Sony DSCV1 Cyber-shot 5MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom

Rating:
Summary: Stunning photos captured here.
Review: This being my third digital camera I did a lot of research online to find the best camera I could afford. I was open to any manufacturer as long as the pictures were the best I could get in the "pocket sized" and full featured digital camera with at least 4 Megapixels. Basically I was pointed to the Sony DSC V1 by most camera review web sites. I bought it and have NOT been disappointed in the least. It takes great pictures and has many great features including the ability to shoot in the dark. Check out the manual and the sample pics. Then go and buy this camera. It's even discounted these days. You can't go wrong. This baby makes you look like you know what you're doing even when you don't.

Rating:
Summary: Very Slow Flash Recycle, bad battery life
Review: I owned quite few Digital Cameras, but the Camera's I used most before this are Sony DSC-S85 and Canon A80. I damaged my S85 during rafting(still works with Power Supply, but not with battery) and gave Canon A80 to my brother. I bought DSC-V1 because of rave reviews on sites like dpreview, stevesdigicam. Especially for faster focus, so that I can catch my kid in action.

So, I will try to compare against S85 and A80.

Compared to S85 and A80:
1. Smaller than S85 but S85 has better grip, though I hate manual lens cover on S85. Bulkier than A80 and A80 has better grip.

2. V1 focusses much faster than S85( 1.25 sec vs 0.6 sec) and still few outof focus because catching kids on camera is not that easy. A80 is faster than S85 but still slower than V1. But Autofocus is more accurate and far superior on A80 out of all three. It covers much area with 9 point AiAF. I tested all three at once, A80 locked focus when S85 and V1 failed. (esp plain background with little contrast). V1 With all that hitech Laser pattern only checks for the contrast in only little center area(though 5 point , but all around/near the center). It fails to focus even when there are object in sides of the frame(not in center). V1 Continous Auto Focus option helps little bit in catching those little kids though.

3. Battery life is not even half of that S85, just one hour of typical usage, so extra battery with a charger is must. So extra money/luggage too. In the case of A80, You drop a set of Hi-Capacity Ni-MH AAs and forget it for few weeks.

4. Main problem, Flash recoup is really slow, anywhere between 7 -10 seconds. if you choose power save mode, it is around 20 seconds by the time camera is ready for another shot, (as another review has mentioned it). So, any indoor flash photography is a problem especially with kids. It won't let you take photo until the flash it completely charged. If you press shutter button before it charges completely, you have to release, and do it again. With S85 it is less obvious, and A80 hardly noticable.

5. Any indoor snaps without flash is ruledout, tried using higher ISO400, max aperture, exposure compensation etc. I think both S85 and A80 is little better, but not by much.

6. picture quality is on par with S85 I think. I did not feel quality is any better than S85. I felt A80 is little better than these two, especially the JPEG compression.

7. Though Canon A80 had rotating LCD, resolution and quality is not as good as S85 and V1.(this has been addressed in A95 with 1.8" hi-res LCD).


I have been experimenting since last 2 weeks, and above were the few things I observed.
I considered Canon A95, Sony DSC-W1 and this one(Canon G5 is little bulky and slow autofocus). I was getting all these around the same price, but I though V1 has 4x optical and Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lense( I think Vario-Sonnar is better than W1's Vario-Tessar) and W1 had many complaints about JPEG compression artifacts and not somany manual controls.

So, Now, I am thinking should I go for Canon A95? or should think of Casio EXILIM PRO EX-P600 which is veryfast and comes with Canon lense(this is $50 more).???

I hope this one helps atleast some people to decide if this camera fits the bill for them.

Rating:
Summary: Great with only a few faults
Review: This 5MP digital camera from Sony is easily the best out there. The time between clicking the button to the picture being taken is fast. The laser focus is very high quality and works wonderfully. The optical zoom is the higher than all other 5MP digital cameras in the category. The LCD screen is bright and high quality. When it comes to picture quality there are some differences. To be able to get good color balance, the picture mode has to be used, not the automatic. Pictures always turn out too much of a color(red, green, or blue) when automatic mode is used. The flash is slow to charge and creates a very off balance blue color, and the camera ceases to function while charging. The battery life is a little under what is expected while taking pictures. When flash is used, the battery power is greatly reduced.

Pros:
Great zoom
Small size
High quality LCD screen
Many different functions
High quality video with sound

Cons:
Battery life
Flash is off colored, slow charge, causes camera to not function while charging

Rating:
Summary: This camera takes excellent photos!
Review: This is one of the first cameras I have ever owned, I found that it is a little too advanced for the beginner photographer, but is a great bridge from beginner to a little more advanced.

First off, just let me say how pleased I was with the photos this camera takes. Great, great quality. I was even more pleased when I took the photos onto the computer and I blew it up several sizes--the pictures stayed nice and clear.
Using full automatic mode, I have read some customers complain about color saturation problems...it's almost as if they are talking about a different camera, because I am experienced no problems like that. This camera makes very close to real life colors...and, if by some chance, you do happen to experience some sort of color saturation problems, there is a manual override that will work just nicely.
The camera is very easy to handle all of the features. It's not confusing at all, even for the more of a beginner photographer.

There is only one thing that I am going to have to complain about concerning the camera functions...

The shutter speed, I thought, was way too slow. This camera seems so advanced that you would think that the shutter speed would be fairly fast...but it's not. You have to hold down the shutter for a few moments before the picture finally takes. And when it does take, it takes several seconds for the picture to save...

I found one flaw in the camera design--the location of the flash. It's on the top on the very left hand side (left hand side when the lens is point away from you). It's a weird place because in order to hold the camera properly, you have to lay your finger right on top of the flash. Which is just fine, when you are not using the flash, but when you do want to use the flash you will want to put your finger right on top of it, because it feels comfortable to do that. However, you can't use the flash if you do that! So, then you will probably result to putting your finger on top of the silver band around the lens, but that won't work either because your finger will be in way of the flash.

The location of the flash is the only camera design defect that I have come across, though. Otherwise, this is a nice camera that takes really splendid pictures. I'd recommend this camera to the beginner photographer passing over to an intermediate photographer. If you are looking for a compact camera, this is a pretty good compact camera. It gets great pictures, and is pretty much compact. Although, it is not completely portable, it's a little bigger than a lot of the compact cameras out there...but, you have to keep in mind the megapixels that you are getting. 5.0 megapixels, and lots of features. A very nice camera, I am quite pleased with it. Although, the flash defect has led me to looking for a new camera, because I just find that defect a little too hard to over-come. Other than that, I enjoyed this camera.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for cross over from amateur to semi professional
Review: I got my V1 about a months ago and I haven't stopped using it ever since. The pictures are very crisp. In the manual mode I can pretty much do anything. The joy of my life came when I froze a falling drop of water at a 1/2000sec stutter speed. I even got it a tele lens that increases the zoom to approx 7X. Some one who does a lot of wild life photography will certainly appreciate the Night shots.
It has a wide array of features and they all add an extra special tag to this camera.

Rating:
Summary: not going to get much better than this
Review: I love this camera. I'm not going to get into a bunch of details, but I've taken photos aboard an aircraft carrier, inside museums, out in the swamps, at sunrise on the beach... never less than outstanding quality photographs - any bad photos were my fault entirely. easy to use, fun to play with, small, lightweight... I love this camera.