Note: In the US, this camera is sold under the name, "PowerShot SD870 IS".

Following the example of certain HP or Kodak compacts,  the Ixus 860 IS has a panoramic function.  The principle is very simple. After the first shot, a "ghost" image appears on part of the screen and you just have to align the next shot with the previous one.  While other cameras directly create the panoramic image, unfortunately, the Ixus 860 IS records the photos separately.  You then have to assemble the different shots on your computer with the standard accompanying software, Photostitch.
To say that the Canon Ixus 860 IS was very much awaited would be exaggerated.  Succeeding the small yet superb 850 IS isn’t an easy job and this new Canon compact has its work cut out for it. So is the Ixus 860 IS up to for the challenge?

Handling

In hand, the Ixus 860 IS is very pleasant.  The casing rather nicely exhibits a nice combination of plastic and metal parts.  The overall product is an aesthetic success even if we prefer the former all metal body.  Canon also succumbed to the very trendy "black glossy" look (see the Samsung TVs) and on the back where we find a superb 3 inch screen in black lacquer plastic.


Finishing touches are excellent and the overall feel is very solid.  Despite the presence of a large screen, the size of the interface is still reasonable and the tactile dial a real success.  The reputation of Canon menus is already established and the Ixus 860 IS can be mastered in a few seconds.  The high quality screen offers a fluid display, contrasted image, and very large viewing angles.  This small compact is also very reactive at less than a second for startup and a recording time of 1.1 s.  The autofocus is also good and picks out the subject very rapidly.   Finally, the face detection function is also very efficient.

Quality of images

The high quality lens and DIGIC processor give excellent results.  In lower sensitivities (80 - 100 ISO), images are clean with lots of detail and there is judicious accentuation.  Precision is better than its main rivals, notably the Panasonic FX33 and the extra million pixels give it a slight advantage compared to the Ixus 850 IS.  There is efficient white balance resulting in rather neutral images even under artificial lighting.   As for colorimetry, it’s very saturated.  Reds, greens and blues are especially (overly) intense and don’t really do justice to color fidelity.  There has been some improvement in noise control and photos are usable up until 800 ISO.   However, contrary to the majority of manufacturers which "smooth out" noise to the detriment of details, Canon prefers to keep the precision by leaving a significant amount of « waves ».   On the list of downsides, we would put (in big letters) very significant deformation at 28 mm and the presence of purple fringes on contrasted subjects.