Canon - PowerShot SD800 IS / IXUS 850 IS Digital Camera Review

I did quite a bit of research to track down a good camera for us - first time digital camera buyers.  The 800IS combines the three features I was most focused on:

1. Image Stabilization - The 800IS does this well, except when you have the flash off and try to take a photo indoors.  We still haven't figure out how to do this.
2. Point and Shoot - Pre-set your 'Auto' settings, flip the dial to 'Auto' and click away.  Nice and easy, we're not the type to buy fancy lenses and twiddle with settings too much.
3. Customization - Although I don't want to fiddle with settings all the time I have a lot of choices when I choose to use them by going away from the 'Auto' setting.  Changing between photo sizes and types of photos is generally a breeze.

Nearly every photo we've taken has come out well, except, as noted, when we try to take a photo with the flash off which seems to turn off the image stabilization.  I figure there has to be a fix for this, but I haven't found it, yet.  I'm sure it's related to the exposure.  Large, high quality photos have produced sharp, nice prints from our $80 multi-function Brother printer that prints photos.

The manual is fairly comprehensive and easy to follow.  I haven't really used the software much, so I can't speak to that.  Downloading with the included USB cable to the computer works fast and easy, or you can just pop out the SD card and put that in a card reader, which is what we usually do.  This works just fine, but if you delete photos this way it can mess with the camera's head a bit, go ahead and copy all the photos off and then reformat the card when you put it back in the camera.

The SD card that comes with the camera is a joke.  You can take roughly 3-8 photos of reasonable quanitty with this card.  I think you can take a second of video.  I don't really know why they bothered including it.  I went out almost immediately and picked up  a 2 GB SanDisk Ultra II and now can take a half hour of video or thousands of photos of good quality, more than 700 of excellent quality.  The battery seems to last a long time and recharging is a breeze with the included charger (you pop out the battery and put it in the charger, which plugs directly into an outlet).  You'll need to buy a camera case, but a small one will hold the camera, charger, and spare cards with ease.  For quick use, just slip this small camera into your pocket and you'll barely notice it (unless you're wearing tight jeans - be reasonable).  All in all I think I made an excellent choice.