Canon PowerShot A85 4MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

by Canon

Product Details

• Item Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002OCF0C
• Batteries: 4 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,107 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 24, 2003

Product Description

The PowerShot A85 digital camera features a powerful Canon 3x optical zoom lens plus a high-resolution 4.0 Megapixel CCD. Offering movie recording with audio, added scene specific shooting modes and Canon's DiG!C Image Processor, the PowerShot A85 delivers impressive results. A convenient new Print/Share Button for 'one push' printing of images straight from the camera to a Canon or PictBridge compatible printer offers extended possibilities. Supports industry standard Exif 2.2 tagging for superior print image processing Canon's complete image management software suite Picture transfer protocol supports driver-less image transfer, viewing and deletion between camera and computer with newer operating systems. (Windows XP or Mac OS X v 10.1.) 1.8 LCD TFT Color Screen Realimage viewfinder Multimode electronic-flash Unit Size - 4.0 x 2.5 x 1.3 inch / Unit Weight - 7.1 ounce

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

229 of 242 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Why A80 may be better than A85 for you (AND cheaper too!), October 1, 2004

By 

Anjana Nigam (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canon PowerShot A85 4MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I have given the A85 4 stars although I would have given it 4.5 stars if possible and A80 5 stars. There are 2 basic reasons why I like A80 more than A85, but you may decide otherwise:

1)Bigger CCD Sensor - 1/1.8" on A80 vs. 1/2.7" on A85 - which means 5 million pixels compared to 4 million leading to better image quality.

2)Flip out LCD screen (1.5" on A80 vs 1.8" fixed LCD on A85)- The flip out screen is very useful when taking certain shots. I typically used the flip out screen most when taking
-shots of crowds down the center and of tall buildings by holding the camera above my head,
-in tight spot situations on hikes/treks where I could not shift much by twisting the screen sideways,
-of children/smaller objects on the ground without having to kneel on a sidewalk etc.

And NOW the A80 is cheaper too at Officedepot.com. At Amazon it is selling for much higher than the price of A85 which alone proves its popularity.

What A85 offers over A80:

1) SCN modes (beach, fireworks etc.)which may not be useful for people who like using more mnual controls as they have many presets for ISO etc. which may not give the best shot. The A80 offered an extra customizable setting in place of the SCN modes which can be useful too.

2) A85 also offers 3 resolution settings for video including 640X480 (VGA max 30 sec)while in the A80 the highest setting is 320X240 (max. 3 mins). However, the 30 sec video seems a bit short to me. I usually use this feature to capture special moments of children when my video camera is not handy.

3) Print share button: The A85 has a print share button which enables direct printing of images /downloads for marked images. This feature is not very useful for most people especially if you have Windows XP which enables slection/rotation of images and direct download as soon as the USB cable is connected to your computer even without using any Canon software.

What all AXX series cameras offer which makes this series Canon's most successful consumer series - so you won't go wrong buying any camera in the series:
--Complete Manual functions available - shutter priority, Aperture priority, White balancing, Manual focusing etc.
--Photostitch - For stitching together panoramic views. I have shot countless seascapes, 'bridge'scapes, landscapes etc using this function. It is really easy too!
-- Tone settings (Tungsten, Sunlight, Cloudy etc.),
--Special effects (B/W, Sepia, Vivid, Nuetral etc.) I have used sepia a lot when taking potraits giving them an 'old world' feel. Vivid has been helpful in special situations like a red kite against a blue sky to bring out the colors.
--Free Canon software, which works well and allows you to edit images, stitch images, make fun photos, maintain an album, change camera settings, edit videos, upload images back to camera to transfer to another computer etc.
--Use AA batteries which are available anywhere in the world. A Sony Super Quick Charger (5hours) with 4 rechargeable NiMH batteries is available for under $23 on Amazon! Charge these batteries upto 1000 times. I keep the LCD on for all my shots and usually I get 270-360 shots from each charge from the A80 including the battery power used to download these images to my computer with the USB cable and playing back these images for friends! That is quite a feat by Canon.
--Macro mode - Great for close ups of children or product shots
--Many other useful features in the latest models (including A80)like being able to edit the movies in the camera, being able to see multiple images on the LCD, auto rotation of images, ability to add voice notes to pictures, evaluative graphs on the LCD, and much much more. After thousands of shots I still keep discovering new features I haven't used or better ways to use existing features.

