Rating: 
Summary: A superb, very portable camera
Review: This is my third digital camera; I bought this because I wanted an ultra-portable, 3-megapixel camera. So far it's proving to be what I want -- high quality snapshots in a very small package.Likes:
- It's truly small; very easy to carry in pocket, coat, briefcase or purse.
- Durable steel case
- Very easy to use
- Very good image quality.
- I am very happy with battery life. I do not agree w/folks challenging battery life on this -- I've used it liberally for a whole day of wandering around on vacation, taking photos, looking at images...more than 60 photos in a day. I have bought extra batteries for my other cameras but really haven't felt the need for this. (For me, having a big memory card and extra batteries makes a digital camera much more convenient for heavy picture taking dealing with a film camera and extra film). Dislikes:
- Lots of red eye in indoor flash situations
- Some difficulty w/autofocus in low-light situations
- Relatively limited zoom (however, I don't think moving to the 330 with the 3x zoom is worth the tradeoff in size). Recommendations:
- Buy a case. You'll want to carry this everywhere and a little case protects it from scratches and impacts.
- Buy at least 128MB memory card (256 even better if you don't want to worry about using up memory on a longer trip)
- Having experimented w/lots of digital photo editing software, I like using ofoto.com's software to pull photos off the camera, quickly look at snaps and upload photos online to share. It's very easy for the basics (crop a snapshot, zap out the redeye, upload some photos for sharing or printing 4 * 6's). For more serious editing, I use Adobe Photoshop Elements 2. The Ofoto.com software is free for the downloading off Ofoto's website; the Elements 2 software is reasonable if you take lots of photos and want to learn how to get the most from your photos. I find that Canon's software is too cumbersome for simple tasks and not flexible enough for heavier duty; Ofoto and Elements make a nice combination for me.
- If you're really just using this for casual snapshots, consider the Canon s200 for a significant savings. If you aren't going to blow up your photos the S200 would be fine for most simple shots. The 230 is great but may be overkill if you just want a fun, portable camera.
Rating:
Summary: Still five stars
Review: There are some faults with the Canon S230 but they don't diminish the overall quality of this little camera. I previously reviewed this in December when I first purchased it and still rate it as five stars, but I will comment on some disadvantages now. First is the red eye that appears on indoor, flash photos. This is true of most small digital cameras that I have used. The problem is the location of the flash close to the lens- unavoidable if you want small size. I've mitigated this by putting translucent tape or paper over the flash to lessen its impact or taking pictures without flash if possible. The next problem is the battery. It works great and stays charged through many photos, videos and reviews of my pictures. It does not let me know when it is about to run out of power. As soon as the indicator for a low battery comes on the camera dies. This does not allow much time for changing batteries in the midst of an important event. My suggestion is to have an extra battery and to always use a newly charged battery for important events. Now for some great features; I dropped this camera twice onto hard cement and the metal casing and components survived unscathed. I take this camera with me to sports events, skiing and hiking. The humidity of our school pool at swim meets has posed no problem. Its nice to know that it can stand up to even my carelessness. The video clips are great. At an event I simply video each part individually. Three minutes is long enough for each race in a swim meet- even the relays (Okay, not the 500 free, but my arm would tire from that one anyway). I taped my son's All County orchestra concert- each piece was about three minutes- and even the sound was pretty good. I use a 128 MB card and can get at least a few events on each card. The 256 MB can do more. So far I'm still very happy with this camera.
Rating:
Summary: Great Camera
Review: I got this camera after looking around and comparing it with others. I'm glad I decided to go with the S230 for many reasons. Pro's
Small and can fit in your pocket, great quality pictures, excellent movie mode with sound, comes with battery and charger, not complicated to use, all around excellent camera, and again the 3.2MP makes the pictures very pleasing to the eye. Con's
Zoom isnt the best buts its alright, it takes good pictures when its dark out but you have to edit with a program such as photoshop to make it brighter. These cons should no way bother you much and should not deter you to buy this camera. I suggest you buy a viking 256MB memory chip because the one that comes with it will leave you able to only take a few pics. With the 256MB chip you take long videos and take well over 1200 pictures. All in all excellent camera and as usual amazons shipped it fast and got the camera in a few days after making the order. I look forward to buy from amazon and cannon again.
