Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great little camera; it takes high quality stills and
amazingly good videos. I got this gadget as a replacement for my
old sony, and so far have been very hapy with both the
new functionality and the quality of output.

My only comment is that the software included with the camera is
largely useless. The video produced is in the MP4 format (which is
basically QuickTime on steroids) so you will need to get a decent
MP4 player.

I've downloaded a MP4 player called 'mpegable', which comes as a
standalone application or a plugin for Microsoft Media Player.
It works very well in both configurations.

If you plan on converting video to other formats (such as writing
it to DVD) you will need to invest into a decent converter,
I've used QuickTime Pro with much success.
As a side note, my favorite DVDSource Creator will not work
with MP4's produced by this camera.

The video produced (at highest settings) is:

Size: 640x480
Frame Rate: 29.97 fps
Bitrate: 2734 kb/s
Audio: 2 channels
Sample rate: 24000 Hz
Depth: 16 bit
Bitrate: 123 Kb/sec

On a close inspection of the video, compression artifacts are
visible, but overall the quality is very good. The low light
performance is adequate, keeping in mind that a 3CCD camcorder
it is not. The camera does not have image stabilization, so try
to minimize or otherwise smooth your hand movements.

I had to throw away my old memory sticks and related hardware
(adapters, etc) because this camera takes a new format memory,
called memory stick duo and duo pro. I've purchased half a gig
duo pro from ebuyer which the camera recognized with no problems.

The quality of stills is very good, there are many new menu
options to play with. What stands out immideately is the new
'magnifying glass' mode, and the 'hybrid' mode. The latter allows
you to shoot 'hybrid' video/still combinations. Not sure of how
useful is that.

--- 1 week update:

I had opportunity to take more pictures and video with this
camera. I am still upbeat on the video capabilities, pictures
are not that simple. First off, it is my conclusion that taking
great pictures with this camera is possible, but it requires some
serious tweaking with the menus, reading the manual and
understanding the basics of photografy.

If everything is left in 'auto' mode the pictures will come out
blury, default flash is simply inadequate, every single picture
taken indoors will have red-eye problem. There is also sporadic
'purpling' problem, when the background turns feverish
yellow/purple for no particular reason.

This is what I did to workaround the problem:

1) Switch OFF auto-mode (i.e. keep Program mode ON)
2) Switch OFF multi-spot nonsense back to regular spot focus
3) Switch ON Red Eye reduction function
4) Switch OFF AF illumination
5) Increase flash from normal to flash+
6) Picked 3 megapixel format (this is arbitrary, I have
no use for 5 megapixel pictures)
7) Try to pick a correct ISO (100/200/400) and light balance
by hand before shooting.
8) Try to hold the hand absolutely steady during the shoot

This results in nice, crisp pictures. However, I feel the vendor
should have programed the auto mode so the users don't need to go
through menus/setup all the time. The last thing I needed is to
learn the importance of histogram and shutter speeds.

To conclude, an automatic, forgiving camera it is not. You
will not be able to take pictures at a party (or anywhere else
for that matter) without changing a menu setting or two.

However, understanding the way the camera works and reading the
manual once (or twice) will improve the quality of the pictures.

I would deduct a couple of stars from my original 5 star
assesment, but I don't think Amazon allows you to do so on once
the rating is assigned.

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.

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.

There seem to be a lot of reviews complaining about blurry stills with this camera and lousy lighting on the videos. The latter is somewhat true, due to the tiny lens, video taken in low light, indoor situations are sub-par. Video taken outdoors is fantastic (much better than hi-8). I don't understand the complaints about the stills though. I replaced a fine Canon PowerShot s50 (gave it to my wife) and I can honestly say that the DSC-M1 takes as good and possibly even better stills. The colors are richer and I've had no problems with blur or fuzzy edges in any situations.

