A lovely little camera that will do great things if you let it! (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P200)

Member Name: pineapplejelly

Product:	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P200
Date:	08/06/09 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots of control, lots of different options, reliable, sturdy

Disadvantages: if you don't read the manual you might not realise that options are there

This is great quality for a compact camera. Even now, I find it has a couple of settings (spot metering and a f/2.8 aperture) that better my DSLR!
(A DSLR is one of those big flashy cameras with interchangeable lenses, for those that don't know.)

At 7.2MP you can take holiday snapshots that can still produce quality reproductions and enlargements. There are a range of different "scene" modes and I like the way that they're all navigated from one option on the selection wheel, rather than clogging up the wheel by putting them on there (although it took me a while to realise they were there - should have read the manual more). There's also a fully-automated mode, and "programmed" and manual modes for when you want to stretch your photography a bit further. These modes enable you to change the aperture (although there's only two settings) and the shutter speed, to allow you to make more creative use of the camera and experiment a bit before shelling out on a more expensive bridge camera or DSLR.

There are also some handy little options like a "burst" mode where you can take a few photos at once - useful if you're taking photos of something that's moving fast and you want to make sure you get the picture! There's also "black and white" and "sepia" options if you want to experiment with non-colour pictures.

There's also a special option for if you want to take close-up pictures (it's a little flower button) without them being blurry.

To be honest, I think this is fantastic for a compact camera and allows you a lot more control than many digital cameras do, whilst still letting you automate everything if you want to.

It's also pretty sturdy - I've dropped mine a lot of times, even on hard surfaces, and it's still intact save for a couple of scratches!

P.S. Oh, I forgot, after about 3 years I did have some problems with the camera charger, it just randomly wouldn't charge any more, but I bought another one fairly cheaply on eBay and haven't had any problems since.

Summary: Read the manual to ensure you get the best out of it, but you can't go far wrong with this camera.

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