Rating: 
Summary: Great Camera but.....
Review: I bought one of these cameras and find it to be all that the others have said. However, I find that in the bright sunlight you have trouble seeing the image in the LCD display. It would be of benefit to have a viewfinder, wish it did.
Rating: 
Summary: User Friendly
Review: I bought this camera for my internet children's clothing business. I was originally using an FD-73, but needed better resolution that this camera supplied. With the Cybershot, you can choose you desired resolution. After careful consideration of the FD-85 for its convenient floppy drive, I chose the cybershot. A decision that I have not regretted. The rotating lcd screen is a great idea and safeguard against breakage. We actually cracked the screen on the previously mentioned camera while it was in its camera case in a suitcase during a vacation. I have been very pleased with this lightweight camera's performance, user friendliness, and versatility. However, my shopping list now includes a 64MB memory stick. The 4MB stick included with the camera holds only 4 pictures in the highest resolution.
Rating:
Summary: Great Camera
Review: I have had mine for over a year now and it still works great. It comes with a good long lasting battery the NP-FM50.
My only complaint is that the included memory stick is only 4MB. At high resolution (1600x1200) you would only be able to take about 4 pictures. I bought a 64MB stick the very same day and have had great success.
Rating:
Summary: Great Camera
Review: I have had mine for over a year now and it still works great. It comes with a good long lasting battery the NP-FM50.
My only complaint is that the included memory stick is only 4MB. At high resolution (1600x1200) you would only be able to take about 4 pictures. I bought a 64MB stick the very same day and have had great success.
Rating:
Summary: Great all around digicam, and it's truly Mac compatible!
Review: I have had this camera for about six months now. As a serious ammateur photographer for 15 years, I swore that I would still use my film camera for some things, but I haven't touched it. I take this Sony everywhere. This camera is a great all-around digital camera. It is compact, easy to use, the menus and controls are easily understood, and it takes great pictures. I was thinking about getting the S30 without the video feature instead, but I am very glad I got the video. I really like the video feature and I use it a lot. Below are a few major points you should consider about this camera. First of all, no other digital camera brand I have seen comes anywhere close to the lens quality of the Sonys. The marco (close-up) setting allows you to take a picture from literally a half inch away from the subject. Most other digital cameras with macro settings let you get as close as a couple feet. This means that when you can get, at closest, a full-frame picture of your whole hand with other digicams, the sony lets you zoom all the way in to just a fingernail. Incidentally this camera also has a text-capture mode which I have used quite successfully for taking pictures of blueprints and other documents. These kinds of images show up nicely on the computer screen. Secondly, This camera is fully mac-compatible. It comes with a USB cable and software that actually does work on the Mac. When you connect the camera to the cable, it shows up on the desktop just like a drive. The only problem I have had is when reading files right off the disc - sometimes it thinks there's a problem with the drive. If you first transfer them to your hard drive and then view them there's no problem. Some rules of thumb for file size: A high resolution pic (1600x1200) typically takes about 900k, so I figure about one meg each. The medium res (1024x768) is about 300k per pic, so I figure about three pics per meg. These are still pretty high resolution pictures. The lowest res (640x480) pics take about 100k each (a nice size for emailing). That's about 10 per meg. On video mode, the high res (320x240) takes about 100k per second, so about 10 sec of video per meg. The low res video mode (160x112) does about 40 sec per meg. So with the 4 mb memory stick that comes with the camera you can get about 4 or 5 high res pics, 15 med res pics, 40 low res pics, 40 sec high res video, or 160 sec low res video. So in summary, get more memory. I bought two 64 mb cards and they lasted a whole 4-day vacation, and I am pretty snap-happy. The one problem that I have to complain about is that there is about a one-second delay between pushing the shutter button and the actual capture of the image. (And I am not talking about the wait time for writing the file, I am talking about the actual moment of the photograph) This means that if you are taking pictures of subjects in motion you will have to anticipate the moment and push the button a second early. If you take a lot of action shots, this camera will proove frustrating. Often a critical moment will have passed by the time the camera actually takes the picture. Baby pics, wedding dance pictures, sports shots, all of these are very hard to do with this camera. For regular static subjects this is not a problem, but for objects in motion this camera is difficult. All in all I highly reccommend this camera. Happy shopping.
Rating:
Summary: don't use
Review: I have this product and i don't use it ... it just sits beside my computer ... i'm not even really sure why my parents got it for me ... but if someone wants to buy it from me ... email me at c-young1@northwestern.edu
Rating:
Summary: Nice point and shoot with a few compromises
Review: I purchased the S50 as a replacement to my traditional 35mm point and shoot camera. For the most part it does a good job. As others have mentioned, the LCD is quite difficult (if not impossible) to see in bright sunlight or dark situations. The red eye reduction does an adequate job, but I still get a lot of red eye. The most annoying thing for me is the shutter delay. Even without the flash, the delay is quite disconcerting. The time the shutter needs to be held to take a photo takes some adjustment. If you plan to take action shots or shots of children (who tend to move constantly) getting the shot you want is nearly impossible. If you use the flash in red eye reduction mode, the delay is quite long. Since the camera is digital, it's not as disturbing when I "waste" a shot, but I do get frustrated missing a shot I want because the of the shutter delay. However, as with an electronic device there's a learning curve. Once you get used to the specifics of the S50, it's a good camera. The 4MB memory stick is surprisingly adequate, but I still recommend an additional 16MB or 32MB stick. The menu structure is intuitive, as are the controls. The layout of the controls on the camera are well placed, too. The interface to Windows 98 is seemless. The included software has its limitations. Rotating images yields a disapointing loss in quality. It's adequate for simple webpage use, but for any serious editting there are far better packages. The S50 is a good replacement for my old point and shoot, but I still use my traditional 35mm for action shots.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Camera
Review: I purchased this camera after looking at a lot of different cameras. I was really impressed by the image quality, and the lithium-ion battery. The main complaint consumers have about digital cameras is battery consumption (I work as a tech-support agent for a digital camera manufacturer and field calls from customers on battery issues daily). The battery, the image quality, and the SONY name sold me on this excellent camera. The small memory stick that was included was a downside, but overall I am very happy. Getting the photos to the PC is very straight forward with no extra software to complicate things - you save images directly off the memory stick as if it were a floppy disk or CD-ROM disk through windows explorer. Easy as pie.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera
Review: I specifically went looking for this camera because of the large viewfinder, which swivels up to view yourself for self portrait, and around and down, locking into place to protect the LCD screen. I don't know if ths was done on any other brand of camera, but I find it unique and a source of delight. I've had this camera nearly a year, and am still amazed at all it does, finding new features still. I bought it used, as it had been discontinued...I've never regretted it.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera
Review: I specifically went looking for this camera because of the large viewfinder, which swivels up to view yourself for self portrait, and around and down, locking into place to protect the LCD screen. I don't know if ths was done on any other brand of camera, but I find it unique and a source of delight. I've had this camera nearly a year, and am still amazed at all it does, finding new features still. I bought it used, as it had been discontinued...I've never regretted it.
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