Our first sample image was taken on a very bright day with the 860IS / SD870 IS zoomed-out to wide angle and set to its lowest 100 ISO sensitivity. As such this represents perfect conditions. The 28mm coverage has allowed us to easily fit in the entire yacht and the 100% crops reveal a high level of detail with no noise or fringing issues to worry about.

Landscape: 4.83MB, Manual mode, 1/320, f8, ISO 100, 4.6-17.3mm at 4.7mm (equivalent to 28mm)

						Another shot taken on a sunny day with the 860IS / SD870 IS zoomed-out to wide angle and set to 100 ISO. As above, the crops are sharp, detailed and show no evidence of noise or coloured fringing, again despite some areas with high contrast subject matter.

Landscape: 4.16MB, Manual mode, 1/40, f2.8, ISO 100, 4.6-17.3mm at 4.6mm (equivalent to 28mm)

The 1/40 exposure wasn’t the slowest we’ve experienced in these conditions, but has still allowed the fast-moving water to blur, while the IS has helped eliminate any possible camera shake.

The crops are again sharp and detailed, showing low noise and well-corrected optics.

Despite using its widest aperture, the depth of field remains relatively large, so you’re unlikely to get that really out-of-focus background effect on the 860IS / SD870 IS.

The increase to 200 ISO has resulted in a handful of faint noise artefacts at 100%, but nothing to worry about.

The crops reveal a slight increase in noise, but again nothing to be overly concerned about in this particular example.

Another shot at 400 ISO, this time taken in dimmer indoor lighting conditions.

Examine the image at 100% and noise artefacts are certainly visible, particularly in shadow areas, but there’s still plenty of detail remaining.

The crops reveal an inevitable increase in visible noise, but the impressive thing is how much detail remains. We’d say this is certainly usable for smaller prints and could also stand up reasonably well to third-party noise reduction software after the event.

The colour is looking a little washed-out and the crops show a great deal of noise and undesirable artefacts.

Like most compacts, this is for emergency use only, but at least 800 ISO on the 860IS / SD870 IS is pretty good and Canon’s not bothered with ridiculous higher sensitivities still.