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A couple of years ago this camera was a very good option given its 5MP, Carl Zeiss optics and nice zoom; however, nowadays it is just below most of the similar priced or similar featured cameras. The 5MP are no longer a big differentiator and you can probably find better overall packages from Canon and Nikon today.

Pros:
- Carl Zeiss optics.
- Night Shot capabilities.
- Convienient size.
- Infolithium battery tells you how much shooting time you have left.

Cons:
- Memory Stick Memory. Expensive and slow. You can sometimes pay a $40-$50 premium over similar sized Compact Flash or SD memories.
- Slow shooter. This is specially annoying if you are shooting kids. By the time the shot is taken, your kid's smile or special gesture is likely to be gone.
- Flash is too bright. Causes flash-lighted shots to be too bright and in many cases to get red eyes.
- Colors do not come as natural, especially in challenging light situations, such as late afternoons and some indoors situations.

For similarly priced cameras and a good combination of manual/automatic features, I strongly prefer Canon's mid range and prosumer cameras ($400-800 price range).

Esta es una excelente cámara digital automática.
1 La óptica de Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar Lens es excelente, inigualable, felicitaciones a Sony por la alianza.
2 La resolución de 5 MP es más que suficiente para las fotos familiares.
3 El tamaño es muy conveniente, ya que cabe en cualquier parte
3 Los videos con sonido son espectaculares
4 La función de visión nocturna y el holograma láser son sorprendentes para una cámara tan pequeña y de gran utilidad.
5 Las baterías son muy duraderas
6 Algunas críticas que no le quitan méritos: el encuadre a través del visor es ligeramente más pequeño que el real visto por la pantalla de la cámara; las fotografías son numeradas en orden sucesivo y no incluyen la fecha en la numeración.

En pocas palabras: Excelente

Up to yesterday I was not happy with the battery in this camera. I bought it in December of 2003 and by July of 2004 the battery would not take a charge. The second battery (at $70.00) charge up to a week before Christmas and then would not charge either. I read through the reviews yesterday looking for someone with a similar problem and found none. This sent me scratching my head back to the owners manual. What I found was a message in very small print on page 10 about cleaning the DC plug on the charger or your battery won't charge. I did, and they did! I now own two very fully charged batteries. My review yesterday was 4 stars for the camera and the 5th deleated for the bad batteries. I would now like to make my review a very happy 5 stars.

This camera really had all of the potential in the world, but sadly, it hasn't lived up to my expectations

Yes, when done under daylight, the pictures are beautiful ---- but the indoor and nighttime performance is what disappoints me

The flash is WAY TOO STRONG, thus overblowing many of the nighttime shots

In addition, I often set my own aperatures with this camera, but in having a mind of its own, the camera will re-adjust the aperture, right as I take the shot

ugh

I love Sony products - but I recommend staying away from this one

I have not noticed an extra special feature on the descriptions. It's a real pro one. Buttons work randoom. Oh yes!, I am VERY satisfied with my camera. How couldn't I be ? Sony tested it ONE HUNDRET TIMES before I bought it.

Honestly... the other features make an excellent 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 4x 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.

This camera is perfect for taking pictures in nightclubs or at night. The main reason for this is the "Night framing" ability that allows you to see an IR picture of what you are framing, then when you take the picture it shoots a normal flash (this is not the same as a night shot where the picture itself is a IR image, this just lets you aim.) In addition, when you don't have the ability to see the LCD, you can use the AF laser emitter to target your images. Either way, if you get a camera that does not have these features, its always guess work if you have the subject in frame if its dark.

I will never buy another camera that does not have these features. I cannot believe they are not standard on all digital cameras.

As for red eye, I would not use the anti red eye feature on the camera. It makes people squint in the follow flash. Use either editing software or better yet, get the off camera flash and bracket accesory for natural red eye reduction and shadows.

If you are thinking about this camera, accessories I would almost say MUST be budgeted are: The leather flip case with strap (not the stupid pouch case), extra battery, 512mb memory stick and if you intend to use the 5mp that you are paying for and want to send your pix, you should ABSOLUTELY purchase a copy of Sharegear file sharing software (not a Sony product). It is hands down the pest way to share video and pix. It's also the cheapest ($20.00, one time), but that is just a bonus. (you need dsl/cable to use it effectively).

An almost must have accessory is the HVL-F32X smart flash and bracket. It makes the camera a bit bulky, but dang those images look good. An external flash off camera will always beat a built in flash for taking people pix. I don't care how nice the camera is.

Another word about the MP's. 5MP is enough. Higher than that is great if you need to count the hairs on a fly, but the price in storage cost (MB per image) is probably not worth it. If you don't even use the full MP, then why upgrade your camera? That's just me.

Hope this helps. FYI I have had this camera for over a year and still think its better than all my friends newer ones.

Brian

The V-1 is way over-rated.
Slow shooter
Flash recharge very slow.
LCD very poor compated to some competition.
Px OK but no better than the little Sony P150
and not as consistant.
And the 150 is MUCH faster in all ways with a terrific screen.
Having owned it and tried and tried and tried it,
I am selling it.
A P150 or P200 & OTHERS, would be better cameraS. (Unless you want to fiddle. I dont.)

ALSO, AND VERY IMPORTANT, I BELIEVE THERE IS MUCH TOO MUCH DISCUSSION ABOUT LENSES. THEY ARE NOT THE WHOLE STORY IN DIGITAL AS THE ARE IN FILM. IN FILM CAMERAS, SHOOTING THE SAME STOCK WITH TWO DIFFERENT LENSES WILL QUICKLY SHOW YOU ANY DIFFERENCES.
WITH DIGITAL YOU DONT HAVE THE "SAME FILM" AND THE ELECTRONICS (CANON CALLS IT DIGICS?)CONVERTING THE IMAGING DEVICES INFORMATION INTO VIDEO IS EQUALY CRITICAL.

