Canon Digital IXUS 85 IS

By Leonard Goh
Jun 2, 2008

The 10-megapixel Canon Digital IXUS 85 IS was announced in March and little has been heard of it after that. Perhaps too much attention was paid to the other two shooters seen alongside it--the Digital IXUS 90 IS and Digital IXUS 970 IS--which both sport a free-wheeling dial that wasn't quite well-received, according to reviews by our sister sites. But lo and behold, the IXUS 85 IS has redeemed the shortcomings of its siblings and we think it is the better of the three.

Design

The IXUS 85 IS succeeds the design of its predecessor, the IXUS 70, with the bold, black ring around the lens that reminds us of the original IXUS (when film was still in use). However, Canon has smoothened the corners of the point-and-shoot so it doesn't appear as boxy.

By incorporating an image stabilizer (IS) into the camera, it is a little thicker at 20.4mm and heavier at 130g (compared with the IXUS 70's 19mm and 124g). But this heft is negligible as we think the IS is a feature we will gladly carry around.

The brushed metal surface lends a touch of flair to the shooter, and despite its small footprint, the IXUS 85 IS felt solid when we held it. The grip is nothing to brag about, but at least it didn't slip off sweaty palms.

The layout of the buttons on the rear of the camera is typical of what you would expect from an IXUS point-and-shoot. A switch toggles between playback, video and shooting mode, while a four-way directional pad lets you navigate the menus and select certain functions.

However, the battery catch is something we'd like Canon to work on. While most shooters have a spring-activated latch that flips open almost automatically when unlocked, the IXUS 85 IS' required some gentle coaxing (for fear of snapping the fragile-looking plastic) from us before we could access the battery and memory media slot.

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