Canon Digital IXUS 850 IS Review

Posted on June 27th, 2008

Ixus 850 IS ranks among the finest cameras compact machines. It is clear that it has everything to him: Capacity shooting wide angle, an optical stabilizer and a high resolution of 7 megapixels.

Verdict Canon Digital IXUS 850 IS
Quite a stylish and compact body, a wide-angle lens, very good photo quality and fast performance, the Canon Digital IXUS 850 IS is a remarkable automatic.

Canon had struck a blow with a high-end appliance stylish 6-megapixel, the IXUS 800 IS. With a sensational goal, he produced remarkable pictures, all in an attractive metal enclosure and compact. With the IXUS 850 IS who succeeded him, the manufacturer improves the design of the aircraft in the rewarding of a larger objective angle sensor and a larger resolution.

The compact body of this 7-megapixel camera is brilliant, rounded by location and very attractive. However, it is perhaps just a little too stylish. Thus, the button is a small semi-oval informed that flush with the top of the camera, if you did not above, one could easily take it for a light or a design error.
However, apart from these minor defects, the IS 850 is a standard camera designed in a spirit of simplicity. It is decorated with a rocking quadridirectionnelle navigation, buttons and some other system trigger surrounded by a zoom lever with which we are now accustomed. The compact all-metal box weighs 170 grams for 2.5 cm thick, a format suitable for most pockets. Despite its small size, the camera retains sufficient space to accommodate an LCD of 6.35 cm and an optical viewfinder, a feature rare but welcome for an ultra model.
The flagship feature of IS 850 is its objective 28-105 mm (equivalent to a 35 mm camera) f/2.8-f / 5.8 with image stabilization. The focal range of 3.8 x zoom gives the user the possibility of using focal lengths wide angle, while enjoying a powerful zoom slightly higher than the 3x zoom lens of an automatic lambda . The IXUS 800 IS was equipped with a 4x zoom, but the extreme wide-angle 28 mm of IXUS 850 IS compensates by far its setting slightly lower than the maximum telephoto.

Canon Digital IXUS 850 IS

In addition to its multi-purpose, the IS 850 offers some features practices. It is thus possible to increase the sensitivity of the sensor up to 1600 ISO to take pictures in low light conditions or photographing fast action scenes. However, given the noise present at the image with this setting, it is better not to exceed 800 ISO. It is possible to record video at 30 fps VGA or jump to 60 fps QVGA quality (320×240 pixels24) to film an action which will be played in slow motion (at a speed twice below). However, if you look of hand, change model! Like the IS 800, setting opening and sealing of the IS 850 can not be changed at all, its modes of development are fully automatic and manual mode can only adjust the exposure compensation, color correction, measurement and white balance.

The Digital IXUS 850 IS uses the image processor Digic III, according to Canon, optimizes the image quality, performance and autonomy. We have not seen significant improvements over the already satisfactory performance of the IS 800, IS 850, but we seemed a little more reactive than its predecessor. We freely excellent performance during our tests. We were able to take our first shot only 1.1 seconds after power. Then, the interval between every shot, 1.3 seconds, grew only 2 seconds with the flash. The time of the shutter was found about him negligible, at 0.4 seconds. Only the burst mode of the aircraft has disappointed us.

Our photos were attractive, presenting a full refund details and good color reproduction. Apart from a slight effect on fringe of purple coloration along the contours of the subjects light, we have seen little distortion or aberration on our photos. The level of noise in the image was acceptable up to ISO 800, manifested in the form of a fine grain that made the colors more dull without undue harm to the image quality. At ISO 1600, the results were very different: sparkling and polluted by countless parasites, photos gave the impression of being received via an antenna television.

The Canon IXUS 850 IS is a good camera automatically. It is compact, includes a wide-angle lens with image stabilization and produces good quality shots relatively quickly. If you are looking for a higher resolution and are ready to give up the image stabilizer (what we do not recommend), Canon IXUS 900 Ti and the Casio Exilim EX-Z1000 are 10-megapixel ultracompacts.

Filed under Canon, Digital Cameras |

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