Rating: 
Summary: I obsessed over the purchase...
Review: I obsessed while shopping then bought the DSC-V1, and I have no buyer's remorse. I'm very happy with it. I wanted a camera that delivered a balance of flexible user control, point and shoot simplicity, convenient size and great image quality. This is my first digital camera. I wanted to get snapshot results that compete with my film cameras for 4x6 and 8x10 photos. I'm more than a casual camera owner: I own two film SLRs (Nikon 8080s), a land point and shoot (Olympus Stylus) and a weatherproof point and shoot (Minolta Weathermatic). I shopped online in detail. I fell in love with the Canon S50 on paper because it had great specs and it seemed the right size for my wife to manage conveniently too (she likes her Olympus Stylus). However, I looked at test pictures on the www.dpreview.com site. The bigger digital cameras (and the DSC-V1) seemed to outperform the S50, particularly in image sharpness. In the store, I made up my mind and decided on the Sony DSC-V1. I pointed the camera all over the store and at many objects, including my squirmy kid. The Sony seemed to focus quicker than the other cameras that I played with. The Canon S50 was not as responsive as the Sony DSC-V1. The low-light focusing aids on the Sony DSC-V1 are impressive. They are cool too: The lasers remind me of the alien weapon aiming device in the movie, Predator. Biggests Pros:
"It's the lens, stupid" -
Pictures have GREAT color and image resolution! I'm simply amazed. This little camera does a lot with the out-of-the-box, automatic settings. Be careful not to fall in love with all the snazzy, tiny cameras if you are fussy about your images: You must remember that you can't do anything with a zillion megapixels if your lens is just too small or, worse, plain mediocre.
Autofocus Performance -
It feels fast and works rather well even in low light. Errors made so far have been mostly mine. With practice, I'm learning about the camera's limits. Right Size -
The DSC-V1 is small enough to carry and big enough to handle steadily. I'm clumsy yet this camera is easy for me to use with one hand.
Design & Features-
The camera has great features and specs, and it feels solid in your hands. The little door for the I/O ports is a nice touch compared to rubber stoppers on some other brands. For the most part, the buttons actually do what you expect. The manual is well-written and well-organized. Browsing was enough to get me going. Without a manual, I bet you could play with the DSC-V1 for 15 minutes and accidentally stumble on how to set 80% of the relevant features. Low Light Sensitivity
I impulsively snapped several landscapes in the dusk and darkness to see what they would be like. They were exposed nicely and displayed little/no camera shake. With a tripod, this camera will do wonderfully. Cons:
Software - The software that comes with the camera is a little cheesy. After visiting the supplier's Web site and downloading updates, I got the camera squared away with my laptop (Windows 2000) and desktop (Windows XP). Be sure to follow the instructions and download the USB driver for your Windows 2000 machine, first. I did not and had some trouble with my laptop. Other Image Acquisition Software -
Not everybody has drivers for their software to handle the DSC-V1 camera yet. You may have to fuss a bit to get the camera to work with your software. Price-
It's high. It could be about $100 less, and it would be more competitive. Moving up from this compact camera, the next (small) step up would be to an Olympus 5050, a Canon G5 or the Nikon 5400. From there, you would need to move to digital SLRs. Net: It's a wonderous gadget with great usability features. It's much more fun than my SLRs because I like the instant gratification of seeing results on my laptop. I was slow to go digital. I'm glad I waited for the DSC-V1. In a few years, I may add a digital SLR to my toybox.
Rating:
Summary: Sony did it again!!
