Good photos under the right circumstances...
I actually have not bought this camera, I borrowed it from my aunt for a few days and I must say that I was only some-what impressed with the camera. The main reason I wanted to try this camera out is because it is a very compact, high pixel resolution, point-and-shoot camera. I mean, five mega-pixels? That's amazing for the size, I currently own a Minolta Dimage Z2 and it has 4.0MP resolution and it is a much bigger camera. I am quite impressed with the pictures this camera takes, I can blow up the pictures quite a few sizes larger on my computer and it does not pixelate.
This camera uses two AA batteries which is something that I prefer over lithium batteries. (lithium batteries cannot be found everywhere, and you must take care of them because they are not as easy to replace) However, the battery life seems to be a little short. Fully charged batteries may last you one full day, so I would recommend buying another set of batteries.
If you are not looking for professional photography, then this is probably a pretty good choice of camera for you. I didn't find so much satisfaction with it because I was looking to play around with the manual functions, but there are so very few, and you cannot even change the shutter speed which is something that I really want in a camera.
The 3x optical zoon works nicely. It's fairly silent, not as noisy as the start-up (which is not too bad itself, but is definitely noisy). However, once you go beyond 3x you switch into the digital zooming...which is not so good because you dramatically lose picture quality. For that reason, I never zoom in beyond 3x, and 3x hardly seems like anything when you know that there are other camera out there that zoom in more.
I found trouble taking pictures indoors...you either have to have a tripod to set it on or have very bright lighting. Most people who buy this point-and-shoot camera probably are not looking for proffessional cameras, therefore many may not use tripods, meaning that if you take pictures indoors you must be sure that there is plenty of light, or else it will result in blurry pictures.
It comes with a 16mb card...this, I found, to be quite humorous. I mean, how many pictures can you fit on that thing? Five to ten, about. I was laughing a bit, luckily I also had handy the 128mb card, which I found worked out fine.
Overall, under the right conditions it is a fairly nice camera. It is not something that I would recommend to everyone, though. Are you looking for a simple, point-and-shoot camera? Then this is not a bad choice at all, 5MP, and under the company name Sony...that's pretty good, I think.
Like I said before, I borrowed this camera from my aunt, and after trying it out I have decided not to buy it. Mainly because it is point-and-shoot and that is not what I am looking for. My aunt who only uses point-and-shoot loves this camera, though. So ponder a little on that before buying this camera.
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Defect
We bought this model new at Staples which was our first mistake. We also bought an extended warranty through Staples which was our second mistake. This camera took good pictures until it starting humming after less than a year of use. Turns out there is something wrong with the shutter and the total bill is $375. Staples will not pay to get it fixed even under their extended warranty. They are cutting us a check for the purchase price but will not refund the $50 for the warranty or the $25 deposit I paid to get it fixed. Bottom line, probably a decent camera but never buy a camera or extended warranty at staples.
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VERY fragile LCD, terrible customer service
My wife bought me this camera for Christmas. After taking a few shots, I dropped the camera in a padded case about four feet to a carpeted floor. The minimal impact caused the LCD display to malfunction. The problem was not covered by either the store's extended service plan or the Sony warranty. Sony wanted more then the cost of the new camera to repair it!! One of their customer service representatives actually told my wife to "treat the camera like you would a TV!" Well, I typically don't take my TV skiing, hiking or boating with me! Poor product, poor organization, poor customer service. I will never buy a Sony product again!
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Yes, it's fun and easy.....
For the money and features it's worth it.
Think about what you're buying before you buy it. If you are looking for SLR features, don't buy this camera. You're not paying for them here.
This is a point and shoot camera with some features to play with. Some of the settings are a waist and only produce blurry pictures. Low light shots, this camera sucks. I've never owned a camera that didn't, even my old Nikon 35 mm SLR. The outdoor shots are awesome. If you get bad pictures read the manual. Your shots should be clear and bright.
I really don't worry about babying it and it has been problem free for a year now. The camera is well built and has traveled with me all over. Toughest test was roaming many ruins in Mexico, banged off rocks, heat and humidity.
Yes buy a larger memory stick, that's a given.
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Dont waste your money
This camera is laughably bad. i had an Olympus and literally wore it out. I was then reluctantly talked into this piece of garbage. The pictures are dark and blurry. As a digital camera enthusiast i truly hate this camera and am out $300 on it.
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Great camera - bad company customer service
I had this camera for a year, and loved it... until something went wrong with it. Without being dropped, hit, spilled, or anything noticeable, it just stopped working.
I called Sony, and they wanted to charge me the same price to fix it as it would just about cost to get a new one. They were VERY unwilling to help.
Great camera, but caution - Sony has HORRIBLE Customer Service!
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Great consumer-level point-and-shoot digital camera
If you are just an amateur photographer 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 5 MegaPixels, this camera will pick up hairs on a persons head and it will even be able to define a flea in the hair. 5 MP is enough to make clear 8x10 prints. There are 6+ MegaPixel cameras out there, but at the consumer level there is really no point in spending the money on one (7.2 MP won't come in handy unless you are making 15x20 prints or are a student taking pictures through a microscope or a telescope--it is more of a prosumer level) 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.
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All too common camera malfunction
The screen on this camera commonly goes black. And thus unable to take any pictures. My son had read reviews on this very site over a year ago about this very issue. I cannot now find any mention of this issue on here now. What happened to all the posts about this? Anyhow, I just typed in google the term "black screen Sony DSC" and came upon a post on another website where someone blogged about this black screen thing. A response to this was to take the camera and smash/whack it on a hard surface a few times, and the screen will come back on. Well, I did exactly that. Before tossing this out into the wastebasket, I took the camera and whacked it as hard as I could on a piece of wood, and the screen came back!! I tried taking some photos, and they came out perfect. Still, I will start my search for a different brand camera now, as this, while it works now, is not reliable. I still don't know what happened to all the Amazon posts from last year about this very thing
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Lens is stuck!
