I have this a camera for about 3 months now. Enough time for me to say something. I'm a previous owner of point shoot camera. From 300, 640, 1, 3.2 mega pixel of various make & models (all ps). I have been to digital photo world since my first kid was 2, now she's 9. My main concern for a camera is the picture quality which is no doubt, this camera has clear sharp pictures. I don't care much about mega pixel. I've seen sharp and clear pictures taken with only 1 mp. I had mine set to 5 mp. This is not a pro or slr camera but picture quality is very close enough. Ergonomic, compactness beats the slr. Appertures, shutters, iso, focus can be adjusted manually just like the slr's.

These are the things I like with this camera, speed, you will be amazed how fast this camera responds between shoots, long battery life, we spend the whole day one of the amusement park here, did not bother changing my battery. most of my pictures taken with fill flash with the lcd monitor on. I got used to bring a couple of spare batteries. Dual media is great. I have 1 gig cf ultra and 1 gig ms pro loaded. I don't need to worry about running out of memories. Everything is great about this camera, my only complain is the on-board flash. It seems like you're getting enough light to a certain distance but this can be fix buy investing an external flash which I plan to buy in the future. (32 or 1000 ?) I don't know yet!

You will never go wrong with this camera. With this price, I paid more with my old sony 3.2 mp p-5 camera when they first came out.

I Own a Sony DSC-F828, and really wasn't looking for another camera, but the fact of the matter is that since the 828 is essentially a SLR camera, once you had the flash Etc. you got yourself one heavy piece of equipment!So seeing as we had a new baby coming along I found my self in the market for something lighter, but I was determined that it have as much of the power and capabilities as my 828.This was a tall order! The first camera wasn't a Sony at all it was the Canon G6 wich all in all was a fine camera and one I considered seriously until I saw the V3 on sony's web site. I sell camera's at BestBuy as one of my many jobs and I can tell you that that for every G6 we sell we sell 4 V3's heres why. First of all is the general design of the body, the G6 is essentially a box with a lens stuck on it! While the V3 is smaller and more contoured in shape and feel. One minus here, and I'm sure you've heard about this before... the eye piece on the V3 is poorly placed, and virtually useless, but with that big beautiful 2.5 LCD screen on the back you wont need it! As far as optics the G6 and V3 are just about dead even both having 4X optical, I give this one to Sony also because next to Canon I fell Ziess lenses are superior in optics and quality. (just an opinion) Next moving to flash ability, as far as on board flash this one goes to the Canon, the onboard with the V3 is useless for anything more than 5 or 6 feet away the Canon fared slightly better, both cameras equip with a hot shoe for an external flash, an when you slap the Sony X-32 flash on the V3 the results or nothing short of astounding again blowing the G6 out of the water! Another quick note on the V3 flash, if you plan on buying the V3's lense hood from Sony or here at Amazon include an external flash in your budjet! The hood does cause shadowing!! Word to the wise. As far as function the V3 has a extremely fast start up time, 1.1 or 1.3 seconds,The G6 was a little slower. Getting into speed hear me when I tell you this...if you want a camera faster than this you need to start looking at SLR's. This ain't no Nikon 2600 or a Canon A85, the V3 and G6 are both extremely fast cameras, again I found the V3 to be faster ( remember because of my job I get to do hands on comparisons) On virtually every other score I found the V3 to be the better of the two cameras heres a quick list of some of the biggest advantages the V3 has:
1.BIG LCD screen!! At last you can see what your shooting! Don't bother with the eye piece however, it just about useless!
2.Easy to read and navagate menus. If you want to start messing around with shutters and apatures this is your camera.The scene settings are great too, but I recomend using "P" mode for most of your picture taking! (just remember to have a tri-pod ready in low light!)
3. Video, video, video Sony is the undisputed king of on board digital camera video! Great sound, great Resolution It aint DVC, but it ain't bad either! You can get upto 44Minutes worth on a 1GB card (stick)! NO MORE CLIPS!!
4. Decent battery life. About 220 minutes per charge. Im not sure about the G6 (A friend of mine owns one, and he said he got about the same.)
5. Dual memory capability! A huge plus here! The ability to carry twice the memory ready and available right on the camera!Just flick the switch!If you are a volume picture taker this is a Gift from above for you. One minus however the V3 can't use Micro-Drives. (Maybe on next years model!?!?) The V4?
6. Picture. The V3 takes clearer shrper pictures than it's counterpart, bottom line. Not to mention the fact that you can crop your shots within the camera, and even select the resolution of the new image!! Fantastic! Beat the snot out of the G6 in ambient and low light settings. The G6 does have better ISO response, but not by enough for me to reccomend it over the V3.
7. A sane, Useful array of shutter speeds, and apature settings. I hate it when a camera adds a 40 or 60 second shutter delay, or a 1/2000 shutter speed, and then charges you 300 or 400 bucks for your trouble! Most mortal picture takers like you and me don't need these! (hell Im a professional photographer and I rarely do) the V3 shutter speeds range from 30 seconds all the way up to a scorching 1/1000, the apatures are set up likewise, It's a nice selection of speeds, allowing the use some really nice creativity options!
the apaturesThe Bottom Line, and what is it?
Sony has again set the new standard for so called point and shoot cameras, by increasing functionality and power while maintaining a compact size.Just search through Amazon here and you will be astounded at all the extra's available for this little camera! I like to call these new cameras Hybrids because they combine a little of both worlds. Sony proved they are the masters at this when they released the DSC-F828 which in my opinion is one of the most amazing digital cameras ever made! Tempramental but amazing! And that is where I can best describe the V3, It has many of the features and most of power of its predacessor (F-828) but is much more user friendly and tolerent of misgudgement on the photographers part. With the G6 like the 828 I found I have to work for great shots (not that I mind working) but with the V3 they just seemed to happen. The camera seems to act like an extension of yourself, and that is what any great camera should do. So to Sony I say Bravo again!! I bought one for my father, one for me and every damn accessory for it I can lay my hands on! If your ready this could be and will be the last digital camera you'll ever have to buy. To the Canon people out there don't get mad, the G6 is a fantastic camera in every sense of the words, but the V3 is an experience in photography not just another tool for taking snapshots!Sorry!
This is (if you'll excuse the pun) the best buy!

