Elegant and pin-sharp (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P5)

Member Name: Tubbster

Product:	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P5
Date:	22/01/03 (143 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Image Quality, Simplicity of use, Fool-proof

Disadvantages: Expense

The DSC-P5 is easy to use, virtually fool-proof on automatic. But you also get to mess around with the controls if that's your thing (macro, forced flash, long exposure, focus etc), however, I've found that the camera rarely gets it wrong if left fully automatic.

The saturation of colours is superb, particularly in bright sunlight, but this little fella even copes with British skies, picking out bags of detail on even the most overcast of days.

The only thing I can't seem to control is the depth of field, however this is not really a problem. After all, I'm not trying to be an artist, I just want a dependable snap-happy camera and the Sony DSC-P5 delivers again and again.

The screen on the camera is fairly small, but very bright. Once you've taken a picture, you can zoom in to make sure it's really in focus. If it is, great, if not, delete it and take the picture again, as many times as you want until you've got the shot you're after.

3.2 Mega pixels is certainly enough to get your 5x7's printed at Jessops (or Asda for that matter - cheaper)

The pin sharp pictures are easy to load onto your PC with all the supplied software.

It's small and lightweight, yet reasuringly solid, making it perfect to keep with you for that unexpected photo opportunity.

Oh, and don't forget, it's A SONY! Dependable, stylish, enduring quality blah blah blah! You can't go wrong.

I went the whole hog and bought a 128Mb Memory stick as well, which can hold up to 81 images at excellent resolution. Of course, I did buy mine in Malaysia and spent just £400 including the extra 128Mb, but I would recommend getting extra memory if you can afford to, it just makes the camera so much more useful.

A final word on the other gadgety things the DSC-P5 can do, ie, mini video clips to email, adding sound to pictures. Remember that these are just gimmicks. If you want a video
camera, then get one, but don't expect this camera's 2nd job to be anything other than a mild diversion. Stick to using it as it's meant to be used, taking simply gorgeous pictures, quickly and effortlessly.

Summary: