Sony Reviews

I had a 3.2MP Sony camera about two years ago. It was great. Why I got rid of it, I'll never know. Even though it was a bit bulkier than the DSCP92, it took great photos and MPEGs and I could fit so much on a 128MB memory stick. With this one, five photos and a 30-second MPEG are all I can fit on a 16MB memory stick. But what bothers me most is that it doesn't offer Black & White as an optional photo mode! WHY IS THAT? It's such a common option and yields some beautiful photos. I mean, come on, how often do you take photos in Sepia, Solarize or--what's the other one--Sunburst? PLEASE! I'm tempted to take this camera back. Even my parents' cheap Kodak digital camera offers B&W.

I picked the DSC-P92 because of the quality of the pictures,size of camera & affordability.This things takes awesome pictures.Ease to handle and easy to use.Only drawback is the memory stick they include but no big deal,I purchased the 128 memory stick and will purchase another soon.Once you start taking pictures you don't wanna stop.I have a 35 millimeter but in order to email pictures you have to have them developed and then scanned,with the digital you just shot,load to computer and email,all within a matter of a couple of minutes.Thanks Sony for creating another fine product.

I got this camera less than a week ago and I have nothing but good things to say about it. The photos that it takes are amazing. It is wonderful to get the 5MP quality at such a price and with such features. Also, its acceptance of the Memory Stick Pros just makes me giddy. 1GB o' photos at 5MP? Yes please. It is so light and compact. I can carry it easily in my pocket (which already has my cell phone in it). Being able to choose the quality of the movies that one makes is truly a bonus as well, as one does not need to waste quality on MPGs that are simply going to be e-mailed. Very well thought out design. I'd expect nothing less from Sony.
(Still, it does not begin to compare to my Nikon SLR, but at a tiny fraction of the cost of the body and lenses, it seems like quite a nice trade-off. Plus, I don't have to fumble with lenses, filters, and the like in order to catch a shot. This will be a great hanging-out-with-the-friends camera for sure!)

Although the camera is fine, the memory card format represents a fatal flaw that prospective buyers should consider. The memory cards are prone to format errors (Format Error 13-01) which can cause you to lose your photos. We have 8 memory sticks and have had problems with all but 3 of them. I recommend that any one considering a Sony camera purchase do a Google Search using search terms: Sony format error "13-01" to discover what disgruntled Sony owners are saying about this problem.

No words can describe the beauty, simplicity, and power of this little miracle device! I've been using it for about 9 Problem-free months. This camera is super for digital snapshots. Connectivity to the PC is simple via USB. It uses a proprietary Sony MemoryStick and a tiny rechargeable removable battery pack (which you can buy on ebay for cheap).

This camera has many functions that even a die-hard photographer will go nuts over: EV, aperture focus, white-balance, spot meter, iso, picture quality, image size, sharpness, flash brightness, & record mode ie video, email, voice & more!

I'm the dummy so I keep most things on default, and it still works well.

It also features red-eye reduction, flash on-off, and video recording (but the quality is very poor so I advise from using it)

You can choose from among 5 picture sizes:
2272x1702 (4 megapixels)
2272(3:2) -- I call this the widescreen, my favorite setting
1600x1200 (2 MP mode, quality like 4MP, use if cramped for space)
1280x960 (quality is ok, use for auction pix and shrinking later)
640x480 (quality not so good, for email or low bandwidth use)

All in all, in today's day in age, I still think that 4 megapixels is overkill for an ordinary Joe. 2 Megapixels is the best bang for the buck today. But if you're into taking high quality pictures, want ease of use, want a decent fair price, AND want bragging rights, then this camera is for you!

I've had my camera for over a month now and almost everything about it is incredible. The picture quality is outstanding and you have a range of resolution choices. The camera is very small...just smaller than the size of my hand, and features including picture editing on the camera(like zooming in and cutting on that zoomed-in part) is handy. You can also record mpeg movies(about 3 mins. w/ a 128mb memory stick), but you don't have light from the camera while recording. The battery time is over 1 hour fully charged, which is more than enough with the memory they give you. I purchased another battery because I'm one of those that has to have everything perfect.
Only cons w/ the camera is that it only includes a 16mb memory stick(which only takes 8 pictures on the highest resolution), so I purchased a 128mb one. The wait-time between shots could be shorter(about 5 secs.), and the zoom could be higher(6x optical). Lastly, they do NOT provide a program to do more enhancing or editing. My uncle has a Canon and it came w/ a good editing feature program(photostitch) that will combine a number of pictures together and form 1 big one. Its good for taking big pictures/big families and panaromic shots.
Overall, I'm impressed with the size and features of this camera, but the price may be too steep for 1st-timers.

I was looking for a digital camera for quite some time and am glad I finally picked this one. I'll cut right to the chase;

PROS:
-Lithium battery
-Very Portable!
-Affordable (for everything you get)
-Decent zoom
-Easy to learn how to use (I've had it only for almost a week)
-Packed with features (I have yet to learn)
-Stylish, nice looking and great body!

CONS; I havent really found any yet but I'll try to point some out-
- Battery life may seem short but its actually not that bad
- LCD screen smudges easily (but that happens anyway)

To be honest, I am no camera expert or reviewer that's hard on details of a camera. I am simply the ordinary citizen trying to adapt to technology.

Here's some other tips for buying your own digital camera:

1) Choose either a SONY or CANON! the 2 top digital camera companies, I'm serious on this one
2) 3 megapixels at least, if you're not a professional photographer, 3 should be just fine
3)You get what you pay for in the digital camera industry! ..
5)Always be prepared to buy more memory (the included 16mb is never enough)
6)All digital cameras these days are good and they are getting cheaper!
7)NO REGRETS, do not regret what camera you get! I SURE DONT:) Do your homework and go with your instincts.

The DSCP8 is the first digital camera i have ever owned. This summer I made a promise to myself to buy a digital camera and a digital camcorder. I purchased the camera first and selected Sony because of goods reviews and because I have a Sony VAIO computer.

For someone who knew very little about digital photography, it was surprisingly easy to learn how to operate this camera. All of the controls are easy to get at and to understand. The camera takes very good pictures and is not large and bulky like the DSC72,92 etc. However, it is not too small either.

The software that is included makes it very easy to transfer images to my computer via USB. Using USB was not my first choice but I have to use it becuase my one year old Sony VAIO can only read regular memory sticks and not the memory stick pro format. I have found that pictures taken at the highest quality usually take up about 1.3 to 1.8 megs per picture.

I really like the movie capabilities of this camera. You can take movies in two image qualities:normal and email. The normal .mpg file will be quite large. A 256 meg memory pro stick can hold one 10 1/2 minute movie and this file will be approximately 240 megs in size. You can transfer these movies to your PC or watch them on your tv with appropriate cables. The camera comes with a USB cable and an S-video cable for the tv. As you are watching the movie on the TV or viewing pictures, you can zoom in/out, pause, fast forward, rewind, etc using the controls on the camera. This has worked so well for me that I am no longer going to buy a digital camcorder.

I purchased an accessory kit with the camera that included an extra battery (even though I have not needed it yet), a case for the camera and a case for memory sticks for another $79. I am very happy with this purchase and would recommend this camera to everyone. You may also want to look at the DSC10 which is a 5 megapixel camera for only $50 more and is the same size. I did not get that one because I had to buy a new printer and other things at the same time and had to stay on budget.

my dad got this as a family camera, but i think i use it the mose. i've never used a digital camera before and i learned how to use it really fast. its idiot proof! not only is it idiot proof, it has great resolution like u can zoom in the picture and practically see someones eyes from like 30 ft away. you can also do little video clips which i thought was cool. but the only bad thing is it doesnt zoom in and out very much, but the zooming in of the photo pretty much solves that problem.