Review: This is a great camera, it is my second Sony and I couldn't have ask for anything more. Easy to use and awsome photos and not to small.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a camera for webmasters
Review: The strong and weak points of this camera have already been covered quite well by other reviewers. I agree with basically all of them. What hasn't been mentioned so far are a couple points that I find irresistable. I often read that consumers have no need for 5 megapixels. These are probably the same kind of people who said that nobody needed a Pentium desktop computer, that it was just too powerful for the average user. Plain and simple, more pixels means more flexibility, particularly when it comes to cropping. With 5 MP, you can crop out a lot of the image and still end up with a good 8 X 10. I do a lot of web work, which generally means low resolution mages. With 5 MP, I can take one shot of a room and split the image up into a dozen or more individual web shots, every bit as good as shooting a dozen small images. 5 MP (and PhotoShop) is essential for that kind of flexibility. Analog video outputs are also high on my list of requirements. This allows me to send what's on the LCD to a television or monitor, doubling the camera's use to include live web cam usage. It also allows you to watch the LCD from afar on an analog monitor at a much bigger image than the 1.5" LCD. Fortunately, most better cameras include this feature these days. There are a lot of 5 MP cameras on the market, many much cheaper than the V1, so what makes this one worthy of consideration? Stunningly good images through the Zeiss lens and 640 X 480 videos with sound. This camera is small enough to carry around all the time, and you can take an acceptably good web movie on the spur of the moment at any time. With a 256 MB memory stick, you can even take 640 X 480 movies with sound for 10 minutes or more. As memory sticks get cheaper and larger, we will soon be looking at hours of video. The 1 GB stick already can hold almost 45 minutes. The rate limiting factor right now is cost. When 32 GB sticks are out, the 1 GB stick will be standard issue at less than $100. People will laugh that any camera ever came out with only 32 MB. Large, cheap storage capacities are coming quickly. The news as of 9-1-03 is that there is now a material which will allow transistors to be painted onto cheap plastic, rather than the expensive etching of silicon that we currently see today (see this at the Science News web site). High capacity storage will be dirt cheap inside a couple years, so I'd suggest you buy just enough storage to tide you over. 1 GB right now costs as much as the camera itself. Who shouldn't buy this camera? Anybody who can't come up with the scratch. If it's going to hurt, buy something cheaper. If money and portability are only small factors, you might want to consider the F717 instead. Images are a little bit better, and ergonomics are better as well. Also, anybody who can't get past the "point and shoot" mentality is buying a lot of power here that they will likely never use. If you are a "point and shooter" looking to be a good photographer someday, this is an excellent place to start. Probably the best choice out there for these people. Combine this with the "Seven Books in One Digital Photography for Dummies" and PhotoShop (even the lite version) and you've got a stunningly powerful image capturing and editing system that anyone can master. Combine it with one of the Sony photo printers and you'll get archival-quality pictures that last over 100 years. Ahhh.... If high res and portability are high on the list, then you can't go wrong with the V1. It never leaves my side, just like the cell phone. I'm a believer.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera.
Review: After much research, I decided on the Sony DSC v-1. I am extrememly pleased with my purchase. I considered the Canon G5, but did not like the larger size and the longer shutter lag. ... I'll admit the zoom is a little annoying (zoom control is up and down, rather than left and right), but all in all the camera is up to par with what I have come to expect from Sony. The pictures are crisp and clear with excellent color. The camera is fast from startup to picture capture. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Non-"tecihe" review
Review: Alright, I'm not a camera wiz, but I do appreciate a good point and shoot camera which makes pictures look like I am. I'm sure most of the cameras on the market will suit 99% of the people out there... at least in terms of picture quality. Here's my "real-world" perspective on why I bought the camera: 1) Rechargable (externally) batteries (don't overlook this feature, this is why I dind't choose Olympus--convenience!)
2) Full size video!! (The quality is great... it's a _BIT_ choppy, but how many of us take really long video's of something really important? Few. But this is nice to have if you need some interesting clips!
3) 5-megapixel -- this is more for marketing these days unless you plan on printing 8x10's or larger photo's. The bpp doesnt change it's only the resolution (or in english terms, dimensional size of the print) that changes as you add megapixels. I personally shoot 1.2mp all the time. It's nice though, having the option to take something in 5mp in case I ever want a high-quality print!
4) Compact w/4x (analog) zoom. We've all seen 100,000x digital zoom... WHO CARES? You can just "zoom digitally" once the print is on your machine, quality isn't going to be greater--I'm pretty sure this is true, don't quote me on it though. So those are pretty much the biggest reasons... which mattered to me, living in the "point-and-shoot-and-forget-about-it" world. If you're a "photo-phile"(?) then there are plenty of reviews on the web for you! Hope this helps someone... I, personally, love the camera! :)
Rating:
Summary: Great digicam
Review: I have had this camera for about a month, and have already taken 500 pictures. Before V1, I mostly used Sony DSC-S85, although I also played with many other digital cameras over the years. There were a couple of things that annoyed me about S85 -- slow focusing (often over a second), and the large size. The V1 is small and incredibly fast at focusing -- 0.3 - 0.4 sec according to dpreview.com. Compare this to G5 and the other cameras in this class. Some other highlights of V1: * Noise reduction for images with long exposure. I have taken some night-time pictures with exposures of 5 seconds, and they look great. * The focus is quite accurate, even when shooting in low-light conditions. Definitely better than S85. * This is apparently the first Sony camera whose firmware is user-upgradeable. Sony recently released firmware V.2 that adds several new languages. The next release may address the white balance problem (although I personally haven't experienced it). * This camera can use the larger memory sticks (up to 1GB currently). * There is a decent movie mode (640x480, 15fps). The duration of movies is only limited by the size of the memory stick. So in some special cases V1 can double as a video camera. * Very good image quality. The lens is slightly smaller than S85's, but the pictures look at least as good. Some downsides: * The battery is pricey and doesn't last very long at all. I can shoot about 80 images before running out of juice. Spare batteries are quite expensive. * No dioptre adjustment on the viewfinder. Overall, the V1 has exceeded my expectation. This is the first camera that I like almost everything about, and don't feel the urge to return to the store.
