Canon PowerShot SX230 HS (12.1 MP, 14x optical zoom) black

I bought this to use occassionally when carrying my DSLR was inconvenient, and for impromptu snapshots, but I've used it a lot more than that.I take it most places with me, the picture quality and versatility being way beyond what the phones that folks insist on using are capable of. The Zoom (eqv to ~400mm) is longer than my DSLR, and the camera cost less than a lense for ther DSLR would cost. The Image Stabilisation and Low Light performance is superb, and while i didn't buy it to take videos, of course I have done.A video I took of musicians playing in a local Pub has some peple thinking it's a Pro Video - 1080p video, clear sound and the ability to zoom and re-focus while recordiing. And of course the one-touch record, without the need to set it tio video mode first, is great.As with all Canion kit i've owned, it's well made, fits nicely in the hand and has an intuitive interface, i cant' recommend uit highly enough.

Nice compact camera with great picture quality. It was a present for my wife's birthday she finds it very easy to use just point and shoot and the video quality is good as well!.

We bought this camera to replace a SX220 which was stolen. The camera takes very good pictures and video, and is hard to fault. The improvement in sensitivity over our A700 is shocking. We have found the manual control useful, and this was the feature that made us chose this camera over the Nikon.There are two faults with the camera:The first and most serious is that it does not charge off USB, meaning one more thing to pack/lose when you go on holiday. It would have been far more sensible to offer an external charger as an optional extra. Sony, Nikon, Samsung and all the phone manufacturers have moved into the 21st century and it is about time Canon joined them. It is fair enough on the IXUS where size is an issue, but they can find the space for gimmicks like GPS on the Powershot.The second fault is a minor one, but the pets and kids mode does not really work as well as I would hope, as it allows shutter speeds to drop too low. However by selecting a 1000th of a second in shutter speed priority mode you can catch them in action.

Navigating through options is not easy. For instance accidentally closing the flash does not automatically re-open when required even if in AUTO mode. This shows you the no-flash sign on screen and you have no way to change it. Only when you realize that you can manually re-open the flash you will get the options of flash re-enabled. Also there's a circular menu that comes and goes sometimes and no matter how many times I try in different ways, I never manage to get it showing on screen whenever I want it.Battery life wasn't impressive too. Approx 30 to 45 mins of use and the battery was depleted.Nothing to say about the quality of the photos and the features available..very good camera.

I researched cameras for a long time before buying this.Particularly I read loads of reviews on dpreview.com (the fount of all knowledge about cameras) and this camera rated highlySo I bought it and the images are amazing. And the videos are as good as my HD camcorder!Overall there is nothing I dislike about this camera, and I do love the GPS tag that goes on all shots, saving me having to geotag my images.Recommended - a first class piece of equipment, and a perfect example of Canon genius

This supposedly 'family friendly' point and shoot, "so easy to use you must get it for your grannie" camera produces images so grainy, smeared, toneless and colourless that you'll still be screaming at it long after your friends have snapped the shot on their Lumix and happily wandered away. Here's what Cannon had to say when I complained:"Mr Baxter,Thank you for your e-mail and for contacting Canon. My apologies for the delay in our response due to a temporary problem with our system.I am sorry to hear that you are disappointed with the results of the images from your PowerShot SX230 HS. I see that you have provided images taken in Program and AUTO mode as examples. In AUTO mode, the camera will attempt to secure an image using an exposure that will freeze any subject movement, and therefore a high ISO is sometimes the best way to achieve this. This produces grain, and when combined with the processing involved in auto mode, could have some effect on the quality of the image. A side effect of higher ISO's is a loss of colour saturation and lower contrast.As the amount of megapixels on a sensor increases, this also increases the visible noise at high ISO's. The size of the sensor in the SX230 HS is over eleven times smaller than that of an EOS 400D, hence why the clarity is greater on an EOS 400D.I appreciate that you may not want to set all of the settings manually when you use the camera, therefore as a compromise, I would recommend to use Program mode, but set the ISO manually where possible. Program mode can still of course set the exposure and white balance automatically for you. You will find that the image quality is superior in P mode as the camera does not have to perform as much processing.Please be advised that I have passed your feedback on to Canon Inc in Japan for their consideration to possibly improve the processing in AUTO mode.If you feel that the camera is unsuitable for you, I can only recommend to approach the retailer under the Sales of Goods Act 1979 for a refund or replacement camera. As the manufacturer, we can repair the product, however looking at the images, I do not feel that there is a fault as such with the camera.I hope this information is of some help to you, my apologies for the disappointment caused.Yours sincerely,Canon Services & Support"Bought when recently released (more fool me) and after checking many good reviews, I believe that's £300 flushed right down the toilet. One star only coz I can't award zero.Thanks if you managed to read this through to the end.

Bought this one based on all of the positive reviews all around for a friend's birthday. She has really been enjoying the camera :)