Canon PowerShot SX230 HS 12.1 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 14x Image Stabilized Zoom 28mm Wide-Angle Lens and 1080p Full-HD Video (Black) (OLD MODEL)

I hope I can get across to you how thrilled I am with this camera, it far exceeded my expectations. I appreciate how small it is, it is barely larger than my iPhone. This was a major factor to me, I wanted a camera that would fit easily into my pocket. Don't let the small size deter you, this camera takes excellent photos! I have used it primarily on Auto mode and have found it almost always does the job for me. If I need to go beyond that, it offers shutter and aperature priority modes. It can even do time exposures, those came in very handy for me when shooting Christmas lights. We have some small dogs at home. Whenever I use a flash to take their photo, they would have a very bad case of red-eye that I needed to compensate for. I can use this camera in Auto mode with the flash and the dogs' eyes come out perfrectly normal, no red eye at all! The 14X optical zoom is great! I attended a football game and took some photos of the people on the other side of the stadium from me. It was very easy to read what ti said on their shirts. I also took photos of the game: I was on the 45 yeard line and was able to get great close-ups of the action when they weree on the 10-yard line at the other end of the field. Need to do macro shots? If so, this is the camera for you. It does not have a Macro setting. Instead, it automatcially goes into Macro mode when you are taking a photo of a close-up object. I put a silver dollar on the table, put the camera into Auto mode, got within a few inches of the ooin and the camera automatically went into Macro mode. The photos I got were sharp and detailed. The camera shoots amazing HiDef video in stereo. It is so sharp I will no longer take my camcorder with me when I travel. Also, you can use the zoom while shooting video without hearing the noise of the camera zooming in. The worst thing I can say about the camera is that the flash is in a place where I would normally place my left hand to hold the camera; this however is a very small issue that I can work with. The overall excellence of this camera more than makes up for it.

Decided to purchase one of these used to upgrade from two cameras, a Canon PowerShot A2300 and a Canon PowerShot A3000IS. Had a very limited budget and that didn't deter me. Did quite a few test shots and some test videos, tweaking the settings to my liking as I went along, and I'm very satisfied with the photo quality. The BSI-CMOS sensor this camera has definitely works wonders in low light situations producing about half the noise at the same ISO setting as the A3000IS, which uses a CCD sensor. The A2300 wouldn't have been able to do those low-light shots handheld due to the lack of image stabilization, and would have been the worst performer in low-light situations even if it did have it. Like the two A-series models, the white balance had to be set to the Tungsten preset when shooting indoors under incandescent or compact fluorescent lighting. All of them produced results a bit too yellowish with the auto white balance. Outdoors in daylight or even in cloudy conditions, this camera proves to very capable, especially after tweaking the picture settings to my liking. In cloudy conditions, I found the auto white balance makes things look a bit too cool just like the other two cameras, but changing to the Cloudy preset fixed that. I have tested the aperture priority, shutter priority, and full manual modes and found them very easy to use and I could quickly find the right setting to match the shooting scenario without any hassle. This is a plus for those who want to learn more about photography, and there's always the Program and Auto modes to fall back on. Both of those modes are also very easy to use. This camera is as much at home in Auto mode as it is in the PASM modes. Results from the video mode so far proves to be promising. Compared to the A2300, which I was previously using to record videos, it records sound in stereo instead of mono. The A2300 could only do 720p video while this camera can do 1080p. This camera is capable of continuous autofocus and the full extent of the 14x optical zoom is also available while shooting video. Exposure seems to adapt to varying lighting scenarios very well. There is a bit of noise in video shot in lower-light situations, but it's less than either A-series camera I own. The same auto-white balance issues I discussed earlier are present while recording video. Both video and audio quality are very good, but won't match the quality that models from other manufacturers have that shoot AVCHD video. Haven't used it enough at this point to determine how good the battery life is. I know it is rated at about 210 photos per charge, or about an hour of video. I'll find out soon enough if those ratings prove to be true. Compared to test videos and images I've seen from the SX 600 and 700 lineup over the past few years, I'd say this one performs better at higher ISO's and videos produce much less noise in lower light situations. The SX 600 series cameras can be picked up for $200-300 new, with the SX 700 series retailing for over $300. The SX 230 HS can be found for under $200 used in 2017, and is an awesome deal for the money when compared to stuff you can find brand-new. Overall, I'm very happy with this camera. UPDATE October 30, 2017: Still going strong after a month's worth of usage. I have had a chance to test out the battery life, and it seems to be pretty good for still images provided you stay away from GPS. Battery life while shooting video is a little less than I would have liked, but still, 45 minutes is a bit better compared to some brand-new models from the likes of Nikon and Sony. Most of the photos I have taken over the last month have come out sharp, with only a small handful of photos coming out blurry due to the autofocus missing or camera shake. This is hands down the best camera I've ever owned.

