Canon Powershot S230 Review

The S230 features a 2X (35-70mm in the 35mm format) f/2.8-4.0 all-glass aspherical zoom lens. When the camera is powered down the lens is retracted inside of the body and a built in shutter closes to completely protect the lens.

An advanced TTL AiAF nine-point autofocus system permits the camera to automatically select the primary subject even when off-center. Focusing range is 1.9 feet to infinity in normal mode and macro coverage is 3.9 inches to 1.9 feet in wide angle and 10.6 inches to 1.9 feet in telephoto. The autofocus is light-assisted and works properly even in the dark.

The built in flash offers Auto, On, Off, Red-Eye Reduction and Slow-Synchro modes. Flash range is 1.9 to 9.8 ft. in wide angle, 1.9 to 6.6 ft. in telephoto or 10.6 in. to 1.9 ft. in macro mode.

You can frame your pictures with the color LCD or to save precious battery power you can use the optical eyelevel finder. This is a coupled viewfinder with approx. 82% coverage. It has no dioptric adjustment. Next to the finder are two LEDs that indicate the flash and focus status.

The Mode switch is on the back edge and has positions for Playback, Movie and Record. The power On/Off button is in the top and must be depressed for several seconds to actuate. The shutter has the zoom control ring built around it, it also functions as the thumbnail and zoom-in buttons when in Playback mode.

On the back are the majority of the user controls. Along the bottom is the SET button which is used to "accept and set" menu selections. The MENU button calls up or dismisses the menu system. The DISP button up on the top controls the color LCD and the amount of overlay information displayed. The +/-WB button cycles between exposure compensation, white balance or the Photo Effects screens (see next page) when in record mode.

The 4-way selector lets you easily navigate menu screens, select images during playback but it also lets you select spot metering, flash mode, sequence record, selftimer, macro or infinity focus when in Record mode.

All of the S230's I/O is handled via a single port. The AV Out cable handles monaural audio and the video signal which can be connected to your TV set. The USB cable connects to the host computer for image download and camera control with the supplied RemoteCapture software.

The PowerShot S230 is equipped with a Type I CompactFlash card slot and comes with an 16MB CF card. It uses a robust ejector mechanism so be ready to catch the card as it really "pops out" when the button is pressed. It's compatible with any capacity CF card so you can literally shoot an entire vacation on one 512MB or 1GB size card.

The S230 comes with a Canon NB-1LH 3.7v 840mAh lithium rechargeable battery pack. Canon claims a fully charged battery can record 120 shots with the LCD on or 270 shots with it off and a replay time of approx. 85 minutes.

The supplied 100-240V CB-2LS 2-hour rapid charger (in N. America) plugs directly in the wall socket and charges the battery "out of the camera" which is very handy if you have a second battery (highly recommended.)

Optional accessories include AC Adapter Kit ACK500 (which contains Compact Power Adapter CA-PS500, DC Coupler DR-500, and an AC Power Cord).