vertical shaking. This system is most noticeably effective in the Movie mode where it makes the difference between jumpy and stable movies.

The image stabilization system is one of the defining features of this digital camera, and Canon uses it to justify the $50 price hike. Is it worth it? It allows users to take better pictures and videos, but there are less expensive cameras that carry effective optical/mechanical image stabilization systems and similar modes and features.