Disappointed SX230 HS Owner

Having always had Canon camera's I once again took the plunge and purchased a SX230 HS, And i'm really disappointed with it, The indoor and outdoor pictures i've taken display large amounts of grain and lack focus, Pictures taken with the lawn in view look like they have been taken with the toy camera setting, the grass looks completely unreal.
I then did some comparison shots with my six year old Canon Powershot A620 ( both cameras in auto mode ) an was surprised to see the A620 took far better photos indoors and outdoors, The only area where the sx230 was better was the hd video recording although the 720 mode was fine the 1080p setting showed a large amount of judder , Is there a chance that i have a faulty camera as i can't believe that my old camera takes better pictures than the new one, I'm starting to wish i had gone for the S95 instead

Can you crank the saturation down in jpeg settings?

Welcome. You probably need to post some pics to get any meaninful feedback. In the meantime, check out this thread to see what the SX230 can do: https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1018633

One "problem" you're dealing with is that the old A series cams were quite good, with larger sensors than what the SX230 has today. I've always considered my A630 to be a poor man's G-series.

Today, within the travel zoom (pocketable cams with long-ish zooms) category the SX230 seems to get some of the best marks for image quality. But like anything else, there are compromises to be made when making such a small camera than can do so much.

Or take it back to the store and pay the difference for a s95?

I've enjoyed owning the A620 but it took a tumble a few months ago and since the the very centre of most the pictures it takes are over exposed, I suppose i was looking for a good all rounder but didn't expect having a x14 zoom would have such an impact on overall picture quality , I did consider changing brands and going with the panasonic tz20 , a similar camera function wise and has also had people complaining about picture quality, My first choice of camera was the S95 but was swayed by the hd video abilities of the sx230

I feel the same way about the newer cameras. the A620 had a moderate, non-extreme zoom range and a relatively big sensor. Now the newer cameras have very wide zooms along with smaller megapixel packed (supposedly higher tech) sensors that just seem to produce less pleasant images. It seems the more tech we are packing into the cameras, the worse the image quality. The only exceptions are the S90/95 and the Gseries, it seems.

A couple of comparison shots , both taken on auto, A620 on the left - SX230 HS on the right

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EXIF data? Looks like the two are exposing differently. I don't doubt that over the years you've tweaked the settings on your A620. Even in "Green Box", that can make a difference.

Camera settings have never been tweaked

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