If you're looking for a good point and shoot camera that delivers stunning pictures without a lot of tweaking and such, this IS NOT IT. While it's true that this camera performs better in low light conditions than other point n shoots, that improvement comes at the cost of photo quality in every other shooting condition. Not a very good trade-off in my opinion, and even those low light shots are underwhelming to say the least. Most low light shots taken without the flash are still quite grainy, and most have an amber tint. Battery life on this model certainly IS all it's cracked up to be. In other words, it's dismal. The battery is quickly depleted and takes a little more than two hours to charge. You might also find this excerpt from the owner's manual section on charging the battery interesting: "The battery may develop a bulge. This is a normal characteristic of the battery and does not indicate a problem. However if the battery bulges to the point where it will no longer fit into the camera, please contact a Canon Customer Support Help Desk." (p. 15, bottom paragraph). Couldn't a major player like Canon come up with a better power solution than a battery with a known design flaw? What if the battery develops a bulge while it's in your camera? What about the meat and potatoes of any camera review, namely photo quality? Most of several hundred images I shot were blurry, grainy, and either washed out or amber tinted, depending on which settings the camera automatically chose based on shooting conditions. There were, admittedly, a few exceptions. They were brilliant, and if those exceptions were instead the rule, I'd be raving about the camera instead of panning it. At least the potential for that kind of photography is there, so I'll give it this: it has potential. But we aren't paying for potential, we're paying for performance. This camera frequently chooses inappropriate focal points, focusing on extraneous items in the composition space and blurring the intended subject. Sure, lots of shots taken with this Canon look pretty okay until they're viewed at full size on a computer screen. Then they're grainy as heck, with way too much loss of detail. I'm not talking about enlarging images, just about full size viewing on a computer screen, which is how all my photos will be viewed (on a computer screen). The position of the flash on the camera causes it to be obstructed by the extended lens when shooting close up/macro, resulting in the lens' shadow being projected on to the subject. That's the worst of it, but there's another problem with it that most reviewers have already pointed out - it's an ergonomic disaster. Because of its placement, there's just no good way to hold the camera stable when shooting. If you're not careful when you're turning the camera on, you'll wind up preventing the darn thing from even opening with your finger. The flash isn't just in a bad place on top of the camera, it actually curves around the corner just enough so that even when held on the side, you can easily obstruct the flash, causing it not to open. As far as all the tweaks and features, I bought the camera in spite of those, not for them. I couldn't care less about GPS, I'd NEVER settle for editing my photos on a tiny 3" screen, and I hate cheezy effects, which I find most on-board effects to be. On the positive side, Canon's photo import and edit software is really quite good compared to others, including my old Kodak's. Importing images to your hard drive is quick and as easy as pie. Basic editing tasks are too. No doubt some will tell me which settings I should have used and which ones I should have tweaked, but that's hardly the point of "point and shoot", is it? Granted, being able to tweak basic photographic settings comes in handy for shoots that are planned ahead of time, but shooting on the fly requires speed, and there's nothing speedy about navigating the complicated menu on this camera to get to those settings. I didn't buy this camera for studio work, I bought it for its supposed point and shoot capabilities, and they are woefully inadequate. My experience with Canon digital cameras has led me to conclude that they're overhyped, but there's no denying that they have a loyal following nonetheless. I wish I could say I'd joined their ranks as a result of buying this camera, but I can't, nor can I recommend it.

