Sony Cybershot DSCP93A 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

I waited and waited a long time before I finally bought a digital camera for my wife and I'm glad that I did. Although this not the smallest camera (Casio has several good small models), I like it for several reasons.

1. I have the larger DSC-F828 and very happy with Sony's line of cameras. The DSCP93 uses memory sticks just like the larger camera so no extra media to buy.

2. This is a 5 megapixel camera so whatever pictures I take will look good even at 8x10.

3. It's a decent size, not too large and not too small. The button placement is good. I had a camera where a function button was placed near the right thumb rest. I kept activating buttons that I did not need to.

4. It has many features like movie taking and sharpness control.

5. It has an optical viewfinder to save on battery life. I use the digital viewfinder for picture review.

6. Talking about batteries: It gets a long life out of two "AA" rechargeable batteries, which came with it. Although you do have to use an external charger for these batteries it's fine since you don't have to worry about down time while the batteries charge like you would if the batteries were charged internally.

7. The batteries are standard nickel metal hydride and relatively cheap and available anywhere, not expensive batteries designed just for this camera.

8. Very important! When you change batteries, you do not lose your settings like the date and time.

9. There is a built-in lens cover.

10. Flash is bright and recharges relatively quickly.

11. The telephoto is optical rather than digital.

Overall, I am very happy with it. I do hate Sony's 90-day labor and 1 year parts warrranty though.

This was the first digital camera I purchased, and I must say that I got quite lucky.

The resolution is brilliant at 5.1 MP. You can stretch and crop all you want without distortion, and it doesn't have that blurry look quintessential of digial cameras.

The price is an excellent bargain, especially since here it is offered for $350 (probably subject to change) as opposed to the list $450.

It is very user friendly, and has many functions to produce the optimum photo for your situation/context. The amount of flash is automatically decided by the camera, making one's life easier, although you do have the power to override flashes.

I recommend that you pruchase the two-sided, 128 MB each memory stick by sony to go along.

My only negative comment would be that the batteries are not the super-power ones found in most other cameras. I don't know much about their chemical composition or any of that, but I do maintain that the batteries have a tendency to run out rather fast. However, they are rechargeable and the camera comes with an included recharger you can plug in to an electrical outlet.

I really suggest you buy this camera. I am certainly glad I did.

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A long-time SLR user, I was concerned that a digital camera would not satsfy my photography needs, since the only digital camera I have ever had came free with my computer. I was not sure the convenience of a digital was worth the several hundred dollars this camera cost, but my wife kept nagging me until I bought it. She was tired of carrying our bulky SLR camera and several roles of film every time we go to Disney. I must say, she was right and I was wrong!! This camera takes such excellent pics that I doubt I break out the old dinosaur too many more times!

My only complaint is the very large storage size of the 5MP pics. They look awesome, but you can't email them and can't store too many on your computer unless you have a very large storage disk. I take hundreds of pics, so over 3MB each is just too large! At least this camera has the ability to downgrade the size and MP for your everyday pics or pics you want to mail. It also comes with software to easily transfer images to CD.

The video and sound are good except for the fact that it is lacks the anti-vibration feature. All-in-all, this camera is definitely worth the money! Just make sure you have plenty of money if you decide to buy accessories--they are very expensive, but at least they are available.

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I upgraded from a 2MP fuji to this camera. This camera has tons more features, obviously. I also have a D100 nikon slr 6M pixels and this camera quality of picture rivals that. Of course it cant do the same things a digital SLR can, but I would buy this one again if it were to get stolen or something. It fits in your pocket and buy an off brand memory card for 100 bucks, get 512mb(200 pics at 5 Mp) and you are off. Also, the movie quality on this camera is decent and the sound pick-up for such a small microphone is excellent. You need to hold the camera very still since there is no anti-vibration switch.

All in all a excellent camera.

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This is my first digital camera. I went with a 5.1 megapixel because I wanted the flexibility of printing larger photos if I ever wanted to. I never have, but hey, you never know. A few observations so far:

I've heard bad things about digital zoom in terms of quality. If you take pictures at the highest setting (5.1 megapixels), the digital zoom feature isn't available, so you don't have to worry about possibly pixelated pictures. However, at lower settings (3 megapixel for example), the zoom bar shows a green line signifying when digital zoom is being used. Yes, you can turn off digital zoom, but with this camera, you can keep it on and see when you are in digital zoom.

I thought the battery life was weak, but it's actually pretty good. A friend bought another brand of digital camera and complained that after taking just one picture, the battery would drain. He found out that the batteries that shipped with his camera were cheap and underpowered and he had to buy a better battery. The batteries with this camera are fine. I thought the batteries were draining, but I was looking at the memory stick indicator (gimme a break, I said it was my first digital camera).

Video capture is ok, especially for a camera. I've only used the 32 MB stick that comes with the camera, and I've been able to capture the "video mail" size which is very small, but easy to send in an email, and the 640 size, which is better, but still a little choppy. As I understand it, the Pro memory sticks enable you to capture at the "Fine" setting, which is supposed to be better. I have still found it suitable to capture those humorous moments in video.

The flash is very bright. I took a picture where I couldn't even see anything on the LCD screen, and the flash was bright enough to make it look like the lights were on.

I was able to view the pictures I took on my TV without any problems, using the cable that came with the camera. I was also able to view the videos I took, and the videos do have sound.

The camera also has sound when turning on, taking a picture, and navigating the menus. They're not annoying, and actually are nice as confirmation for changing a setting (and when taking a picture, you get that shutter sound like on an old-fashioned camera). It also has a volume control and plays back the sound when reviewing video on the camera.

All in all, this was a great purchase, especially for my first digital camera. It fits in a jacket pocket nicely, and has great features (I haven't even got through the manual, but it's easy enough to use without going thorough the whole thing). One more note--it takes 6 hours to charge the batteries when you first get it (a battery charger is included).