NEVER BUY A DIGITAL CAMERA BY BEING SOLD ON ITS LENS. BUY IT
ON COST, SIZE, WEIGHT, FEATURES AND.,.....TEST PICTURES COMPARING SIMILAR SHOTS, TAKEN AT THE SAME TIME AND LIGHT, WITH A SECOND OR 3RD CHOICE. IF YOU ARE A NON CRITICAL USER, FORGET IT ALL, BUY ANY GOOD BRAND. YOU'LL BE HAPPY.

This camera:

Good, overall. Functions are good, quite good quality. In daylight, the pictures turn out beautifully. (at night, its a nightmare.)

Bad: bulky, Color difficulties, small LCD screen, "Nightshot" is a joke (weird black and whitish color texture that looks like youre seeing through night vision googles), too strong a flash.

German optics has standard of quality and Sony (Carl Zeiss optics) & Panasonic (Leica optics) has brought in that as a niche that amplifies the quality. I am sure that in the 'point-N-shoot' cameras, it really matters very little; unless like me, I like that 'step above' and am willing to pay for it.

If you read the digital camera magazines or web sites, the test results will show you the quality difference.

I have owned Sony DSC-V1 for 3 years, and have overall been quite satisfied. You just need to be aware of the limitations of this camera and try not to push it beyond of what it was designed to do. Hey, it is a point and shooter, not an SLR. Outside, in good lighting, DSC-V1 knows few rivals. The pictures uniformly come out sharp and clean, with realistic colors. F2.8 stop should theoretically blur some of the background, but I have never been able to achieve this effect. Inside photography with DSC-V1 is possible provided:
1) you do not come too close to the subject (the flash is somewhat overpowered) and
2) you know how to utilize manual controls to your advantage.
The quality of manufacturing is impeccable, as could be expected from Sony with a Zeiss lens.
In 2006, there are better options on the market, but this one remains a solid choice, if you get a bargain price.

I own this camera for 3 years now and I found that this camera has some real cool features. Photos are really good. The only problem with the camera is flash. If you ask somebody to take the photos, you have to particularly tell them not to put there fingure on the flash. Orelse, flash does not popup. This is annoying me allot. Also, you cannot take pictures continously on flash because it takes some time for recharge. I'm thinking of buying a Nikon camera bacause of this damn flash thing.

I own this camera for 3 years now and I found that this camera has some real cool features. Photos are really good. The only problem with the camera is flash. If you ask somebody to take the photos, you have to particularly tell them not to put their fingure on the flash. Orelse, flash does not popup. Also, you cannot take pictures continously on flash because it takes some time for recharge. This is annoying me allot and I'm thinking of buying a Nikon camera because of this damn flash thing.

So many little annoying things about this camera! Everytime anyone else takes a picture, I have to tell them not to put their finger on the flash which is placed in the worst place possible. Takes really bad indoor pictures. If the object (say kids)is even slightly moving the picture is soooooo blury! The flash takes so much time to recharge the by the time you want to take another picture the moments has come and gone! Thank goodness for photoshop because I am constantly ajusting the color quality, and red eye. It is so bulky compared to most cameras! The battery doesnt last more than 30 minutes. I would give this camera no stars but it wasn't an option! Don't waste your money. Buy a cannon!

I do not agree with the negative comments regarding picture quality on the DSC-V1 as posted by other reviewers. I do agree, however, with the comments about the flash recharge time and how lousy that performance is. I got past that by purchasing an external flash and attaching it to the hot shoe on top of the camera (How many other digital cameras in the point and shoot class have a hot shoe????? Huge Plus for the DSC-V1 there).

Now, this camera was affected by the CCD issue that affected many camera families (not just Sony) over that last few years. Sony offered a free replacement of the CCD and I took advantage of it. I knew I was going to be without the camera for a few weeks, while the repair and shipping took place. But I had a vacation trip planned during that time, and I needed a camera.

So I went out and bought a Sony DSC-T30 7.2 megapixel camera to use for the trip. It seemed like a great camera, and it's actually pretty capable. But the DSC-V1 just crushes it in photo quality. The color shading on the V1, and the depth of field are so much better -- and that surprised me based on the 5 megapixel vs. 7.2 megapixel specs. My wife still likes the T30 for the size, as it's case fits in her pocketbook nicely. But I use the DSC-V1 almost exclusively. The external flash took care of the ONLY negative I could come up with. I feel I hit a home run with that purchase.

I have owned my DSC-V1 for at least 5 years and remembered paying over $500 for it new.
So why am I writing this review in 2008? Well the camera has survived many world trips, drops and still works great but I convinced my wife that it was time for a new one. So we started our research and bought the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5K since the reviews were awesome.
Then we took our first picture - we looked at each other and thought - our Sony takes better pictures. But I really wanted to love and keep this Lumix with HD video and all, so I took a slew of pictures with both cameras and asked my wife to tell me which ones she preferred - 90% of the time the Sony photo was preferred. So we visited her friend that owned the same Lumix (maybe we got a defective one) and compared more photos (even swapped memory cards) and again the photo quality from the Sony was better.
So how can all those reviewers get it wrong? Because in most cases they never do a photo comparison but if you did, boy would you be confused - I think it is easier to just be happier in your bliss.
We also tried a Canon SD850 and go the same results.
So I still have my DSC-V1 because I feel like I would have to go with a DSLR to find better photo quality. You can read all the reviews and specs until you eyes and head spin but in the end the proof is in the picture.
I rated the camera 4 stars but I agree with the reviewers about the speed and flash placement but if you want a camera that takes great quality photos, is durable and very affordable then look no further.