Customer Reviews

Sony DSCP20 1.3MP Digital Camera

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

 

 

Good points:
Very good pictures. Real glass lense (unlike the olympus D100 Brio which has a plastic lense).
Colors are realistic (superior to the Canon A20).
With USB port acts exactly like an external storage device (you can delete, save files on the camera which appears as an E: drive on your desktop).
Macro mode for extreme close-ups
And of course, it's a Sony product.

Problems:
Drains batteries very quickly.
Menu cannot be accessed without having LCD picture on.
Manual not always clear.
Sony memory sticks are much more expensive than smartcards and other media.

I bought this camera for the (...) price everyone has it for now. I was impressed with the clarity of the pictures, being only 1.3 megapixels. The camera drains batteries as can be expected, but instead of the (...) reachargable battery from sony, i bought a (...) rechargable AA kit, with 4 AA's and a charger and these seem to last much longer. The only problem i have experienced is difficulty in getting clear pictures, as i seem to have a problem keeping the camera steady. With a tripod or a monopod, extremely clear pictures could be taken. The night picture option worked better than i thought, it actually took great pictures on a cloudy, dark day. The 4mb memory stick will take about 15 pictures on the 1024 std setting. Overall, i am very pleased with this camera and feel it is the best value on the market today.

After receiving this camera as a gift, I really attempted to make the best of it. I wasn't too sure about the "digital zoom" as the only option (for those of you like me, this means that you can't see the zoomed picture through the viewfinder!), and the limited storage capacity made me even more leary. The kicker was that by the time I finished taking about 10 pictures, the batteries ran out!! I was aware that battery life is an issue for digital cameras (something I think they ALL have to improve upon), but this was ridiculous! So, while Sony has some excellent products available... this is not one of them!! Beware.

This camera really is a great buy for the price, considering you are just a light user, and not a photo enthusiast. The 1.3 Megapixels may be enough for people e-mailing pictures, and maybe printing out small 4x6's, but anything else, and the results start to get extremely choppy.

This camera is very user friendly, althought the Zoom was not too good. When zoomed, either optical or digital, quality changes dramaticlly when being printed. This quality difference can also be noticed when e-mailing pictures or putting them on your computer.

Sony does however make the camera full of features, including Movie Mode and A Preview Mode. A lot of cameras only have a shooting mode and you can only preview the last photo shot. This camera, however, is different. I bought it about 6 months ago. Now, though, with camera prices at a all time low, I wouldn't buy a 1 Megapixel camera, only 1 2/3 or higher. But this camera does make sense for the buyer who is short on money and needs it for Light use!

Just got one for xmas and I really love it. Out of the box it has everything you need to get started. With one exception, the batteries supplied with it last for about 5 minutes with the LCD display on. the bottom line is this is truely a magnificent buy for the price. The size and versatility of the camera are just the ticket for getting started with digital photography.

I got this camer for Christmas. It is awesome. It comes with great software, looks sharp, takes great looking shots, lets you edit them on the camera, although it is hard to see thru the viewfinder, the LCD works great. The Camera has its own little OS and it is fun to use. the zoom is nice and smooth and it can even take horrible quality videos. Well, they are ok, but the pictures look MUCH better The LCD is clear and sharp, and all of the buttons feel great,and arent hard to use. I highly recomend buying the kit with the recharger, rechargable battery, and carrying case! And i also got a 128mb memory stick which works great. I have never filled the stick up with pictures, so I am very pleased with the capacity. On the other hand, the 4mb it comes with leaves you wanting more. I like the Lens Cover, but remeber to close it when you are done! I tried a Polaroid PDC640CF before this and was not satasfied woth 640x480 this has well over 2 times that! It works great, takes great pics, transfers them fast, etc. NOW JUST BUY IT!!

I primarily bought this camera to put photos of stuff on e-bay. The camera is ok for this use, but I found the OEM Sony batteries to be unreliable and expensive. We got the error warning mentioned by others and the same cold reception from Sony. I warn others considering this or any digital camera to make sure it does not use a proprietary battery. For the cost of the Sony battery we were able to buy a charger and 4 NiMH 2200 mAh batteries. The camera cycles faster with the flash and it appears that we get more photos per charge, plus we have a back up set. I don't see a down side with the non-sony battery. On the otherhand it takes pretty good pictures and its easy to cheat the shutter for special effects. We get very good close ups, but I always use a tripod for these and I bracket shoot at a few distances. After all there is no film, why not take several shots and pick the best one?

great little camera for taking people pictures,but if your an ebayer and need close ups of small items.like watches,forget it,it gets close to item but very blury....

This camera takes decent pictures, but is a real battery hog. You'll need to buy rechargeables or buy the battery pack offered by Sony. The memory stick supplied with the camera won't give you many pictures, so you'll also need to buy a bigger capacity stick.
The LCD screen is fragile and easily broken. If that happens, you just have a paperweight.

If using regular AA batteries you're camera will run out of life before your disk runs out of space, try getting rechargables. I did have a problem with Sony's product warranty and the extended warranty my husband purchased as well though. Apparently I will need to get myself another camera because neither policy will cover condensation (or liquid damage as they put it). The repair for this exceeds the purchase price of the camera and I won't pay it. Be careful using this and all digital cameras if you are going to use it in different temparatures. Don't take the camera from a warm room to the outside if its wintertime. Use the ziploc baggie they suggest in the manual if you can remember!