Rating:
Summary: Durrable and high-quality camera
Review: Some of the reviews below are not accurate... This is an INCREDIBLE camera! Shure it's compact, but it's also very durrable, so taking it on a vacation is perfect. The image quality is very high. There is a cool panorama and auto-stich feature that let's you automatically combine multiple photos into 1. Also, a great feature is the video mode - it has very high-quality sound and a crisp picture. This camera is much better than other 3 and 4 mp olympuses and minoltas! Wondering whether or not to buy the s200 which is 2.1 MP instead of this camera (s2300 with 3.2 MegaPixels)?
I would deffinitely choose this 3.2 mp because at 2 mp many pictures are blury and small, making them hard to edit and print. Buying a 2mp nowadays is like purchasing a computer at 1ghz: not terrible but still bad. Pros: Great picture quality
Awesome video mode
Red-eye feature is good
Macro works perfectly
Zoom goes up to 10x digital!
VERY easy to use yet also great for manual use Cons: The auto-focus takes a little too long ----------
The auto-focus is still very powerfull and actually scans the image frame to select the sharpest spot. This is deffinetely worth your money.
Rating: 
Summary: limitations of a compact camera
Review: This camera is far from perfect, but I don't blame the manufacturer for most downfalls of this camera. Also, look into reviews and actual pictures when comparing digital cameras. Some people will just compare features, which isn't going to cut it. CCD sensor and lense quality will often outweigh the importance of how many megapixels the camera has.
Problems with this camera:
Artifacts, or circles from low-light flash pictures. These are by far the most annoying problem with the camera, and I can spot them out in quite a few shots. But keep in mind, that many small digital cameras with a flash close the lense suffer from this problem. If you really have to have a small, compact camera, then this may not be such an issue.
Red-eye. Another problem with small cameras that have a flash close to the lense. This camera offers a red-eye reduction, which helps quite a bit, but these features often cause subjects to close their eyes or move from the initial flash. Once again, this is common for small cameras, so I'm not going to hold it against Cannon for this problem.
Proprietary battery: Its expensive, in case you wanted to buy spare batteries.
2x zoom: Its hard to get a decent zoom lense in a small camera. When you are dealing with something this size, 3x zoom is asking for a lot. Once again, I forgive Cannon for this. Good CCD sensor. Outdoor shots come out well.
Tough body, with a light lense cover. Small enough to fit in your pocket. Though some reviewers complain of the tripod mount, I find they placed it fairly well to allow for some tripod users to change the battery while the camera is mounted or when using the AC battery dummy adapter. Incase you were wondering, this is why the tripod mount is offset, and it would have been difficult to place it any further from the battery compartment due to the small size of the camera.
Autofocus is ok, but the ability to switch between compound and spot metering/focus will help you take better pictures. The feature is conviniently located and all users should learn how to lock focus and light meter.
Filming is pretty decent. The reason you have a 3 minute/30 second max recording time is because the film is stored in the buffer before writing to the CF card. This buffer also allows for quick snapshots without waiting for write times, or continuous action shots. I could go on about every feature but it has been covered. If you can't deal with the artifacts, red-eye, and 2x zoom, then look for a bigger camera. If you have to have a small camera, then this camera will be a fine choice. Remember, the best camera you own is the one you use the most. If you find a Canon G2 for a good price but find it a little bulky and fragile and don't want to bring it with you everywhere, then what good is it?