This Sony is my first digital camera and I really like it. I did a lot of research to figure out the features I wanted (1) at least 3 MP, (2)video with audio and (3) at least 3x optical zoom. The camera is very easy to use. I got it while I was on vacation and didn't really read the manual, just started taking pix. When I got home I used the Lexar USB to transfer the images/movies on the memory stick. (BTW, the Lexar worked great.) I was very pleasantly surprised at how sharp and vivid the pictures are, and how easy it is to transfer to the computer (I had also considered a Kodak and the Canon). I love having the movie w/audio, which actually took some nice clips of a family ping pong game. The movie length is limited only by memory, unlike Canon which has a 3 min. limit. Also, unlike Fujis and Nikons, the Sony has audio. I didn't experience any slow "shutter" -- except in very low light situations -- and even then I thought it was tolerable, considering I didn't expect much based on what I heard about earlier dig. cameras. It also comes w/batteries and charger which is nice. 128K memory stick is a must. I did buy the Sony brand sticks just because the first one produced such good color that I've stuck with it, but may try the Lexar stick bcz that has gotten good reviews too. For my next camera, I will probably get a 4x optical zoom, because it would be nice to have a longer zoom function, but all in all this is a good camera at a good price.

Pro's
1. Has all the desirable features like video out, only 2 AA batteries, decent movies w/sound etc.
2. Nice build quality, the battery compartment door is the best I have seen so far.
3. Bundled rechargeable batteries and 4hr world charger are excellent.
4. Smart Zoom is useful feature and works much better than digital zoom on other cameras.
5. Fast shooting time (with option to take a burst of 2 pics), if you turn flash off.
6. The lens retracts itself when you are in view mode for a while, very sensible feature to protect the lens.
7. Very good battery life inspite of bright LCD.

Con's
1. Not really pocketable, thick/bulky/long. Included errata says the correct thickness is 37mm. Sony P8 or Nikon 2100/3100 or Canon S200 are smaller in size.
2. Only a superfine 1.5MB size available in auto mode for 3MP images.
3. Proprietary MS/MS Pro is 2 to 5 times cost of CF cards. And still can't be used even in many Sony devices which need MS MagicGate or MS Duo version.
4. White balance and colors for indoor/flash pics are bad.
5. Very less control over what camera will shoot. No action mode for fast shutter. Most flash or low light pics are blurry because camera chooses 1/40 sec or slower shutter speed.
6. Lens is noisy and a bit slow to startup/zoom/shutdown.
7. Colors are very saturated and many pictures are not crisp.

If lens was brighter and took low light/flash pictures better it would have been a superb camera. Every digital camera has its limitations, choose the one you like the best and enjoy!

Sony is good. I bought this camera before Christmas and for the last 6 months, its been working very good.
The pictures shot in daylight are flawless, I havent compared it with any other camera, but they look very good.

In the night, putting the camera on Might mode makes it work good. However the night is not as good as the day ones(obviously).

The zoom is good, the camera came with 4 rechargeable batteries and a battery charger. Had to buy a memory card and a camera case.

Worked good.
Pros:
1) Nice screen.
2) Good point and shoot camera in good light.
3) Zoom is good enough for most photgraphs.

Cons:
1) Not so good during low light.
2) Battery Consumption is very high. Cannot go without the charger and the extra pair of batteries.

Sony has just about infiltrated every electronic marketplace possible and the digital camera sector is no exception. When I was researching to buy a camera, it came down to the Canon A40 vs. the Sony DSC P71. I went with the Sony because it was smaller and I didn't want to carry around the larger Canon. I wonder now if I made a mistake as Canon cameras are constantly being raved about.

The P71 being my first digital camera it would be unfair to say I was disappointed. It has a decent zoom 3x Optical and 2x digital. The form factor of the camera is a huge plus. It's very small and light and easy to carry in a jacket pocket. The LCD is 1.5" more than large enough to see images clearly. The 3.2 megapixels has allowed me to develop beautiful, clear 5 x 7 photos. Even the 8 x 10 pictures come out very well.

The strength of Sony digital cameras lies in taking outdoor pictures. The colors in natural sunlight are vibrant and clear. The pictures taken outdoors always come out beautiful - especially in areas where flowers, trees, and grass are present.
I have seen very few digital cameras that take nicer outdoor pictures than the Sony P71.

The navigation is very intuitive even if the buttons are a little small. Sometimes I find it hard to find the center "ok" button - I often accidentally slip my finger to the right or left. When going through pictures taken already, the preview images render very quickly on the LCD. The camera offer a plethora of options for shutter speed, contrasting, picture quality and resolution, as well as view.