I've also read reviews that complain about the DSC-M1 not being pocket-size or compact enough and I'm wondering how tight their pants are??? This camera fits in my shirt, pants or jacket pocket quite comfortably.
I'd recommend this camera to anyone who wants a compact, high quality still camera with good (but, not great) video ability and can handle the $500-$600 price tag.

I have had this camera (Sony DSCM1) for one week and find it outstanding in all respects. The video is camcorder quality. At first I too had some still pictures less crisp than desired, especially for a 5MP camera. Following the suggestions of Tim Mouradian above, I switched from 'Auto' and 'Multi Focus' to 'Program' and 'Spot Focus'. Noticing the results at high shutter speeds were very crisp it looked like a vibration problem. The PHOTO button is in an awkward location and when pressed can give a slight jerk to the camera unnoticable to you but affecting the picture. Try placing another finger behind the camera under the button location and 'squeezing' the button rather than 'pressing' so the camera does not move.
Doing all of this I obtain results of very high crispness. There is nothing wrong with the optics of this camera.
I also changed 'Sharpness' to Plus instead of Normal and ( though perhaps this is just a matter of taste ), 'Saturation' and 'Contrast' to Plus modes. Of course you must give it the half second it needs to acquire the focus.
Best results to you,
Tom Ewing

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.

This camera is unreal! People have been saying the photos come out blurry, but actually you get this type of blur with all digital cameras if you have movement. I have tried the high end Sony and Cannon 8mp cameras and they have the same type of blur during movement.

All I have to say is the pics come out unreal. I have a 6mp (interpolated)digital camera, the pics on that thing come out crisp but if you zoom a couple times it's all pixelated. When I take pics with the DSCM1 you can zoom in crop it and it's not pixellated at all.

The video is unreal it's about 2/3 of DVD quality.I expected a whole lot less and got a whole lot more.The bad? It only comes with 32 megs of storage.You have to upgrade to at least 1G.

I bought this camera to record our daughter's first Christmas. We wanted the flexibility to take both stills and video. The camera has far exceeded our expectations with regards to its video quality and ease of use. However, we are still trying to maximize the quality of the still photography. I am hoping it is just a goofed up setting somewhere. I will say that I have never owned something that turned more heads. I took the camera to a college basketball game and had multiple people approach me to find out what the hell I was using. I would recommend this camera for the following reasons:
1. Video quality
2. Ease of use
3. Well priced
4. Coolness factor
5. Flexibility

This is a great camera that is vertically oriented. It takes, photos, movies for TV and hybrid photos (few seconds of movie with a photo embedded in it, so that you can get a feel about the situation). It is slim and has a non projecting lens. The macro feature which takes closeup pictures is awesome. You can use it as a media player.
However, there are two things that I really hate about this camera. 1) You cannot use the record mode (shoot pictures or movie) with the display in the compact mode. You need to swivel the display out to take pictures. 2) You need to use the provided image station to connect the camera to your PC. There is no direct USB connection on the camera.
Watch out... SONY DSC-M2 is coming soon to USA. That is why all retailers are getting rid of the DSC-M1 model. It is a new design with a USB connection and 6X digital zoom but still a 5MP camera. (not sure if you can shoot with the display in the compact mode.)
More info of DSC-M2 at
http://www.sony.co.uk/view/ShowProduct.action?product=DSC-M2&site=odw_en_GB&pageType=Overview&category=DPH+Digital+Still+Cameras

I bought this camera over 2 weeks back and its been working so well for me so far that I had to write this review! Its really a cool looking gadget that works even better, still pictures are as good as other Sony ones and the print outs are awesome at 8 x 10 size BUT the mpeg4 is really something to show off.
I have owned Panasonic Dsnap ones in the past just because I have always wanted something that would take pictures and serve as a camcorder too, the Dsnap quality doesnt even come close to this Sony M1.
I am very satisfied with my purchase and would definately recommend this to anyone who is on the go like me or going on vacation etc so that they dont have to carry digital camera and bulky camcorder seperatley. Buy this eye-catching camera, it fits in the pocket and yet is too good at its job!