Rating: 
Summary: Nice camera - the battery issue is terrible, however
Review: We bought this for my sister for her birthday. It is a great camera, but the rate that it goes through AA batteries is inexcusable. My sister has had it for 2 days and has gone through 4 sets of AA batteries. She is exchanging the camera for a different model.You can purchase a separate Infolithium battery system for it, however by doing that the cost of the camera overall approaches that of some other superior cameras.
Rating:
Summary: This camera isn¿t $300, it is more like $500 !
Review: A big hello to all the consumers out there. Well if you haven't already gotten the most common theme in all the previous reviews, here it is one more time: The battery life on this thing is unspeakably appalling!!! To sell this camera, claiming that it operates on a pair of AA batteries is like selling an 18 Wheeler with a cross country trip planned on half a pint of gas...it just won't happen!!! The camera otherwise isn't too bad. There are a fair amount of useful features. The picture quality is good. The menu interface and controllers are very intuitive and creative. The construction and the design look handsome and sturdy. But you won't really enjoy any of that if your camera only runs for 15 mins. Heck, I bet most of the poor folks out there weren't even able to finish reading the instruction manual when the AA batteries died. This is the kind of thing that makes my blood boil! Either all the Sony Engineers instantaneously turned dumber than bricks to even suggest AA batteries as a sustained power source for a an LCD and Flash intensive device, or this is a typical Sony rip off plan. I would tend to agree with the later possibility. Selling a product with the absolute bare minimum and then charging absolutely ludicrous prices for the "optional accessories", which should have been included with the product to begin with is long a standing trademark of Sony. Not to mention the fact that anything and everything with the name Sony on it is already extremely expensive. The camera comes with a pair of Sony AA batteries, which die in about 15 to 20 minutes, no exaggeration what so ever! So either you need to start dating someone who works for Energizer or Duracell, or drop about a [$amount] on a Battery/Charger combo. Maybe we wouldn't have had to buy the Battery and the Recharger if Sony had at least included an AC Adapter with the package, but God forbid Sony would do that. Another thing that ticks me off is that the AC power connection on the Camera is a Sony proprietary connection. Which means that I can't just go the local Hack Shack, I am sorry, I mean Radio Shack and buy a cheap adapter for 10 bucks, no sir, I have to buy a Sony, or a Sony compatible adapter for around [$amount]. Everything must be proprietary you see. This is of course to properly and effectively screw the customers. You gotta love Sony! Ok, so now we have a respectable amount of power supply, but guess what? With the shamefully small memory stick of 4MB that Sony included, we won't be able to snap more than a couple of pictures (never mind a video clip!!!) before memory is full. So now we must buy a higher capacity memory stick (Sony proprietary of course!), lets say we buy a 32MB Stick for about [$amount]. So now we can take a ton of pictures. But another potential problem arises as soon as you connect your camera to the computer. The USB cable is mind-numbingly short! Either Sony is assuming that every computer has a frontal USB connection or that we are all very small people! Would it have killed them to make the damn thing a bit longer so people with a USB connection in the rear of the case can at least comfortably put the camera on top of the computer case with out fear of it falling off. This is quite reminiscent of the Sony Playstation controllers that just weren't long enough to reach the living room couch without a lot of stretching. Although it's optional, one needs to spend [$amount] to [$amount] on a longer USB cable. What Sony does include with the package is a lousy, good for nothing, 2 cent video cable that most people most likely already have several of. Yes of course, before getting a better power supply, more memory, and a stable connection to my PC, my first priority really is to hook this thing up to my freakin television!!! Ridiculous!!! So a camera being sold for [$amount] dollars is actually more like [$amount]! So unless you are willing to spend the [$amount], I would recommend waiting a bit longer until the prices of the digital cameras go down further (I am surprised they are still so unbelievably high!), or if you need one now, go with someone like Olympus or Fuji. I really haven't done a lot of research on Olympus or Fuji but in general they are a better value. Thank God for capitalism and the spirit of competitive markets where we as consumers have the choice of going elsewhere and finding a better value. Hope this was fun and helpful. If you have any questions or comments you may contact me... Any Sony Reps, or any Sony-loving consumers for that matter, are welcome and encouraged to provide a counter argument. ;o)
Rating: 
Summary: Super Digicam!!!
Review: I bought the Sony P30 and I realy enjoy it, but don't think the [initial cost is] everything you have to pay. I bought me the Starterkit because you really need a better batterie for that camera because the batteries they ship doesn't work really long.
But if you choose to buy this camera , I think you really will enjoy it too!!
Rating: 
Summary: DCS-P30 Love It, But Hate It.
Review: When I went out to buy a digital camera, the only one that I found within my budget that was built as good as the expensive ones was the P30. It had all the features I was looking for, so I bought it. When I took the memory stick into town to have the pictures made into prints, everyone told me that they couldn't develop prints from the Sony Memory Sticks. So, there I was with a camera that I loved, but couldn't use because no one developed prints from the Memory Stick. The moral of the story is, only buy cameras that use the Lexmar style cards.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Digital Camera! Affordable with Great Features!