Rating:
Summary: White Balance Issue:
Review: In response to comments below: The auto white balance in outdoors indirect sunlight issue is just an idiosyncrasy, not a deal breaker. It's easy to work around. Dpreview.com suggests setting the manual white balance to "cloudy". I set the mode dial to "P", which is program-auto mode. Essentially it's the full auto mode except you can adjust individual settings if you like. In "P" mode, which is just one click from full auto mode on the mode dial, I have the white balance setting always on "cloudy", and let it do everything else automaticly. Thus, when I find myself in indirect sunlight, I simply twist the mode dial one click to "P", and the white balance is properly adjusted every time. Very simple. You can see the adjusted white balance effect on the LCD before taking the photo to decide if you like the manual adjustment....................................All the cameras in this class, like the Canon G5 and Nikon Coolpix 5400 have their own idiosyncrasies. None are perfect. But with the Canon and Nikon, no matter what you do, you can't change the slow auto focus/shutter lag. At least with the Sony DSC-V1, it's easy to correct the auto white balance for indirect sunlight....... just takes one click of the mode dial and you're all set........ This camera does so so many things extremely well, don't let the white balance thing detour you from purchasing it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent color balance and resolution, poor battery life.
Review: I have an SLR that I use for "serious" photography, and a couple of small pocket sized film cameras that I use for "street" photography. This Sony is my first digital camera. I use it in a digital workflow with Adobe Photoshop 7 and a Canon i950 photo printer. The color tonality and resolution from the Carl Zeiss lens is spectacular. Prints through the digital workflow easily match the best I've made from my Nikon SLR with prime (non-zoom) lenses. Photoshop makes it easy to edit the pictures, fixing light reflection spots, framing problems, etc. Drawbacks: the battery life is not great. I quickly exhausted my battery on an afternoon-long shooting expedition. I've since bought a spare battery. The camera is small and somewhat hard to hold steady. Also, if you are in your 40s or older, it's hard to see the LCD screen without bifocals. The standard 32MB Memory Stick is a joke. Get a larger Memory Stick Pro - they come in sizes up to 1GB. But don't let the nits distract you. If you are a serious amateur photographer, this is an excellent camera for you. I can't overemphasize how happy I am with the quality of the prints made using this camera and the Canon printer.
Rating: 
Summary: Great camera.. needs a bit of tweeking..
Review: When I started looking for a new camera to replace my DSC-S75, the first place I looked was Sony and I'm not sorry that I did. I've owned Sony digital cameras for 5 years now and have never had any problems with any of the ones I've purchased (for me or my family). The V1 is a nice package... much more compact than the S75 and definitely the 707 or 717... but is much nicer to handle than any of their smaller Cybershot models. It seems to have about as many features as the 717 .. except at a fraction of the cost. Now I'm not a professional photographer, and I fumble around with the controls .. not quite sure what everything does.... So the manual is an important feature for me. This one is well written and answers questions quickly. Picture quality is superb! Instead of having the sizes set to 640x480 .. 1280x960 .. or any other combination.. the V1 uses the megapixel ratings to let you know the size.. ie: VGA, 1.2M, 3.1M, 5M, etc .. It really lets you know the size your images are going to be when you download them onto your computer. The nightframing & nightshot features are very cool! You can take a picture .. in pitch black.. and it come out with excellent .. true to life color. The *only* thing that I have a problem with, is the power saving feature. Once the flash fires, the LDC screen turns off and it 'powers down' for about 30 seconds while the flash recoups. It comes back on, but that's precious picture taking time that you can't capture! The S75 has a much better recovery time after the flash fires. Sony needs to work on that one! I would usually leave the red eye reduction on, and be able to shoot anytime w/ my flash as a fill... but now that's not such a great idea. Guess I'll have to buy a flash for the hotshoe and hope that's not an issue there. Ok, so there's two issues.. Where the popup flash is located. It really is not ideally situated .. as it's right where your finger would be on holding the camera. It's no biggie to retrain yourself to hold the camera different.. it's just gonna take a bit getting use to. All in all, I would recommend this camera. The pictures are great! The zoom is fantastic! The color is true to life! And the price is reasonable.
