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Canon PowerShot SX230 HS |
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Canon PowerShot S95 |  |
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differences
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recommendations
Relative to the best recent compacts, and ignoring price
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Canon PowerShot SX230 HS |
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Canon PowerShot S95 | |
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Snapsort recommends the Canon PowerShot S95. This recommendation, however, should be taken with a grain of salt since it doesn't always make sense to compare a travel zoom with a pro digicam. |
similarities
Compared to recent compacts
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dxomark
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competitors
Shared Competitors |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
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Canon PowerShot SX260 HSTravel zoom $245 - $269 |
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Canon PowerShot SX280 HSTravel zoom $299 |
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Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9vTravel zoom $314 |
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Canon PowerShot ELPH 110 HSCompact $146 - $179 |
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Canon ELPH 320 HSCompact $133 - $149 |
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Panasonic Lumix ZS20Travel zoom $299 |
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Canon PowerShot ELPH 520 HSUltra compact $129 - $155 |
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Canon PowerShot SX230 HS Competitors |
Advantages |
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Canon PowerShot SX240 HSTravel zoom $207 - $238 |
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Canon PowerShot SX220 HSTravel zoom $219 |
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Canon PowerShot SX210 ISTravel zoom $403 |
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Canon PowerShot SX270 HSTravel zoom $374 - $401 |
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Canon PowerShot S95 Competitors |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
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Canon Powershot S100Pro digicam $325 - $349 |
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Canon PowerShot S110Pro digicam $399 |
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Canon PowerShot S90Pro digicam |
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Sony Cybershot DSC-RX100Pro digicam $648 - $760 |
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Olympus XZ-1Pro digicam $323 |
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appearance
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Showing 7 comments
Either way you will be getting a great camera, it really depends on if you want a longer zoom.
I apologise to any photo enthusiasts as I am very much amateur in terms of knowledge and what I use a camera for.
I have only ever had Ixus cameras which I have always liked but I am looking to get better quality and more manual adjustment from a camera but still in a compact form like the Ixus cameras. I use the camera for all sorts of stuff. Nights out, holiday, album art or photography for my Music Projects and I have limited knowledge on it but do enjoy the idea of taking photography a bit more seriously in terms of night shots, scenic shots etc.
So I was wondering if someone could maybe give their advice. I'm afraid I'm very stubborn when it comes to brands in all things and I'm only looking for a canon camera.
I'm slightly in favour of the SX230 at the moment because of the high zoom, and video capabilities (meaning i can put off looking for an HD camcorder for a while)
But the S95 has better manual options, better low light quality which does appeal to me as I do like night shots and obviously going out pictures would be better. And generally better quality pictures. What I would like to know is are these plus points that much better and worth getting over the good zoom and video capabilities of the SX230.
Thank you in advance for any feedback given.
Excellent low light ability, F/2.0 aperture and remarkable IQ for a pocket-size unit are all convincing attributes of the S95, and the quality feel with intuitive controls further impress.
The SX230 delivers IQ in LL somewhat less well than the S95, but still produces brilliant results in actual practice. And further, it offers 14X optical zoom, shoots equally wide, does arguably just as well outdoors, is 1080P-equipped with optical zoom+continuous focus video, comes with GPS photo tagging, and has a few fun goodies to boot (wink shutter trigger, miniature mode, fish-eye mode, 2 levels of slo-mo video, etc). Its 1080P video results by the way are no less than striking. That big zoom and the 1080P were the clincher for me - well that and the IQ is very decent (and, it's on the upper end pocket-able, but is). If the IQ weren't impressive, it wouldn't have been a candidate in the first place.
In practice, when viewing computer screen stills or prints, most of the IQ differences between the two cameras will be virtually indistinguishable, except for those occasions where only the S95's low light results suffice (probably not too often for me). The SX230 appears to do well indoors in common ambient room lighting IMO. Should it fall short, that's what I have my old version of PS for.
Had Canon built the S95 with video optical zoom and autofocus, and equipped it with a 10X or 12X zoom, I'd have likely decided differently. The S95 does have active digital video zoom, but it really compromises the 720P video quality, and it doesn't re-focus at all during video.
Also worth mentioning, with the extra $50 saved (SX230 $350 vs. S95 $400), I got two 16gb SDHC C10 cards from Newegg.
So, a couple negatives points about the SX230; 1) eats batteries rather fast - ordered two spares, quite affordable on ebay, but they say to watch the quality. 2) In M mode (manual aperture & shutter), it limits ISO to 100 at a shutter slower than 1s. That kind of sucks, as I though about doing night skies and the like using ISO400+. Not a huge obstacle, but still.