Rating: Summary: The Perfect Camera for a Fruit-Fly Review: Long-Life Battery? Maybe, if you happen to be a fruit fly. Otherwise, I don't think so. My Cybershot DSC-S30's battery consistently needs re-charging after 4 minutes of use. And this was fresh out of the shrink-wrap. Ample 4MB-capacity Memory-Stick? Right..Enough capacity to store an astonishing seven- Yes, SEVEN pictures. Wow. That's why Sony calls it a Memory Stick - just enough memory to photograph a stick. In sepia, no less. The people in MY tour group were amazed that a brand-new camera would need charging every 5 minutes. That Sony would sell a camera that holds only 7 pictures. And that, lacking an optical viewfinder, the LCD screen completely drains the battery in no time flat. All of which leads one to this logical conclusion: Sony Marketing devised this sorry excuse for a camera with one intent: Force the consumer to buy Sony's "optional" accessory package: a larger memory stick, a flimsy plastic camera case, and a "Long-Life" (meaning LONGER THAN 4 MINUTE) Battery. All of which explains why my salesman "...Strongly recommended" that I buy the accessory kit. Had he been more honest, he might have said, "Look,if you don't buy the OPTIONAL extras, this camera is a total piece of trash." I would rate it 0 stars, but Amazon leaves that option unavailable. In the hope that my Homeowner's Insurance is nearsighted, I am scurrying up to the 3d floor balcony. A hasty toss over the side should quickly determine how many pieces actually make up Sony's Fabulous Memory Stick. On a positive note, this camera is adequate revenge for Hirohito's humiliation at the Battle of Midway.
Rating: Summary: Windows 95 Users Don't Buy This Review: SONY only provides USB driver for Windows 98. Don't buy this product if you have Windows 95. Or you'll have the same problem as I do now. Your options are to upgrade to Windows 98 or buy the floppy disk adapter. Either way, you'll be spending more money. As for me, I'm returning the camera. Too bad, because I like the camera itself.
Rating: Summary: GET THIS ONE!!! Review: Take a macro shot of your concret sidewalk that looks like a rocky beach when you view it on the PC. Or a single tulip bloom can fill the whole screen with colors that look better than the real thing. Or perhaps a qwick snap of a 35mm print that looks better than the print itself. Memory? If you just want to take camping snaps to pass around to friends, a 32mb card gives you about 300 pics at 640x480. Higher res pics like 1024x786 give you about 80 pics. If you like effects and closeups this is the camera for you. I found it so much fun to use that I forgot all about camcorders and film. Found mine on closeout for 400.00 and another 60.00 for the 32 mb stick. Sounds like a lot of money? I Have taken over 6,000 pictures in the last 4 months without film or proccessing fees...You do the math. Advanced controls include white balance selection, special effects, resizeing, and much more. Other reviews posted here mentioned draw backs like bad low light pics and motion blur but proper setting for shutter and white balance can do wonders. (hint) for distant indoor pics turn off the flash and zoom in close. If you decide to buy this camera I can promise you that you will never go back to film. Wife likes it so much that I never get to use it anymore.
Rating: Summary: Sony, always the best !! Review: The Sony DSC-S30, really a wonderful and enjoyable little camera. This is my first digital camera after having a few 35mm cameras after my name. Although Digital cameras still has a while to go before having that absolute sharpness than the 35mm cameras, they are not far off. Taking pictures is almost second nature now, so wonderful not worrying about films and the cost of development (In South Africa development is not cheap). I really recommend the Sony for all Photo lovers. The LCD screen can be turned in almost every direction to make taking photos a breeze in difficult positions. I would recommend that you buy an extra Memory Stick. At least a 32MB or better a 64 MB stick, and if you are on the road a lot, buy an extra battery. (I must say the battery that Sony supplies are great, last more than 3 hours continuely and it really recharges very fast.) I really only have good things to say about the Sony, gives me lots of joy privately and wonderful little work horse when it comes to taking pictures for my Web Designing company....
Rating: Summary: Great Little Camera Review: This Camera is a great feature packed camera. With the higher capacity memory sticks you can shoot your brains out (not literally of course). The image quality at all image sizes are great. The aperture and shutter priority along with the spot metering and manual focus presets work awesome. I really like the effects; sepia, b&w, posturize and neg art. The only downfall to this strong camera is the speed it takes to capture an image. All in all really happy about this one.
