Canon SX230HS for $260 @ Amazon ... good deal?
 

I guess with the announcement of 2012 line of Canon cameras, the price on the SX230HS will be dropping.

I need a good P&S camera. It will mainly be used in automatic mode. I'm looking for...

* Wide-angle lens
* Image stabilization
* 10x optical zoom (minimum)
* Somewhat fast operation
* Pocketability

Should I pull the trigger on this one? Or is there a camera under $260 that would be a much better deal?

I have about 10 hours to purchase if I want it here before the weekend (with planned trip to the amusement park on Saturday and outdoor birthday party on Sunday).

Thanks in advance.

In dpr's Comparison Test of this category just a couple of months ago, this was the clear leader I may be biased with at least 7 Canons laying around my house somewhere, but I'd certainly go with this one.

I wouldn't go that far. The SX230HS was basically tied with the Nikon S9100 (both were great, but were even better in different things). The Sony HX9V would've probably also been a gold award winner had it not had such laggy operations (which very few of the user reviews note).

Anyways, I've owned only two digital cameras since 2002: both Canons. This will be my third. :)

Price is up to $266, which still isn't bad considering the other reputable on-line dealers are about $30 more expensive. But Amazon wins thanks to Prime.

Best Buy is probably to thank for this pricing at Amazon, since from what I saw Amazon matched BB's price (It went to $260 at BB on Sunday, then Amazon matched it monday I think). Was good for me because I was looking at getting this camera to replace a samsung high-zoom camera from a year or two ago that I wasn't real happy with (indoor performance was real bad, although I'll admit I was spoiled from good indoor from Fuji cameras). It's the best price I've seen on the camera myself.

(I actually bought it at BB myself because I had a handful of gift certificates that I needed to use up. Yeah, I know, ended up with tax because of that.)

Dadgummit! I just bought that camera 2 months ago for $330! Far too late to return or price match (Best Buy's return window for digital cameras is only 14 days).

For what it's worth, it's an excellent camera with superb low-light capability.

Every electronic product goes down in price, and it doesn't take long in today's market. If you waited until the price fell, you'd probably soon follow it with "darn it, a better device just came out". Buy what you want when you want and don't look back.

I did see that the Nikon also had a gold award, but 3 Bests vs. 1 Best and 2 Middle of the Road seemed fairly clear to me. I re-read the summaries and still think so. But I linked to the entire review so anyone could read and weight their wpriorities - I'm not the one buying it.

Wow. What an amazing little camera. Yes, the flash placement is annoying, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

I pre-ordered the S100 to replace my S95, but I may pick one of these up for its wide angle lens.

Actually, the lens isn't particularly wide. Only goes to 28mm on the short end.

Need to by an immediate point and shoot and in the long run (when I have the time and money!) a DSLR!

I really like this camera it seems to do the job just right.. seems like you picked up a good bargin. :-:

28mm is the 35mm equivalent. It's also equivalent to the 18mm kit lenses that come with many APS-C DSLRs. 28mm is plenty wide for me in most situations.

The actual focal length of an SX230HS is 5-70mm, on a sensor that is 6.17x4.55mm.

With today's software for creating panoramas, I find that I can simply take a couple of shots and stitch them together if I want a wider shot. Of course, that's not always possible, but most of the time when you shoot something super-wide, it's a fairly static subject like a landscape, so you can take the time to lock your exposure settings and take multiple shots for later stitching.

I've been very pleased with my SX230's wide-angle. I find that it has very little pincushion distortion, less than my $600 Canon EF-S 18-200is lens.

And I've been thrilled with the zoom end, which is the equivalent of a 35mm camera with a 393mm lens. That's a HUGE zoom range, and I can really reach out and touch stuff with that little pocket-size camera.

I bought it for $300 and was also sad to see the price drop so quickly.

Oh well.

It's a really nice camera that fits easily in shorts pockets.

I plan on getting the underwater case for it soon.

The other cool feature is the 3 FPS or 8 FPS modes for capturing fast action.

The price is hovering back around $299 at all major retailers. The one outlier is $269 from an on-line store I've never heard of.