Howard_Creech's Full Review: Canon PowerShot S230 / IXUS v³ Digital Camera
The first micro digital camera I ever used was the nifty little Canon S10, which I really liked. Since the S10 I’ve used every one of Canon's digital elphs except the S330. I was really excited when I heard that Canon was updating my favorite elph, the S200. The S200’s excellent performance, superb feature set and tiny jewel like stainless steel body made it an immediate hit with gadget gurus, extreme sports fans, outdoor enthusiasts, and casual picture takers.
Photography has always been a science of compromises, so there will never be a perfect camera. Each new camera is designed to function as well as possible within the obvious restrictions of physical and technical reality. Tiny cameras have certain inherent limitations that cannot be overcome like short battery life and reduced optical capability (small physical size limits battery capacity and lens size). The key to how well a camera does its job relates directly to how well the engineers and designers were able to balance performance and reality.
The S230 is the ultimate “shirt-pocket” camera. The tiny stainless steel camera features 3-megapixel resolution and a relatively fast 2X zoom lens. When the camera is turned off the lens retracts into the camera body and a sliding lens cover protects the front element. You can easily carry the S230 with you, everywhere you go. If you're looking for a tiny user friendly digital camera with auto-everything operation (and limited manual capability) then the S230 should go right to the top of your short list. The S200 is a very popular digital camera and I predict that the S230 is going to easily eclipse it in sales and popularity.
The S230’s controls and features have been improved making it even easier to use. An advanced TTL AiAF (automatic intelligent auto focus) nine-point focus system allows the camera to automatically select the primary subject even when it’s off-center. The PowerShot S230 can also record movies (with sound) up to 30 seconds at 640 x 480 pixels @ 20 FPS (up to 3 minutes in low res mode). Carrying the sexy little S230 around is fun, just drop it in your shirt pocket and hit the trail---whenever anything neat happens you can amaze your friends by whipping out your tiny shiny picture taker to record the action.
How do they compare (S200 vs S230)?
First things first, the S230 is a three megapixel camera and that’s a fifty per cent increase in resolution over the S200. The S200 is a really nifty little camera, and the S230 incorporates everything that made the S200 so popular. Unfortunately, the S230 also incorporates most of what was wrong with the S200. I don’t understand why Canon couldn’t have addressed the S200’s weak flash and tiny underpowered battery. Both are unchanged in the S200’s younger sibling. Canon’s engineers knew that consumers were unhappy with the weak flash and short battery life of the S200 and it seems to me that the S230 update should have addressed these problems. Obviously, the camera is tiny and increasing flash power and improving battery life would have been realistically limited to incremental improvements, but Canon should have given it a shot.
The S230’s 9 point AiAF system (Artificial Intelligence AutoFocus) is a significant improvement over the 3 point AF in the S200. Canon’s new DIGIC image processor (the technology was developed for the new Canon G3) improves resolution and speed noticeably. The S230 also incorporates Canon’s new iSAPS (Intelligent Scene Analysis based on Photographic Space) technology (also from the G3) which compares the scene in front of the camera to a huge on-board database of images and maximizes all exposures settings (aperture/shutter speed/white balance) for precisely the type of image that is being shot.
Lens
The S200 features a good quality f2.8-f4.0/35-70 (35mm equivalent) retractable 2X all-glass aspherical zoom lens with a built-in lens cover. There’s no thread for add-on lenses or filters
LCD
The S230’s 1.5" LCD is about average for micro digi-cams. The LCD screen features a glare reducing anti-reflective coating and is easy to see even in moderately bright outdoor light. The LCD screen is more accurate (for framing and composition) than the small optical view finder. The S230’s LCD screen can be set to display a variety of information including shooting mode, exposure compensation setting, white balance setting, photo effects mode, ISO setting, flash setting, metering option choice, resolution setting, compression setting, and a histogram to help evaluate dynamic range. Images are sharp and colors are bright.
Exposure
Auto mode
In the auto mode, the S230 functions as an auto everything “point’n’shoot” digital camera. The default evaluative metering system consistently produces good exposures in full auto. The new AiAF, DIGIC processor, and iSAPS technology combined with a fifty per cent resolution increase (over the 2 megapixel S200) produce almost faultless images with the press of a button. Kudos to Canon for designing an auto everything mode that does more than average the information. The S230’s images in auto mode are noticeably better than images shot in auto mode with similar cameras from other manufacturers.
Manual Mode
The S230’s "manual" mode allows limited user input into ISO setting, exposure compensation, white balance, and metering options. Users can select shutter speeds but the lens aperture remains in automatic mode at all times. The S230 also features separate exposure and focus lock functions, genuinely unusual creative photography features in a micro digital camera.
