Canon PowerShot SD850 IS / IXUS 950

I purchased the camera on sale at Office Depot for 20% and received another 15% for family and friends discount. It has a normal retail price of $299. The camera is great. So far I have used it for outdoor macro photos, some regular outdoor photos, people, and my dog. All of the photos came out with great quality. The camera has a great feel, and is sturdy. The oddly placed power switch doesn't bother, but that is just personal preference. I like the longer telephoto of this over the wider angle of the SD800IS. There have only been 2 negatives of the camera so far. One is everytime you like in the viewfinder, you smudge the LCD, but this is hardly a problem because you can just rub it off with you shirt or shorts. The second is the slow burst mode. Although it was slow, I was still able to capture quality images of my dog running, with a large interval in between. Other than that I would I highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a pocket-sized high quality camera!

I own a Canon 3SIS and enjoy by SD 850 IS more. It is easy to use and fits comfortably in your pocket. I take it with me all of the time. It goes without saying that in the lower ISO settings there is little to no noise in the pictures. Using the higher ISO settings increases the noise level.

The digital macro produces nice images with flowers and insects. Adjusting the white balance to -1/3 and shooting in the manual mode creates nice pictures.

The maximum zoom produces very grainy images.

After a couple of weeks and a few hundred photos, I have to say that I'm enjoying the SD850 more and more. It's always in my purse for quick shots that I'd miss otherwise (DSLRs don't go everywhere).
I upgraded from the SD800 primarily for the 850's better high-ISO performance. So far, up to 200 ISO is very good; 400 shows some noise.
At 200, the macro shots are very clear and the detail can be just about spectacular for a p&s.
No problems yet, although sometimes in macro mode it hasn't been able to focus correctly and I've turned it off and back on -- then the macro works fine.
For nature photos, put the SD850 in manual mode, cloudy white balance, maybe 1/3 step down for exposure, and you should be satisfied with the results.

Detail in macro mode
Overall performance.

Like any p&s, noise at higher ISO.

Canon SD800

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