Canon Powershot A85 Review

The A85 features a 3X (35-105mm in the 35mm format) f/2.8-4.8 all-glass aspherical zoom lens. When the camera is powered down the lens is retracted inside of the body and a built in shutter closes to completely protect the lens.

An advanced TTL AiAF 9-point autofocus system permits the camera to automatically select the primary subject even when off-center. Focusing range is 1.5 feet to infinity in normal mode and macro coverage is 2 inches to 1.5 feet in wide angle and 10 inches to 1.5 feet in telephoto. In low light conditions the focus-assist lamp (see above) helps to illuminate the subject for accurate focusing.

Attaching auxiliary Canon lenses - press the button and remove the dress ring, attach the optional LA-DC52C Conversion Lens Adapter and then the Canon WC-DC52 0.7x Wide Converter lens, TC-DC52 2.4x Tele-converter lens or the 250D Close-up Lens.

The LA-DC52C adapter also allows the use of any 52mm filters or lenses.

The built in flash offers Auto, On, Off, Red-Eye Reduction On or Auto. Flash range is 1.5 to 14 ft. in wide angle, 1.5 to 8.2 ft. in telephoto or 10 in. to 1.5 ft. in macro mode. The AF-assist lamp also serves as a red-eye reduction lamp (see first picture above.)

You can frame your pictures with the color LCD or to save precious battery power you can use the optical finder. This is a coupled viewfinder with approx. 82% coverage. It has no dioptric adjustment. Next to the finder are two LEDs that indicate the flash and focus status.

On the top you'll find the On/Off button, the shutter release with the zoom lens control mounted around it. In playback mode the zoom lever functions as the index and magnified image control. The Mode Dial with positions for: Manual, Aperture priority AE, Shutter-speed priority AE, Program AE, Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Night, Fast, Slow, Special Scene, Stitch-Assist and Movie. See the next page for more information about the exposure modes.

In the upper right is the Play / Record switch. The 4-way controller lets you navigate menus and select images during playback, the SET button accepts menu selections, the MENU button calls up and dismisses the menu screens, and the FUNCtion button gives you access to many settings (Exposure compensation, white balance, ISO, Color effects, image quality and image size.), it also functions as the image delete button in playback mode. In record mode you press "Up" to change flash modes and press "Down" to change the focus mode. Buttons under the LCD (left to right); the new Print/Share button which speeds and simplifies printing to Direct Print and PictBridge compliant printers, as well as transferring images to operating systems like Windows XP, Me, 2000, and 98, and the DISPlay button turns the color LCD on/off and controls the amount of data displayed on it.

See the next page for more information about the Record mode menus.

The I/O ports: AV Out handles monaural audio and video to connect to a TV set with the supplied cable. The DIGITAL port connects USB to the computer for image download and camera control with the supplied RemoteCapture software. It also allows for Direct printing to any PictBridge compatible printer, the Canon Card Photo Printer CP-200, CP-300, and Canon Bubblejet Direct photo printers. Not shown is the DC INput jack on the back for an optional AC power supply.

The Powershot A85 is equipped with a Type I CompactFlash card slot and comes with a High Speed 32MB CF card. It can handle any capacity CF Type I card.

The A85 can be powered by four standard AA-type batteries, alkaline, NiMH (nickel metal hydride), or lithium cells. Canon claims with AA Alkaline batteries you can capture approx. 250 shots (LCD on), 800 shots (LCD off), and 280 minutes of continuous playback time. With NiMH cells Canon clams approx. 500 shots (LCD on), 1200 shots (LCD off), and 360 minutes of continuous playback time. Check out our NiMH rechargeable battery page for more info on NiMH battery types.

Canon also offers a battery and charger kit CBK4-200 that includes both a charger unit and four rechargeable AA-size NiMH batteries. The A85 can also be powered by the AC Adapter Kit ACK600 for unlimited runtime from your wall outlet.

For all-weather protection and use underwater to depths up to 130 feet, the WP-DC30 Waterproof Case is just the ticket for the Powershot A85.