S230 and bright light question...

[erjed]

Hi to you all.

First time in this forum and a newbie in digital photography.

I just got my canon powershot S230 a few days ago and I've been playing around with it. I'm really satisfied and I think it's a great camera. I just have a few questions about it, I hope you experienced people can answer.

I stupidly placed the camera face up (lcd side flat on desk) on the desk where I do my work and the desk had a strong halogen lamp so that the camera lens was directly under it. Immediately, I heard a click so I picked it up to examine it. I noticed that looking at the lens there seems to be a mechanism that reacts to bright light. I'm not sure of the exact purpose or the action. All I know is that there is movement in the lens and a click is heard when it is exposed to a bright light source.

1. Is this a normal function of the camera? I've been reading a little in this forum and I read that direct sunlight can damage the CCD in the camera. Does the same hold true for any bright light sources?
2. Any chance that mine was damaged because of this incident?
3. Is the click I heard a sort of protection, like a shutter closing or something?
4. How can I test my camera to see if the CCD was damaged?

Sorry for the many questions. I really can't find any definitive answers thru searching the net and I don't know anyone else to turn to. I hope to get some answers before my 30 days is up in case I need to return it, have it replaced, or repaired.
Oh, and by the way I noticed a dead pixel in my LCD but as I understand, it is common to have a certain number of them in LCD screens, just like in laptops, right?

Thanks a lot to you all.

[Scott in Houston]

I can't answer your bright light question because I'm a beginner too with the same camera.

As for the LCD however, I've noticed that in bright light, like outdoors, my LCD screen will discolor and these bands will appear like ghosts on top of the image.

I'm going to exchange it just in case. Also, I have not noticed any dead pixels on mine.

Suggestion: return it because of the pixels within the 30 days, and you won't have to worry about that lense exposure.

[whytry]

That clicking noise is the apature adjusting itself. It has two settings and automatically choses one based on light intensity.

Face your camera towards you and look at the lens when passing it under a bright light to see what I mean.

[whytry]

Oh, and I read in the manual that the dead pixels are not considered a defect and won't be warranteed by Canon.