Rating: 
Summary: You get what you pay for
Review: This is my first venture into digital...heard a lot about megapixels..settled for 3.1. Now I wish I had gone for a less mp with big zoom. At VGA setting, you still get good 4'X6'. You can size up to higher resolutions afterwards for cropping or editing. However, this seriously lacks good zoom. If you wish not to distract your subjects, this isn't the right choice. Also, it needs tons of light to take good pics and I hate to use its off-balanced flash. It can't even capture simple movements in burst mode without making it blurry. I don't understand why they have this movie mode. It has such a horrible quality, Sony should not put its name on such a product. Now positives:
Good entry level point and shoot camera.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice camera with great pics, but too slow
Review: This little camera takes wonderful quality pics. It's also got a video feature with sound which is really nice. So if you are in the market for still photography great. If however you want action shots (like trying to catch the perfect pic of a 2 year old) you are out of luck. It just outthinks itself. By the time it's done analyzing to make sure you get the best possible pic for that shot you've missed the shot. The so called burst feature doesn't make it any faster, neither does eliminating some of the auto features. About the only way you are going to get the shot is to record a movie and then capture the individual screens later.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Fantastic Camera!
Review: This P-52 Cybershot camera is an incredible value, and I couldn't be happier with it. I've compared this camera with 2003 Canon, Fuji, HP photosmart and Kodak models, and the Sony wins hands down. Except in the case of the Canon, the Sony P-52 is far superior. There are almost too many pros to even list. =====PROS=====
-The most advanced "Super H.A.D. CCD" exclusive to Sony.
-CCD is 2x as sensitive as any other company's CCD, & 6 dB less digital noise!
-beautiful, accurate colour
-extremely versatile lens takes perfect pics from 3 inches away
-very fast autofocus (1/2 a second)
-autofocus illuminator light for taking pics in the dark
-extremely fast start-up. Around 1.5 seconds!
-very fast LCD: almost no lapse time from real life to LCD.
-LCD has 6 settings for good viewing indoors or out.
-Aperture stays open up to 2 full seconds in dark. Anything longer can damage the CCD, or let in too many unwanted artifacts
-full array of manual functions (aperture [ev], focus & ISO)
-snow mode keeps the detail of the white snow
-beach mode captures the perfect blue of the water
-up to 1 GIG of memory - supports memory stick Pro!
-5 pic size settings - VGA, 1.2 mp, 2.0 mp 2.8 mp & 3.1 mp
-2.8 mp is "3:2 ratio" for perfect 4 x 6 photos
-cool multi-burst mode. Takes 2 pictures in a row, under 1 second. 16-shot option as well.
-smart flash. Even when taking picture in daylight, will sense if it is needed, and come on appropriately.
-Smart Zoom. Not a digital zoom. Picture quality does not degrade like standard digital zooms.
-very long battery life. 2 Ni-mh "Stamina" AA batteries last 67% longer than 2002 batteries.
-metal threads for tripod. Most other companies use plastic. Bad idea!
-menus are beautiful: incredibly easy to understand and navigate.
-prints at "photo quality" up to 8x10. After that, starts to lose some quality, but 11x14 still looks excellent.
-USB 2.0
-fun modes like Sepia, B&W, Solarize and Negative Art.
-voice function: records audio for 5 seconds after taking a picture. (40 sec. option available too)
-instant "review" button of last pic taken, when the LCD screen is off. =====Mpeg Movie=====
-film mpegs with sound, limited only by the size of the memory. Example - 128 mb memory stick = 6 minutes of 640x480 or 1.5 hours of "email" quality (160x112)
-filmed at 16 frames per second, although after filming, camera info states that it was filmed at 25 fps. =====CONS=====
-flash is off too far to the side of the lens. It makes big shadows on the left side of your subject.
-Snow mode seems to overexpose the shot a little.
-Optical viewfinder only shows roughly 80% of actual picture area. Use the LCD.
-only 2x optical zoom. The standard seems to be 3x. Sony needs to catch up here.
-zoom only works before you start filming. Can't change the zoom during filming.
