I'm a pretty experienced photographer.  It was my major in college, and at times I've had to do it for a living.  The Sony s85 will yield good, sharp prints up to 8x10".  It may go larger, but I've never tried it.  As with any digital camera, you'll get better prints by taking them into Photoshop and setting the levels and color balance.  Right out of the camera, your photos will look quite a bit better if you use aperture prioity with the one-touch white balance.
The Zeiss lens is good and sharp, fast, and has good bokeh (meaning that out of focus areas, like the background, are pleasing to look at).  I wish it would stop down farther than f8, but nothing's perfect.  The lens seems to perform well throughout its range of apertures and focal lengths.  It has a little distortion at the wide end, but I can usually live with it.
Construction of the camera is very solid except for the little door on the side of the camera.  Mine's about to break off, but I don't care about stuff like that.  If you do, be careful not to drop it with the little door open, like I did.  The controls on the camera are very intuitive and easy to navigate.  I never have read the manual.
The battery life on the s85 is amazing.  I almost always have the LCD on, yet I never have run out of power.
There is one area in which this camera is seriously lacking: speed.  It takes a little too long for the camera to boot, and I've missed a few shots that way.  Mainly, though, the problem is the shutter lag.  If you really know how to use the camera, you can get around it by shooting wide shots in full manual mode.  That way it will fire the shutter reasonably quickly upon demand.  Still, if I know my subject's is potentially moving, I will put this camera down and grab another.
It's also a little noisy in the blue channel at the higher ISO's.  That's normal for a consumer digital, though.  If you can, shoot with it set to 100.
I'm a pretty experienced photographer. It was my major in college, and at times I've had to do it for a living. The Sony s85 will yield good, sharp prints up to 8x10". It may go larger, but I've never tried it. As with any digital camera, you'll get better prints by taking them into Photoshop and setting the levels and color balance. Right out of the camera, your photos will look quite a bit better if you use aperture prioity with the one-touch white balance. The Zeiss lens is good and sharp, fast, and has good bokeh (meaning that out of focus areas, like the background, are pleasing to look at). I wish it would stop down farther than f8, but nothing's perfect. The lens seems to perform well throughout its range of apertures and focal lengths. It has a little distortion at the wide end, but I can usually live with it. Construction of the camera is very solid except for the little door on the side of the camera. Mine's about to break off, but I don't care about stuff like that. If you do, be careful not to drop it with the little door open, like I did. The controls on the camera are very intuitive and easy to navigate. I never have read the manual. The battery life on the s85 is amazing. I almost always have the LCD on, yet I never have run out of power. There is one area in which this camera is seriously lacking: speed. It takes a little too long for the camera to boot, and I've missed a few shots that way. Mainly, though, the problem is the shutter lag. If you really know how to use the camera, you can get around it by shooting wide shots in full manual mode. That way it will fire the shutter reasonably quickly upon demand. Still, if I know my subject's is potentially moving, I will put this camera down and grab another. It's also a little noisy in the blue channel at the higher ISO's. That's normal for a consumer digital, though. If you can, shoot with it set to 100.