Customer Reviews

Sony DSC-V1 Cyber-shot 5MP Digital Camera w/ 4x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have two film SLRs that I use when I want to take serious pictures. This is my first digital camera. I wasn't going to buy one until I thought they approached SLR quality.

For the most part this camera takes better pictures than my Canon AE program.

The features are great. You can keep total control of every feature or let the camera do it for you.

Particularly nice is the nightframing shot which lets you set up your shot in infrared and then flash it in normal light.

The hologram mode which paints your subject in a laser graph before shooting to control focus and flash also works flawlessly.

I was worried about picture quality, but at 5 megapixels features remain crisp and clear even when blown up by several degrees.

I'd read online about some color saturation isues, but I've experienced none whatsoever. On full automatic mode the Sony engineers seemed to have programmed the camera to create a true to life portrait. A lot of photophiles like higher saturation, and you can get whatever degree of color saturation, crispness, et al by taking control manually.

The camera is compact and portable. You get about 1 1/2 hours of battery life during daytime use, and about half that if you're using the flash. There's a feature that lets you know to the minute how much battery time you have left.

This looks to have all the features of the 717 without the lensocentric style.

Originally I was not planning on buying the telephoto lens, leaving that kind of work to my SLRs, but after seeing the image quality, fun, and ease of use of this camera, I'm getting it.

Another great feature is that the camera plugs easily into any tv set to review pictures, movies, and even make a slideshow. I was at a family gathering and this feature proved to be a big hit.

As far as I'm concerned, the camera is flawless.

Highly recommended.

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.

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.

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.

the sony dsc-v1 is a top-notch camera that is more portable than its competition. it offers full manual control, 5MP resolution, and 4x optical zoom. i do have a few nits though...

pros:
- 5MP, 4x optical zoom.
- great image quality.
- above average resolution, good tonal balance, good color response.
- full manual control.
- images exhibit very low noise, even at higher ISO.
- image processing parameter control (contrast, saturation and sharpening).
- very fast auto focus!
- quick startup, fast shot-to-shot times (except when shooting TIFF).
- fast write times to memory stick.
- has NightFraming which allows you to focus and compose your scene in total darkness with the aid of the infrared emitter, then shoot a full-color shot using the built-in flash. very cool.
- better than average movie mode.
- compared to the competition (canon g5 and nikon 5400), the dsc-v1 is more compact: dimensions are 4.0"W x 2.6"H x 2.3"D weighing 10.9 oz.
- solid build quality.
- bright, high resolution LCD monitor with anti-reflective coating that works.
- battery charges in-camera, charger doubles as AC adapter.
- hot shoe for external flash (limited to specific sony flashes, though).
- many optional accessory lenses (telephoto, wide angle, filter lenses) available.
- histogram in Live view, Record review and Playback modes
- USB 2.0 means faster downloads.

cons:
- colors a bit washed out.
- noise levels higher than expected
- some purple fringing.
- mild chromatic aberrations visible.
- higher redeye occurrence.
- RAW format not supported.
- saving a TIFF file locks up the camera.
- continuous shooting capability limited to 3 frames.
- minimum ISO setting at 100.
- zoom control is oriented differently so it will take a few tries to get used to it.
- ergonomic issues: tiny menu and resolution keys, very easy to block the flash and optical viewfinder with fingers, left index finger falls right on top of the pop-up flash, suppressing it.
- lots of key functions are buried in menus.
- below average battery performance.
- no separate user settings.
- like most sony products, you pay a premium, pushing up the price.
- expensive memory stick pro cards.
- uses a proprietary battery so add a few bucks to buy a spare (or maybe two given the battery performance).
- the supplied 32MB memory stick is inadequate - again, more $$ for more memory.
- you'll need to remove from tripod to get to the battery or memory stick.

sony has succeeded in delivering a camera that has virtually the same feature set as canon's g5 and nikon's 5400 but in a more compact package. it's not perfect though. RAW format is not supported and writing a TIFF file still takes way too much time. and there are some ergonomic nits that is uncharacteristic of sony. still, this is a great package and worthy of consideration.

i hope this helps your buying decision. peace.

