Nikon Coolpix S230 And S220

2009 PMA News Nikon Uncategorized

Nikon Coolpix S230 Digital Camera
The new Nikon Coolpix S230 is a 10-megapixel, pocket-sized digital camera with a new 3-inch touch screen LCD display. Along with the S230, Nikon is introducing the S220, which is basically the same but without the touch screen feature. Both cameras have a 3x 35-105mm optical zoom lens (35mm equivalent), movie mode, and Nikon’s D-Lighting in-camera shadow adjustment. The S230 is available in five colors and the S220 comes in seven colors.

“TOKYO – Nikon Corporation is pleased to announce the introduction of the COOLPIX S230. Combining the precision optics of a NIKKOR lens with the image quality and performance benefits of Nikon’s innovative EXPEED digital image-processing concept, the COOLPIX S230 blends the intuitive control of touch screen operation and advanced functions with delightfully compact design in a high-quality aluminum body…”

Nikon Coolpix S230 Feature Highlights

  • New 3-in. LCD monitor featuring touch screen control
  • Easy Auto Mode with Nikon’s Scene Auto Selector
  • Nikon’s exclusive Smart Portrait System
  • Quick Retouch
  • 16 handy scene modes for optimized shooting in various settings
  • Food Mode
  • D-Lighting
  • Active Zoom
  • Auto Sort and Favorite Pictures functions
  • Four movie modes with sound
  • Time zone function for easy setting of multiple locations
  • Approx. 44 MB of internal memory
  • Hi-Speed USB connectivity

Official Nikon Coolpix S230 Press Release >>
Official Nikon Coolpix S220 Press Release >>

Related Content:
Nikon Review Page
All Nikon Reviews
Nikon Cameras Forum
All Nikon News
Nikon Web Site

Nikon Coolpix S230 Color Options:
Nikon Coolpix S230 Digital Camera Colors

Nikon Coolpix S220 Color Options:
Nikon Coolpix S220 Digital Camera Colors

About the author: Photo-John

Photo-John, a.k.a. John Shafer, is the managing editor of PhotographyREVIEW.com and has been since the site launched back in 1999. He's an avid outdoor enthusiast and spends as much time as possible on his mountain bike, hiking or skiing in the mountains. He's been taking pictures for ever and ever, and never goes anywhere without a camera.


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  • smartvergin says:

    I bought a Nikon CoolPix S230 and the image quality was very bad. Was very grainy!! When you zoomed in on PIC’s, dots even appeared in the images.

    When viewing the images on my computer, they were ever worse!!

  • TM says:

    I bought the Nikon Coolpix S230 and I was not impressed with the quality of the photos, on the LCD screen or on my computer. I took pictures at my wedding, which was in the evening, most of them came out too dark, or blurry. We only got a few clear pics. I was highly disappointed. In summary, this camera is terrible for low light settings! I would not recommend this camera to anyone.

  • SM says:

    I purchased the Nikon Coolpix S230 for something simple. I thought that I needed a high megapixel model because I wanted good pictures. The Nikon name is what made me turn to the 230 model. This was the worst decision I made since marriage. Every image that I have captured with this camera is terrible. I will call them images, because they do not qualify as pictures. I have taken better shots with my camera phone. Pass on this product………..Please they should be arrested for using the Nikon name.

  • AS says:

    Does anyone have anything against the S220 version?? Everything is about the S230…or are they the same?

  • M says:

    I purchased the Nikon Coolpix S220 yesterday. When viewing the image on the screen (BEFORE snapping the shot) the image is great but, once you press the shutter-release button the image pops up on the screen VERY grainy. Then when you pull up the photo on your computer it’s AWFUL! Also, VERY grainy – not acceptable in my mind. It pails compared to my previous camera which was a Casio EX-S500. Nikon is supposed to be a company that ONLY produces cameras – I DON’T GET IT! Will be returning this camera a.s.a.p. I’m surprised anyone could find this a wise purchase.

  • Anonymous says:

    You guys are kinda silly. i just got this camera (s230), and I noticed that right out of the box, that the picture quality was yucky, and that it was grainy and weird. I went into the settings and lowered the iso to 80, and then the pictures looked fine, and normal quality. Hope this helps someone!

  • Ashley says:

    I recently purchased the S230 and the touch screen is amazing but the screen is all grainy and when I take pictures the pictures look all glittery. But when I put them on my computer there just fine. But personally I really like it.

  • S2t2n says:

    I ve just bought a Nikon coolpix s220 and i m having the same problems!The quality of the images on the sreen is awful in the most cases..When i transfer the images on my pc they are a bit better..I low the iso to 80 but i cant see much diference,one friend of mine bought an olympus,which is much better :(

  • dd says:

    I was having the same grainy issue everyone seems to be complaining about – change the ISO setting from Auto to something from 80-200 and you will see that issue go away – just remember if you are going to be shooting in low light to set it back to auto or something higher to compensate for the low light.

  • mann says:

    im using s220 model…. the result is OK! no problem with this model…..
    i think u all dont know how to use this camera….
    pls go back to read ur manual user guide before use ur nikon s220/230 camera……..

  • Candy says:

    how do you change the iso settings? Where in settings do you go? I Recently purchased the s230 from best buy and was seriously considering returning it if no one can help me, change my settings so that i am not receiving blurry images that distort the faces in my pictures. Thanks for any and all help

  • john says:

    i just got the s220 yesterday. i changed the iso to 80 and now everything is awesome. good little camera now

  • b says:

    i have a 5 year old kodak 5 megapixel that takes fine pictures. my nikon s320 takes pictures that look worse than something i could take on my phone. set the iso to whatever you like, this is a return first thing tomorrow.

  • Giovanni says:

    Very bad image quality. I have a three years old Coolpix and it is much better. It is clearly a lemon. Such a blunder makes you think about buying again from Nikon.

  • calligrapen says:

    I have had the nikon coolpix camera since may of this year. I was first terribly disappointed because the pictures were terrible! However, I learned to use the settings and changed them…and ended with some ok pictures. Take a look here under coolpix s220 pictures in my account.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/33803507@N05/sets/72157620740063187/

    Overall, I’d have to say I was quite disappointed. I want a refund. My 4 yr old sony cybershot takes better pictures even though it turns off sometimes when I try to take pictures.

  • Angelita says:

    i have had the nikon coolpix s230 for about 6months now. everything was perfect untill one day it wouldnt turn on. i charge the battry…but nothing. Does anyone have any suggestions? has this happend to anyone? thanks

  • Ester says:

    I have a S230. I can’t select anything using the touch screen. I was working fine and then just did let me select anything. Anyone know what this happened?

  • hillary says:

    my camera is not doing anything like i cant touch any thing only take a picture

  • Piper says:

    The touchscreen is not responding on some of the buttons, like delete and retouch. Then it does pop to delete, the next screen won’t respond to my touching yes or no. Menu doesn’t up either. How do we wake up the screen again?

  • Photo-John says:

    hillary and piper-
    I don’t have any hands-on or tech experience with these two cameras. But it sounds to me like something isn’t working right. I think you should both contact Nikon tech support to find out if the touchscreen on your cameras is broken.

  • K C says:

    we bought a nikon s220 and we can not get the picture off the internal memory and put them on a memory card

  • P S says:

    Im trying to decide whether to buy the s220 or the s230. What is your opinion???

  • HM says:

    i had a grainy screen on my camera (S220) but when i uploaded them onto my computer they seemed absolutely fine. now after lowering my ISO to 80 in the settings my pictures are perfect on the camera and computer screen.

  • Jessica says:

    Definitely try changing the ISO settings! I was getting very frustrated with mine also until I discovered that was the problem! It actually takes exceptional pictures once you take some time to learn the camera.

  • Edd says:

    My mother just received an S220. Set it on all auto (it’s a point and shoot, after all) and saw all the problems you’re all mentioning (for the indoor photos). Once I loaded them on the computer and looked at the exposure settings: virtually every indoor photo taken on full auto settings were shot at 1/30 and f3.1 — the flash occurred each time. Grainy, out of focus, horrible color. Sorry, it’s going back to Costco.

  • wow says:

    I got the Nicon coolpix s230 and when I took my first picture ya it was disapointing but when you change the mega pixel setting to a lower setting you get clear pictures. You should mess around with a camera before you just decide it is a horrible piece of technolgy.

  • Steve says:

    I dunno y’all. I got a Nikon Coolpix 220 for christmas. For the price you’re paying, you really do get some high quality pictures. Although this is coming from someone that owned an hp camera several years ago. Still though, if you’re expecting to get some insanely amazing pictures, expect to pay more money for the hardware. I like this camera a lot actually. The time it takes to actually take the picture (charging flash, locking on focal point, etc.) is a lot shorter than I expected. It’s lightweight, convenient, and worth the money for a casual photographer. You people whine too much.

  • tiara says:

    i droped the nikon 220 one time and it still worked but when i took a pictur there were several lines through the photo to i rather spend my money on a camera that wont brake that easaly but before i droped it the pic were good and so were the videos so just be careful

  • John says:

    DON’T BUY THIS CAMERA !

    I’m very dissapointed with the s220.It’s image quality is very very bad.The pictures I’ve taken were all blurred in any shutter speed.ISO performance is really bad too.Outdoor,indoor nothing changes.I think there is a problem with the sensor of this camera becasue the lens quality doesn’t directly connected with these symptoms. I’ve tested four s220′s and they had same problems too but some users doesn’t complain about such problems so maybe Nikon saw the problem and fixed it in the new part of production.

    I am a Nikon fan in DSLR’s but the fact is that they made a cool designed camera(s220) with a sensor-lens combination which gives mud-like pictures.

  • morgan says:

    i got a nikon s230 for christmas worked fine for a few months took a bunch of pics. Then did not use it for like a month and now i can not use the touch screen does anyone know what to do?

  • Brooke says:

    My roommate has the Nikon S230 and it is a terrible camera. I always considered Canon and Nikon to be the top two brands for cameras. However, after experiencing the problems with the Nikon my thoughts quickly changed. I have a Canon PowerShot SD970, and it is the best camera I have ever owned.

    Go out and get a Canon, and you will not be disappointed. With the exceptional image quality, along with plenty of other great factors and easy-to-use features makes Canon camera’s superb. The Canon PowerShot SD3500 IS is the first touch-screen camera made by Canon, and it has received some good reviews overall. If you are still interested in a touch-screen I would highly recommend looking into this one.

  • Brooke says:

    Also, I want to respond to one of the comments above. My sister owns the Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS which is listed at $179. The picture quality is excellent and it is so easy to use. This camera is proof that you do not have to pay loads of cash for some ‘insanely amazing pictures.’

    $179 is now the retail price for the Nikon S230. Same price….completely different results.

  • andrea says:

    my daughter kept getting a lens error, and now the camera does’nt even turn on or anything. it’s a s220 series. she got it for christmas, and used it a couple of times. i have no idea what to do. was a waste of money, should of got both my girls the fuji. it’s way better. any thoughts let me know. (zollgirlsrus@yahoo.com)

  • Chelsea says:

    Andrea, I am having the same problem with my camera! I don’t know what to do because I bought it through Amazon. Had I actually bought it at Best Buy I would be under warranty and could get it fixed.

  • Sherri says:

    I got the S230 for Christmas. Before I had a Fuji Fine Pix, that I loved. The flash does not pop up on its own anymore (after 5 years), but I still love the camera. The S230 is awful! My 5 year old was holding it at bumped against a cabinet lightly. Now the lense is all crooked and the camera will not work at all. I am totally disappointed. This camera was a real waste of money.

  • RC says:

    I got the S220 a few days ago. Reading all these reviews is quite depressing. I think it’s quite worth the money you pay for it. And as many have suggested, it will probably work better if you change the settings around a bit. Well, I’m going to take the advice and see how it works.

  • eddie says:

    honestly i love this camera mine works great great pics and everything about it i still cant believe the price maybe i just got a good one lol

  • C says:

    Hi,
    I recieved the nikon S220 at Christmas and I’ve experienced no problems at all up until around 2 weeks ago.
    Basically now when I press the shutter button down to take a picture the flash bulb flashes red. Now I’ve read in the guide that this means the flash bulb is charging but I’ve charged my camera etc and noticed no improvement. Any idea how to get it to start taking pictures again?
    Thanks!

  • billy says:

    i dont really like my S230. my old coolpix is much better than this. the quality of the pix is really embarassing especially everytime when im with my frends and they keep on comparing my cam with theirs. particularly the color of the pix, i would rather use kodak than this S230. pls dont buy it anymore.

  • Indrajit Paul says:

    Price For Nikon Coolpix S230 touch screen video camera in klolkata

  • Sam says:

    This is my first Nikon Camera,I owned a Fujifilm A800 and its doing a great job.How ever This Nikon S230 produce blurry images no matter what settings you are using,poor details,not sharp and crisp.Total waste of money,Never going to a Nikon again.

