Digital Cameras

Reviews

Beware, if you like this camera buy it only if you believe you will never have to get anything fixed. Sony's customer service/relations is surprisingly terrible. I sent a product in for a superficial fix (at sony's request as part of a recall), I got it back with the lens not working. Understandable, it happens. But sony refused to fix it unless I paid for it or produced my proof of purchase to show it was still under warranty. After 3 hours speaking to various people over the course of two weeks (so it was not just one random person, but seems to be policy), Sony insisted that they would not fix the camera, they basically said 'the camera has a problem and we don't fix anything for free without a proof of purchase, regardless of circumstances'. Blew me away, they would not consider that they could have been at fault, that I would not have sent camera in unless they had asked me to in the first place. Customer relations and marketing have to get together and talk, marketing is spending millions to get me to buy all sorts of high margin products (playstation, flat screens, audio equipment, video cameras, etc) and customer service blows it all away over a fifty dollar fix.

Bought this camera a few months ago to replace a 4 year old Canon Elph. I'm generally happy with it considering the price, and C-Net gave it very good reviews. Had I known about it I would have bought the DSC-H20/B 10.1 instead, because this camera really isn't that much smaller. +Price to feature ratio is the best out there +Smile Detection works better than any other camera I've seen. This has been a great feature for capturing my camera shy toddler. +Picture quality is pretty high. +Video quality is pretty high, and I don't mind not being able to zoom. -Auto focus is an absolute must. I could just snap with my old elph and the quality would still be pretty good. With this camera you have to use the focus. -Picture button is really annoying. It's pretty hard to focus without accidentally snapping a pic. The button itself is too small. I thought I could live with it, but it's pretty annoying. -Zoom button is a bit of a pain as well. It's on the back of the camera as opposed to near the snap button like on other cameras. -Can't zoom on video. I knew this when I bought, but I don't use the video feature very much. -Pretty bulky camera. Atleast 30% bigger than my old elph. Generally the picture quality is good, but the ease of use is poor. I think sony just wanted to be the first to get HD video in a point & shoot camera of this class, and released it quickly without working out the kinks. Unfortunately this happened at the time when I desperately needed a new camera. I'm happy with the picture and video quality, but now that this camera has a lot of competition, I would not buy it again.

I bought this more expensive camera hoping its quality would be better then the canon I tried about a week or two before but it ends up actually being worse. Pixelation occurs on almost all pictures on the LCD and when you upload it to your computer. My much older casio (6mp from around 2004) still took better pictures then this camera. It also doesn't take what I thought was a standard memory card size

This is my first camera and really have much expectation about making a good investment. And what can I say, I am very happy that I had chosen this camera, its image quality is very good and if you use the 12-megapixel photos will have an excellent presentation on the details, the video is very good can see very clearly and sharpness. I can only say THANK YOU SONY!!

Great camera! I've had it for a couple months - easy, fast, light, portable - NO issues!!!

Reviews

The ease of use and photo quality of this camera are awesome. The HD movie quality is way better than I ever expected, the sound is not bad too. If you are looking for a camera, look no further, you have found the right one!!!

Love the camera but am a little disappointed with the Camera Bag that came with the Kit. The zippered opening is too small to easily put in/take out the camera without possibly scratching the display. Put the screen protectors on but they end up getting ripped up by the zipper. Bought a larger case from Walmart. Card Reader is useless unless you buy the memory stick adapter to fit the reader - card that came with camera didn't fit into the reader without it.

I bought this camera packed with accessories for my year end vacation. It turned out to be the best decision I ever made. I love this camera although the camera bag is worthless. It took many wonderful pictures that my other panasonic Lumix TZ3 could not do. I could take pictures in low light. I was also able to take multiple pictures while my kids were taking a ride. I also tried the HD recording before my trip, it worked perfect. I do not need my old tape camcorder anymore. The battery life was great. I never needed to use my backup battery the same day. One drawback to me is that it is not as handy as my panasonic Lumix TZ3. I had to carry a bag, but what I got back was great pictures. Everyone loved this camera. In the end, it was my handy panasonic Lumix that was sitting in my camera bag. The other drawback is that the lens cap always fall off once you turn on the camera. I tried to remember to take off the cap first, but not my family members.