I purchased this camera about one month ago in preparation for a trip to Spain I will be making in January, 2012. I had been researching travelcams for over 2 years, trying to save the money to purchase one and waiting for the right travelcam to come along. When I began research in earnest again a few months ago, I was thrilled to see how much they improved this camera over the original SX200IS. I spent hours and hours researching the top rated travelcams and then I went out to stores and held them in my hands before deciding on the SX230HS. This is my first Canon camera. My previous digital cameras were a Minolta and then a Panasonic Lumix FX07. I loved the compactness of the Panasonic and many other features about it, but was always disappointed with the low-light performance. Now that I have my Canon, my 8, 9, and 10 year old daughters use the Panasonic. When I upload the photos from the two cameras after weddings or family events, there is no comparison between the two. The Canon is such a big improvement over the Panasonic in image quality, especially in low-light. I purchased an extra battery, because, as many other reviewers said, the battery life is short. I just keep the extra battery charged and have not run out of battery power. I have found the Transcend 8GB Class 10 SDHC Flash Memory Card works great with this camera. My one problem has been that now that I have this camera, my computer is too old. I can't use this flash memory card in my computer or in my personal photo printer because they are too outdated. The card works fine in my sister's newer laptop computer, though, so I know that the problem is my outdated computer and printer. Sigh. I still can upload pics to my computer easily, however, by using the camera's USB cord. And I can still print pictures on my PictureMate because I just copy the pics to my smaller 2GB card in order to print them. The Pretty Hot Pink rooCASE is the perfect size and color for this camera. The outside pocket holds the extra battery and an extra memory card and the whole thing is still small enough to easily fit in my purse. I love color coordination, and I love how the camera and hot pink case match. I also have a hot pink and black gorilla-pod that matches perfectly, too. I know you guys reading this review are probably gagging by now, but my girlfriends reading are saying "Hey, hey, hey." I also purchased a mini HDMI cable for $35 so that I can watch my pictures and movies on our HDTV. I love the quality of the movies. I am glad I can play them on my TV because my computer is too outdated. So beware - this camera is going to end up costing more than I expected as I now realize the need for an updated computer!!! Since I would like to expand my photographic skills and learn how to use the manual controls more, I bought BetterPhoto Basics: The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Taking Photos Like a Pro by Jim Miotke. I just finished reading this book cover to cover and now want to go back and practice the exercises he suggests for expanding your photography skills. I found the photos in the book helpful and beautiful and his instructions clear and concise. I've already had some positive comments on photos I've taken that were a direct result of using his tips. I printed the owner's manual and put the whole thing in a 3-ring binder. You definitely need to read the manual if you want to be able to use all of the features this camera offers. By choosing the option of printing 4 pages to one 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, and printing it front and back, the 212 page Camera User Guide and 62 page Software Guide didn't take up nearly as much paper and fit easily into a 3/4" binder. I am still working my way through the manual and learning new things about this camera every day. Although it is easy to use right out of the box and fairly easy to navigate, there is so much to it that it takes time to learn it all. I am glad I got the camera months ahead of my trip to Spain so I can become totally comfortable and familiar with it before attending the family wedding there. I can't comment on the GPS because I haven't even tried it yet and it wasn't why I bought the camera anyway. If they had carried the 220HS in the USA I would have paid a little less and gone without the GPS. I always keep the camera on the 3:2 ratio setting as that corresponds to the 4x6 photos I print the most often. I am still working through the manual, but some helpful things I learned by reading it: You can brighten the LCD without navigating through the menu system by holding down the display button a few seconds. You can turn the clock on by holding down the function button. You can review your pictures without having the lens pop out by holding down the function button while pushing the power on button at the same time. You can mute the sounds on the camera by holding down the display button while pushing the power on button. To turn the sounds back on you have to go into the menu system. I still have much of the manual to work through, so I am sure I will discover other fun things as I go along. I haven't tried the slo-mo yet and haven't really worked with color swap either. The main reason I wanted this camera is I wanted a big zoom in a compact camera and I wanted great image quality. I love the zoom. I love the portable size. And I have found the image quality to be a big boost over my previous digital cameras, especially in low-light. I am hoping that as I learn and grow as a photographer my image quality will improve even more. I would definitely recommend this camera to others.

My husband and I LOVE this camera! We wanted to upgrade from a Canon Powershot A620, and tried (and were extremely disappointed with) both the Nikon L105 and the Canon ELPH 300 before giving this camera a shot. After being so disappointed by the ELPH 300 (which sounded like such a GREAT camera and has such a large volume of positive reviews, yet every picture we took was soft and grainy no matter how much we played with the settings), I was about ready to give up on getting a camera at this point because there didn't seem to be any great, affordable options. However, after seeing the photos taken with this camera that were uploaded by other buyers, I decided I had to give this camera a shot and see if the uploaded photos and reviews were accurate. Let me tell you, they are. Unlike the Nikon L105 and the Canon ELPH 300, this camera takes crystal clear photos that are not at all soft or grainy; and that's even with the zoom fully extended! Many of these photos have even been taken in low-light settings or settings with no natural light. I was hesitant to spend this much on a camera because I really wanted to stay closer to $100, but I decided that I would be willing to spend a bit more as long as I absolutely loved the camera. I absolutely love this camera. It feels like a huge upgrade from my Powershot A620 which is a decent point-and-shoot but about 6 years old (the Nikon L105 and Canon ELPH 300 definitely did not feel like a big enough upgrade to justify spending $100+); and even though I think $188 is pricey for a point-and-shoot (though $188 is a great deal for what amazon says is a $300 camera!), I definitely feel like it is worth the money. I am by no means an experienced photographer, but this camera is giving me exactly what I want: it takes great, clear photos off the bat, and I can already start to see how taking it off auto and manually changing the settings improves the quality even more. This seems like the perfect camera for both people who don't want to mess around with the settings at all but still get good photos, and people who want to start learning how to manually compose a photo without committing to an expensive DSLR. This camera is heavier than I expected, but not so heavy that I don't want to take it with me places. The pop-up flash is mildly irritating, but I tend not to use the flash, anyway, so when I do forget to hold the camera the "right" way and prevent the pop-up flash from popping up it really doesn't matter. I also don't think it's terribly awkward to hold the camera when the flash IS up, but maybe that's because reading all the reviews prepared me for that. We have the GPS feature turned off (so I can't speak for the quality of that feature), and the battery life has been great/reasonable in my opinion. We still have a full charge and if I had to guess, I'd say we've taken around 100 photos the last several days.

I like this camera. Several years ago, I dragged my digital SLR on a trip to Scotland along with the lenses. Made a lot of excellent shots. Now, we're going to Germany, and I'll be damned if I'm going to haul all that equipment around. Purchased this camera after a lot of research. Wanted the best camera I could get in a small form factor. Higher-end cameras are out there, but they're larger in size than what I wanted: slim, light, small. The SX230 fits the bill. Shot quality is good - better than I expected; not quite as good as my DSLR setup with a lens that by itself costs twice what this camera costs, but still very good. Very little distortion even at the extreme ends. No chromo weirdness. No purple fringes at telephoto on fine details. Wide array of capabilities - beginners can shoot good pix, more learned users can make choices, advanced shooters can access lots of control. The SX230 is a descendant of the good old Canon Powershot 95 by way of the SX 210, which is a pretty good lineage - the 95 was and is a workhorse backup to many a DSLR. For that matter, the 95 is still an excellent choice and well worth looking into. PROS: Small, lightweight, excellent shot quality, HD movies, easy to access menus. You don't need to study the camera to use it. (I ruled out my second choice partially because it had a 'cheat-sheet' offered.) Auto, Program, and Manual modes are very good. It slips easily into a class 30 Lowepro case that fits on a belt. (Somebody out there recommended a class 10; don't believe it.) CONS: Some reviews out there complain about battery life. So what. If you're a casual shooter, one battery is fine. If you want to do more, get a spare. If you want to shoot all day and do movies, get two spares. End of story. No RAW mode. This camera is just below the price point that gets gets you RAW/TIFF format, but if that's a problem then you need to be looking further up the food chain anyway. The flash pops up automatically when the camera is turned on, which seems to really bother some people. The flash is weak. As stated, it pops up no matter what. What's with this, Canon? The camera does everything else well on its' own, but it just has to pop up the flash no matter what. Maybe it matters. Who knows? Allegedly, the back-lit CMOS sensor and firmware allow low-light shooting w/o flash in many cases. I don't often do those shots so I wouldn't know. The few shots I've done in low light were nothing to brag about. Get a monopod or maybe a tripod if you want to shoot at the long end, either pix or movies BOTTOM LINE: I'm happy with it, more than I expected to be - the build quality is good but not heavy and the camera does what its' designed to do very well. A larger grip on the right side would be welcome. If you want more, pay more. If you want less, then pay less. FEU

