Canon Digital IXUS 85

Best Price:
The last time we had a round-up of pocket digital cameras, just over a year ago, Canon’s IXUS 70 romped home, priced at a similar level to this one. The smallest of the snappers on test here, this year’s new sibling is just as impressive, keeping the same shell (why would you want to change something so gorgeous?) but boosting the picture resolution to 10 megapixels.

In our tests, it performed superbly across the board, coping with all sorts of conditions to get cracking results. The detail it achieves with the high pixel count is stunning, the optical image-stabilisation works extremely well and it captures natural colour without fuss.

The device is incredibly easy to use and it’s very easy to navigate the settings. We ended up putting the device into manual mode, which keeps most of the settings at a sensible automatic level but lets you tweak if you want. Usefully, the superb 2.5in display shows how your changes are going to look as you go. On a more basic level, choosing options like different flash or timer settings are available at your fingertips.

Although this is the priciest of the cameras on test, we think it’s worth it. Don’t forget to shop around, though – retailers are offering some excellent discounts on this smashing model.

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