Rating: Summary: move over 35mm! Review: This camera is an excellent mid-range product that is option-packed. Even the low rez pics are high quality; I've got an HP 952c printer, and unless you look close, you can't tell that you're looking at a digital picture. Editing pictures on the fly is a snap. The only complaints I would have is the low 4MB Memory stick it comes with, and it's a little slow when taking action shots (for an extreme amateur photographer like me, I need every advantage I can get!). Sony continues to have my vote for high quality electronics.
Rating: Summary: Great beginner digicam Review: This camera is great for the beginner digital camera enthusiast. I got this camera as a present last Spring and enjoyed it thoroughly, taking it on a trip to Italy. If you want to see samples, please email me and I'll send you links to these pictures. The pictures it takes are wonderful, bright, vibrant colors, great contrast, etc. That should be the main thing to be concerned about when starting out. One of the best things other than the image itself was the flexible lcd viewfinder. You can twist it around in every which way, making it ideal for taking candid shots. Another great feature is the infolithium battery which lasts forever (the person who said he had problems with his must have had a defective one) and constantly tells you how much time you have left before it needs to be recharged. The menu system is a snap. The camera is compact enough to fit in a coat pocket. Obviously for a lower-resolution, lower-end camera, you're not going to find high-end features like manual modes, etc., but you do at least have some flexibility in terms of flash and exposure modes. Another downside, though easily fixed with some extra money is the included 4mb memory stick. You really need more if you want to take more than a few shots. Obviously you can decrease the resolution which increases the number of shots you can take, and although these lesser-resolution pics are clear, they may not be suitable for printing. At the highest resolution, 4x6 prints come out nicely, but lower resolutions produce prints that are not very good. The other side of this is that memory sticks are proprietary to Sony products. So in order to take full advantage of the medium, your MP3 player and PDA would have to be Sony products as well, so that you could use the sticks interchangably. Sony still hasn't learned their lesson from Betamax or Minidiscs, but that's another issue. Yes, speed is also an issue. It takes quite a while to take a picture after hitting the shutter release, and even longer to take another one after the shot. As long as you don't primarily take pictures of kids (or other fast moving objects ;-) this camera is great!
Rating: Summary: Great Camera Review: This is a great camera for the price and size. Dump the 4MB memory card and get at least a 16MB. As stated above, low light and action photography is pushing this camera to the limits, but it is hard to beat for 90% of what most people would use it for. Transfer rates to the computer using the USB interface are quite fast. The only things that would keep me from giving this camera a 5 star rating are the lack of a viewfinder other than the LCD display, the slow shutter, and the outragiously high price of Sony accessories. Also, the $599 list price is misleading. It can be ordered direct from Sony for $499, and I have seen it for less locally.
Rating: Summary: Great Camera for price. Review: This is a great camera with a wonderful variety of features for the money. The use of this camera is intuitive - within 10 minutes I had more or less figured it all out, and only really needed the manual for reference. Battery life is good, with the supplied rechargeable battery. The camera will take colour, B/W or sepia shots in a wide variety of resolutions. Webheads may appreciate the camera's auto-thumbnail feature, where a thumbnail image can be created and stored along with the high resolution shot. The camera feels solid, and well, camera shaped, unlike some other cameras I looked at. Sony did a great job here.Advice: Buy another memory stick or 2. The 4MB supplied doesn't go very far in the highest resolution (7 images!). Buy a 32MB (57 images) or 64 MB (~114). The memory sticks can also be used in a few other Sony products as well, so will be a good investment for Sony fans. Gripes: 1)The camera's built in flash isn't wonderful, and the lack of optical viewfinder means that taking shots in the dark is guesswork, as you can't see much in the display. The higher end DC-S70 has a viewfinder which would help here. 2)The delay when taking a shot makes this camera difficult to use for action shots. Overall: If you want a high resolution camera for mainly daytime non-action shots that is easy to use, feature rich, with good memory expansion and generally well designed then buy this camera. If you expect a lot of low light or action use, then it's probably best to shop around.
Rating: Summary: Great Closeups Review: This is a great camera, I have taken lots of pictures and they all have great quality, the battery life is great, almost 3 hours (like 1 and a half using the flash). The availñable image modes (5) make your pictures look even better. The zoom is much more than other cameras have. The CONS of the camera that I could mention are: The lack of the optical viewfinder (can be fixed by adjusting the bright) The small memory in the included memory stick (Sony has an offer of a 16 mb free with mail in rebate) Wether you are a photo etusiastic or you just want to take family pictures this is a great camera, to see how professional my pics look check out www.... (professional pics) www.... (family-like pics)
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