Rating:
Summary: Great value in a very nice package
Review: Having learned photography on a film-based Nikon SLR, I'd been hesitant as well as disappointed with digital camera until now. I wanted a camera whose price wasn't too far in the pro territory, but I also wanted a camera that didn't make me feel like I was giving something up by going digital. When shopping for a camera, the things that were most important to me were: -shutter response
-image quality
-manual controls
-intuitive menus and controls
-image resolution
-compactness -battery life I considered these all requirement, and set my standards high by deciding not to buy anything that would compromise any one of these things. These are all things digital cameras SHOULD have because if even one condition is lacking, the camera simply isn't good enough, bottom line. I'd tried out a friend's Canon G2, but absolutely hated it because of the shutter lag - the delay between you depressing the shutter and the camera taking the picture was just intolerable. The image quality and resolution was nice, but I also found the camera too bulky for my liking. I mean, the whole point of going digital was to lose some of the bulk, right? So I waited. I began eyeing the Minolta F100 and eventually the F300. I heard it had fast response. It had a very compact body (especially considering the 5 MP resolution of the F300) and while the image quality wasn't as nice as the Canons, I felt it was good enough that I could live with it. Plus, it had a full range of manual controls - I wanted to play around with long exposure shots or change the f-stop according to taste, and the F300 seemed to fit the bill. However, one thing that bothered me was that the Minoltas had very bad battery lives. I did some research and people were complaining about batteries running down after 50 or 60 shots using rechargeable NiCads. My friend's G2 could shoot 400+ shots on a single charge, which was one of the benefits of its bulk. Not so with the Minolta - the thought of having to change batteries on essentially the equivalent of two film rolls made me hesitate about purchasing. Canon also came out with the G3, but while the speed was much improved, I didn't like its bulk. The Canon S50 was essentially a smaller version of the G3, but I just didn't like the black-colored body compared to sleek silver. Yes, this seems like an especially minor point, but would you buy a car that came in a color you didn't like? If I was going to spend $... for a camera, I wanted to feel good about it. Then the Sony V1 came out. Within minutes of reading the review at dpreview.com, I knew this was the camera I wanted. I quick trip to Best Buy to play around with it confirmed my feelings. This camera is great for its price! The Sony DSC-V1 met ALL the requirements I listed above, with some extras such as the Nightframing and Nightshot modes. Battery life is good - about 100 to 200 shots, depending on flash use (the camera uses superior lithium ion batteries). It's got 4X optical zoom. REALLY easy-to-use controls and highly accessible menus (another thing I hated about the Canons - awful, convoluted menus!). The autofocus is very impressive, courtesy of the holographic metering system. I love the manual controls, too, but the thing that really seals the deal is the jog wheel that is present on nearly all Sony electronic devices. The jog wheel makes going manual a joy, instead of a frustrating experience of stabbing at buttons. If you've ever used film-based SLRs before, you'll know what I'm talking about. In addition, the V1 supports the new Memory Stick Pro format, which is much faster than the standard Memory Stick and also faster than either CompactFlash or SmartMedia, I believe. The Pro format offers capacities up to 1 GB (I bought a 256 MB Memory Stick Pro with mine - well worth it, as the price of the 1 GB stick is as much as the camera itself at this point!). The V1's firmware also appears to be upgradeable, as dpreview.com noted recently. So hopefully the problem of white balance in indirect sunlight will be corrected via a software update in the near future. But as I said, using the manual controls on the Sony is so easy due to the existence and placement of the jog wheel, it hasn't really been much of a concern for me. The only major disadvantage I can think of is that Sony doesn't seem to have too many accessories for the V1 yet. Some, like the external flash units, look ungainly and definitely don't look like it was designed for the V1 (more like the V1 was designed to support exisitng flash units). Hopefully, Sony will increase the offerings of accessories, but for now, the V1 is satisfying enough that I will be more than happily shooting away for quite a while.
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