The Canon Powershot SD850 IS turns in a good performance for an ultra-compact camera. It does produce images with accurate exposure and good color but its ultra-compact lens lets it down with the usual corner-softness, barrel distortion and inexcusable vignetting. Noise levels are low at ISO 80 and 100 but increase rapidly from there, visibly destroying details at ISO 400 and above.

Several ultra-compact cameras do much better than this digital camera, most notably the Fuji Finepix F31fd which produces sharper images without vignetting and with much less image noise. The F31fd also sports ISO sensitivities up to 3200, a battery life of 580 shots-per-charge and semiautomatic exposure modes. Another superior and cheaper alternative to the Canon Powershot SD850 IS is the excellent Fuji Finepix F40fd. For a similar camera but with a wide-angle lens, the excellent but more expensive Canon Powershot SD800 IS is worth a look.