Do not buy Canon G6. Buy this one instead. I have done the research and paid the price for you.

When I buy cameras, the most important thing to me is picture quality. I have owned two digital cameras (3 MP and 5 MP, both are Sony) and I was upgrading to 7MP.

I narrowed my search to Sony V3 and Canon G6. I thought G6 may deliver better picture qualify because it has a bigger lens. I found out in a hard way that in this case, SIZE DOES NOT MATTER!

Here is the story: I bought a G6 about 3 months ago (at $599.99). I compared it side by side (same objects same conditions) with my 3MP Sony DS75 and astonishingly saw that my three-year-old Sony DS75 beat the G6 both in resolution and color of the pictures. I was very disappointed and decided to compare the G6 and V3. I brought my compact flash card to a local chain store that sells both the G6 and V3. The sales person was kind enough to let me take dozens of picture at the store using my compact flash card in both the G6 and V3. I compared the pictures at home. Every single shot (in door) by the V3 was better.

What about ourdoor pictures? I bought the V3. After coming home, I take many outdoor pictures using both the G6 and V3. Again, the V3 outdoor pictures have much better resolution and color. I was totally convinced that the G6 was just a piece of junk.

Another thing for the G6: It does not have date/time stamp unless you print in out in a Canon printer. Years from now, I don't want to check the time I create the picture file to figure out when the pictures were taken. If date/time stamp is important to you, another reason to forget about the G6.

I returned the G6 (paid 15% restock fee). I have taken over a thousand pictures with my V3 and I am very happy with it. Picture quality is much better with the V3. An excellent product.

-Well lets just start by saying that I am an amature photographer looking to take the next step up. I've shopped the market and for the price, nobody beats the Sony in picture quality, build quality, ergonomics (ease of use), or lens quality. Nobody. It's a sleeper, and before buying the new Canon Rebel, I accidently stumbled upon this camera. Mind you I already have an older generation Sony i've long since out grown. Right away I noticed something very special about this camera, its lag time (hardly) and giant 2.5" super accurate LCD screen. One of the fastest digital cameras on the market including the pro DSLR's. From there I realized that everything fit my hand well and seemed in the appropriate spot. Being an avid outdoor person, lots of mountain biking etc... I wanted a compact lightweight camera with a heavyweight punch. That is what this camera is. I almost settled for the much larger DSLR's out there. Glad I didn't. Small enough to fit in a jersey pocket, and super lightweight (for what you get) I hardly feel it when im out there. Yet I can stop and take pics all day (3hour battery life avg. on a single charge, very impressive!!)if I want too. The 1Gig memory stick was very affordable (got mine for $109.00) and I have yet to fill it up on a single outing taking upwards to 300 pictures at a full 7.2 meg resolution!!! Did I mention how good the pictures are? There are alot of reviews on this camera out there, that speak highly of the picture quality with one snag. There are alot of claims about the camera automatically going to a high F number in bright sunlight. This however is easily remedied using the camera's built in Aperature priority mode, or manual mode. So I wonder if any of the reviewers actually owned this camera? Even though that seems to be the only complaint from the lot, i've yet to experience what they claim as "reduced image quality, poor image quality" in bright light conditions using the automatic modes (Ill keep trying however, there may be some truth to it). However, i've already taken upwards of 1000+ pics with it and have yet to see the Sony duplicate that claim. On the contrary the little Camera really seems to shine in bright light conditions, taking for me the most crisp, clear, and color filled pictures to date. You can say I am happy with it and look forward to learning everything it is capable of, the next step is you! Ill save you from the specs/additional features as you can go see them for yourself as im sure you will be more than pleased/satisfied. I've seen it on price war sites as low as $439.00, for that price its a steal, for the $569.00 I got it for it was a real good investment and worth every penny.

I was looking for a camera to take better pictures of my daughter, who is only 5 months old and has a hard time staying still. Wanted a fast camera but not a DSLR. I can tell you that this camera is almost as fast as a DSLR, and has a ton of manual controls to allow for fine adjustment. I was basically a P&S guy, but the camera is so intuitive that I am having fun learning the manual controls and am taking much better pictures as a result. I also looked at the Canon G6 (I was also a big Canon fan), but the camera is too slow for my needs. I am VERY happy with this purchase!

I just had a baby girl in January and of course want to take a million pictures of her growing up just as I did with my son. I still have the digital camera I bought before he was born and have been using it until my husband began pressuring me to buy a new camera. I didn't want to let go of my camera let me tell you! It is a Fuji FinePix 1.3 megapixel digital camera! Yeah, I know it is time to put it away. Anyway, we have been shopping for a new digital camera and I just loved the look and feel of the Sony V3. We actually went to a few stores and went back to look at the V3 about 3 times. Well, needless to say we just had to take it home. I've only had it a couple of days but the picture quality is great. I'm really excited to learn all of the functions on it and hopefully will take awesome pictures of my children. I know if I've had my Fuji for 5 years, this one should definitely last longer!

It is very nice camera just like a lot of people wrote. Here I only want to point out cons. in this camera as follow:
1. No wide angle option like canon s60, pro 1.
2. No good marco option ( minimum distance is 10cm, it is hard to shoot small object. but canon pro 1 has super marco so that you can shoot object as close as 2.4 cm).
3. Built-in flash is not very effective ( effective range is only less than 3 meters), fortunately, this has hot shoe but external flash is very pricy.
4. you need memory stick pro to use high qulity vedio. it is very costy.

I have only had this camera out of the box for 3 hours now, and have already 1) taken pictures in total night, 2) made a short movie clip and edited it, 3) transferred all media to computer and emailed it out - both pictures and movies, 4) printed excellent photos with mid range HP inkjet printer and glossy card stock, 5) created pocketpc version of movie and transferred it and photos to pda device.

Quality on all was pleasing - pocket pc versions were probably the darkest and could have used some touch up, but that's my point - I did all this with NO TOUCH UP or fiddling with controls. I can only imagine what can be done when I really dig in.

This camera was more than worth the money - it is small and compact, not quite as small a profile as to tuck in a purse easily as I was hoping, but one-fourth the size of my 35mm Canon, and so much QUICKER! No more waits at the photo lab, having to remember to go there twice to drop off and pick up. Oh my stars this was sooo worth it!

I was afraid of all the "learning" I would have to do to figure it out, but my gosh this camera - partnered with picasa and windows movie maker - makes one heck of a package deal!

I've been using the DSC-V3 under a wide variety of conditions for about 1 1/2 months here in Costa Rica...from night scenes to beach scenes to tropical jungle settings in low light. Overall I've been very satisfied with the image quality, but especially the performance. Its definitely a rock-solid performer in terms of shutter lag and shot-to-shot times. Auto focus is also instantaneous. You click, it takes a photo...and fast. I have a 1 Gig memory stick pro card and the write times to that are fantastic (except in RAW and TIFF modes). You'll be impressed by most of the performance issues, and if you use the camera right you'll get great crystal-clear 7MP images with great color edge-to-edge. So in a sense this is a plain camera; meat and potatoes...a good hearty camera which delivers in those areas a camera should. It shoots fast, battery life is great, build quality is solid, the 2.5" LCD is great, and the images it produces are top notch. Ignore the optical viewfinder, and go get yourself a PDA screen protector to cover the LCD with...then you're good to go.

What they say about the aperture being selected as too small in Auto mode (under bright light) is true. But don't base a purchase decision on that...if you are an "enthusiast", you'll likely be using one of the modes with some custom control, like program shift or manual. Its easy enough to change the aperture before you snap a shot. I do that 90% of the time...I don't like blindly trusting a computer to make decisions anyway. I'd argue that if you are not really into tweaking settings...there are cheaper cameras out there that would be more satisfying to you. But keep in mind you CAN use it on Auto mode just fine in all conditions except bright outdoor lighting.

Before buying this camera I debated the merits of this style of camera VS the long-zoom image stabilized models VS a digital SLR. I racked my brain over the merits of each over and over. I think after all that I've decided that a Digital SLR would have been more suitable for me. But that's not to knock this camera in any way...it does great for its range of capabilities. The ISO sensitivity is decent, but I was really looking for something more on par with a DSLR in terms of better high ISO capabilities. I was a bit dissapointed, not by the Sony per se...but by the overall capabilities of this class of camera in low light (except the Sony laser focusing system, incredible!). You will get noisy images at ISO 400 or above in dark conditions. Two things to consider about low light capability, image stabilization and high ISO sensitivity. If you get an image-stabilized camera you will have more flexibility for common situations..."twilight" scenes and real common "pseudo-indoor" situations. That's something you don't really hear about in the professional reviews but is real practical in terms of usability. Forget about the utility of image stabilization with long-zoom...think about its usability for low light conditions. With image stabilization you will get that little wavvy hand (indicating a blurred image) much less frequently before you snap a shot (2 stops?). And for those dark tripod-only long exposures...nothing beats noise-free high ISO sensitivity. Ideally it would be the best to have great ISO sensitivity AND image stabilization, if you get both in a digital camera you will use a tripod 1/3 as much, and have a much more versatile camera.

That being said, I don't really regret not getting one of the long-zoom image stabilized models (Canon S2IS, Panasonic DMC-FZ20, etc). I feel better knowing the money went into a solid performing camera with good resolution and quality. I feel comfortable with my purchase over those types of cameras. I'm curious about something like the Canon Rebel XT, but most DSLRs only can have lense-based image stabilization, which enormously increases the cost of each lens if you want IS (its like buying a computer with each lens). I find myself dreaming about...and looking for something like the Konica Minolta Maximum 7D...a DSLR with body-based image stabilization. I think that's where all these cameras will eventually be heading, in a year or two I'll bet you'll see all the major DSLR manufacturers have models with body-based image stabilization.

This Sony is a great camera to learn photography on, largely because of that huge LCD. Overall, the camera is great and I would have given it 5 stars except for the viewfinder, and I would have liked to see a slightly longer, more versatile zoom. Another feature I would like to see would be the ability to attach full camera info for standard images, not just the date and time (RAW lets you see that info). That way you could snap 100 shots with different settings, and when you get those images to the computer there would be no guessing as to what settings were used...you could carefully compare the results of each shot to learn faster and become a sharper photographer.

Recently purchased the SONY DSC V3 and am very happy with it. Best feature is the large LCD and 7.2 megapixel. Only con is that some controls, particularly the knob on top and the shutter button, feel kind of cheap. Some have complained of the flash, but I think it works great indoors and not so great outdoors more then a few feet away... but that is expected from a small flash on any camera. Definitely the best camera for the money as it includes some great features including the ability to use compactflash and memory sticks at the same time.

I have used Sony products for many years because to me the name Sony was synonymous with quality. Until recently, I was never disappointed. I was excited about this camera after a review I read in a magazine, so I purchased it in May. I used it only a few times, taking a total of maybe 200 pictures. The camera is a little heavy, but it has a lot of great features and in full auto mode is relatively easy to use. It takes great pictures, especially in TIFF mode - not film quality, but getting closer. About a month ago I noticed a small black ink blot-looking blotch in one corner of the LCD. It went away after a few days so I disregarded it, but a few weeks ago when I went to use the camera the LCD display was blank. After a call to Sony support I reset the camera per their directions, but the display still wouldn't work, rendering the camera pretty much useless. I shipped it to their repair facility using a repair tag number supplied by Sony, only to receive a bill for $171 dollars 2 weeks later. When I called to inform the repair shop that the camera was under warranty they informed me that they had no knowledge of that from Sony, so I had to mail them a copy of my receipt. It's now been another couple of weeks and I haven't heard anything about the status of my camera. Oh, and Sony refused to pay the shipping charge even though the camera was under warranty, so after paying well over $500 for a camera that lasted less than 3 months I had to pay about $12 more to have it shipped to a repair facility. I rated this camera 1 star because of it's poor durability (and I am always very careful with my electronics) and Sony's less-than-satisfactory customer service. Until the camera stopped working I was very pleased with its functions and quality.

I love this camera... i had a P150 before and this camera is even better. It is easy to use and the results are very good. My daughters ages 7 and 11 are also able to use it and produce great pictures.

I would highly recommend this camera.

I have now had my new DSCV3 for about 3 weeks. Very easy to use, great quality pictures. The red eye leaves something to be desired. All in all, great camera, and I am not unhappy with my purchase.

