Sony Cybershot DSC-P71 Camera Free Related Info

Sony has just about infiltrated every electronic marketplace possible and the digital camera sector is no exception. When I was researching to buy a camera, it came down to the Canon A40 vs. the Sony DSC P71. I went with the Sony because it was smaller and I didn’t want to carry around the larger Canon. I wonder now if I made a mistake as Canon cameras are constantly being raved about.

The P71 being my first digital camera it would be unfair to say I was disappointed. It has a decent zoom 3x Optical and 2x digital. The form factor of the camera is a huge plus. It’s very small and light and easy to carry in a jacket pocket. The LCD is 1.5″ more than large enough to see images clearly. The 3.2 megapixels has allowed me to develop beautiful, clear 5 x 7 photos. Even the 8 x 10 pictures come out very well.

The strength of Sony digital cameras lies in taking outdoor pictures. The colors in natural sunlight are vibrant and clear. The pictures taken outdoors always come out beautiful – especially in areas where flowers, trees, and grass are present.
I have seen very few digital cameras that take nicer outdoor pictures than the Sony P71.

The navigation is very intuitive even if the buttons are a little small. Sometimes I find it hard to find the center “ok” button – I often accidentally slip my finger to the right or left. When going through pictures taken already, the preview images render very quickly on the LCD. The camera offer a plethora of options for shutter speed, contrasting, picture quality and resolution, as well as view.

Battery life is good. I can go through a 64 MB memory stick at high resolution on one set of batteries (and flash). Sony also provides a free set(2) of rechargeable batteries and a charger with this camera. This is a very very nice addition and accessory for this price. I bought an extra set of rechargeable batteries to keep as a spare (one set always charges while the other set is being used).

Also provided is a USB cable to hook up to your computer to download images. This is an extremely easy set up with Windows XP – just plug the USB cable into your computer and camera and XP automatically recognizes your new hardware. You don’t need to install the provided software if your computer already has a default picuture viewer.

Now the reasons this camera received just 3 stars:

1) Remember how I mentioned that this camera takes great outdoor pictures? Well as great as the outdoor pictures are, the indoor pictures are as equally horrible. I don’t know if it’s the flash or Sony’s interpretation of artificial light, but every single indoor picture is dark with an orange tint. They are clear, but the coloring is always off. It’s like I’m looking at pictures through sunglasses.

2) I wish Sony would have configured this camera to leave the flash on when I turn it on. The default setting for the flash is always “off” so when you turn the flash on and the camera is idle for a minute, it turns itself off and sets the flash to the off position. This wouldn’t be annoying if it didn’t take the camera so long to re-initiate the flash. It takes a good 5-7 seconds to re-initiate. Furthermore, what would make most sense would be if the camera just sensed when the flash was needed and turned it on itself. That’s what most cameras do.

So there you have it – a layman’s review of the Sony P71. I’m not a hobbyist or a professional photographer, I just use the camera for fun to basically record memories. The Sony P71 is an decent camera. If you take a lot of indoor pictures, stay away from it, otherwise, it will serve its purpose.

This is my first digital camera & I have been using it for over one year. I use it for both my business & vacations. It is very easy to use (especially for beginers). It is also great because there is never any film to develop (for those of us who forget to drop it off or pick it up). It has some wonderful features like color or black & white, the buttons are easy to use & the instructions are great. The viewfinder on the back is very clear & choice of image size is great.

In addition to the camera I would purchase a tripod and an additional memory stick (128MB is a great price at amazon.com). If it is still available the starter pack with case, battery charger, etc… is also a good choice.

I have had this camera for about 2 years. It’s been great all the way. But recently one of my friends dropped it. The lens is having a hard time retracting back into the camera, and the LCD screen only works sometimes. It does power on and off though. I was wondering if anyone had experience in this field and could tell me if it was simply broken for good or if it could be repaired some way. If you could email me at lafever5@hotmail.com or post a review I would appreciate it.