I have had this product for 19 months now, Only now have I come into serious problems.
As you can see, the lens will not go back in- and it's out to full zoom.
I turn on the camera and get a really nice rhythmic electronic groove- but i'd rather my lens go back in... This has happened several times in the past, but it would sort itself out within 30 seconds...
The onscreen message tells me to turn the camera off and back on again, and I do so, but the noise carries on for a good 15 seconds after and it doesn't help.
I have no working camera!!!!!
I'm off to check out the insurance papers...
As for the camera, It was great- I used it for a lot of concerts and got some unexpected results/flukes- but never really what I saw (a common problem with digital).
I still haven't to this day found the suitable settings for live concert situations- They're either vibrant and blurry or 'white coated', dull and bitty. If anybody has some settings tips for this situation, please mail me them!
Also, yes, the screen is lacking a hard, clear, protective coating... It is difficult to view the pictures at an angle. Mine scratched after just a few days...
Another thing- shutter lag... It's PAINFUL... you shoot, the screen goes black, and I have dealt with *20 SECONDS* of paralysis recently... On spanking new batteries, too...
Needless to say, I'm upgrading shortly- I want to do some A0 prints, Not sure what to upgrade to but something with a shorter lag time is preferable...
But, I do love Sony's products...
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What ever happened to customer service?
I used to buy a lot of Sony products but this camera has put an end to that practice. I could go into details of my customer service nightmare with Sony but I think I'll focus on the product itself. The camera produces an average picture but my Kodak DC 200 had better quality and it was less megapixels. The camera started shooting blue hued pictures when taken around dusk. Later, it began doing it all the time. I use Adobe Elements to correct Sony's failures but I am just going to purchace another camera. Close ups were never very crisp either. I would send it into Sony for repair but they jacked their flat rate price up from $117.00 to $171.00. Ridiculous, nobodys inflation rate is that high. To repair it and pay for shipping, I might as well go purchase a new camera.
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Sticky Lens Cover
My Sony DSCP92 takes great pictures in full light and fair pictures in low light situations. The only problem I have encountered is a sticky lens cover that does not alwys close or open properly. The camera is 2 years old.
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Decent camera, decent price, I'm happy
Overall I like the the camera very much. There are a few things that I wished were better, e.g. focusing, battery life, but you get what you pay for. If your looking of a good 5.0 MP camera and don't want spend big bucks, you probably can't go wrong with this camera.
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Astounding
I received this camera as a present from my mom. It has to be probably the best camera that I have ever owned. It is wonderful because you can just point and shoot with faith that the image will come out clear as day. Also the movies are impecable quality. As a photographer this camera is great to carry around in order to just grab life as it happens. It is light weight, easy to handle and even easier to use.
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with stood the test of time...
I have had this camera for 2 or 3 yrs. now... let me start of saying this is an excelent camera... i love it.. if i had to go back and do it all over again i would have still chosen this camera... now i will tell you the problems that i have encountered...
The Flash- this camera has a red eye reduction feature that works wonderfully but, the flash goes off about four times before the picture is taken and if it is a posed picture and the subject doesn't realize this about the flash then they are likely to move by the time the picture takes...
Lens- about 6 months ago the lens started getting stuck i took the camera apart and blew all the stuff out of it... after that it started working again... about 4 or 5 months ago the there was something wrong with the focus.. all i had to do was zoom in just a little bit before i took the picture and it would focus just fine...
let me end by saying most of the problems that i encountered with this camera where about 98% self inflicted by me... this camera has made several trips to New Orleans... a few dozens falls from fairly high places.. i used it outside on a front porch to take some pictures and video of hurricane Katrina.. (live in south Ms)... but this camera is still going...
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Camera malfunctioned and is out of warranty
I've owned this camera for about 3 1/2 years and it is now malfunctioning. The LCD shows a horizontal purple bar across the middle and the screen flickers. Moreover, my photos come out with thin red, blue, and green lines which ruined my Christmas pictures. I'm not heavy user of the camera. It was never dropped (I took care of it like it was made of glass). It was never kept in humid conditions. And no, it's not part of the CCD image issue. I will say that I did find Sony support helpful.
When the camera was working, it drained batteries quickly (even the special digital AA ones). I thought the shutter speed was a tad slow which caused me to miss quite a few shots. When I did capture the shot, I was pleased with quality of the photo.
I'm in the market for a new camera and I will look at Canon or Olympus.
A word of caution on store warranties: I bought an extended 3 year warranty through the big name electronics store I purchased it at. Be aware about the warranty if you decide to purchase one! It was 3 years from the shortest of Sony's labor warranty (3 months) or parts warranty (3 years). The salesrep neglected mention that important piece of information, so I had 3 year 3 month coverage; not 4 year coverage as I would led to believe.
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Decent camera, Bonus feature
This camera is good for point and shoot. Low zoom power, but makes up for it by being compact enough to carry around.
More importantly, for those interested in infrared photography or IR + visible photography, this camera is a 10 minute project to disassemble and modify. 10 screws, swap out the ir filter and you're set.
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Reliable quality
I've had this camera for 4 years, and it is still taking great pictures. The quality of the pictures is great, even better than two newer cameras that I have.
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