I resisted "going digital" for a long time. When I finally took the plunge and compared cameras, the Sony DSC-P200 was the standout. Consider this:

The P200 has a metal case -- not plastic.

The lens is a Carl Zeiss -- the same German optical firm that makes lenses for Hasselblad and Leica.

The P200 is made in Japan by the same Sony subsidiary that makes the professional digital Betacams used in Hollywood.

The design of this camera deserves an award - the placement of the buttons, shifting of the lens to the extreme left side - the result is a camera that "feels right" -- never do I touch the wrong button, or have to search around for the right function.

The photos? I shot Macro, fluorescent, incandescent, cloudy, and bright sunshine -- exposures were excellent and the 7.2 Megapixel Super HAD sensor produced images that did not pixelate until I had enlarged them to 200X!

I bought the Sony DSC-P200 (and I recommend getting a 512MB memory stick -- you can get 130 images at the highest quality setting) and the two of us have been inseparable.

I liked the little camera,but the batttery compartment door jamed and broke off the first time I opened it.I'm looking for something moree robust.Sears refunded without a hassel.

This is a great Compact and solid camera. The picture quality is phenomenal. I love the manual settings options and the beautiful pictures it takes in auto mode. It starts up super fast and is so compact there is no excuse not to take it everywhere. Thank you Sony!

I love the quality on this camera. The Carl Zeiss lens really makes a difference. Pictures for which there are no moving objects come out crystal clear and the camera was made to feel solid.
I'm happy with the USB 2 interface and I really love the compact, yet powerful camera that Sony has made.

I have a 150, which is the same camera with a smaller LCD. I love Sony, and usually the name stands for fantastic equipment. Not here.

I have found the problem with low light situations to be that the flash will sync at 1/40 of a second. Compare that with the usual flash sync of most cameras at 1/60 of a second. That may not seem like such a differnce, but think about taking 1/40th of one pizza and 1/60th of another. The 60 is more stable and has more pieces remaining.

I used my camera at an auto show. The 40 sync causes any motion to blur. I got decent car photos, but the people walking in the background were blurs. I took some other shots with friends goofing around at a restaurant. The slightest hand movements in the shot were blurred.

Some reviewers will say you need to hold it with both hands and some other things. I have to reject this. This is a pocket sized camera. You get it to carry around and use for snapshots (for the most part). Most of the stuff you're going to shoot with this is going to be indoors with bad light. The camera doesn't work well in the situation most of us bought it for. You can manually adjust the camera to a shuter speed of 60 or better in those situations, but most users won't understand that.

Look at a Canon or something, or wait until I hope Sony gets it right next time.

The DSC-P200 is an amazing piece of technology that demonstrates how far digital photography has come. With a 7.2 MP resolution, 3X zoom, lithium ion battery and a 2" LCD screen squeezed into a tiny package, this camera is truly amazing. The output is no less impressive with quality superior to that of any other camera I have seen.

One of the advantages of a camera this small is its ability to be carried in your clothing without relying on an external carrying case. While this is a great attribute that allows you to bring it to parties for impromptu photos, its apparent fragility is a cause for concern. It would be nice if Sony provided a glove-like camera case or entirely different, ruggedized housing. Of course, many third-party camera cases are available along with what Sony offers, but even the smallest of these will be too large to fit in a shirt or inside sport coat pocket.

In addition to its diminutive size, the camera's portability is also fostered by the lithium ion battery which lasts for nearly two hours. Moreover, with a larger memory chip, you will have everything necessary for a day or more worth of shooting. At the full seven megapixel resolution, photos average about three (3) megabytes each. This means you can store only about ten photos on the included 32 MB Memory Stick, making memory a necessary upgrade. By comparison, my 512 MB Memory Stick allows me to take over 150 maximum resolution 7.2 MP photos. Fortunately, it can be purchased for approximately $55 at Amazon.

Even though I am not a professional photographer or artist, I can definitely appreciate the picture quality. I had the opportunity to directly compare the Sony DSC-P200's quality to that of a Minolta 5 MP camera taking the exact same photo at the same distance. The pictures of a friend and me were taken by a waiter in an upscale restaurant with relatively low lighting. At first glance, they appeared to be of comparable quality. After closer inspection, however, it was clear that the Sony image was superior. In one striking example, the shades of my burgundy shirt were more accurate with less pixilation.

For the amateur photographer, be aware there are many features to be deciphered. As a former engineer and gadget enthusiast, I consider myself a quick study. Yet, I had to spend a couple of hours reading the manual and still have some learning to do. So, don't buy this camera on the way to your daughter's wedding and expect to use it (besides, the battery will be dead anyway).

Many casual photographers may question the need for seven megapixels as this exceeds the resolution of even the largest monitors. For example, a high-end WUXGA (1900 x 1200) wide format monitor only has 2.3 megapixels. However, the camera's superior resolution provides a hidden benefit. Even if you don't want to create large format photos or posters, it does allow for a convenient "off-line" zooming. So if you are at sporting event or show, you can take photos of scenes even too far with 3X magnification. When editing the images on your computer, you can crop the part of the photo desired to effectively zoom into the image you wish to save or share with you friends.

As a Sony Vaio owner, I have the added benefit of being able to slip the Memory Stick directly into my laptop without having to worry about cables or additional drivers. It would be even nicer, though, if Sony provided some sort of wireless connectivity, such as Bluetooth or WiFi. I can see why Sony would skip this feature as current wireless technology would not be sufficient for transfer of several high-resolution photos.

The video capability is a nice frill even though it would not be a key reason for purchasing this camera. I was quite surprised that it produced quality video AND sound recordings. The latter was far crisper than I ever expected. With two gigabyte chips available in 2005, you could record full motion video for nearly 80 minutes. This sounds great, but the camera doesn't record moving scenes very well. Presumably, this is due to internal bandwidth limitations. On this note, it would be nice to provide HDTV video recording, even at a lower frame rate. This would be quite a stretch due to bandwidth limitations/data write speed as HDTV cameras, geared for the professional market, are very expensive.

In summary, the Sony DSC-P200 is an incredible piece of technology that provides tremendous picture quality in a small package. I can't imagine wanting more out of a camera other than a ruggedized housing or high resolution HDTV video, which is quite unrealistic given its size and cost. Given the camera's intended purpose, Sony has done an amazing job. For still photos, the DSC-P200 should be good for a decade or so.

Pros
7.2 MP
Incredible picture quality
Lithium Ion battery
Compact

Cons
No glove-like case
A bit complicated for recreational photographers
Delicate (potentially)
32 MB of standard memory
No Bluetooth

After my friend's DSCP-52 broke (in 1 1/2 years),
they decided to buy a new one, and it was to
my suprise that it was the sexiest looking camera
they have EVER bought! I got a chance to toy around
with it and use it on occasion,
(When they are constantly at my house,
Wakeboarding pictures,Band pictures,
personal nature shots) and by only holding its
firm, sexy body makes me want to own it myself.
I've been using 'her' for about 4 months now.

Enough sexxiness, now to the review :)

Look;
As i've said. Don't let the "White background Pictures" fool you,
this camera has a great design and a very comfortable finger rest.
The Red color draws out from all the gray ones which is, indeed, awesome. The LCD is big,
beautiful, bright and makes the picture look 100x better than it is. Which is a ...problem. ehehh...

