Model Design / Appearance (8.0)
The Canon SD850 IS fits into the Digital Elph series of cameras with its sleek and stylish looks. The body melds three shades of silver onto panels that wander throughout the design and converge on the camera’s left side. Sprinkle in a few chrome elements and the camera looks downright sexy. It isn’t the skinniest I’ve seen, but it almost fools the eye with its vertical lines.
Size / Portability (6.75)
It isn’t amazingly skinny, but the SD850 still manages trim measurements of 3.6 x 2.2 x 1-inch. It looks small, but feels hefty. It weighs 5.82 ounces without the battery and memory card, so add 0.88 ounces for the battery and less than a tenth of an ounce for the memory card and it clearly weighs more than one would expect.
The camera’s flat surfaces make it easy to carry around, and it fits nicely in pockets and purses. Be sure to have the wrist strap attached to the eyelet on the right side though; this hefty camera will weigh you down.
Handling Ability (6.5)
The Canon PowerShot SD850 IS looks and handles like a wet bar of soap. It has soft edges and a glossy sheen that makes hands slip off it. The nine little bumps on the upper right corner of the back won’t do much to help the handling, either. There’s not much to hang onto, and what is there is coated in a slick shell. One of my coworkers likened it to a slippery fish, as it wriggled out of his hands twice. If you want to keep this camera looking pristine, handcuff it to your wrist so it won’t hit the ground.
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Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size (6.25)
 The camera’s most frequently used controls are located on top of the camera body. The shutter release button is large and nicely placed. The zoom ring surrounds it but barely moves to the right and left. This tight movement cramps fingers.
On the back of the Canon SD850 IS are a slew of controls and icons. The mode dial is in the upper right corner of the back; about a third of the dial is exposed by a cutout portion of the body to show the icons on the dial. There is a notched edge that makes it a little easier to turn that hangs over the right side. This plastic dial could be stronger, though.
There is a small, almost recessed power button placed to keep it from getting accidentally pushed while shooting or carrying.
Print, display, and menu functions have their own designated buttons. Other features have to fight for space on the small multi-selector, which is about the size of a dime. Icons clutter the entire multi-selector: ISO/Jump on top, Flash on the right, Self-Timer/Burst/Delete on the bottom, and Macro/Landscape on the left. There are no arrows or other indicators of direction either, so moving the wrong direction in the menu happens occasionally. Overall, the controls are too small and crammed together.
Menu (7.0)
The Canon PowerShot SD850 IS has the same menu system found on most of Canon’s other models. The Recording menu is split into two, with the more frequently used settings accessed by the function button in the middle of the multi-selector. It has live previews for every item on the list and appears with the following options. Below is the Function menu.
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Exposure Mode
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Manual, Digital Macro, Color Accent, Color Swap, Stitch Assist Left to Right, Stitch Assist Right to Left
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Exposure Compensation
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-2, -1.7, -1.3, -1, -0.7, -0.3, 0, +0.3, +0.7, +1, +1.3, +1.7, +2
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White Balance
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Auto, Day Light, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Custom
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My Colors
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Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color (Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation, Red, Green, Blue, Skin Tone all with +/- 2 in full step increments)
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Metering
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Evaluative, Center-weighted average, Spot
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Compression
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Superfine, Fine, Normal
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Image Size
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L (3264 x 2448), M1 (2592 x 1944), M2 (2048 x 1536), M3 (1600 x 1200), S (640 x 480), Postcard (1600 x 1200), Widescreen (3264 x 1832)
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The Function menu is excellent and looks better than the standard Recording menu with a light gray background.
In the Recording menu, the list of items has a darker gray background with white text on it. Users can scroll through the folder tabs or through menu items with the multi-selector. The main Recording menu has a red folder tab with a camera icon on it.
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AiAF
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On, Off, Face Detect
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Digital Zoom
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Off, 1.6x, 2.0x, Standard
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Slow Synchro
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On, Off
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Red-Eye
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On, Off
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Self-Timer
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Custom (Delay 0-30 seconds and Shots 1-10)
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Auto ISO Shift
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On, Off
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AF-Assist Beam
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On, Off
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Review
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Off, 2-10 seconds, Hold
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Auto Category
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On, Off
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Display Overlay
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Off, Grid Lines, 3:2 Guide, Both
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IS Mode
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Off, Continuous, Shoot Only, Panning
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Date Stamp
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On, Off
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Set Print Button
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Not Assigned, Exposure Compensation, White Balance, Custom White Balance, Digital Tele-Converter, Display Overlay, Record Movie, Display Off, Play Sound Effect
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The second tab in the menu is yellow and has a wrench icon on it to represent the Setup menu.
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Mute
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On, Off
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Volume
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Startup, Operation, Self-Timer, Shutter, Playback all with 1-5 levels
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Touch Icons
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On, Off
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LCD Brightness
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+/- 7 in full steps
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Power Saving
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Auto Power Down (On, Off), Display Off (10 seconds – 3 minutes)
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Time Zone
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Home, World (select time zone from each on world map)
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Date/Time
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Set date and time, Daylight Saving Time
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Clock Display
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0 seconds to 3 minutes
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Format
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Low Level Format (On, Off), Cancel, OK
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File Numbering
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Continuous, Auto Reset
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Create Folder
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Create New Folder (On, Off), Auto Create (Off, Daily, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monthly), Time (0-24 hours)
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Auto Rotate
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On, Off
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Lens Retract
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0 seconds, 1 minute
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Language
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English, French, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, Korean, Greek, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Thai, Arabic, Romanian, Ukrainian
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Video System
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NTSC, PAL
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Print Method
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Auto, PictBridge
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Reset All
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Cancel, OK
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The lengthy Setup menu sits next to the purple-tabbed Customization menu. The last menu has four choices, including “off” for the following features: theme, startup image, startup sound, operation sound, self-timer sound, and shutter sound. This menu comes with sounds of howling wolves, barking dogs, and traditional beeps. The audio and startup images can be changed using the included CD-ROM, though. The software allows users to load their own startup images and audio.
The Canon PowerShot SD850 IS’s menus are typical of Canon cameras, and that’s a good thing. They are well-organized and labeled, with almost everything printed in text, so there’s no confusion over what icons represent.
Ease of Use (7.0)
In general, the Canon PowerShot SD850 IS is easy to use. The Exposure modes are mainly automatic and features default to the most all-purpose settings available. The controls and layout are intuitive, although the cluttered icons and buttons on the back of the camera don’t make things easier. This PowerShot has a few interesting features most users will never even find if they aren’t intuitive - auto ISO shift and color swap to name a few. Nevertheless, the camera is otherwise simple.
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