Auto Focus
The S230 features AiAF (artificial intelligence autofocus) technology that permits the camera’s metering system to calculate camera to subject distance more accurately. The S230 will then focus on whichever of the nine AF points it selects as best for the overall scene. The nine point AF allows better composition because the camera generally selects the focus point that corresponds with the closest element in the scene. Users can easily select which of the focus points to line up with the closest element in the scene and achieve a level of compositional freedom not usually found in “point and shoot” cameras. The AiAF can be turned off, if desired.
Metering
The S230’s evaluative metering system consistently renders accurate exposures in all but the most difficult lighting situations.
Flash
The S230’s tiny built-in multi mode flash offers a fairly standard selection of lighting options including Red-Eye Reduction and Slow-Synch modes. Maximum flash range is (according to Canon) about ten feet---realistically anything beyond six feet is going to be pretty dark, unless you shoot in light colored surroundings and have lots of ambient light.
Design, Ergonomics & Controls
For such a tiny camera the S230’s controls are laid out very well and the camera’s operation will quickly become intuitive, folks with large hands will need a little hands-on practice to avoid the “fumble finger” syndrome.
Photo Effects
Photo Effects is a nifty creative option (first seen on the Canon G2) that allows users to select spot metering, exposure compensation, vivid or neutral color saturation, contrast level, sharpening, and sepia or B&W tonal effects. You can accomplish the same effects in Paint Shop Pro or Adobe PhotoShop, but in-camera is always easier than post-exposure
White Balance
The S230’s White balance options are pretty standard with settings for: Auto, daylight, cloudy, tungsten, two fluorescent modes, and a custom mode.
Night/Low Light Photography
The S230 does a better job in low light situations than the S200 was able to do, however micro digital cameras don’t fare as well in night/low light situations as a class.
Macro
The S230’s macro capabilities are adequate. The camera can shoot acceptable e-bay images, but for artistic compositions with bugs and flowers, the S230’s performance is going to be disappointing.
Shutter Lag/Cycle/Start-Up Times
The S230’s boot-up time is fairly quick, about average for three megapixel digital cameras. Pre-focus and shutter lag times are reasonable, but certainly not fast (in fact they appear to be a bit slower than the S200). Expect about 2-3 seconds write to card times between shots at the maximum resolution setting.
Movie Mode
The S230’s movie mode is substantially improved over its predecessor,
you can record up to 30 second video clips (with sound) at 640 x 480 pixels @ 20 FPS (up to 3 minutes in low res mode).
Power
Micro cameras use tiny batteries and tiny batteries can’t store as much power as larger batteries. There is no way to get around this except by carrying a fully charged back up battery. The S230 is good for about fifty to sixty minutes of heavy shooting with continuous LCD use. Canon’s new NB-1LH. Li-ion rechargeable needs about two hours for a full charge. Plan to spend about $60.00 for a back-up NB-1LH, or if you already have one, the older NB-1L will work great as a shorter duration back up.
Canon claims the S230 with a fully charged battery can record 120 shots with fulltime LCD use and 270 shots with it off and a replay time of approx. 85 minutes. My experience with the camera indicates this is optimistic. I got 55 minutes with my first battery and just over 60 minutes with the second. I didn’t keep track of the number of exposures. The S230 is supplied with a 100-240V CB-2LS 2-hour rapid charger. The ability to charge the battery "out of the camera" is great if you have a second battery, which I recommend. Having used the S200, the battery life of the S230 appears to actually be a bit shorter, overall.
Technical Specifications
Resolution: 3 megapixels (2048X1536)
Lens: f2.8-f4.0/35-70 (35mm equivalent) retractable 2X all-glass aspherical zoom
Viewfinders: Real-image optical zoom & 1.5" LCD
Auto Focus: TTL AiAF nine-point autofocus system
Exposure: Program AE (Automatic) and Manual modes
Metering: Evaluative (on focus point) or Spot
Exposure Compensation: Yes-- /-2EV in 1/3-step increments
Flash: Built-in multi mode (no provision for external flash units)
White Balance: White Balance: TTL auto and presets for daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, fluorescent H, and custom
Noise Reduction: Yes—automatic on long exposures
Photo Effects: Low Sharpening, Vivid Color, Neutral, Sepia and B&W
Low-light focus assist illuminator: Yes
Shutter speeds: 15 seconds to 1/1500th of a second
Sensitivity: Auto and ISO equiv 50, 100, 200, & 400
Memory Storage Media: CompactFlash (Type I)
Image File Format: JPEG
Movies: AVI @ 20 fps (640X480)
Connectivity: USB 1.1
Power: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery (type: NB-1LH/ NB-1L)
MSRP $399.00---- Street Price: $369.00 (but this should fall to around $299.00)
Included
16MB CompactFlash card
NB-1LH Li-ion battery (rechargeable) w/charger
Wrist strap
USB & A/V cables
Printed users manual and separate software manual
Canon Software suite
Optional
Back-up NB-1LH Li-ion battery ($58.00)
Underwater Housing WP-DC600 ($240.00)
AC Adapter Kit ACK500
Compact Power Adapter CA-PS500
Car Battery Charger CBC-NB1
In the Field/Handling & Operation
The past couple of weeks have been very hectic, first I got a chance to test the brand new Canon Powershot G3 and then just a couple of days later my friend (who sells new and used digital and film cameras and photographic equipment) turned up with a new Canon Powershot S230 for us to test. We always start our camera tests by shooting a selection of colorful children’s plastic beach toys against a white background under controlled lighting. The S230 produced image files with well-balanced color, no blooming, and barely noticeable chromatic aberration (purple fringing) an incredible accomplishment considering the tiny size of the 2X zoom lens. Color accuracy was very good (although saturation was a bit lower than expected) and resolution was excellent. The lens showed absolutely no barrel distortion at the telephoto end and very little pincushion distortion at the wide-angle end of the focusing range.