After trying out several other cameras (Nikon & Cannon) over 3 months, I decided this one was the perfect one for me!
I will be backpacking for a LONG time through India and neighboring countries and needed the smallest and most versatile camera I could find - (D-SLRs are too large).
Got a 2GB CF card, 1GB Memory stick and 2 batteries. This setup was around $700 and will allow 1-3 weeks of shooting!

OVERALL:
1. Its very compact for the features it has.
2. High grade digital circuitry, feels like a fast, durable device.
3. Excellent manual controls for a non-SLR.

FAVORITES:
1. Digital SmartZoom is awesome: Sharp, Web-quality pics at 19x zoom with -NO ADDITIONAL OPTICS- !!!
2. Built in lens cap, fast on / off mean you won't miss the shot.
3. Plug-N-Play USB2 (no software) = download pics anywhere in the world.
4. Multi-voltage AC adaptor = recharge the batteries (in the camera) anywhere in the world.
5. Good, builtin adjustable flash.
6. Large LCD = allows more in-camera editing/deleting for when you don't have a computer.

DRAWBACKS:
1. Can only see last picture taken with quick-review. Must switch to "playback" mode to see others.
2. Agree that "auto" setting underexposes pictures.

I bought this camera after seeing the high quality night pictures its earlier version could take; I wanted to have really beautiful pictures at night, but I got even more... I haven't finished to read the manual yet, but so far, this camera worth every penny you pay for it, it takes the finest-high-quality pictures even if you didn't mean it!!!

I've had this camera for a little more than a week now, and have thoroughly run it through the paces, exploring every nuance. It is an awfully nice camera, with some very nice capabilities. But it also has an Achiles heel, which is the PC support software, and that problem is exacerbated by the way the user manual treats the important subject of PC connectivity. I'll discuss this, but first I'll tell you a little bit about what I like and don't like about this camera.

First off, I like this class of camera, because I feel that it gives you the most important capabilities of a digital SLR, but without the excessive bulk. I also appreciate the convenience of an automatic lens cap, and that is not ordinarily a feature of SLRs. If what you primarily want is the manual controls that you get with an SLR, then you don't have to buy an SLR to get that, and you can still have a camera that will take excellent pictures.

One feature that attracted me to the DSC-V3 is the speed. It isn't the fastest camera on startup, with roughly 3 seconds from the time that you press the power button until it is ready to take a picture. That isn't the fastest, but once it is ready to go, it is one fast camera, rivaling the digital SLRs (DSLR). It is exceptionally quick to focus when you press the shutter button half way, then the delay from when you press the button all the way until it takes the picture is imperceptible, and finally the delay from when the picture is taken until it is ready to take another picture, is a little more than a second. If you wait until the LCD shows the view again before you press the shutter button again, you can take 10 pictures in about 15 seconds. But if you put it in burst mode, it will take a picture every second until you release the button or until the card is full. If you use the "speed burst" mode, then it takes 8 full-resolution, 7.2 megapixel pictures, in fine jpeg format, in about 3 seconds, but then you have to wait a little while for it to transfer the files from internal memory to the flash memory card. All of this assumes that you aren't using the flash of course, because anytime that you use a strobe flash in any camera, you have to wait for the capacitor to recharge.

By the way, you can use either Compact Flash cards or Sony's Memory Stick. If you want to shoot movies in the finest format that is available, you have to use Memory Stick Pro. I didn't have any expectation of using this camera much for shooting movies, but I wanted the inter-shot delay to be as small as possible, and I wanted the wait period after shooting in speed burst to be minimized, so I bought a Memory Stick Pro card. I did some tests comparing it to an older Flash card that I had in an older camera, and the Memory Stick Pro reduced the delays by a significant amount in every shooting mode. As I assumed, the delay in every mode is largely determined by the write speed of the media, so if you can find comparative data on the write speed of different categories of Compact Flash and Memory Stick (good luck ...), those numbers should translate directly to the delay between successive pictures and the number of pictures that you can take in a given period of time.

Let's see, some of the other distinguishing features of this camera are the Hologram auto-focus assist light, and of course the Night Framing and Night Shot modes. The Hologram AF assist light uses a low-power laser to project a sharp, fine cross-hatch pattern (which may be generated with the help of a hologram) on the subject. This works in complete darkness, and although it works better when the subject has some contrast lines of its own, in most cases it will permit the camera to focus instantaneously on a flat wall in a dark room. It works better in the dark, and the camera will not try to use it if it isn't dark enough, but when the subject distance is great and there is still enough light for the camera to focus using ambient light, you get better results by turning it off. The manual says that it works out to about 10 feet. I know from experience that it works at least twice that far, but haven't experimented beyond that.

The Night Framing capability is also useful, because it lets you use the IR lamp to preview and frame your picture in the darkness, but then using the flash to take the picture, so you get a normal picture with flash instead of the monochromatic, greenish image that you get in Night Shot mode, which disables the flash and uses the IR to capture the image. The IR lamp built into the camera is not very strong, and doesn't work well beyond 10 feet or so. In fact, it is really only practical when used with a tripod, due to the slow shutter speeds needed with the dim IR light. If you bought a separate IR light, you could do some serious IR photography at night (and you could possibly cover up the IR light and use ambient IR at very low shutter speeds, but I haven't actually tried that yet.) Note, though, that you cannot do IR photography in the daylight with this camera. I tried to take some IR pictures of my mostly black motorcycle sitting in my dark garage, and it was very interesting because the black paint was very effective at absorbing the IR, which made the pictures come out more like silhouettes, with the bike framed by the wall behind. The metal parts showed up really well, especially the polished and chrome parts, and the nylon tank bag was also very effective at scattering (as opposed to absorbing) IR.

Three metering modes are available, and three focusing methods are available. With the Flexible Frame focusing method, the focusing frame is small and you can position it where you like in the LCD, to focus on a subject not in the center of the frame. You can't do the same thing with the metering, but you can use spot metering in conjunction with the exposure lock button. That is, you first aim the camera where you want to do the spot metering, then press (and release) the AE lock button, then re-frame the image, and then focus using the Flexible Frame positioned where you like, or use one of the other two focusing methods, or set the focus to a preset distance. While that much flexibility is available, in most scenarios where you want the metering and the focusing to apply to the same subject area that happens to be off center, you would leave the Flexible Frame in the center of the LCD, then aim the camera at the small subject spot of interest and press the shutter button half way to lock both the exposure and the focus, then reframe the image and zoom as desired before pressing the shutter button the rest of the way.

