S230 over 30000 photos with CCD Dying

[S230]

I have an S230 that is dying. I've contacted Canon several times and did not get a solid answer. I hope someone in this forum can help.
I had been using it for just little over 2 years (Oct 24/02) and is quite impressed at it since.
What I noticed last month was photos I take with a black background, there is a noticable blue dot in the photo. I originally thought it was with LCD or the file but it turns out it even appears in the video, etc. and in other jpg files. I suspect it has something to do with the CCD. Is there anything that can be done about this? It's diappointing to find out after when warranty runs out and the camera is problem free for only 2 years.

What is the lifespan and amount of photos able to take with the S230.

Another question, is there any way to tell how many photos had been taken with my camera? I am pretty sure it should be over 30000 photos by now but is there a way to confirm?

Look forward to replies.

:)

[bosamar]

I love my S200 which became quite a workhorse for me. I don't think I've even taken 5,000 shots with it.

I'd like to know more about your S230 such as how is the flash after 30K? How many batteries did you go through? Did you ever have it serviced/cleaned?

[S230]

Hi Bosamar, the flash still works great. I don't take all photos with the flash but it is used quite often. As I last heard, the S230 is a totally new upgrade from the S200 (Someone pls. verify this). It incorporates the new iDigic Chip used in SLR's. It is FAST! and I am still impressed it at because the response rate made other cameras that I have used (Sony's 5MP, Casio 4MP's, and Olympus) looked like a toy.

I actually compared these recent cameras with my 2 years old camera and still left them in the dust. Alas it's only a 3.2Mp but still if I do only 4x6 or even occassional 8x10, it is still awsome. If you noticed my photo posted (the lightning bolt), that was taken with my S230 and not many other Point and Shoot camera was able to do this.

The response rate and recharge of the flash is fast. At night, (Indoors), it is extremely bright. I have absolute no complains except for the CCD burnout that I am experiencing and is a real nusience because I am now worried how long will my other canon camera last?

I used to carry 4 batteries with me at all times and 2 to 3 CF cards. You get roughly 60 shots with flash and more without. It too depends on how new your batteries are. After a full continuous use, you will begin to feel the heat coming from the camera. After 3 batteries, you will certainly have a hard time holding the camera because it just gets so hot that it's really uncomfortable holding. I had no choice but to set it down and cool off with all the compartments opened.

My one time record was over 1500 photos within 6 hours at a wedding. And I had past wedding photos that I've done which captured precise moments with clarity that was actually better than the hired "professional photographer".

I currently have a box FULL of CD's and DVD's of photos and videos taken with this little workhorse. It's definitely over 20000 and most likely over 30000. My first year owning the camera, I've actually put over 15000 photos on it. Most people don't even come close to that number.

So far, other people had bought this model because of my recommendations and they too are happy with it. But now I am beginning to worry about the CCD burnout.

:)[/quote]

[S230]

Hi Bosamar, the flash still works great. I don't take all photos with the flash but it is used quite often. As I last heard, the S230 is a totally new upgrade from the S200 (Someone pls. verify this). It incorporates the new iDigic Chip used in SLR's. It is FAST! and I am still impressed it at because the response rate made other cameras that I have used (Sony's 5MP, Casio 4MP's, and Olympus) looked like a toy.

I actually compared these recent cameras with my 2 years old camera and still left them in the dust. Alas it's only a 3.2Mp but still if I do only 4x6 or even occassional 8x10, it is still awsome. If you noticed my photo posted (the lightning bolt), that was taken with my S230 and not many other Point and Shoot camera was able to do this.

The response rate and recharge of the flash is fast. At night, (Indoors), it is extremely bright. I have absolute no complains except for the CCD burnout that I am experiencing and is a real nusience because I am now worried how long will my other canon camera last?

I used to carry 4 batteries with me at all times and 2 to 3 CF cards. You get roughly 60 shots with flash and more without. It too depends on how new your batteries are. After a full continuous use, you will begin to feel the heat coming from the camera. After 3 batteries, you will certainly have a hard time holding the camera because it just gets so hot that it's really uncomfortable holding. I had no choice but to set it down and cool off with all the compartments opened.

