Digital Trends

Canon PowerShot SD850 IS

August 30th, 2007 | by David Elrich

Type of Camera
Compact digital still camera with built-in flash, 4x Optical/4x Digital/16x Combined Zoom with Optical Image Stabilizer (IS) System


Image Capture Device
Type
8.0 Megapixel, 1/2.5 inch type Charge Coupled Device (CCD)

Total Pixels
Approx. 8.3 Megapixels

Effective Pixels
Approx. 8.0 Megapixels


Lens
Focal Length
5.8-23.2mm f/2.8-5.5 (35mm film equivalent: 35-140mm)

Digital Zoom
4x

Focusing Range
Normal: 1.6 ft./50cm-infinity
Macro: 0.79 in.-1.6 ft./2-50cm (WIDE), 1.3-1.6 ft./40-50cm (TELE)
Digital Macro: 0.79 in.-1.6 ft./2-50cm (W)

Autofocus System
TTL Autofocus


Viewfinder & Monitor
Viewfinder
Real-image optical zoom viewfinder

LCD Monitor
2.5-inch low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD

LCD Pixels
Approx. 230,000 pixels

LCD Coverage
100%


Aperture and Shutter
Maximum Aperture
f/2.8 (W) - f/5.5 (T)

Shutter Speed
15-1/1600 sec.


Exposure Control
ISO Sensitivity
Auto, High ISO Auto, ISO 80/100/200/400/800/1600 (Standard Output Sensitivity. Recommended Exposure Index)

Light Metering Method
Evaluative*, Center-weighted average, Spot**
* Control to incorporate facial brightness in Face Detection AF
** Metering frame is fixed to the center
Program AE; AE lock available

Exposure Compensation
+/-2 stops in 1/3-stop increments


White Balance
White Balance Control
Auto, Preset (Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H), Custom


Flash
Built-in Flash
Auto, Auto w/ Red-eye Reduction, Flash On, Flash On w/ Red-eye Reduction, Flash Off

Flash Range
Normal: 1.6-11 ft./50cm-3.5m (W), 1.6-6.6 ft./50cm-2.0m (T) (when sensitivity is set to ISO Auto)

Recycling Time
10 sec. or less (battery voltage=3.7V)

Flash Exposure Compensation
N/A


Shooting Specifications
Shooting Modes
Auto, Camera M, Special Scene (Portrait, Foliage, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, Aquarium, Underwater, Indoor, Kids & Pets, Night Snapshot, Creative Light Effect), Color Accent, Color Swap, Digital Macro, Stitch Assist, Movie

Self-Timer
Activates shutter after an approx. 2-sec./10-sec. delay, Custom

Wireless Control
Not available

Continuous Shooting
Approx. 1.3 fps


Image Storage
Storage Media
SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, MultiMediaCard

File Format
Design rule for camera file system, DPOF Version 1.1

JPEG Compression Mode
Still Image: Exif 2.2 (JPEG)
Movie: AVI (Image: Motion JPEG; Audio: WAVE (Monaural))

Number of Recording Pixels
Still Image: 640 x 480 (Small), 1,600 x 1,200 (Medium 3), 2,048 x 1,536 (Medium 2), 2,592 x 1,944 (Medium 1), 3,264 x 2,448 (Large), 3,264 x 1,832 (Widescreen)
Movie: 640 x 480 / 320 x 240 (30 fps/15 fps) available up to 4GB or 60 minutes per clip, 640 x 480 (2 hours at 0.5 fps/1 fps), 320 x 240 (1 min. at 60 fps), 160 x 120 (3 min. at 15 fps