The AE lock button is located above the LCD, as are the two buttons that you use to control the focusing method, and the exposure compensation button. The four-way navigation buttons are overloaded, as is the norm, so that when you haven't done something special that requires that these buttons be used for screen navigation and the like, one is used to select the flash mode, another is used to select the macro mode, another is used for the self-timer, and the fourth is for the quick review of the last picture taken. By the way, many people don't like the way that this quick review feature only works for the last picture you took. To review other pictures and movies, zoom in on them resize them, delete them, protect them from deletion, rotate them, etc., you turn the mode dial on top of the camera to the "Play" position. Some people find that inconvenient. But with the quick review, at least you can use the zoom/magnify capability to see whether the picture that you just took really was in focus.

The button that selects Night Framing, Night Shot, or normal, is on top of the camera, similar to the power button, near the mode dial. The back of the camera also has dedicated buttons for setting the image size (which functions as the delete button during review mode), for accessing the menus, for selecting the LCD mode, and the zoom contol is also on the back, up high near where your thumb rests, although perhaps not as high as you'd like. Between the zoom control and the mode dial there is a little wheel that protrudes edge-wise and that you spin with your thumb to select the shutter speed, aperture, program shift, and exposure compensation value, according to the mode that you have selected of course. The only capture mode in which the jog dial isn't used is the fully automatic mode, where the camera is in total control of the exposure settings. When using the program shift mode, the shutter priority mode, the aperture priority mode, or the manual mode, the jog dial is easy to use. Although, I would actually prefer that the jog dial and the zoom control were in each other's location, because I could use the edge of my thumb to spin the jog dial, but to operate the zoom control well, I have to bend my thumb a little so that I can use the end of my thumb. The zoom control is not positioned as well as it might have been, but that is a nit pick when you consider how well everything else is laid out and how easy it is to use the menus. You use the menus for other matters such as the metering mode, record mode (normal, burst, TIFF, etc.) white balance, ISO (sensor sensitivity), scene mode selection, jpeg quality factor, etc. For these sorts of menu selections, you make your selection simply by navigating using the 4-way buttons, i.e., without pressing the center button to confirm your selection. For the menus that you access in play mode, which you use to edit and delete images, rotate them, etc., it is different in that you have to confirm everything and there is little chance to screw up. I especially like the way you access the setup screens through a special position of the mode dial, as opposed to entering it through the menu as you do on many cameras, which only makes the menus more cluttered and less intuitive.

Finally, I should say something about the auto-focusing mode, which is not the same thing as the AF method. You select the AF mode via the setup screen, and you can set it to Single, in which case the camera only attempts to focus when you press the shutter button half way, and then it locks the focus. You can also select Monitor, in which case the camera maintains a useful degree of focus as you move the camera around, which reduces the time that it takes the camera to focus even further. It also keeps the image in the LCD usefully in focus without the need to press the shutter button half way, which is convenient. In Monitor AF mode, the focus still locks when you press the shutter button half way, so you can have this nice feature yet still be able to lock the focus and then reframe the image. Continuous AF mode is like Monitor up until you press the shutter button half way. In Continuous AF mode, the focus doesn't lock along with the exposure controls, but instead it continues to focus right up until the shutter is released, which is useful when the distance between you and the subject is changing rapidly.

Uh oh, there is one more feature that I forgot to tell you about. One of the limitations of digital cameras in general is that the sensors all have a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N), which becomes worse as the sensitivity is increased, i.e., at higher ISO, the noise is worse. But the noise also gets worse as the shutter speed increases. The DSC-V3 uses an interesting technique. Immediately after the shutter is closed when an image has been captured at a slow shutter speed, the shutter remains closed and another "picture" is taken, with the shutter closed, for the same duration of time. That is subtracted from the captured image, to cancel the noise. It doesn't work magic, but it definitely is effective, and definitely improves the quality of images taken at low light and slow shutter speeds, especially at higher ISO settings.

Before moving on to talk about PC connectivity, there is still one more thing that I need to talk about. On a couple of the popular (and usually informative) web sites that review cameras, they point out the reduced sharpness of the image that occurs at smaller apertures such as F8. They did this in a way that makes it difficult for the reader to understand whether the DSC-V3 is different from similar cameras in this respect. The reason that this happens is that some amount of light that enters the lens will strike the edge of the aperture and will be diffracted. If that quantity of light is significant relative to the quantity of light that reaches the sensor cleanly refracted by the lens, the image will be less sharp. Aperture diffraction is a well-known physical phenomenon of waves in general, and anyone who has a minimal understanding of optical systems in general will tell you that when the quality of an optical system is "diffraction-limited", this is the best possible scenario for that system, since if the quality is not limited by aperture diffraction, it is limited by something else that should have been avoided. The only way that the DSC-V3 can be any different in this respect is if, in the full automatic mode, in bright daylight it uses an aperture that is smaller than is necessary, instead of using a faster shutter speed. In full automatic mode, the DSC-V3 will go to F4.0 at 1/250 s, and then will decrease the aperture in small steps and won't increase the shutter speed to 1/500 s until the aperture has reached F8. I don't know how this compares to other similar cameras, but regardless it doesn't matter much to me because whatever difference there is between this camera and other similar cameras will only be in whether it goes to F8 at 1/250 s or 1/500 s, or maybe 1/1000 s, but it doesn't matter because the only way that you can avoid this with any camera is to understand it and take control. Of the great many reasons why a camera might not take as good a picture in full automatic mode that it would take if the photographer intervenes, this is but one, and hardly deserves to be brought to anyone's attention unless every other possible failure that can occur in the full automatic mode is discussed as well, and that could go on forever.

