Canon Powershot SX230 HS Digital Camera (Black)

"A great product from the industry leader in Imaging products. Superb build quality, great lens, very user friendly menus. Supers IQ and Full HD movies.

Overall, a perfect compact camera with a super zoom lens."

"The 390mm lens is 730mm lens equivalent. If you bought this lens alone for a DSLR interchangable lens it would cost around 15,000$... So it is a great way to experience 730mm for a fraction of the cost.



Use this camera to turn any mundane scenery or subject into something special. The Zoom gives you the ability to Frame the subject in endlessly more ways than a wide angle this way just sitting at a Cafe everything around you is reachable special in great detail.



The Digic4 produces sharp great color pictures.



Easy to use...



The Manual mode is great for learning how to take better pictures.



On the down side: The GPS log function where the GPS stays on and tracks all your movement eats up the battery fast... But you can disable it. The other mode where it only records location data per shot works fine and doesnt require too much battery...



Still an extra Battery is recomended...



Final words: I would recomend this impressive machine to anyone from enthusiast to professional. EXPERIENCE the 14X ZOOM :) enjoy..."

"I am a professional photographer who absolutely hates hauling his Nikon D3s around for family events. I also don't particularly like carrying a still camera AND a video camera.



After doing my homework, I decided to give this little camera a try. I have to say that I have been blown away by the quality of the stills, and mostly by the high definition video! And it's SO freakin' small! Fits in my pants pocket easily.



You have to understand that I'm coming off of an "old" mini DV TAPE video camera. So, to go from that to this digital camera is totally like night and day.



I bought three new digital SDHC cards, and the best value of the three is the Lexar Platinum II 32gb 100x card. It is fast enough to record video at 1080p without a single hiccup. I did get a Sandisk 32gb Extreme card too, but I really wasted my money on that one only because the 200x speed is just not needed with this camera.



My main gripe is that the Canon batteries don't last long AT ALL! I bought a few extra $3.00 generic batteries that work as well or even better! You can find them on that online auction site and other e-tailers.



The image stabilization feature works superbly, but I do notice some "jittery" effects when panning the camera. I'm sure this is due to the camera trying to keep the image stabilized.



Man, with a 32gb card, you can shoot like forever with this camera! And hours of video will fit on the card. I'm in heaven! No more transferring poor-quality tape imagery (which takes forever) to my computer.



I decided to get a compact monopod for this camera because when doing video, it gets difficult to hold the camera for so long. I also bought the underwater housing for it to take it diving. Stills AND video under water! I can't wait to try that out!



I also got the little Canon HF-DC1 flash to go with my new system. It works well most of the time (it has to "see" the flash firing on the camera, so it pretty much won't work in bright light). It is also quite powerful even at its lowest power setting, so it works best on subjects kind of far away. Too close and you'll blow 'em out!



I hope this review helps!"

"I originally got the SX230 HS for the FULL HD, 24p movie mode; (24 progressive frames-per-second @ 1920x1080) and also find that I am using the still picture function more often. For pictures, you can keep it simple on "Auto" and get impressive results; the images look balanced and crisp.



There is also the option for manual adjustments; aperture, exposure (including locking the exposure/which is important for video), white balance and ISO - all for both the picture and video modes.



There are a lot of extras in the menus, like being able to change the colors, fish eye and miniature effects.



The SX230 HS doesn't have a touch screen, yet comes with a wheel that you can spin or click. The wheel is very easy to use and you can just fly through the options. It's easier to use than a touchscreen; you don't have to peck at things.



I've been editing the videos with Sony Vegas Platinum 11 and has worked out very well. The SX230 HS probably won't replace a camcorder for long events, but it's perfect for short clips.



Thanks to J&R for the great service at the camera department in the Park Row store!"

"I purchased this for travel and general purpose pocketability. It's an upgrade from an old Canon S410 Elph (wonderful but its time has passed) and a Fuji XP10 (disastrous purchase). My main camera is a Nikon D300 but there are lots of times where it and lenses are just too heavy to lug around or it would make me too conspicuous. When I go back to Africa I'll take the D300 but for knocking around Europe I'll take the SX230.



I've been playing with the SX230 and it's doing a nice job for snapshots and I've tried stressing it a bit with predictable mixed results. It does ok in low light with fairly stationary subjects but photographs of my horse working in an arena required me to bump up the ISO past the sweet spot of quality in order to stop motion. For comparison it did easily as well as any other point and shoot I've tried under those conditions. I got some 'usable' shots but unsurprisingly my D300 is far more capable.



The color sensitivity has a hard time with my Jackmanii clematis (deep purple). Playing with temperatures I could get anything from burgundy to blue but it never matched the deep purple of real life. I've not found a point and shoot yet that handles that color so it's not a slight on this camera.



