First day impressions of Sony DSC-U20 Digital Camera - Things I didn't realise when I bought it! (Sony Cyber-shot U DSC-U20)

Member Name: emailcompton

Product:	Sony Cyber-shot U DSC-U20
Date:	23/03/03 (1162 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very easy to take pics / transfer pics to PC, Very Small, takes up to 5mins of no sound video on 8mb card

Disadvantages: No zoom, wont use normal AAA batteries, comes with Nickel Metal (13hr charge)

I bought this camera for general snap-shots and was attracted to the cameras small size. After using the camera for a day I have taken a few pictures, a small film (no sound) and downloaded these through tthe USB cable to my PC.

Important things that you may not realise:

The camera comes with Nickel Metal Hydride batteries - not L-Ion. This means that you have to train the batteries and cannot simply recharge and topup a half charged battery, you have to drain it fully, then recharge fully. The manual says this takes 13 hrs - what a bore! This may have put me off buying if I had realised. Although they are AAA size, you can't use normal off the shelf AAA batteries, they last about 5 pictures then the thing shuts down.

It does come with "scenes" for picture taking. Those familier with sony cameras know that this is a nice little selection of B&W photos, Serpia (old fasioned brown photos), negative (weird) and another weird one. quiet a nice, fun feature for when you think your taking "arty" shots!!

The USB transfer software worked very well on my Win2000 PC. I used photoshop for image manipulation becuase I am more familier with it.

The camera has no zoom, but an auto-focas, you can over-ride this to choose one of the following :

20 cm - For close ups
1 Metre - For pictures focasing on something close, but still with a background
Infinate for landscape type pictures.

Summery:

Great for ultra-pocket size, snap/fun shops. No good if you will be frustrated by no-zoom. Very easy to link with PC.

I bartered and got the price down to £180, am glad as it's not worth more.

Summary: