Canon IXUS 85 IS

Launch price £240.00

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Stuff says

Tiny, intuitive and a great performer, the IXUS 85 is the ideal carry-anywhere camera

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Stuff.tv hot buy

We’re regaining confidence in Canon’s powers of compact camera making. No sooner had the impressive IXUS 90 IS left our testing labs than this tiny 10MP model turned up on our doormat.

The IXUS 85 IS redefines what you expect from such a teensy body. It feels solid and boasts invaluable niceties such as a proper viewfinder and optical image stabilizer. There are compromises of course – the LCD is a bog-standard 2.5in and the lens only goes to 3x zoom – but there’s only so much you can miniaturise. And the IXUS 85 is very miniature.

Intuitive interface
After finding the user interfaces on the recent IXUS 90 and IXUS 970 to be blighted with overly convoluted controls, it was a relief to see everything minimized yet clearly labeled on the IXUS 85. It’s likely you’ll pick it up and know how to do everything you need within a minute of playing around.

Start-up time and focusing is also awesomely fast, which combines with the intuitive controls to make this camera effortless and worry-free in use.

For battling against the holiday sun, the optical viewfinder is also a gift from the gods. It offers a very tiny view out on the world, but it’s certainly better than squinting to see what’s behind the harsh reflections on your LCD.