If you are considering the A95, it is a great camera and a upgraded version of A80, however at a hundred bucks less than the A95 (amazon price) the A80 (Officedepot price) is a great camera with almost the same features except a few differences.
-A95 offers 5 MP, and the extra MP may not be useful for you if you don't want to go over 8X10 prints
-a slightly larger flip out LCD screen which is great but it will also use up the battery faster
-SCN modes (see above)
-Print share button (see above)and
-Flexizone (you can set the focus in any one of 9 zones) which is a nice feature if you like being creative with your compositions.
Overall you have to decide whether you want to pay a hundred bucks more for these differences or any one feature may be the deal breaker for you.

In a nutshell, if you are thinking of buying the A85 consider the A80 too!

94 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Competitive camera for the price, September 29, 2004

By 

Deaners - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Canon PowerShot A85 4MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This is my first digital camera having used film cameras for a very long time and I must say that I have no buyer's remorse over my purchase of the Canon Powershot A85. I agonized over a month comparing this camera to many others like the Powershot A80 and the A95 but it finally came down to pricing and what I needed the camera to do, which made the A85 more than enough camera for me. I didn't need a 5 MP camera to start out with and so I figured this was a good starter. It's a solid camera that produces great pictures and videos. The camera is well balanced for someone like me who wants to experiment with camera settings and someone like my wife who wants a simple point and shoot. 2 sets of rechargeable Nimh batteries are a must. I've had a little bit of difficulty shooting pictures of people at night without getting a lot of red eye. Fortunately I think this is something that will require more practice to perfect. If not the software, ZoomBrowser EX, that comes with the camera totally corrects the red eye for me. It is an easy camera to use and navigate. Over the past month I've tried to take a variety of pictures ranging from portrait shots to landscapes and I have been very pleased with the pictures. Once again I highly recommend this camera for someone who is just starting out and wants a reasonably priced quality digital camera.

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff... at a low price, September 19, 2004

By 

a reviewer (San Diego) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canon PowerShot A85 4MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

Eh, I don't really agree with the review saying that the zoom is very breakable. Yes there are quite a few items that will come up if you do a search on google, but considering how many millions of cameras are out there, the percentages are pretty low. I have a Canon A-series digital camera from last year that I took everywhere with me. I just threw the thing in my pocket without a cover or anything, and it never gave me any problems. I recently took this new one out to sea on a boat where it was very windy and nothing happened to it. I also read a comment in a review that battery life is so-so. Well, you have to realize that batteries come in all flavors, from cheap alkalines to NiMH and lithiums. The kind of battery used by the review was not specified. I recommend using rechargeable NiMH batteries at 2100 mAH and up. That'll be way more than enough to fill up a 256 mb card. Well, with that said, I'm going to rate this product based on performace instead of bad luck, and in terms of what it can do, it is really very good, even compared to cameras in a higher class. Picture quality is very good and there are more manual controls than any other camera in this price range. This really is the most bang you can get for your buck. It gives great results and is easy even for the beginner to use. I really do like Canon products, even at the "budget" level the A400 blows away the competition, and you really do get more than you pay for. I'm not saying that I'll only buy Canon stuff, but you gotta admit that they are pretty good. Oh by the way, if you're looking for a sealed up camera, the Olympus Stylus 310/410 has waterproof seals, but is locked in fully automatic mode. If you don't like the way your pictures are coming out, too bad. Some of the 4 meg Kodaks offer pretty good competition, with a nice amount of manual features and 4x zoom, but the trade-off is that you get a noticeable decrease in picture quality compared to the Canons, especially with shots taken at night.