Though this pint-size 5-megapixel camera is perfectly serviceable, you can find better alternatives.The diminutive, bullet-shaped DSC-P10 travels nicely in a purse or a jacket pocket. With its portability, its 3X zoom lens, and its easy-to-understand controls, the camera should appeal to a wide range of buyers who need 5-megapixel images from a pocket-friendly point-and-shoot. But the P10's average image quality, sluggish low-light performance, and ho-hum feature set prompt us to suggest that you check out some of the alternatives before ponying up the bucks.
The P10 feels reassuringly solid and built to last, despite weighing just 172 grams without any accessories installed. The camera uses the same controls as its 3.2-megapixel relative, the Cyber Shot DSC-P8. A dial on top lets you choose from a few basic modes, such as automatic, program, scene, and playback. All settings except those for the flash and the macro-focus mode are accessible from the well-designed menu system. Navigating it using the directional keys and three buttons on the back is quick and easy, but shutterbugs who need dedicated controls for functions such as white balance and exposure compensation will have to look elsewhere.
Inexplicably, to change red-eye reduction, autofocus mode, and some other options, you must switch to setup mode. And after you've done that, you still have to move through the menu to find and select the appropriate settings.
With the same point-and-shoot feature set as the P8, the 5-megapixel P10 should appeal to those who want simplicity but also like to have it their way on occasion. The camera provides seven scene modes, including such favourites as Twilight Portrait (which uses a slow-sync flash), Snow, and Fast Shutter Speed. Typical for its class, the 38mm-to-114mm (the 35mm-film equivalent), 3X zoom lens focuses as close as four inches in macro mode.
In the menu system, you'll find settings for image characteristics such as contrast, sharpness, and saturation; exposure compensation; focus; spot and multi metering; white balance; sensitivity; and more. The Record menu includes a three-shot burst mode, exposure bracketing, voice annotation, and automatic creation of e-mail-size photos.
Like the P8, the P10 includes a continuous-autofocus mode with focus tracking; the camera continuously adjusts the focus even after you've pushed the shutter release halfway. In dim conditions, an automatic light assists the AF to improve performance. The Focus menu gives you a selection of five distance presets.
Two nice features are the real-time histogram and the ability to resize images for Web posting and e-mailing. You also get video capture, an area in which Sony cameras lead the pack. The P10's movie mode can record 640x480-pixel footage with sound, and clip length is limited by only the space available on the Memory Stick. Another motion option is the 16-Frame Multi-Burst mode, which captures 16 frames within a user-selected interval at 320x240 resolution.
In our well-lit test environment, the P10 performed briskly. Even when we didn't prefocus, shutter lag measured a maximum of 0.3 second. Shot-to-shot time typically ranged between 1 and 2 seconds, and the Burst 3 mode let us snap three images at 2.9 frames per second. The camera was ready for its first photo about 3 seconds after powering on.
However, when we dimmed the lights, the P10 slowed down. In normal indoor conditions, the shutter lag remained reasonable, creeping up to 1.8 seconds, but flash use lengthened the shot-to-shot time to 6 seconds--an agonizing wait when you're trying to capture the action. Burst 3 mode couldn't help us because it doesn't work with the flash.
The 1.5-inch LCD worked fine most of the time, but it was more difficult to use than some screens in direct sunlight. We have two complaints about playback: deleting successive shots took a few seconds, and we sometimes experienced delays when zooming into captured images.
The P10 produced good but not great images. Exposures generally hit the mark, although the camera frequently blew out highlights into bright white patches. The white-balance presets tended to be slightly off in a variety of environments; for instance, the automatic white balance gave a distinct yellow cast to scenes shot under both tungsten lights and daylight. Colours were natural, though the sky looked more green than blue in several test photos, and the Tungsten setting erred toward red indoors. When we used the flash inside, our pictures came out a touch too warm.
Overall, the images were a bit soft, and in some places, JPEG-compression artefacts exacerbated the otherwise minimal noise. However, unless you plan to crop in closely on an affected area or blow up the shot significantly, neither problem should be a serious issue. On the upside, very little purple fringing occurred in our test photos.
In macro mode, the P10 worked surprisingly well, ably handling even autofocus. The lens can focus as close as four inches.
Sony Cyber Shot DSC-P10
Company: Sony Australia
Price: AU$948.99
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1 300 137 669
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