Sony Cybershot DSCM1 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom & MPEG4 Video

Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly Surprised
Review: Despite other reviewers comments, I have found the stills to be extremely good, much better than I expected. They're tac sharp, and the flash works great, no exposure problems at all. The movie mode is exceptional. Yes, memory sticks cost more, but you're really saving money because the high quality MPEG4 video takes 4 times less space on a memory card than other competing digicams with movie mode, and their movie quality is inferior. With hybrid mode switched off, battery life is fine, though I will buy a higher capacity generic spare for $39 at Fry's.

Rating:
Summary: Capture all your memories with this beauty...
Review: First off I'm using a Mac with iphoto so I won't be reviewing the included Windows software. For Mac owners, iphoto works great with this camera and the camera also loads as an external disk for manual transfer of pictures and movies through USB.

Pros:
- small size- fits nicely in my jean pocket.
- excellent video quality at very reasonable file sizes- full motion video w/ stereo sound. There will be some artifacts on playback on a tv with fast jerky motions with the camera or low light situations. I'd say the playback is VHS quality or slightly better, but don't expect DV quality. I get about 22 minutes of video off of my 512mb memory stick which isn't bad at all when considering the quality of the video. -MPEG4 playback works perfectly well on my Mac without any extra software installed.
- excellent sized lcd screen. The screen is very large and makes sharing freshly taken videos or pictures a pleasure
- excellent camera options- almost every option you need is there in the camera, however I just stick to "auto" unless I'm getting really fancy.
- Picture quality- great 5 megapixel quality, nice lens. Honestly, I prefer Canon to any other digital camera brand, but the output of this Sony definitely is beautiful.
- hybrid mode- a gimick? actually it isn't. I find this function quite usefull and powerful. with the camera in this mode the camera always records 5 seconds before hand so whenever you take a picture the camera will save the already recorded 5 seconds before the shot and 3 seconds after the shot. So you get a photograph sandwiched between two short video clips.
- swivel LCD screen- makes taking shots from any angle a breeze, including shots of yourself. Also it is very nice to have a swiveling LCD when taking movies.
- charging base- the design of the base is very nice. It has a sliding mechanism that pretty much guarantees that you will always plug in the camera correctly and smoothly.
-3x zoom- a lot of comapct digital cameras have a 3x optical zoom... but they don't allow you to zoom while recording video. With the Cybershot DSCM1, you can zoom while taking video! This option really makes a difference between a having a neat movie function on your photo camera and having a photo/movie camera. You can also use the digital zoom for even closer shots.
- stereo mic and speaker- this camera not only comes with stereo sound recording capapbilities but it also has a speaker so you here audio playback with the video you just shot. This is a function that is missing in most digital cameras that play movies.

Cons:
- size- yeah I know, it was a pro too. But this camera is larger when compared to the many, many small 4-5 megapixel cameras out there now. If compact is your main concern, then there are quite a few smaller cameras with the same resolution and full motion video (although the quality of the video is another matter).
- battery life- A full day of picture taking and movie making will drain this battery. Photos themselves don't seem to drain the battery badly, but movies do seem to drain the battery quickly. To be safe I'd invest in a back-up battery.
- Inputs- to connect this camera to your computer or a tv you need to hook it up to the camera base. That means you have to take along the base with you when you are traveling. A minor annoyance, but worth mentioning.
-flash- I have a smaller Canon with a stronger flash than this camera. The flash on this camera is indeed weak, but that is to be expected with a small camera. The weak flash does cause blurry pictures if you focus on something outside the flash range. To remedy this I change the mode to night mode, but then the picture becomes blurry because I don't have a tripod on me 24/7. So pick your poison. I find the flash works well at about 3-5 meters.
-badly placed AF light- fingers will sometimes block this light if not careful, took me about a day to get use to it.
- busy design- really not even a real con, but also worth mentioning that there are a lot of buttons on this camera. I found the use of this camera very easy, but don't expect the button layout to be like other generic cameras.
- price- expensive for 5 MP camera and expensive Sony Memory Stick media.
- Swivel design- again a pro, but a con also. Try giving this camera to someone else and then try not having a heart attack when they try to pry the camera open the wrong way. I recommend to ALWAYS open the camera first before handing it to another person to play with.

Conclusion- If you can handle the price, I definitely recommend this camera. It is perfect for family outings, trips, or just everyday memory saving. Great quality video that is unmatched by any other digital camera out currently whenever you need it and great pictures at the spur of the moment... all of this tucked nicely in your pocket. I take this camera everywhere with me and it so far has been well worth it.

Rating:
Summary: SIMPLE!!!!!!!
Review: Frankly, I have owned various types of cameras but this one has to be the best and the most simple one without a doubt. Just be careful when taking pictures with flash, do not put your finger over it, it sounds absurd but this is the only drawback that it has and anyone can do it and not notice it until you see the picture. If you really want a great camera for pictures and great video, you will not regret this purchase.

Rating:
Summary: Great concept, poor execution
Review: I bought this camera/camcorder "hybrid" because of its portability, and the "cool" factor - finally, a device that can take good picts and good video, yet is small enough to fit in your pocket. It seems strange that in this digital world, camcorders still rely on tapes. I wanted a part of the new wave of digital devices, and didn't want to shell out over $1,000 for the new JVC disc-drive based camcorders. Unfortunately the quality of both the stills and videos of this device left a lot to be desired.

The good:
1. The concept - I love the idea of convergence into one device of camera abilities and video abilities, using small low-powered flash cards instead of clunky tapes.
2. Great ergonomic design - small and light, yet solid-feeling, with great 2.5" screen.

The bad:
1. Need I say it? Sony's insistence on the memory stick format is a major liability. This has caused me to avoid Sony products in the past.
* Twice as expensive as other memory formats
* Incompatible with most other portable devices
(palm pilots, MP3 players, etc) that rely on SD or Compact Flash cards.
2. MP4 format for movies is also a problem. You can play the files on your PC, using the wretched included software, but Windows Media Players and others will require an add-on. What's the point of shooting video if you can't e-mail it to friends&relatives, who can't play it on their computers?
3. Included s/w is useless.
4. Button position is not so great - many buttons are very tiny, and at least one is so close to the sliding screen as to be almost inaccessible.
5. Low light video quality is really poor. Compared to a camcorder this was really a weak point. I suppose this is a function of the very small lens (low light gathering ability = noisy video). Unfortunately, many videos are taken inside, in less than optimal lighting conditions.
6. Menus on the camera were hard to navigate and did not include help functions or often even a title to accompany the less-than-descriptive icons.

Conclusion: do not buy. Wait a little longer for a device like the JVC GZ-MC120 to come down in price: 4GB capacity, better lens, MP2 format for movies.

Rating:
Summary: Quality Camera
Review: I have to agree with the guy that said read the manual . you need to keep in mind what you are trying to do with this camera when shooting . It Does take very clear pictures . I used to have the 3.2 sony cybershot . This camera is great !!! and user friendly both in shooting pictures and downloading .

Rating:
Summary: Wait for the M2
Review: The shot to shot time of my old 3 Mega Pixel camera could not keep up with my toddler son and my digital camcorder was to large and bulky to conveniently use. The Sony DSC-M1 seemed to be exactly what I needed. It could take quick 5 Mega Pixel shots and movies with stereo sound in the same package. Against my better judgement, I decided to take a chance on the camera before it was thoroughly reviewed by the experts. After picking up the camera from Sony directly, I realized this camera had design flaws. Namely, the camera shots tended to be blurry. I used the auto mode for all those shots. Initially, I thought the problem was due to the camera's interesting ergonomics (L-shape when in use). However even when being extra careful in taking the pictures, they still tended to be blurry. Mr. Mouradian's excellent Amazon review indicated the same problem and he actually went as far suggesting setting tweaks to correct the problem. I also noticed that the shot to shot time was still too long (2+ seconds). The few images that seemed to be less blurry did not look any better than those taken with my old camera. The movie quality is actually pretty good though not as good as my digital camcorder (that's expected though). However, the convenience was good enough to offset the drop in movie quality. So let me sum up the PROs and CONs of this camera:

PROs:

1. Movie quality is pretty good, convenient, and the file size
is small enough to store over 50 minutes on a 1 GB duo memory
stick.
2. The LCD is large, bright, and can be rotated in such a way to
take self portraits (NOTE: There is no view finder on the
camera).
3. The size is small enough to carry in your pocket.

CONs (in AUTO mode):

1. Picture quality is not noticably better than my 3 MegaPixel
Kodak.
2. Most of my shots were blurry.
3. The shot to shot time was not satisfatory (2+ seconds and
some shots took far longer for some reason).

CONCLUSION:

This camera needs another iteration before being worth the asking price. I would wait for the DSC-M2.

Rating:
Summary: DSC-M1 Zoom Noise
Review: This camera has a good combination of digital still and video. The Panasonic AV-100 does a better job on the video but doesn't even come close on the still. I would have given this camera a perfect score except for one very large gripe, if you zoom while shooting video, the noise from the zoom is very noticeable on playback.

Rating:
Summary: Good Idea. Expensive & Blurry.
Review: This camera is really a good idea, you can have it in your pocket and you can record movies and take pictures.

But have in mind some important points :

1. PRICE :
For using both movies & pictures, you need to had a decent memory stick of minimum 512 Mb so the price goes up... and perhaps more if you need a better battery (just 1 hour battery is provided).

Its not worth buying it without 512 memory card, as you can have really better "only" pictures camera for this price.

2. PICTURES :
After using it for now 2 weeks, I must admit that the pictures are blurry & noisy, mostly during the night shots. Ok, you can use a tripod or do some tweaks, but come on ! If you buy a small camera like this, you dont want have a tripod with you all the day... and/or you dont want to spend hours tweaking just for one shot !

I will keep it because its always great to have a light combo camera with you, but I will sell it asap when a new one (resolving the problem 2) is on the market.

so if you are not in a hurry, its better to wait ;-)

Rating:
Summary: fairly good camera
Review: This one replaced the DSCT-1 I had because the screen had cracked and the cost of repairs was equal to the cost of replacement. The other reviews of the M-1 are accurate. The major problem I found was the "upgrade" to MPEG4 videos. Yes, they are better, but they are, also, useless to send in e-mails because the recipents would have to have MPEG4 software in the computers to play them, and to quote another reviewer, "What's the point of shooting video if you can't e-mail it to friends&relatives." I preferred the T-1!