entry level, lower level (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S500)

Member Name: bystander

Product:	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S500
Date:	13/03/07 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: price

Disadvantages: low on features, no speaker, even USB 1.1

An entry level Sony digital camera. All the quality and strategy you would expect from a Sony, but with some unexpected flaws.

People care about resolution nowadays, expressed in MegaPixels, so producers offer more megapixels on any camera they market, even the most basic. This is the case of DSC-S500, 6.2 megapixels for nothing. In fact, they give you a reasonable amount of pixels but they take away everything else: the lens (which is not a Zeiss Tessar), the viewfinder (abolished), the speaker, the plugs cover (left naked to threats from sand and dust) and even the hi-speed USB connection! But if you really care for the LCD screen, here's one of the biggest on the market!

You would never believe that a digital USB device marketed in 2006 would have a USB 1.1 connection, but this is what DSC-S500 offers! 6.2 Mp at full resolution would mean that the average picture will require some 2Mbytes at full JPEG, so this choice of a slow USB does not make ANY sense.

Entry-level cameras from market leaders are becoming cheaper, but consider this: that not only are they cutting costs, they are cutting also features!

Consider the Sony entry level for 2005, the DSC-S40. It features 4.1 Mp, mostly sufficient for a lot of uses, and a small LCD. but massive superior other features as compared to the S500.

The point is that for Sony cameras, entry level in 2006 is lower than entry level in 2005 (apart from megapixels, if it is all you care about) and so is the price.

Summary: better go for a 2nd hand or discontinued 2005 model

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