The ultra-compact Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P1 captures sharp images with its 3.34-megapixel CCD, fast-focusing 3x optical zoom, and take-me-everywhere form factor.
We liked its high-quality pictures, ease of use, and stylish design, but found the included 8MB Memory Stick media and flash range anaemic. This camera should appeal to both family and business photographers who are willing to pay for top-quality pictures and portability.
Sony's 3.34-megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-P1 fits a lot into a little package, delivering sharp images for families and business users who crave quality but not complexity. Serious photographers may find both the P1's feature list and flash range too short, and those who are averse to using Sony's proprietary Memory Stick media will want to turn elsewhere. But casual photographers looking for excellent image quality in a stylish and compact camera will find just what they're looking for in the P1.
We liked the P1's easy handling and bright, 123,000-pixel LCD. Despite the camera's diminutive size, we found it easy to hold and operate. One of the P1's nice features is seamless transition between optical and digital zooming--a helpful indicator shows you when you've switched from one to the other. We also appreciated the zoom-and-scroll feature in play mode and the in-camera editing that let us view, copy, rotate, and resize pictures on the LCD before downloading them.
The P1 offers five JPEG image sizes, from 640 by 480 to 2,048 by 1,536, as well as uncompressed TIFFs. We found the uncompressed mode interesting but not terribly useful, since it simultaneously creates both a JPEG and a TIFF, requiring at least a 16MB Memory Stick. This may appeal to some users; the rest of us would prefer being able to turn this feature off to conserve media space, or at least being able to delete the JPEG on the camera. On the other hand, the dual-file-creation feature works well in the email mode, which creates Web-friendly 320-by-220 copies of your pictures. Secret-agent wannabes can use the Text mode to record high-contrast black-and-white GIFs and the Voice Memo mode to annotate shots. There are also black-and-white and sepia photo modes, and you can solarize and apply colour-reversal effects to your shots in the camera. You can also save up to 10 low-resolution images with a GIF-animation clip-frame feature or shoot up to 1 minute of MPEG video.
I would like to say that This is my first digital camera And if the sony can keep up the good work I would say normal cameras Will be out of date in the next 5 years What a wonderful toy :) Invest in a good printer and like me you will never have to go to a camera house again
Keep up the good work sony