Zoom;
This is my favorite part. The zoom has been highly improved
from the 52 model, and it's pretty much enough zoom that i
would use for my style of photography and the quality hasn't
failed to impress me. Nope nope it hasn't yet.

Quality;
Personally i wouldn't use 7.2 megapixel, or i haven't
noticed its pontential on that standard. I've been
frantically taking pictures with the 3.2 MP scale and
yet it looks perfecto. What i really like in the
row of improvements is the movie size. Back with the
DSCP 52 you could take 1 minute on 320x240, now you can take
about 1 1/2 minute on 640x480. I usually use this for video editing.

Ease of use;
With a faster working processor this camera boasts better ease of use and less
waiting time unlike other DSCP's. I have used a few Olympus camera's and i feel that that navigation on the
DSCP-200 is much easier to get around things, to adjust the shot settings, the zoom.
The other options that you actually have to go to the
black background menu remains to my opinion neutral. I think i've use it.. wait. nope.


THE DREADFUL CONS :
As you know this camera is very very attractive even in it's pretty little box.
This camera is as delicate as glass. The body is made out of a very delicate metall,
and it would make it cry to fall off of your hands. Even off a 1 foot drop.
The second is the dreadful Usb system.
The side where you have to plug the cable into the camera is also a little hard to get used to.
While inserting it you hear tiny little metal pieces
hitting eachother
that keeps you concerned;
"Oh, poopie,It's going be hard to buy a new one." (A cable that is!)


For a camera this pricey, i would recommend recreational
photographers (like those ones with the flimsy one-use cameras),
to buy an Olympus camera, that makes effective 3.2-4 MP shots.
Sony has their way of boosting the MP without making the shots
as good as they have to be. though! i still enjoy
myself silly using the camera.

If you are advanced consumer, or thinking about prosumer, that is either finally switching from analog to digital or just want a decent camera to take on family vacations or school projects, this is a great camera. It is small, lightweight, and does just about anything you could possibly need it to do. It won't take pictures of hummingbirds feeding across a forest bed, but it will take a decent photo of the grand canyon. The quality of the 3x optical zoom is really good, but the picture is sacrificed slightly as you try to artifically enhance it with the digital zoom. The battery life is good enough to take on extended trips from your hotel or on a hike without having to carry around a charger or spare batteries. If you plan on taking lots of high quality large photos, you will need to get a larger memory stick (64 MB will work, 128 MB even better), but the memory stick it comes with will be enough to photograph your child's birthday party as long as you download the photos onto your computer afterwards. At 7.2 MegaPixels, this camera will pick up the fuzz on a bee head as its sitting in a flower. 7.2 MP is more than enough to make clear 15x20 prints. All around, while Sony's camera lenses may not compare with Canon or Olympus, Sony makes up for it with their superior knowledge of how to make a great consumer digital device and turn it into a decent digital camera. It is a great value for the price.

I have the same problem with the flash some pictures are great but other are dark, is that problem for everybody ? or just some cameras like mine with a malfunction ?

How can i solve this problem?? Buying the Slave Flash??

this is a great camera in most aspects. 7 megapixels is an awesome setting if you want professional photos, but other than that the 5 and 3 will work fine. the only complaint is the darn flash. It sad that such a great camera will only produce around 1/2 good photos when taken at night. The flash seems to be horribly out of synch, but when it works (which is whenever it feels like it) the photos are great. If you're using this for daytime, its worth the money. If not, i recommend buying a large memory stick (256mb i use) and dealing with it. We were told this is probably one of the best sony cameras, so if you are a diehard sony fan and want to stay in the $400 range...this is the camera for you

I have had this camera for 2 months now and it has been great until this past weekend. The flash will flash but it seems that it is out of sync the picture. (picture is dark) *The funny thing is that it does work properly at times! -so frustrating. I have emailed Sony in regard to this problem in the hopes that they relase a Firmware update to fix this matter.
A friend of mine has the same camera and has the same problem I have just mentioned. (2 out of 2 cameras known)

I was skeptical of going digital. I have an SLR 35mm camera that I adore, but I got a new computer and wanted to do some stuff with digital photography. I was looking at the SLR models of digital cameras, but I decided since I already had a regular one like that, I would look at the smaller digital cameras that way I could just fit it in my purse, and not have to lug around all of my lenses and stuff. I wasn't sure I wanted this particular model because it is skinny, it is not as pleasing to the eye as some of the others..but I wanted the high megapixels. The salesman talked this camera up, and I like Sony products so I thought I would give it a try. I LOVE IT NOW!!! I shoot pictures all of the time. I also was not too crazy about the size of the LCD screen. There were other cameras with bigger LCD screens, but this one had a lithium battery and I really liked that. I am so glad I picked this model!! Very easy to use, and the buttons are very easy to access and understand. I LOVE THIS CAMERA!!!! I concur with the other review on this camera, you need to go ahead and purchase a bigger memory stick or card because the one supplied in the camera only holds about 20-30 pictures!!

THIS is MY 2nd DIGITAL CAMERA AFTER OWNING a 3.2 MEGAPIXEL KODAK for TWO YEARS. THIS SONY is BEAUTIFUL and TAKES WONDERFUL CLEAR PHOTOS. I CANNOT BELIEVE the FEATURES & OPTIONS THIS CAMERA GIVES YOU for the PRICE. IT is VERY LIGHT BUT SEEMS to be WELL MADE. THE BATTERY LIFE is EXCEPTIONAL AFTER LIVING WITH the KODAK! YES YOU HAVE to BE STILL to EXPECT GOOD CLEAR PHOTOS BUT THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN the CASE for ANY PHOTO EVEN FROM the OLD BOX CAMERAS of MY YOUTH! I HAVE READ SOME PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT BLURRY PHOTOS BUT I HAVE NOT HAD THIS EXPERIENCE. THE FLASH is NOT OVERLY STRONG BUT DOES WHAT ADVERTISED, ABOUT 11 FEET. I HAVE SHOT FIREWORKS and MANY BRIGHTLY LIT BEACH SHOTS SINCE I LIVE ON the JERSEY BEACH. SO FAR THIS CAMERA HAS EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS and MY ADVICE WOULD be to "SHOP AROUND" SINCE I HAVE SEEN THIS CAMERA PRICED at VERY COMPETITIVE PRICES ON LINE!

We spent a long time researching the purchase of a new digital camera. My Nikon Coolpix 880 was great when I bought it in 2000, but it's been dropped a few times, and it was a bit heavy/big. I wanted a camera that took great pictures, was light weight and small enough that I could comfortably carry it in my pants pocket.

The Sony Cybershot 7.2 has everything I wanted. It's small, easy to carry in a small purse or pocket, and it takes amazing photographs. The image quality is excellent. I do a lot of scrapbooking and crop a lot of pictures before I print them, so it was important to me to have 7.2 megapixels for enlargement.

The camera is easy to hold - I have fairly small hands, and it doesn't feel awkward or big.

As far as construction goes, the Sony Cybershot 7.2 is user friendly. The battery, memory card and charging outlet are behind the same "door". The buttons are aligned so that, for a right-handed person, it's possible to hold the camera and manipulate the image (ie. zoom, change menu options, etc.) with one hand - but do use the wrist strap! The LCD resolution is very good, definitely better than my old Nikon, and I was thrilled to find that the pictures look even sharper on the computer! One major problem with my Nikon was that the on/off button could easily be triggered by putting it in the case, so the camera would stay on and eat the battery up. On my new camera, the on/off button is slightly recessed, so it won't turn on accidentally, and the battery life is exceptional - 300+ minutes. The turn on speed and the time between shots is very quick - about a second. The zoom is excellent as well and gives me a lot of detail.

I didn't buy this camera for the video, but I played around with it to see what it was like, and would seriously consider leaving my other video camera at home now! The microphone is located where you would put your thumb if you held the camera with two hands (unless you were paying attention) and sound quality isn't exceptional, but it definitely works well. If you wanted to narrate, I'd suggest speaking close to the camera.

Drawbacks: Personally, I need to hold the camera with two hands to keep it steady. This is not a big problem at all, but I thought I'd mention it - unless I'm trying to catch something on the fly, I don't have a problem keeping the camera steady.

In scene mode, when you bring up the menu, your setting choices (snow, candlelight, portrait, etc.) are represented only by icons, and I find it difficult to remember what each is.

Neither of these problems are (in my opinion) significant, but I thought I'd bring them up in case they are for you. Overall, I couldn't be happier with my purchase.

This is a great camera. It can do so much. It can even be used manually and you can adjust the apeture, etc. But it is easy enough that you can hand it off to someone to take a picture of you without giving them a camera lesson. I have been very impressed from the moment I took it out of the box.

I've owned this camera for a while now and am in the process of getting rid of it and getting a new camera. The biggest problem with this camera is its small size. This camera repeatedly takes blurry pictures due to primarily two reasons..

Reason 1) When holding the camera it is very easy to get your finger in the way or partially blocking the flash causing it to not flash all the way or flash out of sync so the picture turns out blurry.

Reason 2) Even for us young fella's with rock solid hands it's hard to hold this camera still enough to keep it from shaking ever so slightly and causing blurry pictures. Couple that with its small aperature size and you have to be extremely still to get a crystal clear picture.

I have had this camera for about a year or so. I bought it from sears and it was $450 but it is worth every cent. I looked on here to see about how much it is going for now and i saw someone wrote a review saying it takes blurry pictures...which I completely disagree with. I have a 13 month old son and I have used this camera for everything he does. It is very rare that you get a blurry picture and it's pretty much if you are taking a picture of soemthing that is moving and you are not using the motion mode on the camera. Also, the camera is a perfect size, not too small where it can be easily lost and not too big where it's difficult to take anywhere. Antoher review said that your fingers get in the way and block the flash or lens, which if you know how to hold a camera when you are taking a photo, you won't get in the way. This camera makes crystal clear pictures, they are good with detail, color, focus. It is 7.2 megapixels and you really can see the diference between this and cameras with less Megapixels. I would recommend this camera to anyone who loves taking pictures. Like i said, i ahve a 13 month old son and i have had to take quick pictures to catch his smile and catch him actually looking at me and the pictures come out beautifully. It's well worth the money.

...This little camera will PLAY.

This is definitely the little portable camera to have. I bought the Sony Cybershot after realizing that I needed to have a camera half the size of my "old-school" Minolta Maxxum 7 if I wanted to capture half of what I missed in not having the high quality big heavy thing stashed in my little chesire cat purse.

The picture quality of this Sony Cybershot is superb, especially for the size. Being able to record videos with the memory card pro is definitely a very cool at-your-service switch-it-up feature.

Sure, I have my own sqaubbles w/ the sometimes failing picture quality of digital, which is a very small percent of blurrier images, usually resulting from movement on the part of the photographer, or a combination of subject or photographer movement and low light. But you hardly have to retreat to delete... MOST of the time images are captured perfectly at an image quality a photographer of any media can be proud of.

You must remember that I "went digital" not in an attempt for what I consider the true art of photography, but to merely always have a little camera with me that can somewhat live up to my standards of photographic quality while my big camera is away. This little Sony definitely has not failed and I am very happy with it.

This camera takes awesomely to the dark capturing low light images in a highly visible nature. It is easy to use too, and the range is great; you can easily take videos or still photos of you and your friends with your very own normal-length arm.;)

Overall, I would highly recommend this camera. It is the perfect sidekick to the person who feels somewhat helpless and stranded without her camera, yet feels that most portables are still like not having a camera with her at all (the lonnnng battery life is GREAT). The Sony Cybershot pixel quality has enough to suppress these anxieties, and will be the high wire act in digital photography for quite a while, hence, mollifying finicky photographers like me, yet not putting me out on the street with it's cost.8-)

I've truly not been disappointed with this purchase.:P

Far exceeded our expectations. Perfect for point and shoot or taking short movies of the kids doing cute things when the spirits move them.

It seems fragile and the dials and settings require a bit of a learning curve. At first many of my pictures were out of focues, but this has decreased dramatically since I learned to set the scene settings for various kinds of light.

Yhe video and audio are amazing, but you cannot use the zoom features and it is easy to get shaky hands while taking these sequences.

If you are willing to risk disaster if it falls, go for this nearly perfect camera. Get the 2 MB pro membory stick from the chepest vendor. It is annoying that they sell it with aminute memory stick, which you cannot cash in on a better one. The Sony battery is amazing and seems to last forever, so you needen't buy a spare.

The Cyber-Shot station is a supurb accessory to keep the camera charged and uploaded. Myseteriously, it comes with a wireless remote that seems only to work in the station, allowing you to take pictures of you desk or visitors without them being aware, I guess. It would be infinitely more useful if this allowed you to connect to the camera and take self portraits from afar, but for some odd reason this did not apparently occur to the Sony engineers.

By snapping away and taking dozens of easy pictures of scenes from differnt angles, I have been able to capture amazing shots where everyboy's eyes are open and they are actually doing things rather than painfully posed. It is not clear if the huge 7Mpixel size really is any better than 3 or 5.

All in all, it is an astouding value for a picture that fits in your pocket. Just don't drop it! And keep it away from the kids. Otherwise perfect for parents of small children.

Bought this camera in June with a planned July trip to Alaska in mind. We have just been back a week and my pictures are amazing. The clarity, color and detail look professional. I am so happy with this camera. It was the right size to stick in my pocket yet large enough to feel secure in my hand. I bought the 1GB memory stick and took all my pictures on high (3.2) resolution. Took over 400 pictures on this memory stick and still some space left. Also the battery charge lasts over 2 hours so I could go on excursions with just my little camera. No need for batteries or extra memory sticks. HIghly recommend this camera

When used with a tripod this camera produces very good exposures using manual, program, and auto modes. The small size makes for good pocket storage. Using the auto mode gives acceptable results however use of manual or program modes and adjustment of settings manually, this thing produces better results than most 35mm film cameras can.

I have sent my DSC-P200 back to Sony twice for repair, as it is taking approx. 25% of the pictures either blurry, out of focus, or with odd motion trails. Yet, they claim the camera works perfect. My past two Sony's and my Nikon had no such issue-- so did I suddenly forget how to take a picture? Sony thinks that is the case. I'll let you judge for yourself - visit www.myblurrycamera.com and see real life examples for yourself! I'd look elsewhere rather than take a chance with this model...