Review: The Sony DSC-P30 is very a user friendly digital camera. It takes excellent clear pictures, with the ability of having different formats of pictures. And with the memory stick, you have the ability to save as many pics and video to suit your needs. Overall, performance and ease of use is 5 stars. Although, I do wish Sony included a charger and re-chargeable battery. But, other than that, it's a fun digital camera to have.
Rating:
Summary: Value. Quality. Feature-Rich. 5-Star.
Review: I spent a great deal of time researching and trying out several digital cameras before buying. I had a limited budget of $300-400, so I wanted to get as much quality as I could for as few $$$ as possible. Doesn't everyone? I tried out the Canon Powershot A20, Olympus, and Fuji FinePix. All came highly-recommended and rated by consumer reports. But I saw that the Sony Cybershot also ranked in the top 5 in one report so I check it out. I was extremely impressed with the features and quality of photos taken with the Cybershot. The price was one of the lowest too. I highly recommend trying out the cameras before you buy! Don't just take an editor's word for it. Picking out the right digital camera with the right look and feel is a very personal thing. The only bad thing that I can say about the Cybershot is that despite being around $100 cheaper than comparable products, you'd be well advised to take that $100 and buy Sony's lithium-ion battery and charger kit. Alkalines last only minutes in this camera but the Stamina (Sony's Lithium-Ion battery) lasts an outstanding 90 minutes!! The camera comes with features like an MPEG movie mode for capturing short video clips (no sound), photo effects like Sephia, and photo editting (zooming, cropping, resizing) right on the camera. Another feature that I liked with the Cybershot was the freedom to take control over the shutter speed and aperature if I wanted to try some advanced photo effects. Try before you buy! You'll be glad that you did.
Rating:
Summary: Major Malfunctions, Sony Knows of Defects
Review: Most of the customer reviews so far have expounded on two key facts: 1) This camera has very good functionality for the price, and 2) Sony did a poor job with power supply. It comes with alkaline batteries, which the manual says you can't use to transfer files to a computer. It's hard to call the power adapter and a battery upgrade (e.g. nickel metal hydride) anything but a necessity. Left out of the reviews is a third factor which people haven't seemed to mention yet. The cameras, or perhaps just some of them, don't function properly with FRESH AA alkaline batteries. After mine quickly used up the two that came with it, I put in good fresh ones that tested well, and the camera wouldn't turn on in either record mode or moving picture mode (and would turn off if I moved into those modes from others). In playback mode, the battery indicator verified that the batteries were good. This led to emails to Sony which led to inane computer-generated responses reminding me to change the batteries. Eventually I got through to a representative on the phone who said the problem I was having was common. Got that - MANY people had the same problem. Best Buy doesn't accept the returns because Sony, wary of the problem, includes a label in the packaging saying something like "if malfunctioning do not return to the store." They don't offer you your money back as part of your warranty. Now I'm stuck having to ship it to PA and hoping they return it working properly. Meanwhile I've bought Nickel MH batteries and a charger which has seemed to be a quick fix. I've sent pictures to the computer without the AC adapter that Sony indicates is mandatory. I've edited this review to add that I now believe I've purchased enough equipment to get around the power supply problem. NiMH batteries, a charger, a 32 MB memory stick, and a USB memory stick reader all appear to make the camera fully functional. It takes good pictures. Still, [those dollars are] a lot to throw at a $... camera, and Sony's skeletal warranty and lack of forthrightness are troublesome.
Rating:
Summary: Serious lack of equipment
Review: The pictures are great, the ease of use is great. The LCD is exceptional, as is the quality of the twilight picutres. Why do I mark it down? It came with only a couple of AA bateries and they were *gone* in one session. You do not know until you have it that you need to purchase an additional charger/adapter in order to upload to your computer. (They instructions clearly say NOT to do it with only batteries, but there is no transformer included.) Also no carrying case. Sony appears to be going for an "aftermarket" here. I would not recommend this to anyone without these caveats.
Just adding a bit. 1. I did not experience the problems that they guy did when putting in fresh batteries. I already had niMH's and a charger, but went ahead and paid ... for Sony's "power package". 2. The lithium batteries make a world of difference. Still I resent the fact that the transformer is something you need and Sony didn't include it. The real price ... Not a bargain. (Includes Sony's ... discount for registering - be sure to use a seldom used web address - they really hit you with ads.)
Rating:
Summary: Another Great product from Sony!
Review: I did plenty of research before purchasing this camera and I can proudly say that it was a very good decision. The picture quality is great, and the camera is very easy to use. Included software is great and it is easy to upload pictures from the camera to your desktop. Mpeg movie option is great also. The only complaint I have is that it does not include any rechargable batteries / charger, the included AA alkaline batteries don't last more than few hours. I am very impressed with this camera and would highly recommend it to anyone who is considering a low priced high quality digital camera.
Rating:
Summary: AC POWER ADAPTER
Review: I just want buy this one. But I find there's no AC power adapter included. Does the Sony DSC-P30 has a jack for AC power adaper? and where can I buy one?
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