Battery life is good. I can go through a 64 MB memory stick at high resolution on one set of batteries (and flash). Sony also provides a free set(2) of rechargeable batteries and a charger with this camera. This is a very very nice addition and accessory for this price. I bought an extra set of rechargeable batteries to keep as a spare (one set always charges while the other set is being used).

Also provided is a USB cable to hook up to your computer to download images. This is an extremely easy set up with Windows XP - just plug the USB cable into your computer and camera and XP automatically recognizes your new hardware. You don't need to install the provided software if your computer already has a default picuture viewer.

Now the reasons this camera received just 3 stars:

1) Remember how I mentioned that this camera takes great outdoor pictures? Well as great as the outdoor pictures are, the indoor pictures are as equally horrible. I don't know if it's the flash or Sony's interpretation of artificial light, but every single indoor picture is dark with an orange tint. They are clear, but the coloring is always off. It's like I'm looking at pictures through sunglasses.

2) I wish Sony would have configured this camera to leave the flash on when I turn it on. The default setting for the flash is always "off" so when you turn the flash on and the camera is idle for a minute, it turns itself off and sets the flash to the off position. This wouldn't be annoying if it didn't take the camera so long to re-initiate the flash. It takes a good 5-7 seconds to re-initiate. Furthermore, what would make most sense would be if the camera just sensed when the flash was needed and turned it on itself. That's what most cameras do.

So there you have it - a layman's review of the Sony P71. I'm not a hobbyist or a professional photographer, I just use the camera for fun to basically record memories. The Sony P71 is an decent camera. If you take a lot of indoor pictures, stay away from it, otherwise, it will serve its purpose.

I am a first time digital camera user. When I finally made my choice, I narrowed it down to the Sony DSC-P51 and 71 and also the Fuji Finepix models. The DSC-P71 is a truly incredible and great camera! I love the zoom capability of the P71. The manual is easy to read, the instructions easy to follow and the camera itself is easy to use, whether you are a pro digicam user or a novice like myself. I never had so much fun taking pictures with this camera! I had no problems downloading the drivers and the camera has functioned properly. I went to many electronics stores looking for the Sony DSC-P51 or 71 and I was lucky enough to snag a P71. These cameras are hard to get! The picture quality is truly astounding and Sony's imagestation.com has easy to download instructions on how to view and print your pictures. The only negative is the included battery charger. It takes 13 hours to charge 2 batteries! Go with the STAMINA Starter Kit instead. Also, it is recommended that you upgrade the Memory Stick to at least 64 megs. Other than that, you won't be disappointed with this camera. I for one was amazed at how great simple-looking pictures turned out. And the design of the P71 is pretty cool-looking too! Sony does it again!

The Sony cyber-shot P71 is an exelent camera. It is extremly easy to use, and yet the things it does is endles. The camera comes with rechargable batteries and charger, an 18 mb card, a wrist strap, and software. There is one thing else that you need. A bigger memory card. There is no backing down from it. I got a 64 mb card, and it is great. I can do movies for about 30 minutes! Although it is not a camcorder, it is so much fun to make movies.I was worried about the picture quality. It turned out that I worried for nothing. 3.2 megapixels is great.All of the controls are in the right place. The zoom is better then I thaught. Since the picture quality goes down when you use digital zoom. the camera tells you when you zoom in over optical zoom, and are now using digital zoom as well. Putting pictures on your computer is easy. I have windows XP home edition, and I find that XP makes it even eaiser to se your pictures. A lot of cameras also need an expensive USB driver for the computer to read yor memory card. But the USB driver is built right into the camera, so you can just hook up tour camera to the computer. Overall, this camera is a great camera, with great pictures as well as many cool features. Its great!

Sony dscp52 no longer opens the lens cover buzzes and acts erratically.

This camera susrained no physical damage yet couged it up in 7 months.

I contacted sony about this camera and the "customer service" rep informed me that even though the parts were still under warranty the labor charge for this 200 buck camera would come to 150 bucks.
150 bucks!!!!!
I told them iI was not satisfied with their charges and they told me that that was the flat rate for labor and there was nothing else they could do.
What a ripoff!
Beware of sony's repair policies folks.....

This is my first venture into digital...heard a lot about megapixels..settled for 3.1. Now I wish I had gone for a less mp with big zoom. At VGA setting, you still get good 4'X6'. You can size up to higher resolutions afterwards for cropping or editing. However, this seriously lacks good zoom. If you wish not to distract your subjects, this isn't the right choice.

Also, it needs tons of light to take good pics and I hate to use its off-balanced flash. It can't even capture simple movements in burst mode without making it blurry.

I don't understand why they have this movie mode. It has such a horrible quality, Sony should not put its name on such a product.

Now positives:
Good entry level point and shoot camera.

This was our first purchase of a digital camera, and we have been very pleased with it. We bought the camera because of the wide range of features, the competitive price, and the Sony name (to which I'm admittedly partial). A big selling point was the fact that with the expanded memory stick (a separate purchase) you can shoot up to 90 minutes of video - nothing else on the market in this price range even compares to that!

We have found this camera to be easy to use, and it takes great pictures. I would recommend definitely recommend this to others looking for a good value when buying a digital camera.

I really loved this camera- until the screen recently went black and all pictures came out black as well. I wanted to get another Sony because of the ease of use and decent pics I got (don't like my dad's Olympus camera, have to use the manual just to figure out how to turn it on). However, I read the reviews and found out I had the same problem as many other people. I looked up reviews for other Sony models, and they had problems as well. Guess I won't be getting another Sony.

First of all - the information that...is showing is incorrect. I have my Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P51 sitting in front of me - it DOES have a 2x optical zoom as well as a 6x digital zoom.

We bought this camera mostly to take pictures of our kids to e-mail to family overseas. Something it does very well. The pictures look great - the features the camera offers are even better!

The features - (as listed on the box)
2.0 mega pixels
6x digital zoom
2x optical zoom
mpeg movies (without sound)
multi burst

Also in the box are the following -
battery charger
size AA nickel metal hydride rechargable batteries
video cable (to connect and view on TV)
memory stick (16mb)
USB cable
CD-Rom

Overall this is a great camera - at a good price. I would recommend going to a store to look over your options though!

Very easy to use, takes great pictures and has a nice quality feel.I found battery life to be very good,I have heard of other cameras only capable of 20-30 shots before batteries were gone.I just used this camera on vacation ,took 50+ shots in 1 day {I was using a 128mb memerory stick,highly recommend} and the batteries never got below the 50 % range.I would also recommend the acc. kit for this camera , you get a very nice case and 2 extra batteries and a charger that charges in 2 hours instead of 14 hours.Over all, very impressed with this camera.You can't go wrong with this quality Sony product.

I am one more happy owner of Sony DSC P32. The camera has been with me for almost a month now and it's been used a lot. Let me update my review. My purpose for this camera is an all-around sort of thing: It must be pocketable so I can carry it to school, to work, to my family's garden, to my friends' outing, to the mall... well, you get the idea.

Henceforth, here are the features I found most useful:

Amazing picture quality, clear and vibrant.
Easy to use and small enough to fit in my pocket.
Real time shutter and aperture info.
Rechargeable AA NiMH batteries.
Finger grip on body front.
Instant detection and download with WinXP.
Separate power ON button. Because it does, the lens cover remains closed when you only want to preview your pictures or change setup settings! Just turn dial to "play" or "setup" position before turning ON the camera.
No optical zoom. The less moving parts, the better.
And last but not least, it's beautiful.

Wish list:

LCD could be made larger.
An ISO 50 would be a nice addition.
More accurate white balance in auto mode.

For me the Sony DSC-P32 is a good-looking, functional design. I have no hesitation recommending this to anyone who wants a highly portable and reliable digital camera that can be carried on your pocket ready to shoot at a moment's notice. I can only smile in reaction to contrary recommendations by professionals. As far as this actual user is concerned, the Sony DSC-P32 is beautiful to look at and a pleasure to use!

Good luck hunting for your own camera!

When our trusted Samsung 105mm Zoom died, I wanted to go digital. I looked at a lot of cameras, but leaned toward to Sony, because we use several Mavica's at work, and I've been very pleased with them.

We got the camera, and my wife immedietly began messing with it. She has never used a digital camera before, but was easily able to quickly get the basics. However, this bad-boy has some pretty neat tricks up it's sleeve, but you need to be able to wade through the instructions to figure it all out.

We used it on vacation, and really liked it. You'll definetly want to buy a bigger memory stick. We went with a 64mb card because the one that came with it only holds something like 10 to 20 pic's, depending on the resolution while the 64 will hold about 45 to 100.

My only complaint is sometimes the pic looks good on the LCD, but on my computer, it is too dark. That is partly my fault, because I have not set the flash to it's high setting. However, I have been able to successfully adjust the color/contrast through photoshop and have the pic's turn out pretty good. So, what I do now is always leave the flash on, and it's pretty well eleminated any of those problems.

We took the card to Wal-mart and printed pic's off it at the 1 hr photo station, and they were excellent--As good or better than a film camera.

In all, we really like this camera, and I would definetly buy it again.

I bought this camera the other day at officemax for 50.00 off. I expected it to be a basic point and shoot...But I was wrong. It took way better pictures then my HP Photosmart 435 also a 3.2MP and it took pictures like my Concord Eye-Q 4060 a 4MP camera. I love the on camera editing and the ease of use. It has some advanced photography settings that are defiently useful. Also I liked how it included a memory card and recharagable Stanima Batteries (takes 2 hours or less to charge unlike most that take 6) I have one thing against the zoom. It has to be at 2.8MP or under to use zoom. But that is fine..I don't use zoom vey often. I love this camera...And I am sure you will too.

This camera broke within 4 months, and the warantee only covers 3 months for labor. Therefore, I had to spend $[money] to get it fixed. I had a poor experience with their customer service staff.

I was amazed at the functionality of the controls, and the quality of the pictures. 5 minutes out of the box we were taking pictures and using a majority of the functions. Picture quality on the onboard monitor is pretty amazing, but is hard to see in bright sunshine. In these situations, you can use the viewfinder, and a lcd panel displays camera info. Camera plugs either directly in your pc (usb) or into a television/video thru RCA plugs. The pictures look amazing on the TV ! A 128 memory stick will give you over 1970 (yes, nearly 2000) "standard" quality pictures ! We were considering a digital video camera, brought this instead, and have not regretted our decision. If you mainly take still pictures with occassional video, add this camera to your list to look at. Haggle with the retailer to throw in a camera bag, as you WILL need somewhere to keep the memory sticks, power and connector cords when you travel.

I purchased this camera not too long ago. The quality of the pictures is great, the controls are conveniently located and the menu commands are very easy to use. The battery life is OK but not outstanding, a spare battery is a must. I used with a 32 MB memory stick, plenty for all your needs even working at the highest picture quality level (about 40 shots). Overall a very good product. The battery charger is very bulky,this is why I do not give it 5 stars.
Jose Lopez

I primarily bought this camera to put photos of stuff on e-bay. The camera is ok for this use, but I found the OEM Sony batteries to be unreliable and expensive. We got the error warning mentioned by others and the same cold reception from Sony. I warn others considering this or any digital camera to make sure it does not use a proprietary battery. For the cost of the Sony battery we were able to buy a charger and 4 NiMH 2200 mAh batteries. The camera cycles faster with the flash and it appears that we get more photos per charge, plus we have a back up set. I don't see a down side with the non-sony battery. On the otherhand it takes pretty good pictures and its easy to cheat the shutter for special effects. We get very good close ups, but I always use a tripod for these and I bracket shoot at a few distances. After all there is no film, why not take several shots and pick the best one?

great little camera for taking people pictures,but if your an ebayer and need close ups of small items.like watches,forget it,it gets close to item but very blury....

I bought this camera for the (...) price everyone has it for now. I was impressed with the clarity of the pictures, being only 1.3 megapixels. The camera drains batteries as can be expected, but instead of the (...) reachargable battery from sony, i bought a (...) rechargable AA kit, with 4 AA's and a charger and these seem to last much longer. The only problem i have experienced is difficulty in getting clear pictures, as i seem to have a problem keeping the camera steady. With a tripod or a monopod, extremely clear pictures could be taken. The night picture option worked better than i thought, it actually took great pictures on a cloudy, dark day. The 4mb memory stick will take about 15 pictures on the 1024 std setting. Overall, i am very pleased with this camera and feel it is the best value on the market today.