Canon PowerShot SX230 HS Review
Quick Summary
Canon PowerShot SX230 HS is a pocketable camera with excellent image quality and shooting performance. It also sports versatile 14x zoom lens and GPS receiver.
Pros
Excellent image and video quality, HS System for great low light performance, Versatile 14x zoom (28mm-392mm equivalent) lens in a pocketable camera , GPS for geotagging and tracking, Hi-resolution LCD.
Cons
Subpar battery life, the flash is not located well.
Overview
Besides releasing ELPH series, Canon also release PowerShot SX230 HS as their most advanced point and shoots camera produced by Canon on this 2011. This camera equipped with 14x zoom lens 12.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor on its small body. Compared to last year SX210 HS, this camera has better low light performance and faster shooting performance. It also featured GPS receiver to geotagging your shooting location.
Design
Canon PowerShot SX230 HS external design is very similar to the 2010 model the SX210 HS except from the GPS sensor that little bit bulging on the top of the camera. The camera sized 2.4 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches weighted 7.9 ounces. While having 14x zoom lens with 28-392mm focal length and has f/3.1-f/5.9 aperture range, the camera is still has a relatively slim body although it might be not easy to slide this camera into your pockets. Canon PowerShot SX230 HS available in three different colors, blue, red (canon calls it red but its looks like pink) and black.
Canon PowerShot SX230 HS now use 3-inch LCD with 461,000 dot resolutions double compared to the SX210 HS LCD display resolutions. On the right side of the display located On/Off button, mode dial, dedicated movie record button, playback button, display button, menu button and FUNC/SET button surrounded with a scroll wheel, this wheel can be used as directional button to access the menu. On the top of the camera you can find shutter button and zoom toggle. The GPS receiver also located here. On the right side of the camera located compartment which hide mini-USB port and HDMI port inside. While on the bottom side located metal tripod mount and a compartment for battery and memory card.
Performance
Canon PowerShot SX230 HS utilizing Canon HS system that combines DIGIC 4 image processor with 12.1 Megapixels images sensor. With HS system you can get less noise when used this camera in higher ISO setting, although using lower ISO setting is better, but its better to take a shot than not. With this camera you can take more usable images while shooting in low light conditions. SX230 HS has a versatile 14x zoom with 28-392 mm lens (35 mm equivalent); with this you can use this camera to capture from wide angle to telephoto shots, from large group of people to close-up portraits. It has image stabilization although you might still need tripod to get better images while shooting on its maximum zoom length.
Canon PowerShot SX230 HS overall image quality is excellent, the images are sharp, lots of detail and the color is bright and well saturated. But, there’s small lens distortion found at the widest lens positions, and slight pincushion distortion at the telephoto end. Overall this camera is very good performance for a point and shoots camera.
Canon PowerShot SX230 HS has video mode like other today’s digital camera. This camera is able to take 1080p video but limited for only 24 frames per second. Faster frame rates available on lower resolution settings. The video result are great, but if you used this camera for 24p video shooting note that its not very ideal to shoot fast moving actions and panning this camera quickly because it will see some judder. Optical zoom van is used while shooting video, but no autofocus is available.
Canon PowerShot SX230 HS offers built in GPS receiver, with this you can geotag photos with latitude longitude and elevation information on each image. It also functions as a GPS Logger that tracks your routes. The downsides are those GPS functions drain the battery faster and to activate or deactivate the GPS receiver and logger you have to dig down the menu setting.
Using Canon PowerShot SX230 HS
Canon PowerShot SX230 HS is easy to use like other Canon PowerShot camera. You can use Smart Auto mode if you want only to point and shoot. Like the name Smart Auto is really smart, it can analyze your shooting situations then choosing the optimum setting from 32 predefined shooting scenarios. Just concentrate to compose you shots and let the camera do the rest. There is also other mode that gives you more manual setting like P Program, Av Aperture priority, Tv shutter priority, and Manual. There are also few scenes setting on the scene mode. Smart Shutter features also available in this camera, depending on your setting; it will automatically release the shutter when people smile, wink, or new person get into the frame.
Canon also provides few Creative Effects on this camera, you can use this to get more creative result or just for fun. This includes Toy Camera Effect, Monochrome, Super Vivid, Poster Effect, Fish-Eye Effect and Miniature. There also Movie digest mode, new from Canon. This mode will record few second of VGA video then take the picture, and then it will arrange them together into a single movie to highlight your day.
Conclusion
Canon PowerShot SX230 HS is a camera that offers a lot, it has great image quality for its class, long zoom lens, GPS, quick shooting performance, 1080p video recording, and its also offers fun shooting with Creative Effect.
