Having bought my very first digital camera IXUS v by Canon, I cannot turn by back on Canon.

When I get bored and see shiny competitor brands I give them a go but the quality is inferior.

I now have the IXUS 85 IS which does everything you might need form a point and shoot digital camera, without the need to have a degree to understand what it can do - yes it has loads but the function menu is a sinch.

The metal casing alone makes it the natural choice, not to mention the Japan badge. As a result you know your money has been well spent.

The quality of the pictures remains sharp and clear at low light levels and colours in the sun are not at all washed out.

Shame that this and so many cameras fail to come with a case, a small gripe.

Battery life could be better but I carry two spare. I don't need a spare SD card, as I use a 8gb which stores a 1000 photos or more. IT has 10mega pixle resolution, but I keep it set on 6 as you cannot tell the difference for regular 6x4 prints yet you get vastly more if you do.

I would buy another as I feel that Canon's new models are less robust and have had to keep up with the inferior competition to their detriment.