About 7 years ago, around the time my son was born, I bought a Panasonic Mini-DV camcorder. It isn't bad, but turned out to be such a waste of money. Once I got a Canon SX100IS in 2008, I barely needed the camcorder; the compact Canon mega-zoom (10x optical) digital camera is superior even as far as movie capabilities go. I am neither an impassioned photographer nor an inveterate movie shooter, and the 8MP Canon SX100IS has been exceeding my expectations; great pictures in SuperFine mode (comparable, if the light is good, to what I'd seen taken with pro cameras) and crisp 640x480 resolution SD movies. Recently, I decided to move up to HD. Due to my previous experience, I did not even bother checking out HD camcorders once I found out there were compact digital cameras with HD movie mode out there. As my SX100IS still functions perfectly, the HD movie capability was the deciding factor to purchase a new camera. I was elated to find out about the SX230HS, with its 1080p24fps Full HD mode, and its 14x optical zoom (available while filming as well). Wasn't completely happy with the proprietary battery (the sx100 has two AA's), but went ahead with the purchase nonetheless (bought a spare battery, too). The reason I give the camera 3 stars only: even though I am happy with the movie quality (crisp, amazing Full HD for a camera this cheap), this camera doesn't have the SuperFine setting for pictures anymore (apparently, none of Canon's newer models does) and the Fine mode (other being Normal) doesn't cut it! Unless the light is optimal, the pictures in Fine quality are grainy and soft, even though the colours tend to be nice and realistic. So, I am somewhat disappointed. The main reason I gave up on buying camcorders was the possibility of getting a good camera with great movie capability (like the sx100is). The problem with the sx230hs is that it works better as a camcorder than a still camera!

UPDATE: The video portion of my camera went dead, which I consider one of the better qualities. I just purchased another one to replace it. I'll give the older one to someone who only wants to take photos. I purposely bought this camera and housing for SCUBA. After spending $100 to $1,400 on cameras, I was stunned to see how great the pictures and videos came out. I added this video to show what it is like by simply selecting SCUBA mode (a little fish icon) and doing nothing else. You can get fancier with development of the `white balance', but I stuck to the basics. The sea lion scenes were at 20 feet and the rest of the dives were at 40-70 feet. The color was almost always balanced and the focus very crisp. The description of all the other functions of this camera are listed below, but I think the first reviewer here nailed the camera's qualities. It is an easy point `n shoot camera with some extras. The GPS is a gimmick, but it does work well in placing your photos if you want to display them on GOOGLE Earth. However, the housing restricts that feature. The 12.1 megapixels are great for even posters or flat screen televisions (I use mine through my Blu-ray disc player for YOUTUBE). The function set, display, menu and the dial are all easy and intuitive. The zoom is remarkably steady (I recommend a small tripod). I've never cared for Optical Zoom, but the 14X works as well as any. I do not care for the location of the flash. This surprised me, so you have to get used to keeping your left fingers from the top left of the camera. The HDMI A/V out cover is very flimsy and fortunately you may not have to use this much, but I can see it as being very fragile. This is really a remarkable camera for the price. I have yet to test the stereo microphones, but I can imagine that for the family filmmaker, this might be fun to watch and listen to on a television with stereo speakers. The software that is included is also very simple but important. The features are numerous and it's nice to have something that directly deals with the camera features other than just `Windows Movie Maker". If you ski, snorkel or particularly SCUBA, you will love this camera.

Love the camera, foot pictures, right size, very impressed

Preforms the way I thought it would for a point and shoot camera.

I am happy with my purchase of the Canon SX230 HS camera. The photos have excellent clarity and I get compliments when I attached a photo in an email. Also very user friendly!

Thankw