I recently purchased the Sony HX1 to replace an old Olympus 10x zoom point & shoot we've had for 7 years. I did a ton of research, read all the reviews out there, and went to the stores to play with all the cameras. We were considering going with the smaller pocket size cameras this time but were not impressed with any of their recovery times between pics and their ability to take multiple shots in rapid succession. This camera is ridiculously fast in burst mode (I think the only faster cameras are DSLR's# and can capture up to 10 pics in a row in no time flat #I think the fps is equivalent to 10 or 14#. This is really, really #did I stress really!) helpful when trying to get some good pictures of your little 11 month old who doesn't like to sit still long enough for other cameras to let you get more than one or two tries at a pic before he moves. On high burst mode, you can snap off 10 pics in a split second and catch that elusive smile with open eyes while looking at you. We've gotten some great shots and we've only had the camera a few weeks. The menus and control buttons/wheels on the camera are pretty easy to use and we caught on to almost all of them without even opening the owner's manual. I would give Sony high marks for the ease of use of their menu and buttons. The camera feels very comfortable in your hand and is pretty balanced as well. For it's size, it feels remarkably light. I think the li-ion battery that Sony gives you helps with the camera weight as well. Another pretty cool function on the camera is the anti-blur setting on the main wheel. It allows you to take pics without the flash in lower light conditions and helps you to reduce any blur while taking the pics. To do this, the camera essentially takes multiple pictures in immediate succession that are in slightly different exposures and then overlays them on each other to get a picture that is lit pretty well without being blurred due to a slower exposure. Also pretty impressive is the video taking abilities of this camera. It takes video in high def, stereo sound, and you can zoom while you're shooting video. The video quality is pretty good too. I have a digital video camera already but it's not high def and I'll have to admit it's pretty convenient having the ability to take still and video with one device. Get yourself at least the 8 gig card for a couple extra bucks though so video doesn't eat up your card. If you ever take panorama pics and would like a camera to take all the hassle of stitching the pics together, this is also the camera for you. This thing could not be more easy to use in its panorama setting (again accessible from the main wheel). You just hold down the shutter and sweep the camera to the right and when you release the shutter button the camera instantly stitches the pictures together for you and displays one panoramic image. I don't really take panoram pics (or at least not yet) so this is just more of a "my camera can do this" to me right now. In summary, this camera is well worth its price (which appears to be dropping some at least during the holidays) and its features, zoom, appearance, feeling, are top notch. It may not please the true camera buffs who want to fiddle with every manual option available for but for the average camera user (me), this thing couldn't be better. Oh yeah, the screen is also phenomenal and the tilt up/down feature is pretty cool too (good for shooting above crowds or holding camera low while viewing what you're shooting). For the average camera user, there is absolutely no need to bother with a DSLR with a camera like this around. And when you put the HX1 up against Canon's, Nikon's, Olympus', Panasonic's, etc. comparable offerings, this thing runs circles around them! If you are looking for a good, well appointed, FAST!, point and shoot with a long zoom and common sense menus/buttons, that will make you look like you know what you're doing, this camera is for you.

This is a great camera if you want to point and shoot. Quality is good. Love the ability to shoot in low light without a tripod. Also makes a short HI DEF video. Replaced an older sony camera that was stolen. Cost $300 less, and does pretty much the same thing as the older camera, and a few things the older one did not. If you a camera geek, you won't like it, but if you just want to get the job done, or want really good home photos, it is a very good camera. This particular package has a nice memory stick, a worthless bag, an extra battery, and a fairly good tripod.

Reviews

This camera was a Christmas present for my son. He loves the camera and it takes fantastic pictures. Nothing to complain about here.

I found the camera to be a little better than I anticipated. Although the camera feels a little cheap in quality compared to other camera's I've owned, it does take good pictures. For the price paid, this was a great deal!

The Sony Cyber shot rocks and is the most easy to use camera ......the clarity and the flexibility makes u a fan of the company....Easy to use features and awesome capture lens just makes it a perfect buy.

Got this for my husbands birthday and I love it. I is a bit tricky when it comes to downloading pics on the computer but it is still easy to use and the pic quality is awesome. I would recommend it.

Nothing wrong with the camera, and it comes with all necessary software, cables, and a very nice little recharger. BUT NO MEMORY. Apart from the 12Mb internal memory, there is no memory card included. Sony studiously avoids mentioning that there is no memory card included, until p.14 of the manual. In order to have decent storage capacity with the camera one must purchase a "Memory Stick PRO Duo" separately. For a 16Gb stick (maximum sized tested with the camera according to technical specifications), Sony charges an additional $60-75, approximately half the price of the camera again. Same deal with the DSC W-290. They should either include the memory stick, or post a warning in large, red letters, 'Warning - Memory not included".