My one time record was over 1500 photos within 6 hours at a wedding. And I had past wedding photos that I've done which captured precise moments with clarity that was actually better than the hired "professional photographer".

I currently have a box FULL of CD's and DVD's of photos and videos taken with this little workhorse. It's definitely over 20000 and most likely over 30000. My first year owning the camera, I've actually put over 15000 photos on it. Most people don't even come close to that number.

So far, other people had bought this model because of my recommendations and they too are happy with it. But now I am beginning to worry about the CCD burnout.

:)

[Velvet G]

It isn't just your model. This happened to my S1 IS after just 3 months of use. Mine developed 3 blue dots and I had to send it back to Canon for repair.

Needless to say I was pretty irritated that my $400 purchase had to be sent out for repair so soon. Luckily it was under warranty, but I've been without my camera for over a week and it still isn't back yet.

You'll need to send it in for repair. I tried cleaning everything and it's definitely something internal.

[stevo12886]

It kind of sounds like a hot pixel. How large is the blue dot?

[xdjoynerx]

lmao, 30,000 shots and your complaining about one hot pixel :lol:

some one needs to ban this guy!

[Jon]

You say this blue dot is noticeable. How big is it? A single pixel? More? Fuzzy-edged or crisp? Does it happen if you photograph something black, but at a high shutter speed? If it's one or two pixels, just spot it out. If it really bothers you, Canon can probably map it out for you without replacing the sensor.

To your other question, how can you tell how many photos you've taken, there isn't any absolutely sure way. There are Urban Legends that Canon has a magical program that will tell them, or that the data is encoded in the photo's EXIF data, but noone's ever (to the best of my knowledge) posted a link to a primary source (the person who has such a program, or will absolutely state exactly where the magic number's stored). The closest you can get is if your camera's set to continuous numbering, and you never set it to "auto-reset", and you've never inserted a card from another camera that had seen more use, the frame count would be 100 less than the image number (folder + image number; the first two digits of the image number are also the last 2 of the folder number).

[S230]

Thanks for the responses... :)
The blue dot is quite noticable. It looks like someone used a blue pen and put a dot on the photo.
Good thing it is only a single "dot".
I never thought about them mapping out the burnt areas as Jon said because it is quite possible and would be a more viable solution.
As for how I know approx how many photos; I do not reset my counter so I recalled my counter rolled over at least twice already.
The counter did reset or reported a different number when I plugged a CF card from another camera that already have photos on it.
My other way of telling was the box of CD's I've been backing up (Monthly/weekly).

I will look into the mapping out but not sure will Canon be billing me for this.

:)

[Jon]

Yes they will bill for it if the camera's out of warranty. But have you zoomed in on the picture, say looked at the dot at 100% magnification on your computer? How many pixels is it? if it's not many, cloning it out may be your best bet.

[S230]

Thanks Jon. I agree with you that this may be the best option. I never thought of zooming in to look at it because without zooming, i can see a spot. Cloning as u said will probably be the best option left for me.
If I brought it into Canon, the cost of repair will probably be more than the camera. :(
I will try playing around with my camera and see if it would work.

:)

[Jon]

The counter did reset or reported a different number when I plugged a CF card from another camera that already have photos on it.

If you didn't set the camera to auto-reset the numbering, and the CF from the other camera had higher numbers on it than yours had, you likely reset your camera counter to their number at that point.

[S230]

Unfortuantley it's the other way around. When my camera had the counter at 7000, I put someone's CF card into mine and then it changed the number to 2000. Unfortunately i did not catch this until later on then to fix it, I had to manually change the filename and plug the card in to get the camera to reset the number back to 7000. I had actually missed quite a number of photos in between. This is why I am pretty sure I am over 30000. Wished Canon could had fixed this problem or allowed custom subfolder creation.

[Jon]

. . . never seen that happen before. I've always seen the camera adopt a higher number from the card, never a lower.