I love my new camera, it's my second sony digital, I gave the old one to my husband so that I could get a newer one :-) It's small enough to stick in your pocket, you can zoom in and enlarge without losing quality. It would have been more convenient if it used rechargable AA batteries. Overall a great little camera, can't imagine how Sony's going to come up with a better one.

I bought this camera to replace my Canon Powershot 5MP that seemed to have constant red-eye problems, and I am so sorry I bought it. I have the exact same problem with this camera that other people have described in their reviews. The flash is often out of synch, so pictures are either over exposed, or else totally dark. Also, the slightest movement causes the pictures to blur, and hence, otherwise picture perfect moments are totally ruined. This is my third digital camera and I've never had these problems with any other camera. If you want to take pictures of still objects outdoors in daylight, the pictures are fabulous, but otherwise, this camera is just awful.

Great camera! Very fasy delivery! I'm very pleased with the whole process, even though the vacation I purchased the camera for was cancelled.

I have SRL cameras since many years, the mess to reveal is well known, i enter the digital world for about 10 years so i have decide to buy a small camera with full of features of professionals, first i choose is a well constructed lens, Carl Zeiss are famous for their telescope lens a state of the art technology, second i have an idea of Sony's reputation of small tec and fast ccd chip in just 3 sec i have made a photo, third reason, cameras compact chargeable battery with extended life, and fourth a reliable fast memory (i buy Memory Stick Pro High Speed- 80M/sec). Sony meets these requirements and surpasses them, is a must to compare with same size of other brands and this will be one of the best for its size. If you learn to set the camera, the blurriness suddenly disappears. Check my pics contribution and then decide.

this is my first digital camera and i want to say that it is AWESOME!!! the red finish is perfect! very cool color... excellent purchase with the sony value kit and memory stick sony 512mb. I recommend this product!

Either the rave reviews here are from people shooting still lifes and landscapes, or roughly a third of these cameras are defective.

If you plan to take pictures of people or other non-stationary objects, be prepared to throw out about half your shots - this camera has an extreme tendency to take blurry photos. One of the other reviewers set up myblurrycamera.com to document his experience with this camera, and he captures what you can expect quite accurately.

One other thing - the box it came in seems cleverly designed to be impossible to close properly once it's been opened, making returns more difficult. That's just annoying.

Purchased this camera for wifey's birthday to replace her 2.1 MP Sony that has served her well for a few years. The 7.2 MP resolution, optical zoom and price were compelling as well as the Sony quality and reliability that I have experienced in several of their cameras. The image quality is very good and the camera is simple to use (unless you want to use more advanced features which are built in). The higher image resolution allows her to significantly crop her photos and still display excellent final print clarity. My Canon EOS 20D does a better job overall, at 4X the price, but she can fit her DSCP200 in her pocket whereas mine requires a backpack. Overall would rate this Sony DSCP200 an excellent value and pleasure to use.

This is my first digital camera and I'm very pleased with it. The size is perfect for my bag and it's a really cute color. The memory stick was to small on memory so I bought a 1GB instead. Overall, I'm very happy with this camera.

I bought a Sony DSC-P200 on 8/19/2005 from a local OfficeMax store and six days later returned it.

I have always bought Sony cameras for myself and other family members, and I have shot in the tens of thousands digital pictures over these years. This was my 7th Sony Camera purchase since 1998.

Intially this camera met my every expectation and then some, controls and functions were easy to locate and master, especially having used Sony cameras for so long. The small overall size, easy handling, large LCD screen and great battery life had me in heaven right away.

Regular shots were awesome although a few regular shots turned out unexplicably blurry (that happens now and again with every camera for many reasons... not a bnig deal I thought). Then I began using the zoom (both the Precision and Smart zoom) at different resolutions and different magnifications. I consistently found that 75% of my shots were blurry to some degree or another, a phenomenon that I have never come close to experiencing to this extent in the 8 years I've been using digital cameras.I figured I was doing something terribly wrong to produce such a continuously large proportion of blurry pictures.

The funny thing is that when you snap the picture the LCD briefly shows the captured image, and it looks great... it's when the pictures are downloaded and reviewed on a computer that the final product is revealed... and most pictures taken using the zoom were terribly blurred.

I searched the manual for help and guidance to no avail, and then went to the internet seeking a remedy or explanation, figuring that Using just the keywords of "DSC-P200", "blurry" and "zoom", I uncovered enough commentary and complaining to determine very clearly in mind that this camera is seriously flawed, and that I did not have a lemon. There is even one person who has a web site set up to describe and show examples of the blur problem with the DSC-P200 at: http:\\www.myblurrycamera.com

I consider the zoom on this camera useless. The Sony personnel who had any hands in releasing this camera to the mass market should all be looking for new jobs.

Other tibits: The camera took great large video (640 x 480 pixels). The problem is that camera comes with a plain old 32 MB first generation Memory Stick. You need to have a newer Memory Stick called "Memory Stick Pro" which has faster read/write capabilities to shoot a video clip with the DSC-P200. So don't plan on even testing the video capabilities with what's supplied in the box. Very cheesy of Sony to do this.

Someone on the Internet also mentioned how the box it comes in is most difficult to get back together once it is opened. (Hmmm... to make returning it more difficult????). They were correct and I agree, so if you get one of these pay attention to how you got it out of the box!

I was unhappy with this experience, and may be jumping ship with deep regret to another make of camera.

Overall I think this will be an excellent camera. I think as a first time digital camera user, it has a lot of options and my daughter and I could not believe how detailed the photo of her dog came out as we closed in on his face. It was amazing. The only thing I don't like is the little door to recharge the battery does not seem to be something that will hold up for the life of the camera. I'm afraid it will break apart eventually and that is the one thing I do not like. For the price of the camera, I think this should have been better made. I am really disappointed with Sony at this feature.

Fast, no batteries to recharge, large visor, compact size, burst mode, many sceneries options and the best resolution. There's no better camera for this price.

I've had this camera for about a month now. It has all the features I needed and a few I still haven't tried. Some people mentioned problems they had, but I didn't have any. I love that you can buy lenses to expand the features of the camera. If you are unfamiliar with using a camera like this, you may want to see if your cable provider has free videos explaining the features. We have i-control here and there are several videos that can help you get the most out of your camera.

Like the title suggests, what I wanted and expected is what I got. Before my purchase I did some research into digital cameras on the market. I looked in to Canon elf line but was discouraged after finding out that canon does not cover their lcd 's under warranty, and the lcd's on elf line go out fast. Fuji cameras are good but the Xd cards are not the standard that I prefer. Sd, mmc, mini sd, rs mmc is what I use and like. I'm a huge Nokia fan and since the psp is on my wish list the memory stick duo will be on my shopping list anyway, that's why I purchased the duo format instead of full size cards and I use them with adapter which was included with the card. Sony is top brand the way I see it and not just for cameras I have a Sony Trinitron TV for years and I used mini disc players since they came out in mid 90s, plus other great products anywhere from digital camera to a Sony vaio laptop.
In general the camera is small and handy it's with me almost every day. I've also read that the camera is hard to hold steady because of it's small size I find that true but I blame my shaky hands. overall the pix come out good, it's easy to use out the box, I got a spare battery (accessory value pack) aluminum card case, 2 512mb and a 1gig card for spare memory and a Kata p-36 pouch for every day carry which works for me. the pouch and case that came with the value pack are not as practical and I don't want to look like a tourist in my own town.
If your planning to get it, buy it it's great, easy to use, good value and quality.
Now the only con's I do have is with Sony for not including basic accessories with the camera. Not even a cleaning cloth. a separate bat charger would be nice as a standard plus smaller ac adaptor, a nice pouch and a bigger memory card would be a good addition.

Like the title suggests, what I wanted and expected is what I got. Before my purchase I did some research into digital cameras on the market. I looked in to Canon elf line but was discouraged after finding out that canon does not cover their lcd 's under warranty, and the lcd's on elf line go out fast. Fuji cameras are good but the Xd cards are not the standard that I prefer. Sd, mmc, mini sd, rs mmc is what I use and like. I'm a huge Nokia fan and since the psp is on my wish list the memory stick duo will be on my shopping list anyway, that's why I purchased the duo format instead of full size cards and I use them with adapter which was included with the card. Sony is top brand the way I see it and not just for cameras I have a Sony Trinitron TV for years and I used mini disc players since they came out in mid 90s, plus other great products anywhere from digital camera to a Sony vaio laptop.
In general the camera is small and handy it's with me almost every day. I've also read that the camera is hard to hold steady because of it's small size I find that true but I blame my shaky hands. overall the pix come out good, it's easy to use out the box, I got a spare battery (accessory value pack) aluminum card case, 2 512mb and a 1gig card for spare memory and a Kata p-36 pouch for every day carry which works for me. the pouch and case that came with the value pack are not as practical and I don't want to look like a tourist in my own town.
If your planning to get it, buy it it's great, easy to use, good value and quality.
Now the only con's I do have is with Sony for not including basic accessories with the camera. Not even a cleaning cloth. a separate bat charger would be nice as a standard plus smaller ac adaptor, a nice pouch and a bigger memory card would be a good addition.

My first digital camera was the Sony DSCP100 which I consider it's very good, but I decided to change this one and I'm sure that was the best desición. It is a great camera for the whole life and the quality of image is much better than the other one.

I like The large 2 inch LCD on the P200 also makes it much more user friendly than smaller 1, 1.5 or 1.8 inch displays. The turn on time for this camera is one of the best, probably somewhere around a second between pressing the power button to being able to snap a picture. The higher image resolution allows her to significantly crop her photos and still display excellent final print clarity.I think this is one of the best Sony cameras.

I am very satisfied with all its presentations it's an excellent value and pleasure to use.

I love this camera..... but you need buy to an additional memory stick (atleast 1GB capacity) to get the full advantage of this camera.

I love this camera and I've never been a guy who takes a lot of pictures but this one just seduces you as its just so easy to carry and allows you to take high resolution/pixel photos then crop and zoom them on your PC to get it just right.

Outstanding.

This was the camera I upgraded from the DSC-P150. The size makes it convenient to tote around on trips, both casual and longterm. The photoquality of the camera makes it worthwhile to capture special moments.

The 7.2 megapixel captures enough detail for cropping, resizing and digital editing. The camera has a balanced weight in hand. The 3X zoom is ample for most applications as well.

I have taken this camera on three trips to europe, photographed the progress of my garden over the past two seasons and taken many animal photos. The camera does well in daylight, reasonably good in low light situations as well as higher shutter speed action shots (taken of my dog playing).

This is my 7th digital camera and i honestly haven't considered any other cameras since i purchased this one.

Pros:
Fast start up
nifty operating soundeffects (which can be disabled).
large bright lcd screen (slightly larger than the p-150)
long battery life
compact size to fit in jean pocket
Video recording limited to available space on memory stick
Indent on top of metal case for firmer grip.
Can control zoom while recording video.
Circular Green light around power button (tasteful upgrade from P-150)

Cons:
does not come with protective carry case (must be purchased separately)
Silver shell looks like every other digital camera (i would purchase in red or blue next time)
Reliance on sony memory stick. (forced to use proprietary memory format)
Menus cluttered, could have been better organized.

I purchased this camera for my wife as a birthday gift. I'm glad I did because two weeks after the purchase we were grandparents of a baby girl. We have two grandsons so the girl was definitely special for my wife and myself. We took pictures with the new Sony Cybershot. We took pictures at the highest image setting, and also the lowest for emailing to family and friends. To make a long story short, my wife loves the camera. Ease of use, compact,instructional disk very easy for her to understand.

Just replaced my DSC-P100 with this new DSC-P200 and I love it! It is incredibly simple to use, makes GREAT videos and UNBELIEVABLE quality 7 megapixel pics!! Whilst 7 megapixels is over-kill for 4x6 prints, this size image allows it to be cropped and STILL produce great prints AFTER cropping! Combine that with tiny size, awesome battery life and the extreme flexibility of either point and shoot settings or fully adjustable manual settings and you have a total winner! The city lights shots this camera can take are INCREDIBLE!!! Would buy it again in a second!!

The Cybershot is so small that it practically begs to be taken everywhere. It fits into even my smallest purse with ease! Since I've purchased this camera, I have taken so many photos that my friends have nicknamed me "camera girl". They may act as if they are put out by having their picture taken, but it doesn't stop the posing and the request for prints!

This camera is so easy to use. The manual is very thorough and easy to understand. My favorite feature is the 3x zoom that lets me take up close shots without standing two feet in front of my friends. What really impressed me though, is the picture quality - it is simply amazing! Like several other reviewers, I like taking photos at the high resolution and then cropping them down on the computer to print out and email off to everyone.

I am very happy with this purchase. The Cybershot is by far the best digital camera I have owned.

Finally decided to upgrade my old Sony 1.2MP digital camera. Wanted something small that could fit in my pocket and take easy, quick shots, but still allow for manual manipulation of the images. I also wanted a digicam that had a view finder in addition to the LCD panel. I have found all this and more in the P200 (red, of course!). It has met or exceeded all of my expectations -- great picture quality, long battery life, fast shutter speed (time it takes to snap the photo and then take the next photo), easy transfer of images to PC, large LCD that has a protective coating, ease of use, etc. I can't say enough good things about this camera. One of my relatives went out and bought this after I got mine and he loves it, too. You won't be disappointed.

This camera is so easy to use and master. I'm not much on electronics, so I was worried I'd have a hard time with this camera. Not so! After just a few months I'm downloading to my computer and using the software provided with my HP Photosmart 8050 to crop and enhance prints. The Sony Cybershot DSCP200 is a real jem!

Great quality, perfect for travelers and college students, light-weight, takes great videos, still makes all my friends jealous!!

This is some camera. Not only are the pictures beautiful,
but it is so easy to use.
Try the movie mode, it will shock you how well it performs.
I have a lot of digital cameras, and I take this one
with me most of the time.

i bought this camera because of the 7.2 mp. the quality n clarity of the pictures that i take is fantastic. i own another sony cybershot it's the dsc-t1, and i think this is way better. it's a lil bulky but not too much it still looks really nice. i was gonna go for the canon powershot sd400 because it was smaller and cuter but this had better picture quality and that's all that really mattered to me. this is also a great buy because i bought the t1 for about 540 including tax and you get this cheaper and more megapixel.

I travel around the world so I need a digital camera that is small with clear pictures as I often am in a kayak or boat or small aircraft. This is the best camera I have ever used considering the small size. Sony now makes an underwater housing for this camera which is great if you do a lot of water sports as well. I have beautiful underwater pics recently taken in the Florida Keys.
I'm not sure what is causing the complaints of some stating the photos are blurred as I have not experienced that.

I bought this for my mom and she loves it! It doesn't say this but if you are wondering if it has a time/date stamp for the photos, it does and you can turn it on/off. She was very concerned with this because she wanted a time/date stamp. I took a picture of my fan on FASTEST SPEED and it looked like the fan wasn't even moving in the picture. This camera is amazing. It is also soooo fast. It turns on in like less than a second and it takes pictures fast without delay. Great quality pictures and good video too. Also you will NEED to get a bigger memory stick than the one it comes with because it will only hold 9 pictures with the one it comes with. Also if you are concerned it does not have enough zoom, don't be. Because of the high MP, you can just crop the picture and it will look like it is zoomed and still be a big picture. The battery has a very long charge, too! This is just an all-around great camera.

I bought this camera for a vacation trip to Paris in April. I got back to the States and downloaded the pictures from the camera. What did I see? Beautiful picture of the Eiffel Tower with a large, blurry black spot in the sky. About 30% of my photos had the same problem. The black blur was often in the same area on most pictures, but because the lens moves when I zoom, the spot sometimes is closer to the center, sometimes further to edge.

Upon further examination, I noticed that this black blur is also visible on the LCD preview display on the back of the camera. (No need to download the pictures to see the problem.)

I sent the camera in to Sony for repair, under warranty. One *month* later, I got the camera back. The original black spot was gone, *but* a new smaller spot had been introduced during repair. I sent the camera back to Sony a second time. After *another* month had passed, I finally got it back. This time, everything was fine.

But guess what? After another month of using the camera, another black spot was again visible. What's the deal? I called Sony to get the answer, but they weren't offering any explanation. What's my personal opinion? I think that dust or lint particles are making there way too easily inside of the camera body and lodging themselves onto the inner lens and/or CCD array.

Once I realized this, I then started examining other people's Dony DSCP-200 (this model) and DSC-P150 (predecessor model) cameras. Guess what? Many had the same problem too! In some cases, it was a blurry round spot, while in others, it was a squiggly line. Most people just hadn't known what to make of the problem, so they ignored it.

So, do you want to see it too? Here are the conditions you are *most* likely to see it.

1. First off, let me point out that this problem is *NOT* likely to be noticed by observing the camera indoors.

2. To fully observe the effect of this black spot phenomemon, you must be outdoors during daytime hours, where there is plenty of available light. For best viewing, the camera should be pointed toward a bright, blue sky.

3. Before performing the following tests, minimize the amount of information shown on the LCD display. For example, turn off the histogram.

4. The degree to which you can see the problem is determined by (a) the amount of telephoto zoom applied, and (b) the megapixel setting. The size of the black spot generally changes at various megapixel resolutions. Therefore, zoom the camera *completely* from Wide to Telephoto under *every* megapixel setting (7M, 5M, 3M, 1M, VGA). On my camera, it is most prominent when the zoom is pushed to maximum telephoto, but your results will vary.

If you don't see the problem, congratulations. Perhaps you're either lucky, or you haven't used your camera much, or Sony has modified their manufacturing process to eliminate the problem.

If you're considering purchase of this camera, then be aware of the potential for this problem to occur, and be prepared to return the camera within 30 days, if you don't like the results.

Aside from this annoying problem, the camera produced amazing pictures. The color it captures is brilliant. As others have pointed out, the camera produces blurry pictures in low-light conditions, but that's expected given the small size of the camera. I use a small portable tripod to assist me in those conditions. The main reason why I love this camera? The manual mode allows me to capture night shots using the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings that I am accustomed to on a manual SLR camera. But the Sony DSC-P200 is a tiny fraction of an SLR's size. I can keep this camera in my pocket anywhere I go. If it were not for the black spot problem, I'd give it 5 stars.

i hav a camera like this and its about4-5 years old. works really well but the flash doesn't work well anymore. but that's not bad for 5 years of constant use.

Nice small camera to travel with. Unfortunately, Sony includes a very large battery charger, so it defeats the purpose of a small camera when I travel with it.

When comparing cameras, keep in mind that you may have to pay $50 for the separate travel charger.

This camera has just been banned from the Chinese market because it was found to be defective. Sony even bribed Chinese journalists to hush the issue.

I've had mine for nearly a year now. I've had to get it fixed twice for dark spots. This is because dirt/dust gets into the camera and onto the CCD. In short, this camera is not airtight. You need to keep it in a sealed pouch at all times. Once the camera came back from being service, it was not even properly cleaned (check comments here for someone to who the same thing happened). So they changed the whole optical unit.

Now the camera gives blurry pictures when using the zoom. This is systematic, even if the camera is on a tripod, even if the object photographed is very far and you manually set the focus on infinity.

This camera is a piece of junk. Don't buy it, and seeing the long list of cameras that were banned along with it, don't buy Sony.

For the money, I couldn't find anything better. So far, 100% satisfied.

I got this camera after over 2 months of researchs on the internet and visting the stores to touch the competetive cameras in this category. This camera is really great it brings a very high image quality and also from my point of view this camera can be used by everybody, it has a perfect AUTO mode that will brings you a very nice shots without efforts and for the enthusiast it has a MANUAL mode by which you can use to control some aspects of the shot especially the manual balance feature and also the perfect thing about this camera is the wide variety of accessories including lenses and filters, bags and cases and tripods this wide variety make this camera a perfect choice for amateurs who are willing to become more involve in the digital world of photos.
conclusion this camera is excellent but the only bad thing about it is the that the memory stick is more expensive than the other cards but you can get it from amazon or wait till you find it on sale.
I highly recommend this camera over the Canon SD500

I have been very pleased with my Sony Cybershot DSC-P72 and my husband surprised me with a new DSC-P200 today. I spent all night erasing blurred photos. Our children are ages 2 and 4 yrs, and accompanied by the household dog, are on the move. Even in Sports Mode, the photos are blurry and trying to do burst photos managed to miss more than it got. Perhaps it would be better outside in daylight to reduce shutter time but the lighting in the house was farily bright. The burst mode on the P72 (though only two shots) is a good bit quicker than the P200, and unless you are going to be doing LARGE blowups, the quality of the photos of the two cameras when printed 4x6 aren't significantly different. I was really really disappointed in the camera's blurriness! Unless the person is slowly walking (and even then swinging hands and moving feet might be slightly blurry) you won't get a shot with this camera. If you are looking to get a point-and-shoot camera for scenery or pictures of still people and objects, I think you can find something just as nice in a lower price range. The manual features are nice and some of the bells and whistles are nice (I personally could care less how pretty it is if it does the job), but it isn't apparently designed for a photos of toddlers who NEVER seem to hold still.