Darn it! I forgot to tell you about Smart Zoom ... When you use a picture size smaller than the full sensor resolution, it lets you use digital zoom, but doesn't let you zoom past the point where the number of sensor pixels remaining will be less than the number of pixels in the recorded image size. As long as you have plenty of space on your memory card, you probably wouldn't want to select a picture size smaller than 7 Megapixel, but if you did, you'd probably like to be able to use the digital zoom as long as you could be confident that you hadn't zoomed past the point where the number of pixels that remain after the cropping isn't less that the number of pixels that you are going to record. Smart zoom is nice in that respect, but of course if you never use a picture size smaller than the full 7 megapixel, then it is entirely the same as disabling the digital zoom.

I've told you a lot about the camera, and now I'm going to tell you about the PC connectivity side of things, which is very important for digital cameras. The shortcomings here are exacerbated by the poor treatment in the user manual, and speaking of the user manual, it leaves a lot to be desired in general.

Getting the camera to connect to the PC via the USB port was a piece of cake, as is the norm with USB interfaces. But I did not find the Picture Package application intuitive, and I was irritated by the fact that the installation set it up with two icons in the system tray, and even less tolerable, an application that is started automatically when the PC is booted. I called Sony to get help with this, but for Picture Package issues, they point you to the company that makes it, Pixela. To Pixela's credit, their tech support people were very helpful, first with getting it to not do anything during boot, which turned out to be very simple. The other thing that I did not like was how it commenced to copy the images from the camera as soon as I connected it, and the way that it copied every image, even the ones that it had already copied the previous time that I connected it. I didn't mind the application launching whenever I connected the camera, but I didn't want it to start copying automatically, before I had a chance to exert some measure of control over the copying process. Unfortunately, before I figured out how to configure it appropriately, I changed the selection in the Windows XP "Autoplay" gizmo, so that the application does not launch automatically when the camera is connected.

With Picture Package, you cannnot pick and choose individual pictures that you want to download, but you can make configurations settings that will determine whether or not the download starts automatically when the application is started, and whether or not images that it has already copied will be copied again, and whether or not the images on the camera will be deleted after being copied to the PC. Once I figured out how to do this, I was quite pleased with Picture Package. The ability to avoid copying pictures that have already been copied, turns out to be very smart. You can make selections that influence what Picture Package looks at to determine whether a picture on the camera already exists on the PC. (It doesn't attempt to keep a log on the PC, which would inevitably get screwed up.) When Picture Package copies files to the PC, it used a well-organized and useful folder structure that parallels the folders that you create in the memory card in the camera, so it only has to compare an individual image with the images in the corresponding folder on the PC. Since it uses a consistent naming scheme as it copies the files, it is able to know what file name to look for on the PC. But it also compares the EXIF data, e.g., the date and time that the picture was taken, and the size. If you want, you can even tell it to compare the images, which I assume is a byte-by-byte comparison of the two files, but that seems to be overkill.

Part of the reason that I initially had some difficulty, is because of the user manual. That section of the manual sort of rambles about the computer/OS/USB mode and driver installation, then about how to connect the cable, then about copying images, then about viewing images on the PC, then about installing Picture Package (which, in most cases, you want to have installed before copying files), then revisits most of that for people who live in MAC-land. The instructions for Windows users endeavor to distinuish between Windows XP and other versions of Windows. The essential fact that underlies this distinction, which would make it all much easier to understand if they would state it outright, is that if you use Windows XP, the instructions that apply to you, apply not to the installation of Picture Package, but to how you can use the Scanner and Camera Wizard instead. This distinction is important from several standpoints, including that a different USB mode setting is needed in the camera, depending on whether you use that Wizard or use Picture Package. The only place where there is a meaningful mention of the difference in the Normal and PTP modes of the USB port is in the table toward the back of the manual, that summarizes the various Menu settings and settings in the Setup screen, but even there, it isn't at all clear that one setting is for Picture Package and the other is for the Scanner and Camera Wizard of Windows XP. The worst offense in the manual, however, is where on the page that talks about connecting the camera to the computer, in small print there is a note that says that if you have Windows XP, to skip forward 2 pages. Immediately following that note there is a picture of the LCD showing that USB normal mode is selected, but nowhere is there a similar picture for Windows XP, and because that picture and the text that goes with it is indented under the advisory comment for XP users, you wonder if it is supposed to apply to XP users. After you skip forward two pages to where the XP-specific stuff is, which talks about using the XP wizard, you flow without interruption directly into a section that talks about the folder structure on the PC. There is absolutely nothing that suggests that this only pertains to Picture Package and does not apply if you use the XP wizard method. That is particularly unfortunate, because it obscures an important distinction between Picture Package and the XP wizard. If you use the XP wizard, things may be simpler at first, because you don't have to figure out how to configure Picture Package, but you don't get the smart folder structure on the PC that parallels the structure on the camera and that uses a simple file-naming scheme to logically bind the TIFF and RAW files to the jpeg files that are recorded in parallel in order to provide the EXIF information for the capture. The manual tells you what to do if you have XP, but doesn't make it clear that if you follow those instructions, you will be using a completely different method that does not give you the very useful capabilities of Picture Package, and that even obscures that important difference, and doesn't give you any hint that if you prefer not to use the XP method, you can use the Picture Package method just as easily as users of other versions of Windows. All in all, this comes across as borderline negligence. If you have Windows XP, I will advise you to ignore the instructions that are specific XP users, and follow the other Windows instructions instead. It may take you a little while to figure out to get Picture Package to not start copying as soon as it is started and to not copy the same files over again when it is connected, but once you have that straightened out, Picture Package is a hundred times better than the Windows XP Scanner and Camera Wizard.

Not that Picture Package is perfect. When you take a picture in RAW or TIFF format, the camera actually records a jpeg alongside the RAW or TIFF file (the size selection in the camera only applies to the jpeg). Picture Package gives the two images the same name except for the suffix, which is desirable. However, the thumbnail view doesn't show the suffix, so you can't know which thumbmail is for the jpeg and which is for the RAW/TIFF. The EXIF data is also not available in the thumbnail view, even for the jpeg image. So to see the EXIF data, you have to double-click on the thumbnail, to open the image in the single-image viewer. It isn't really bad because you learn real fast that the jpeg is the first of the two images that have the same name in the thumbnail view, but it would still be nice if you could see the EXIF data in the thumbmail view, and it would be nice if you could even do that for the RAW/TIFF image, since it wouldn't be that hard for Picture Package to read the content of the file that has the same name as th RAW/TIFF file except that the suffix is different.

I played around with RAW files using Picture Package, but found it not to my liking. If you really want to work with RAW files, which have the data as it was taken from the sensor but before the procesing that applies white balance, saturation, color, sharpness, and contrast adjustments that you have set in the camera, you need to install the other CD, which has the Image Data Converter application. Picture Package would let you view RAW files, and make a couple of basic corrections. The one that is labeled "exposure compensation" is not the same thing as doing exposure compensation on the camera, by the way. If you really want to work with RAW files, I would advise installing the second CD right off the bat and not using Picture Package for anything more that copying the files and viewing them only in the thumbnail view. If you modify a RAW file in Picture Package and then save it as a TIFF file so that you can view it in common applications, it will be 40 MByte, twice the size of the TIFF files that the camera captures directly, and 2 1/2 times the size of the original RAW file, even though the pixel count is the same for all. That doesn't make sense to me, and suggests that the bit depth used when the RAW file is converted to TIFF is double the bit depth that the camera uses for both RAW and TIFF. And it can't be that TIFF format requires that, since the TIFF files recorded by the camera are not that large.

The DSC-V3 is an excellent camera. When you count the number of unique features, that are not found on other cameras of this class, which bridges the gap between compact digital cameras and DSLR cameras, you wonder why it is that you can have this much more for the same price as the others. The advantage in speed alone is enough to give this camera a competitive edge, but then it also has the Hologram auto-focus light, Night Framing and Night Shot, an effective approach to noise cancellation, and many lesser features such as Smart Zoom. The size is nearly perfect, being just big enough to be comfortable when shooting, but no bigger. It has a large LCD screen that is easy to see in all kinds of light. It takes excellent pictures. And if all that isn't enough, it's a very handsome camera!

I bought this camera a few months back and I have been testing it to it's limits! This camera by far is the best digital I ever own, and for the price it really is great!! I know there are better cameras out there, but I can take pro-shots without paying the pro-prices. I do suggest however, no matter how much of a pro you think you are, you should take time to fiddle with all of the features...I found some to be great shortcuts, and great for some artsy shots.

I am a graphic designer, and this camera is great for anyone! My main reason to purchase this was to take away from photoshop time, and actually get great pictures without using a bunch of filters...Buy this camera, you won't be disappointed!

I almost feel bad "diss-ing" a camera that really does perform fairly well, but after playing with my DSC-V3 for more than eight months, I have no further use for it. I recently bought the 8 mp Canon S80. It not only fits in my pocket better, but it shoots better pictures, too.

There are many good things to say about the V3. It's capable of producing portraits where you can see the pores and small hairs on a person's face. The colors are bright punchy. It's shutter and record times are reasonably fast, and the autofocus is accurate.

But out of the hundreds of pictures I've shot with my V3, there are only a dozen or so I've really been happy with. For awhile, I thought I just needed to learn how to use the V3. All cameras are a little different. But after pitting the V3 in a series of side by side comparisons against my new Canon S80 and several other cameras, I finally figured it out. While the V3 produces bright colors, it doesn't do a very good job with subtle color differences. You lose, for example, detail and texture in grass, leaves, and hair.

Turning down the saturation helps somewhat with jpegs. But the V3's problem seems to be limited dynamic range. The V3 has a tendency to bleach highlights and lose detail in shadows, and it doesn't handle dim light well. Bleaching unfortunately occurs often when you use the flash. Combine flash bleaching with mediocre low light performance, and you have a recipe for lots of indoor flash pictures that need significant Photoshop work. Many of them can't be "saved."

And the V3 has too much speckle noise at 200 and 400 ISO for my taste. I don't find the ISO 800 useful at all.

The review I posted yesterday on the Canon S80 says why I think the S80 is simply a better camera. In addition to the S80 broader dynamic range, I like the S80's 28-100 mm zoom range more than the V3's 35-140 mm, because I find it more useful for landscapes and indoor people shots. The Canon 2X teleconversion lens system is fairly small and convenient rig for those situations where I want some zoom.

So does anybody want a used Sony DSC-V3, with the matching Sony teleconversion lens and adapter, a spare battery, a half-gig memory stick pro card, and a padded cordura case that fits the camera? I'll gladly unload the whole package for half retail. I've got no use for any of it since my Canon S80 arrived.

Awsome Camera it takes crisp clear pics you can take pic form books and magazine and be able to read the lines from the picture crisp and clear amazing camera. Its a must to own if you love taking pictures. get it here for nothing.
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I purchased 3 cheap cameras ($20, $99, $150) before learning my lesson. I did quite a bit of research (mainly looking at reviews) before I selected the DSC-V3. My reasons for choosing it were the excellent consumer and expert reviews, the price, and the image quality.
I found the camera was not only easy to use, but produced great pictures. You can use either Memory Stick or CompactFlash memory cards. Comes with a lithium battery and has good battery life as well as decent recharging time.
The camera doesn't come with a memory card, which is kind of a pain, and if you're looking for one of those teeny pocket-size digital cameras, this is really not the camera for you. I personally like the larger size, but maybe that's because it makes it feel fancy and expensive.
Overall, I recommend this camera if you're looking for something that can give you really nice pictures without a lot of hassle.

Pros- 2 types of memory storage, image quality, large LCD

Cons- no memory card included, size/weight

This is my 2nd digital camera and after a month I am very pleased. It is the fastest for its category and it still fits in a coat pocket. Yet it has many advanced features you don't find on a small camera. If you are shooting wildlife, action or small kids, nothing beats a camera that starts fast and responds quickly to shutter release. The add on lense feature is also well thought out and since you have a hot shoe you don't have to worry about the small flash on the camera being hidden by the add on flash. Two types of memory card allows you to use one for stills and one for video or backup stills. Good design and lightweight

It has dual memory slots for compact flash and ...SD i think is the other one. It has no memory on it's own, so you do need to get one. The battery life is pretty good. It plugs into the wall to recharge, so no more running down to the store for a pack of AA's
The photo quality is very good, even at just 3 MP. I recommend using it with a tripod whenever possible, specially in low light situations.
And the focus is kinda clumsy, but still a great digital camera.

This camera is phenomenal and definitely the best camera I've owned. I've had the camera now for about 3 years and it still amazes me with the quality and clarity of photos I get from it. I had a Canon Powershot prior and wish I had this Sony DSCV3 instead. The fact that the Sony DSCV3 accepts both the Memory Stick and Compact Flash (and yes both in the camera at the same time) made it easy moving from the Canon which was Compact Flash only.

There are so many settings capable on this camera as well as the scene modes, its hard to take a bad picture. Even with low light situations the hologram projection makes capturing your photo easy. Some situations definitely benefit from having the external flash unit available.

I also love the Multi Burst and Speed Burst modes of the Sony DSCV3. These settings allow you to take several continuos shots in succession, typically for moving objects. It works great, does take some getting use to, and the recording time seams a little long at times. This recording time being the main thing it takes practice to get use to.

I also have used the video capture capabilites quite a bit on various vacation trips and am very pleased with the results. Again, this is where the dual cards in the camera at the same time comes in handy, you can capture video to the Memory Stick card and capture your photos to the Compact Flash card. Very simple to do and provides for a lot of storage space.

I did not like the Picture Package software that came with the camera, but I found a couple software programs I do like a lot, Corel's Photo Album 6 Deluxe is great for downloading the photos and videos from your camera as well as orgainizing them and most importantly, backing them up to an external hard drive and DVDs. I also have used the Corel Paint Shop product for editing my photos, one of the easiest to use that I've found. However, with the Sony DSCV3 I find the biggest thing I correct on my photos is the red eye. Even though it has the red eye reduction settings, you still get some red eye, depending on whether or not the people you are shooting are looking right at the camera lens or not.

I'll probably have this camera for some time to come. The one I will look at next will be the Sony Alpha. Loving their cameras!

1. I know it really doesn't make much sense to write a review on a camera that has been discontinued for many years, but I just wanted to document that this camera is still one of the best cameras I've ever owned / used. I continue to use it as my primary camera (mainly for snap shots)--> and it just produces excellent shots; both in JPEG and RAW (I mainly shoot RAW). The wide angle and macro lens are also excellent.

2. The main cons are that of:
a. very very very slow RAW write times.
b. ... I think that's my only beef.

3. It's sad that essentially most camera companies have abandoned RAW in their compact cameras (current exception Panasonic and Olympus... and I guess Fuji E900). However, I have renewed hope with the recent announcement that the Canon G9 will again have RAW capabilities. It would be even greater news if Sony came out with a "V4".

4. Main point: if you want a semi-compact camera that'll deliver amazing results and can actually find one of these, you definitely will not be dissapointed. Kudos to Sony for producing this gem.

I am a 35mm art photographer and purchased this in January 2005 for snapshots of our new child.

I have hated it almost every day I have owned it. Why?

1) I have tried every "focus pattern" in the box and still have so many out-of focus pictures. Rarely is there a shot with true focus right on the subject's eye, for example. This is just not an issue with my old manual-focus film cameras.

2) I have to scroll through menus to change ISO and shutter speed. I would have preferred controls that match the old film SLR's, manual, and right on top of the box.

3) There is no grip area on the left side of the camera so when I let my preschooler hold it, her finger just naturally hits the lens.

4) I prefer fixed-focus lenses because the image quality is so much better than a comparably-priced zoom lens.

5) There is no way to bounce the flash off the ceiling to get a diffuse light instead of that awful, cheap-camera harsh glare on the subject.

6) I need a faster lens.

What do I like about it? It fits in a medium or large purse. But, frankly, I've stopped carrying it because I'm sick of the lousy images.

For my purposes, I would give this camera zero stars.

I'm so frustrated. I'm wondering if I should just shoot film for a couple more years, or if it's safe to buy a digital SLR yet. UGH.

It seems like compact digital cameras are being phased out at hyper-speed these days as each model is quickly supplanted by the next generation. These new cameras usually boast a boost in megapixels and zoom range, but those who look beyond the marketing mayhem are aware that more is not necessarily better.

Meanwhile, my V3 still holds its own three years after I purchased it. I've looked carefully at the current crop of compact digital cameras out now, and I've come to the conclusion that none are worthy of replacing my V3, though I expect that day will come eventually.

In general, I am very happy with the features, performance, image quality, and reliability. There are only two things I wish this camera had:

*A wider angle lens (at least down to 28mm equiv.)
*Image stabilization

I realize it is possible to address both these issues on the V3: by attaching a wide angle conversion lens for the former, and by putting the camera on a tripod for the latter. But it would be nice if these features were included as standard capabilities. If they had been, this camera would have been a home run. As it is, I still give the V3 4 stars...even by today's standards.

I bought my V3 in February of 2005 so this is a long term report. I've shot at least 5000 photos with it over the years and I'm still happy with it and it hasn't broke or gave me trouble. I came to this from years of using a Canon F1 and EF. Outside of the cool factor, I can't say I miss my old film cameras. Don't miss the weight on my neck either.

Just ordered the Sony HVL-F32X flash unit for this since I have confidence that I'm not ready to move on to another camera until I forced to by circumstance. Hope I don't drop it ;)

Wes

After 3 years of backpacking in South America, Central America and the Rocky Mountains (plus some urban tourism also) and ~15,000 great pictures taken in 14 countries, our DSCV3 is still going strong. Heat and humidity in jungles and subzero temperatures at several summits up to 18,000 feet haven't kept it from taking pro-quality shots. I love its numerous features like similar SLRs, but without the bulk, plus the video and night-shot capabilities that SLRs don't have. Because of it's size, I carry the camera discreetly in one pocket and the zoom and wide-angle lenses on the other, and can go into crowded markets without fear of getting mugged. About 8,000 pictures ago, it went into a river in the Ecuador jungle and the Sony dealer in Quito serviced it and it was as good as new.

How could you offer to sell this camera for $999.00 on December, 2008, when I bought this very same camera during the summer of 2005 for $299.00 from Beach Camera in New Jersey? I also bought the flash from Amazon for less than 60 dollars. Unless this camera has become a collector's item, I don't see any reason for its price to have tripled since 2005, given that there are newer models, and many Digital SLR's for lower prices.