  • Joanne says:

    bought my Nikon s220 inFeb 2010 have taken heaps of great quality photo’s went to use it the other day after being untouched and in a hard case for about a month and the monitor looks like it’s shatterd glass

  • Mel says:

    Nikon stuffed up big time when they made this camera. DO NOT BUY IT! Bad quality photos. Lowering the ISO is not an option when you want photos inside of your children in low light. My 5 year old 2MP Canon powershot takes better photos! This camera is a dud, money waisted. :(

  • LG says:

    My husband and I bought the S230 for our own Christmas present for each other. What a mistake. We were just blessed with a new grand baby a week ago, and we cannot even get a decent picture! He is in NICU and the lighting is low, so the pics turn out yellow. It might help if the flash would work!! We have not used this camera more than 5 times since we bought it and you have to change the setting to “NO FLASH” for the stupid thing to even take a picture. VERY disappointed. I wish we would have used it more often to begin with so we could take it back. Nikon will be getting a phone call or email. this is rediculous!

  • Eka says:

    I got this S230 as a gift, and like the rest of you I got disappointed with the picture taken. This is my first Nikon and my impression to Nikon is bad right now. I won’t buy Nikon, I have Sony and Canon, the picture quality taken is much better than this S230. I would not recommend this camera to anyone. I updated the firmware from v1.0 to v1.1 but nothing has changed. The picture taken is blur and I have tried every possible setup with no luck.

  • Jennie says:

    My touch screen won’t work either… Scared to send it in to get checked as it’s not under warranty and if it’s $200 to fix I may as well buy a new damn camera!!!

  • Sam says:

    I got the s220 and I have had it for quite a while now, it has always been great. Sure I had dropped it a couple times, so I then got a case to keep it safe. But lately, it does this thing, I turn it on and the screen is totally white and weird looking, with little black bars moving around in the middle and on the sides. I haven’t dropped it at all lately! Or done any harm to it. It still takes pictures and stuff, and they come out on the Computer. But i want to get this fixed. Any Ideas?

  • Andy says:

    I want to get one photo off my wife’s Nikon S220 and cannot do so without downloading Nikon’s software which I don’t want to install on my PC. Moreover, there are many malware sites that try to get you to download and install virus infected ‘drivers’ when you search for drivers!

  • Hilly says:

    I did enjoy this camera for 14 mos, but now it is acting up and continously have a lens error. I would recomend this camera because of the photo quality, but not for it sustainability. By the way, I own an S220.

  • Fiona Hobday says:

    Bought a Nikon Coolpix S220 just over a year ago. No problems until a few weeks ago-then the LCD wouldn;t stop flickering. Phoned Nikon-they said to send it off to them for repair.I assumed it would be covered under warranty but no!!! Have had to pay £61.06 for them to repace the LCD unit.Have written demanding an explanation from them.Not very impressed.

  • Kay says:

    I have the S220 and also have the same exact problems. Horrible blurry pictures. Yes, I know how to change the ISO settings. Which helps a bit when it’s lowered but still not great. However.. this is a point and shoot camera people!!! I shouldnt have to change anything. I should be able to use it on Auto with out getting HORRIBLE pictures.

  • Chel says:

    The Nikon Coolpix S230 was terrible, the first time I used it, pictures never came out clear it was grainy or should I say the pictures always comes out speckly, blurred very horrible camera. I regret that I asked this to my husband to get me for Christmas. Until now its still doing the same problem I feel like throwing it in the trash. WASTE OF MONEY!

  • naomii says:

    i got a nikon coolpix s220 and dropped it about 30cm onto the floor. now when i try to turn my camera on the screen turns white and says lens error in white the camera also make a vibration noise as the lens is trying to come out does any one know how to fix this problem. i really need to fix this camera as i have had it for about 2weeks and broke it already…

  • Greg Hinson says:

    Not sure I how long I have had this camera, purchased it from Best Buy as a christmas present for myself probably about a year ago. Great Pictures and loved all the features it had. However, when I turn on the camera now instead of being able to see through the viewfinder like normal, I see nothing but a white screen. Everything else appears to work right. Would love to keep the camera and such but am afraid I will have to get rid of it.

  • not_impressed says:

    I bought the s230 right after it came out. I was really excited about getting it because the commercials made it look very appealing. This was my first nikon camera and I was not impressed at all! my pictures all came out blurry and the lighting was terrible on all of them no matter how i had the settings. I have barely used the camera and will stick to my old kodak from now on.

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