I bought this sony to take picture for my insurance company of destruction caused to my home by Katrina. After using the camera at my parents home before going to the disaster area the lens kept going in and out and wouldn't take pictures. I had not even had the camera for 2 weeks and would not even be able to use it for what I needed it for. Sony gave me an address to send it to since I had only had it for 2 weeks and was still under warranty. The camera repair place said it had corrosive damage. NO WAY! Camera went from Target to my parents home. They want $386 to fix it. More than I paid for the camera. I have since learned that many people have problems with the shutter lens!

I just got this camera for Christmas and I love it. I had a previous Cybershot 1.3 megapixels camera for about 4 years It took great pictures, but the battery life was starting to get annoying and I wanted more megapixels. This is a great replacement!! Very easy to use, although I still haven't discovered all of the neat features!

This is my third Sony digital camera. These cameras have a short lifetime. The first 2 cameras did not last long. I have had this camera repaired for dark pictures while using the flash. Presetly when using the optical zoom the view finder is unable to adjust and the image is very blurry. I do not use the digital zoom.

I purchased this camera hoping that Sony electronics and Carl Zeiss lenses would make for a great camera. Unfortunately, this camera takes poorly colored pictures. I found out after I bought it, that Sony is having production problems with this camera and they have not worked them out. The Sony repair people acknowledge that the pictures that this camera takes have yellowish tones, but they claim that is "normal" for this camera and will not refund or replace the camera. Buy this camera only if you want to play around with lighting to get moderately decent pictures.

I loved, LOVED this camera until I started noticing black spots on my pictures and on the screen. I'd only had my camera 3 months when the problem started.
I am planning on sending it to get repaired. Hopefully this will have a happy ending. Other than the spots it takes great pictures and fits wonderfully into a pocket. It's the perfect vacation camera. But who wants black spots on everything?

This camera broke after about five months of extremely gentle use. The lens has jammed, a common problem I have since found out. The quality of the pictures this camera took prior to breaking were quite disappointing, compared to my old one-megapixel Olympus camera that I foolishly gave away. The image size may be seven megapixels, but the imager resolution seemed to be less than five megapixels (from direct comparisons to a Nikon five megapixel camera.) Photos in automatic mode were consistently blurry and/or out of focus, often in bright lit outdoors. Now that the lens has jammed, I have a very expensive paperweight that will cost me a couple more hunded dollars to fix.

This camera is a piece of junk. Though it looks i am repeating what has already been said by others earlier, i have each of the following issues.

1 . Now the lens mechanism has jammed in less than a month since purchase and has to be sent back.got to contact sony - seeing all earlier horror stories, bracing for the worst.

2 . at night time expect the blurriest pictures possible. be prepared to erase half the photos after clicking it. worst possible focussing

3 . at night time, when using flash, half the photos are just black, even though the flash goes off, the picture has no detail. A nightmare

I babied this camera. Beyond the blurry daytime/lighted and horrible night time photos, the LENS has decided to stick in the out/telephoto position.

I'm so upset with it! A waste of money. I am sending it into the warranty shop to be repaired (unless they try to charge me for it) and will post my experience once that's done).
Upset because I can't "sea sea" my photos!!!

I recently purchased this camera from SAMS club. I LOVE it. IT takes the best quality pics from a compact size camera that I have ever seen. Very easy to use right out of the box. I have taken it many places including the pool. Never had any problems with the body or "dust". If someone is having problems with this camera is it them and not the camera.
Do not hesitate to purchase this camera. After reading the reviews on this site I was very cautious, but now I am SO glad I bought it.
Make sure you buy at least a 256mb card to go with it because the 32 mb card only holds about 8 pics on the highest res.

I am truly impressed with the quality of the images that are captured on the card. Also, with the ease of the use of this camera and downloading to viewing on my computer.

Amazing.

My wife and puchased this camera about 10 months ago. We have been absolutely impressed with the quality of the pics. The camera is easy to use and quickly turns on. We have taken trips to Hong Kong, Beijing, Korea, and Japan with this camera and it has never let us down. We purchased a 512MB and a 256MB card to ensure we had enough space for our trips. We did a great deal of research prior to purchasing the camera and considered buying a cheaper camera....but we definatley recommend spending the extra money for this camera.

I did a bit of research looking into buying my first digital camera, and I'm EXTREMELY happy with my Sony Cybershot DSP200.

My critera were:

-Quick shots, not much lag time
-Not blurry
-No red eye
-6+ MP for printing photo albums online
-Good battery life
-Pocket size

This meets all my qualifications by far. The best part it its super quick. You can pull it out, turn it on, and be ready to snap in 2 seconds, literally. Lag a bit longer with flash, but not bad at all.

Features are good enough for casual user. The LCD is not huge, but that was far from a priority for me. Who cares about the LCD. You can pay a twice is much for smaller cams with bigger LCDs (and less MPs mind you), but I don't know why you would.

If you are the casual photog, just looking for a nice entry level piece, you can't beat this price. I am more than happy with my purchase and would recommend to anyone.

I've had this camera for about 8 months now.i needed to get something alot smaller than my DSC 707 which later i turned infor a DSC 717 sony.i do alot of military missions and the less weights possible,the better.plus room space also.i can just put it in my pocket and keep on trucking.and when i'm ready to take a snap shot of something, man does it come online quick!In the military things happen quick and ya gotta be on your toes.well, this camera is always ready for action!it even lets me know that the camera is too shaky( my hands) lol so i can stabilize it better before i take the shot.u know u hate taken those shots when u think it comes out right and find out later when u blow it up on your laptop only to find out it's blurry.i always have the shaky hands icon on so i get the shot right the 1st time around.

Love the camera so far. I don't understand why some people are having problems with blury pictures. I have taken over one hundred and not a single blury picture. Very sharp and color is great. The only negative is downloading to computer and charging battery. So I ordered the docking station right here from Amazon. That should solve that problem.

I am very pleas4ed with this camera. It is the first digital camera I owned. It feels good in my hands. Instructions are very clear which made learning to use easy. Pictures can be loaded into the computer easily and are a very good quality. I would recomend this camera very highly.

I bought this camera last month and I took it out on a field trip and the lens jammed after taking just 31 pictures. I called Sony and they said that it was a common problem. The camera all had an "access error" displayed on the LCD while it tried to retract the lens. It would repeat over and over and the only course of action was to remove the battery. Rather than deal with another lemon, I asked for a refund from the store I bought it from and traded up to a Canon S70. I should get that camera next week. This camera has been recalled in China. The camera store I bought it from (Digitalfotoclub.com) seemed to know exactly what the issue was as soon as I mentioned the model number. They indicated that 85% of their stock was returned and they have stopped selling this and other Sony models.

Fantastic little camera. Great form size. Not to small, not to big. Fits easily in your jacket pocket.

Great pictures, easy to use menu system, lots of features, but you choose how complex/simplistic you want your picture taking to be.

Perhaps the best feature is that when you turn the camera on, it is almost intantly ready to take a picture. No longer miss the shot of the lifetime while you watch the camera hiss and hum getting ready to go.

The Sony DSC-P200 is the most recent in Sony's highly popular line of subcompact "P-series" digital cameras.