I bought this camera to replace a 4-year old 1.6MP Sony MAVICA after spending the last two months doing research and reading a lot of reviews. Every camera I looked at had its Pros and Cons. I just had to decide which ones were going to have an affect on my final decision. I ultimately went with this camera, because it was small, easy to configure and most importantly met my needs. Don't expect to find a camera that doesn't have any cons. I fell in love with it as soon as I took it out of the box. I spent the first couple days reading and re-reading the 130-page manual to make sure I understood the different capabilities. You have to do this if you expect to get the max benefits of this camera. Even now I find myself having to regularly refer to the manual for help, because I'm not a professional photographer. This is by no means an easy camera to master in one hour. Yes, you can point and shoot, but you still have to read the manual and make some initial setup changes. This camera is a big improvement over my old one when it comes to image quality (no suprize here) and overall capabilities. The first thing I did was change the image resolution from 5 to 3.1 MP, because the 32mb memory stick that comes with the camera only allows to you shoot about 12 images (using fine print) and 23 images (using standard print). You can always set the image size to VGA and can take up to 196 pictures. I say if you're spending this kind of money, don't set it to VGA, because you pictures will be ok (as with other cameras) at best. The higher resolution will allow you to print some great pictures on photo paper if you have a good hi-res printer. I used an Epson Stylus Photo 825 ($100) and the results were great--much better than those you get in the mall. I went ahead and bought two 128mb memory sticks to cover me. The other thing I did was disable some of the camera's sound features (shutter and power-on sound) so I could save on battery power. I would recommend buying a second battery through the internet since it's cheaper than getting them through Sony. I also bought a separate battery charger so I wouldn't have to use the camera as a regular battery charger. The last thing I would want to do is bake the components in the camera just to charge one battery or for that matter a backup. Excessive heat wears down electronic components over time. After I setup the camera, I took several pictures (using the flash) to see how if performed against my 1.6 MP. The first thing I noticed is that the camera did a great job of regulating the intensity of the flash to make sure it wasn't too bright. The camera allows you to manually set (3 levels) the intensity of the flash for any occasion if you decide you want to go manual. I connected the camera to my TV to view the pictures and they had extremely rich colors. I tried doing some limited image editing like changing picture size, rotate pictures, etc. You can view multiple pictures on the camera's small LCD screen which is very nice. Everything worked well. I haven't tried the other features yet. A lot of technology went into this little camera so you'll have to be patient. I just scratched the surface. It makes no sense paying a lot of money for this camera if you don't intend to fully utilize its capabilities (read the manual). This camera is small in size so you'll have to get used to it and handle it with care. You can purchase optional wide angle/zoom conversion lenses, but using them disables certain features of this camera camera. I guess it's because the camera lense expands and retracts and it would bump up against the conversion lense. The conversion lense also blocks some of the light intensity of your built-in flash. Sony recommends using an external flash when using a conversion lense. That means a lot of extra $$$. Don't waste your money on the optional starter kit for this camera. The camera case is ok for the camera, but the memory stick case and spare battery will not fit well. It's too tight for my taste. That last thing you want to do is damage the camera's protective lense cover. I bought a samsonite camera case that is a little bigger it stores my camera memory stick case and spare battery. You can go bigger if you choose to bring along your AV connecting cable, AC adapter and USB cable. Overall, this is a great camera. I looking forward learning its many capabilites and taking it with me on my trips.

I chose this camera because it is the best value for money in its class (on average, about $ 150-200 cheaper than the Canon Powershot G5 or the Nikon Coolpix 5400).

The DSC-V1 simply blows the competition away:

* design & weight--the V1 is less than 300 grams (10.3 oz exactly), whereas both the G5 and the 5400 are over 350 grams (17.2 and 13.4 oz, respectively);
* features--the V1 has the nightshot, which is astounding; the laser-focus, which is outstanding; and an incredible array of customization and adjustment possibilities (LCD brightness, zoom orientation, to mention few).

The camera also looks like a work of art and fits comfortably in your hand. The pop-up flash can startle you at first, however you get used to it pretty quickly and learn not to put your fingers there.

Still not convinced? Go to dpreview.com; enjoy the V1's amazing sample pictures; and, see for yourself the "highly recommended" rating given to the V1 by digital camera professionals.

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.

Aloha,This is a fantastic camera. I did months of research and was all set to buy the highly rated Canon G3. Caught wind that the G5 was soon to be released, thus delayed the purchase to see what the G5 offered. The day came, went to dpreview.com to read the G5 review. Stumbled across the Sony DSC-V1 review and knew right away, the Sony was the way to go for me.Why? One central reason. The Sony DSC-V1 takes just as good photographs, yet does it with an auto focus lag and shutter lag that is *twice* as fast as the G3/G5. The DSC-V1 is just like using a film camera, you hit the button, it takes the picture, with almost no lag.The DSC-V1 isn't perfect. Battery life is ho-hum, a second battery is a must. At first it wasn't comfortable in the hand because of the small size, yet I've since gotten used to it and it doesn't bother me anymore.All in all, I'm very very pleased with the Sony DSC-V1. It takes great photos and is plug and play on my PowerMac running 10.2.6.Highly Recommended!

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.