-flash will charge slowly if batteries are running low. =====CONCLUSION=====
An absolutely perfect and versatile camera. Only a professional photographer would, or could, find fault with it. But a professional would likely be using an SLR style camera worth at least double what this camera is worth.That being said, the price is great and Sony has really found a winner here. This is a very fast camera in all respects, and that is important. Takes fast (and accurate) pictures, and saves info almost instantly. There are no load times for pictures or movie files, like the Hewlett Packard camera line.
5 stars all the way.
Rating: 
Summary: Repair cost as much as new camera
Review: This was a nice camera while it worked. It was broken after 9 months and the cost was $171 to repair. I could not find repair centers on the internet and tried to call Sony customer support. I never talked to a person because the wait was 34 minutes. I finally found a repair site but the cost was outragous. I could buy a new camera just like the broken one for $190. Never again for Sony. Too bad because I did like their products. Repair is too expensive and too much hassle.
Rating:
Summary: Happy with the Sony DSCP52
Review: This was our first purchase of a digital camera, and we have been very pleased with it. We bought the camera because of the wide range of features, the competitive price, and the Sony name (to which I'm admittedly partial). A big selling point was the fact that with the expanded memory stick (a separate purchase) you can shoot up to 90 minutes of video - nothing else on the market in this price range even compares to that! We have found this camera to be easy to use, and it takes great pictures. I would recommend definitely recommend this to others looking for a good value when buying a digital camera.
Rating:
Summary: some excellent pics; some disappointing pics
Review: We just replaced our ancient HP C-20 (1 MP!!) with this camera. Admittedly we only looked at Sony because we have bought the Sony TV that you can insert the memory stick and watch your pics on the TV (you can hook up this camera to other TVs too). I guess I was expecting much more from this camera considering the 3.2 MP (which is actually 3.1). After using the camera for two weeks, I have found that the only pictures I would consider excellent are closeups, and objects that are no more than three feet away, in good daylight *and* using the flash. Some pictures we take indoors are very grainy, even on the highest quality settings. I guess we still need to consult the manual on how to get the perfect shot!! In a lot of cases my old HP takes better pics. By the way, carry your manual with you - mine is dog-eared from having to check it constantly. Definitely purchase another pair of rechargable batteries - they take 6 hours to charge each time. They last several days, with average pic taking and viewing. Some good points are:
* You can resize the image after taking it (to a different quality or cropping).
*You can take pictures as close as 3 1/4 inches (and they are excellent).
*5 quality settings and then two modes (fine and standard) so really 10 quality settings.
*You can take up to 145 pictures with a 256MB disk at 3.1MP and standard mode (the supplied disk will take 18 with 3.1MP and standard mode).
*3 flash levels (and we find we have to change them constantly depending on the light and the subject).
*Shutterfly.com recommends pics as big as 20x30 (but who wants a huge poster on the wall anyway!).
*The camera shuts off after a few seconds of no use.
*Any settings you change will become defaults the next time you use the camera. Some bad points:
*Way too much customization!! There are too many menu features and options for a point-and-shoot camera. You miss great shots changing all the settings.
*The flash is so far from the lens that it throws a shadow behind (or above) the subject.
*I can't find anywhere in the manual how to set the LCD screen to display the image for a second after you take it, so you have to change the camera setting to "view" to check each pic as you go
*The flash can take up to FIVE SECONDS to recharge!!
*Grainy sound when recording in movie mode (it really does not replace a movie camera, though I suppose it is not intended to).
*The smart zoom only works at less than 2.0MP, so you are really compromising the picture quality when you zoom.
*The ends of the camera are curved, so when using the self-timer you can only take horizontal pics (the pics are tilted if standing the camera on its end). All in all, I'm not sure I would purchase this again. Too bad you can't bring home several cameras and take test shots to compare them.
Rating:
Summary: Inexpensive and Awesome!
Review: What else can be said but WOW! - I have used several different cameras in the Sony family and this is by far the BEST of the line to date! It's so easy to use - out of the box - I installed the rechargable batteries, plugged in the provided 16MB Memory Stick and I was taking pictures! I haven't read the manual yet, which I do recommened for advanced features, but anyone can use it right out of the box! I also recommend getting a SanDisk Memory Stick reader as well, to help pull the pictures off the camera onto your PC. We got this camera for work, and I have it for home and several of my family and friends plan to get this one too! Why not you?? A+A+A+A+A+)
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