Positive Factors:
+ High-resolution 7.2 megapixel CCD, a 3x optical zoom lens, and an expanded range of nine preset Scene modes to choose from
+ The P200 is a capable, yet very compact, digital camera. New to the P200 is a larger, 2.0-inch LCD monitor, and a variety of other improvements all packed into a (very) slightly smaller body size.
+ Excellent battery life. Almost 400 photos before you need to recharge
+ Excellent option for rank beginners and more experienced users alike, a nearly ideal "pocket" camera to pack along when there just isn't room or time to accommodate a larger or more complex model
+ 7.2-megapixel CCD delivering image resolutions of 3,072 x 2,304 pixels.
+ Real-image optical viewfinder.
+ 2.0-inch color LCD monitor.
+ Built-in flash with five modes and an intensity adjustment.
+ Sony Memory Stick storage (32MB card included).
+ USB computer connection.
+ InfoLITHIUM battery system (AC adapter included).


Negative Factors:
- Can't use ordinary batteries. An extra battery is expensive
- Flash with its default setting (lower setting) gives underexposed photos. You can change it to a higher setting but that makes the photos overexposed. Solution: Keep it at a higer setting and don't be too close to your subject

Other Notes (if you have time to read):
Beginning through intermediate users will be right at home with the Sony DSC-P200, and advanced users will enjoy its excellent portability and manual exposure control option. Although the P200 is technically a point-and-shoot digital camera, it has a lot of creative options and enough image adjustments to handle a wide variety of shooting situations. So, while it's designed to reduce the amount of complicated exposure decisions, advanced amateurs and business users will appreciate it for its quality, portability, and varied shooting options. It has a great feel, looks smart, works fast, and takes great pictures. The Sony DSC-P200 would make a great "family" camera, where users with a range of skill levels need to share the same camera. It would also make a great "pocket camera" for more experienced users.

Despite its small size, the Sony DSC-P200's elongated shape provides plenty of room to extend two average-size fingers comfortably across the front and top of the camera, without blocking the lens or any camera controls. By making the camera thin but long, Sony kept the P200 very compact, yet avoided the lack of finger space that plagues many ultra-small digital cameras. The 3x, 7.9-23.7mm zoom lens (equivalent to a 38-114mm zoom on a 35mm camera), dominates the right side of the front of panel, with a small and very bright orange lamp just above and to the right of it, to help with focusing in low-light conditions. (This lamp also blinks when the self-timer is in use, to let you know when the camera is about to snap the picture.) A slightly larger window for the optical viewfinder comes next, followed by the built-in electronic flash. There is no finger grip on the front, however, I found that the camera felt fairly secure in my hand, with my thumb on the back, my index finger on top, and my middle finger wrapped around the front of the body.

Color: Very good color, accurate hue, appropriate saturation. Manual white balance handles incandescent lighting very well. The Sony DSC-P200's overall color was good to very good throughout my testing, with only slight warm color casts from its white balance setting. Its color looks very similar to that of the P150 model that it replaces (no surprise), although its skin tones were slightly more orange-looking. It did handle the always-difficult blue flowers of my "Sunlit" Portrait test pretty well though. Indoors, its Incandescent white balance setting handled household incandescent lighting pretty well, but the Manual white balance option produced a really excellent shot. All in all, very good color.


Exposure: Very good exposure accuracy. The Sony P200's exposure system handled my test lighting quite well, accurately exposing most shots. It underexposed the very high-key "sunlit" portrait shot slightly at the default setting, but a relatively small amount of positive exposure compensation (+0.7 EV) brightened the midtones appropriately. Its default tone curve is rather contrasty (similar to those of most consumer digicams), but its contrast adjustment option helps quite a bit with this. (Even with the low contrast option selected though, the P200 didn't do quite as good a job as the P150 at holding onto highlight detail.) The P200 had no trouble distinguishing the subtle pastel tones on the Q60 target of the Davebox, however, and shadow detail was generally good.


Resolution/Sharpness: Very high resolution, 1,550 lines of "strong detail." The Sony DSC-P200 performed well on the "laboratory" resolution test chart for its 7.2-megapixel class. It started showing artifacts in the test patterns at resolutions as low as 1,200 lines per picture height, in both directions. I found "strong detail" out to at least 1,600 lines horizontally, 1,550 lines vertically. "Extinction" of the target patterns didn't occur until close to 2,000 lines.


Image Noise: Low image noise, but some loss of subtle detail to achieve the low noise levels. The Sony DSC-P200 generally shows low levels of image noise for its resolution class, but it does trade away some subtle subject detail in order to achieve the low noise levels. (While the loss of detail isn't severe, to my mind the P200 doesn't do as good a job in this respect as did the earlier P150.)


Closeups: Very good macro performance, good detail and resolution. The flash has a little trouble though. The P200 performed well in the macro category, capturing a minimum area of 2.39 x 1.80 inches (61 x 46 millimeters). Resolution was very high, and detail was strong in the dollar bill. Detail was also good in the coins and brooch, though both were soft due to the close shooting range. (The softness in the coins and the brooch was caused by the shallow depth of field when shooting this close. This is an optical fact of life, and not the camera's fault.) Details also softened toward the corners of the frame. (Most digital cameras produce images with soft corners when shooting in their Macro modes.) The P200's flash had trouble at such close range, and overexposed the top of the frame, with a reflection on the brooch. (Definitely plan on using external lighting for your closest macro shots with the P200.)


Night Shots: Excellent low-light performance. Good color and exposure, with low image noise, at the darkest light levels of my test. Good low-light autofocus performance as well. The P200 did just a superb job on our low light test, producing clear, bright, usable images down to the 1/16 foot-candle (0.67 lux) limit of my test, with good color at the 100, 200, and 400 ISO settings. Color balance turned pink in some shots, likely due to a shorter exposure time. Noise is low in most shots, and even at ISO 400, image noise is lower than I expected, with a nice tight, fine "grain pattern." (The shot at ISO 400 and 1/16 foot-candle really looks better than ISO 400 shots from some cameras in full daylight.) The camera also focused very well in the dark. With the AF illuminator turned off, it could focus down to a light level of roughly 1/8 foot-candle. With the AF assist light turned on, it could focus in total darkness, at least on nearby objects. Overall, one of the better low-light performances from a consumer digicam. Since city street-lighting at night generally corresponds to a light level of about one foot-candle, the P200 should do very well for after-dark photography in typical outdoor settings.


Viewfinder Accuracy: A tight optical viewfinder, but accurate LCD monitor. The P200's optical viewfinder was rather tight, showing only 84 percent of the final image area at wide angle, and about 80 percent at telephoto. The LCD monitor actually proved slightly loose, showing just a bit more than what made it into the final frame, though results were near 100 percent accuracy. Given that I like LCD monitors to be as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible, the P200's LCD monitor performed pretty well here, but I'd really like to see a more accurate optical viewfinder.


Optical Distortion: Good sharpness in the corners and low chromatic aberration. Geometric distortion on the P200 is about average at the wide-angle end, where I measured approximately 0.8 percent barrel distortion. The telephoto end fared quite a bit better, as I measured only one pixel of barrel distortion (about 0.03 percent). Chromatic aberration is lower than average, as I found about six or seven pixels of fairly faint coloration. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.) The P200's images are also quite sharp from corner to corner, although there's a bit more softening in the left hand corners of the frame than I saw in the earlier P150. (Probably just the result of unit-to-unit variations, the two cameras appear to use the same lens.)