Rating:
Summary: Canon PowerShot S230: Pocket Hercules
Review: WHY I PURCHASED THE POWERSHOT 230:
I was never really a fan of Canon cameras, especially Canon digital cameras. It wasn't until recently that a few of my friends were sending me pictures via email that were taken with a Canon Powershot camera. I was pretty impressed with the results and decided to check out the newest Powershot; the S230. This camera packed a lot of features, but kept the bulk to a minimum. Producing images at 3.2 megapixels, the S230 was definitely appealing. WHAT IT COMES WITH:
- Canon PowerShot S230 Digital ELPH camera
- NB-1LH Lithium-ion battery
- 16 MB CompactFlash (CF) Card
- USB cable
- A/V cable
- Wrist Strap
- CD with Canon software suite
- Users Manual POCKETABILITY:
The first thing you notice about this camera is that it's small. Probably the smallest digital camera I've seen in the 3 megapixel category. You can truly put this in your pocket and not have everyone stare at the bulge... DURABILITY:
I've already dropped this camera once on my hardwood floor. Amazingly, it still works like a charm. The S230 is encased in stainless steel with a few chrome accents and a couple of plastic parts (mainly the switches & dials). I expect this camera to last several years without any problems, if not longer. A buddy of mine has owned his Powershot S100 for over two years and he still loves his to death. EASE OF USE:
The S230 was as easy to use (if not easier) as my previous Sony digital cameras. Before selling my Sony DSC-S75, I had the chance to compare the two, side-by-side. The size alone, gave the S230 an overwhelming advantage. The picture quality is very impressive with the S230. The indoor photos that I took without the flash turned out great. The auto-exposure, as well as the auto-ISO settings works fine, but if you want to manually set those on your own, it's easy to do. There are other cool features on the S230 such as picture effects (black and white, sepia, soft, sharp, etc.). The 1.5" LCD is very useful and is very clear, even in bright sunlight. ADVANCED FOCUSING:
AiAF (Artificial Intelligence Auto-Focus) is a new feature found on the S230 that was not present in the earlier models of the Powershots. This function allows the S230 to select from one of the nine focus areas within the frame to capture the sharpest shot. It's pretty amazing how this works. This feature can also easily be turned off in the settings. This feature is found on the new Canon G3, as well, and is the flagship of the point-and-shoot digital camera line for Canon. PICTURE QUALITY:
As I mentioned, I was quite impressed with the photo quality. I managed to print some of them on photo paper using my HP 960c deskjet printer. Printing them in 5X7 produced brilliant, almost photolab quality pictures. I might add that my Sony DSC-S75 also produces some of the best photos, as well, but I expect that from a camera that boasts a Carl Zeiss Sonar lens, 3.3 megapixel resolution quality.... If you own a Canon printer, you should be able to directly print off of your S230 using the supplied cable. I just ordered the Canon i850 printer, so I'm anxiously waiting to try it out. VIDEO MODE:
The ability to capture 30 seconds of 640X480 AVI video (20 frames per second) with sound is awesome! My father was surprised at how clearly it captures motion video. Although you're able to capture the video with sound, you won't be able to play it back with sound on the camera itself, as it is not equipped with a speaker. The S230 is capable of capturing more than 30 seconds if you use smaller resolution. After visiting the Canon Powershot website, I learned that if you use a high-speed CompactFlash (CF) card, you should be able to capture more than 30 seconds of 640X480 video. Canon expects to market the high speed CF card soon. BATTERY STRENGTH:
This is where I'd say that my Sony DSC-S75 shines. All of Sony's digital cameras display the remaining life of the battery in minutes. The S230 goes strong until there's about 5% or less power left. I've read a few articles and reviews stating that the battery life is the weakness of this camera, but it's not all that bad. It all depends on how much you use the LCD display, the flash, and how often you turn on/off the device. I quickly ordered an extra battery from buy.com and I'm perfectly happy now. The S230 comes with a separate battery charger. This is very convenient, as you don't have to charge the battery using the camera, like most of the Sony cameras do (Sony sells the battery charger as a separate accessory). From a fully discharged battery, the charger is able to completely charge it in about two hours. There is an LED which displays in 'red' when it's charging and 'green' when it's complete. OVERALL WEAKNESSES:
Some people will say that the small size can be a weakness, but I'd say that the size is definitely its strength. The optical zoom capability is only 2X, so you won't be able to zoom up very closely from afar. It does offer a digital zoom, but this may result in grainy photos. The macro mode of the S230 isn't as crisp as my Sony DSC-S75, but I can live with it. Also, the flash on the S230 isn't as effective as it should be. The flash tends to white out (too bright) close-range subjects, but is very weak for any subjects more than 6 feet away. I'll have to play around some more with the settings, I guess. Finally, the tripod mount is not positioned in the center of the camera. It's actually placed on the side, causing it to be off-center and hard to balance. SUMMARY:
I mainly purchased this camera for its size, but it's turned out to be a much better camera than I anticipated. In terms of photo quality, it may not beat the higher-end digital cameras, but it will sure give them a run for the money. We have to hand it Canon for developing a truly pocket-sized 3.2 megapixel digital camera.
Rating:
Summary: An amazing little camera!