We’ve been having a lot of rain and crummy weather for the last couple of weeks, but Indian Summer seems to finally be here. My friend and I got together on a for mid-week afternoon with blue skies and wispy white clouds and a temperature in the high sixties. We decided to take the S230 to Louisville’s new Extreme Park. The 40,000 square foot Skate Park is already developing a reputation as one of the finest extreme sports venues in the country. Gen-Y'ers gravitate to the park at all hours of the day and night. Features include a twenty-four foot full pipe, an eleven-foot bowl, and a six-foot quarter pipe. The Park is a photographer’s dream with stunning visual opportunities because the colorfully clad boarders and bladers stand out beautifully against the snow-white concrete. The bowls and pipes are perfectly placed for getting incredible action shots of boarders “catching some air” in gravity defying leaps. My friend brought his Pentax 645 so we had lots of boarders showing off for us (a couple of skateboarding magazines have done recent photo features on Louisville’s new extreme park, and everyone wants to be a star). Since my friend had the big professional looking camera he got all the attention. I was able to shoot the kids up close as they went through their death defying leaps. With just a 2X zoom I had to shoot right from the edge of the bowl, which was completely terrifying. Skateboarders seem to have absolutely no fear (and only a tenuous relationship with gravity).
In operation the little Digital Elf didn’t do too well catching “Woodpushers” (the term used by bikers and in-line skaters to describe skateboarders) hanging and catching air. Really good skateboarders move at incredible speeds and the S230 has just a bit too much shutter lag for optimal timing on action shots. It was very hard to freeze the boarders in mid air, but I did manage to get a couple of good shots.
After finishing up at the Extreme Park we drove to Paul’s Fruit & Vegetable Market on Taylorsville Road to check out their fall displays. Paul’s has been an East End landmark since just after World War II. The family business sells fresh fruits and vegetables, nursery plants, flowers, gourmet groceries, deli items, and in the autumn pumpkins, gourds, and Indian Corn. We shot a couple of close ups of the fall displays and after we finished at Paul’s we printed two 5X7’s and one 8X10 with an Epson Stylus Color 785 EPX (on photo paper) so we could check color and resolution.
Image Quality
The Canon Powershot S230 does a great job in the image quality department. Very good 8X10 images are easy with the S230 and a good photo printer. Color fidelity is excellent but saturation is a bit subdued (just like with the S200). Caucasian flesh tones and shadow detail are very good and saturation can be increased either in-camera (using the photo effects mode) or post exposure with Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. If you liked the image quality of the S200 (or S330) then you are going to love the three megapixel image quality available with the S230. My friend expects a lot of people who bought the S200 will move up to the S230, even though it has only been a little over six months since the introduction of the S200.
A Few Concerns
The S230’s lens exhibits very slight chromatic aberration and minor distortion at the wide-angle end of the 2X zoom. The tiny built in flash is weak and not much help except under optimum conditions. Low light images do display very minor levels of digital noise. The S230’s start-up speed and shutter lag shouldn’t be a problem, both are a bit better than average for micro digital cameras, but the shot to shot times are a bit slower than with the S200 and slower than average for micro digital cameras.
Conclusion
Is Canon’s newest digital elph as good (or better) than its predecessors? The answer is a resounding yes. Photographers who want a tiny “tough as nails” three-megapixel digital camera will find Canon’s new S230 hard to beat. The S230 is almost perfect for bikers, hikers, and backpackers because its small profile allows it to be taken (and used) virtually anywhere. The S230 has a nice variety of creative features and allows considerable user input into the picture making process. Casual photographers will be able to figure out the S230’s basic auto operation without opening the manual.
Links
Check out my reviews of a pair of bargain priced and very capable photo quality ink-jet printers.
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