I haven't really had any issue with the pop up flash on startup. If you hold the camera with your left hand like I do your forefinger naturally sits there and it just doesn't pop open when you turn it on.



I bought the black version as I didn't want it to be so glaringly visible in a crowd. It' kind of a matte surface so pretty discrete.



Zooming in and out is reasonably fast. It's almost a little too fast if you're trying to use the movie mode. It's easy to overdo it and end up overcorrecting.



Color rendition matches my expectation of Canon (other than that purple challenge), it has loads of modes I haven't tried to play with plus my most commonly used manual overrides.



Menus are pretty easy to figure out and I haven't had to resort to the manual yet. I do wish the delete image didn't require me to move my thumb from the func set button to the toggle to confirm delete. Nikon has it right!



I doubt I'll use most of the modes... sepia, b&w, fisheye, smartshutter but they're there if I want them.



I haven't played with GPS yet. Battery life is, frankly, more important to me than tagging.



I think this will be a fine travel and knockabout town camera. It isn't the most visually elegant design but very, very capable. Guess I'm a function over form person all else being equal!"

"Most of the time I use it for catching the aciene from my environment and family...I love picturing!



The zoom power and the quality of the pics in night is marvelous

It is user friendly!



By the way the life length of the battery is fairly low...and need charging a lot"

"I am pleasantly surprised by the small and feature-packed Powershot SX230. I received the camera a few days ago and have been testing out all of the features. [...] Anyone with children will LOVE the slow motion movie - what a kick! Who doesn't like to watch that soccer shot, layup or base hit over and over in slow motion?? I haven't needed the GPS yet, but it's a cool, fun extra that I'll use when traveling.All in all, I really love the picture quality and ease of use of this little beauty. Highly recommend."

"Being a photographer (I have 3 DSLR Nikon D700 with great Nikon glass) I already have some great cameras but sometimes I just want something small to take along, say to the beach or a family picnic for instance. Being a "nikon" guy my whole life, it was a tough decision between this Canon and the Nikon S9100. In the end the decision came down to more control with the Canon and a slightly smaller size over the Nikon. The Nikon has some features this one doesn't... longer zoom for one.



I've used the Nikon S9100 and frankly both that and this Canon SX230 take great photos considering they're a "point and shoot". Not in the same league as my DSLR Nikon with Nikon glass but very good none the less. I wouldn't have gone wrong with either camera.



My only negative with the Canon is battery life which isn't much... and leave the gps off unless you really need/want it. That eats up the battery. If you buy this camera get at least one extra battery, which you should do with any camera and two extras would be better.



Battery life is the only reason I gave this camera a 4 and not a 5. For a point and shoot, it doesn't get any better. All the "pros and cons" I checked are based on this being a point and shoot and not a DSLR with great glass. Bottom line: this camera is pretty much what I was wanted for the times I didn't want to drag around a heavy DSLR or two."

"I swore I'd never go back to compacts again until I saw this up and coming release from Canon. It combines everything a casual shooter could want from a small camera. Fantastic zoom, fantastic image quality, loads of presets, and great video for such a small sensor. I have only messed with the GPS a couple times and it did take a while to lock on, but the function does work. I almost second guessed myself with the purchase considering my other cameras are of the SLR type (I love my 5DmII), but after spending a couple weeks using this I am very happy with the purchase. On to the bad parts . . My biggest complaint is the battery overall. I realize it is small, but it drains fast (and that is without the gps on). It also charges super slow for its size. I think the battery on my 5DmII fully drained vs this fully drained, my 5DmII battery would probably charge faster. I had to get a second battery (not a Canon replacement due to cost and how long it doesn't last). The movie button is my next partial gripe about the camera. It is slightly in a spot with a goove so unless you are looking directly at it you will have a hard time hitting it vs the playback button (if you are trying to take a video of yourself with friends or whatever). I didn't find fault with the pop up flash (required considering the lens barrell on this thing). One last thing that isn't a complaint/problem really is the zoom during movie mode. It is significantly slower than when doing photos so if you are trying to zoom in fast to get a nearly last minute video of something random like a deer in a field, you might miss it. Zoom first, then hit record :P



For the price, the quality, and the features you get in such a small package I would definitely purchase this again no questions asked."

"This little camera takes great pictures and nice HD video. Great for a vacation by having both a video and a picture camera in one. It took a while to come out, but the camera was worth waiting for. The only negatives are that the Pop-Up flash is easily blocked when turning the camera on and the Full-HD is only 24FPS. It's a solid camera that does a lot of the thinking for you to give a great picture. A little more pricey than it's Elph counterpart but the money is in the better lens."