Review: I got this camera a few days ago and after constant use, I can tell you that its a real big improvement over previous digital Elph cameras. In the Canon line, you might be considering the S200, the S230, and the S320. Here's my take, based on my experience and that of others: The S200 and S230 are the smallest, having the same exact body as each other. The main difference is that the S200 can process 2 Mega Pixels and the S230 can process a little more than 3 Mega Pixels. If the larger images are not important to you, you might want to save some cash and get the S200. Otherwise, the S230 is definitely a little faster, has a much better quality movie mode and longer movies, 9-point auto focus (the S200 has 3-points), and a higher price tag. They have exactly the same zoom, which is only 2x optical. The battery life in both has been very good. I use Macintosh computers and downloading the pics is a breeze in OS 10.2 and OS 9. The menus are really intuitive and operation is generally quite user-friendly. As for the S320, I can't think of too many reason to buy it. Sure, it boasts a 3x zoom, but for most situations, this is only a slight improvement over 2x. Otherwise, its a larger camera. Still small by most standards, but to me, size was a huge selling point, since I am much more likely to take a camera with me if it is not a hassle. This one fits unobtrusively in your jacket pocket. If you require more zoom, you should probably look at something other than an Elph. As for the S230's weaknesses, there's the small optical zoom and otherwise the only complaint I have heard is that the flash in the whole digital Elph line is kind of weak. However, I have found the flash to be more than sufficient for most indoor situations. I have only had this camera for a few days, so I can't comment on long-term reliability, but I have great faith in the Canon brand. I tend to research my purchases to death and I feel like I made an excellent decision with this camera.
Rating:
Summary: compact, strong, and powerful all in one
Review: I purchased this powershot s230 from Amazon in Dec 03. Before the ordering I did certain amount of research and had experience with a powershot s200. After 2 months of using, I feel that my decision was definitely right. Because:
1. The 3.2 MP is sufficient for most of daily photo need, either regular 4 by 6 in, or enlargment to 8 by 11 in. I persoanly don't see any necessaty of having a too high MP camera.
2. Extremely compact and strong. This camera has a size smaller than a cigarette pack; and realy stainless steel case. It can be easily put in your pocket and bring anythere, and don't worry about the possible scratches and pressure.
3. Long standing rechargable battery which can at least take 100 flash shots. this is a great advantage over those using AA batteries.
4. Movie with sound, resolution up to 640X480! you check this, Even the s400, s40, s50 don't have such a high movie quality. Plus instant play back on TV, compete with a camcorder.
5. It is peace in mind shopping at Amazon. I enjoyed timely, free shipping, confirmations of every step from order to shipping.
6. the only short coming of the s230 is the software.It seems too complicated.
Rating:
Summary: I liked it so much I bought one for my husband...
Review: I got one of these little beauties for Christmas last year. My son did the research, and really picked a winner. My husband borrowed it several times, and I decided to get him one this Christmas. He was really pleased, and said when he opened it "It's the same as yours; I won't have to be re-trained!" I'm never without a camera---this one is so compact I can carry it in my purse, so if I want to capture a design idea for my house or one of my hobbies, or if there's a beautiful sunset, or whatever. When showing it to people, I call it my "computer in a cigarette case". This is the 3rd Canon camera I've had since the 70's (and the other two are stil going strong). I've always been pleased with their quality and reliability. Like the others, this model is as easy or as complex as you want to make it. I carry the book with me at all times, because this has so many features that I can't keep them all in my head! I've taken great snapshots with it on the fly, as well as some pretty nice "arty" pictures. I love the digital because I can review each picture before I decide whether or not I've captured the EXACT shot I want. Much better than taking 5 pictures, hoping I got the one I want, and waiting for the film to come back. Also much more cost-effective. For anyone debating about whether to go digital, I'd recommend this camera. I think the first one has about paid for itself by now in saved developing and film costs. If I want pro prints, I just send them to one of my favorite studios.
Rating:
Summary: Good camera for price - some grainy pictures
Review: Note: I have the older, 2.0 MP model of this camera, the S200. However, I understand that most of the features are similar on the S230. I bought this camera at an end-of-year sale in 2002. I have found it to be an excellent entry level model for me with many features I have yet to take advantage of. The interface is so intuitive, I have figured out most of the camera's features without the user manual. I find the battery life very good, even with prolonged use of the LCD screen for picture taking and displaying. The charging time with the included charger is very fast - about a couple of hours. The camera does suffer in not having a battery life meter, but gives adequate warning when it's about to expire. Like some other users, I find some of the pictures grainy and even blurry. Primarily those taken indoors, close to the subject and with the flash. The 3.2 MP model will surely make the pictures less grainy, and playing with the features may help. The best pictures, however, are taken outdoors. And these pictures are wonderful with very crisp, true colours! The optical zoom (2x) is disappointing. 3x or more is preferrable, even for basic photography.
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