Jewish World Review July 30, 2004 / 12 Menachem-Av 5764
Right out of the box, little Sony camera impresses
By Mark Kellner
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
It's dangerous, we in the product-reviewing business tell ourselves, to
make
quick judgments based on first impressions of an item. Generally, that's
true enough: over time, quirks may be found and problems unfold.
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JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.
Useful little things
There are exceptions to hard-and-fast rules, reviewing is not composed,
as
was said of pronouncements from ancient King Xerxes, of "the law of the
Medes and Persians which changes not." Flexibility has its advantages.
Perhaps nowhere is flexibility so useful as it is in Sony's Cybershot
DSC-P93, a tiny, palm-sized camera which nonetheless yields photos up to
5.1
megapixels, as well as video segments with sound. Those videos are not,
in
all likelihood, camcorder quality, but they can make for fun e-mails.
The $249 (list) camera hit the shelves at the end of April, and a test
unit
will hit the road with me, shortly after these words are written, for a
week
in Israel. I didn't want a big camera to lug around, and this is not
clunky.
It is - so far - quite big in performance. I did a few test shots of our
cats, and they came out stunningly. Uploading the photos to an Apple
Macintosh, both Apple's iPhoto and Adobe's Photoshop CS were able to
take
the snaps, improve them, and deliver quality products for e-mail or
other
uses.
The high resolutions available with this camera mean, of course, a fair
amount of memory is used to store each picture. Sony uses a proprietary
"MemoryStick" design. A 32 Mbyte card is included with the camera; users
would do well to get a 256 Mbyte "stick," which can be had for around
$60 at
Amazon.com; Sony offers a 1 GB stick for $500, roughly 150 percent of
the
camera's cost. The 256 MB card will hold around 100 pictures, which I
expect
will not be bad for a day's tourism.
The camera's optics feature a 3x optical zoom plus 2x digital zoom, for
6x
total. In my brief picture-taking career so far, I was able to zoom in
on
the felines with ease. A built-in flash was quite good, too. Because the
MemoryStick is a solid-state device, there's virtually no recycling time
needed for multiple shots.
Many card readers such as the card slot on the Epson Stylus CX6400, read
MemoryStick cards; there's also a USB cable to connect the camera to a
PC or
Mac. Photo transfers were quick and straightforward.
Picture quality, as mentioned, was excellent indoors. I look forward to
seeing what it can do outdoors as well. Power for the camera is supplied
by
"AA" batteries; The rechargeable ones supplied with the camera are
supposedly will go for over 400 shots between charges.
In short, Sony may well have a winner in this little camera. The camera
price is right, the size is right, and the pictures are right.
But am I totally right in praising this device just out of the gate?
Check
this space in a week or two to find out the answer. Meanwhile, I've got
a
plane to catch.
BEFORE I GO, SOME KUDOS to Apple Computer for their recently offered 65W
power adapter. It'll handle incoming electricity up to 240 volts and
turn
the juice into something your PowerBook (titanium or aluminum) or iBook
can
utilize, all for just $79 if you're upgrading an older portable. (New
models
have the adapter as standard gear.) A set of special adapter plugs goes
for
around $40, and are just the thing a traveling user wants to carry.
Apple
Store locations should have both products.
Epson printer does far more than just print
Does Gmail hit the spot?
Independence Day Thoughts on computing
Still more about online e-mail
Your vacation e-mail options
Mr. Reagan's Computing Legacy
Following your heart
Power Mac G5: A powerful tool
Opera: This browser sings
Motion's new tablet a step up
Fuji's S20PRO is for you maybe
Last week's small revolution
More small wonders bring delight, challenge
Livin' large, livin' cordless
Small wonders: Gadgets good and bad
The right tool for the right job
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'Office' suite good for price
The Delightful Deja Vu of the iPod Mini
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Apple's super-cool iBOOK G4
MSN, the AOL alternative?
It's Konfabu-lous (and other Mac joys)
The world on my wrist, courtesy MSN
Treo 600 is great business tool
How to make good computer choices this year
The year behind, the one ahead
Last minute gifts, and other thoughts
Something special in the air, again
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More holiday gifts
Holiday Shopping Ideas (One of a Series)
Now, Mr. Gates Joins War on Spam
Stopping "Phishers" From Scamming You
Staying safe online
Franklin Covey Brings Order to Outlook
Upgrades: Should you do it?
Time to dump Ma Bell?
Palm T3 widens users' options
Electronic reading
Lessons from a hurricane
Can the PC and phone really merge?
The case of the curious keyboard
The season ahead
New keyboard adds flair to motion tablet
Upgrade path smoothes a bit
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Experiments in upgrading
A tale of two headsets
A declaration of Mac-dependence
Fuji's Fine FinePix S602Zoom
In search of good Mac apps
Little gadgets make computing easier
Adobe Acrobat 6.0 scores
Toshiba's Twisting Tablet PC
HP printer a steady worker
iTunes store, Mailblocks are cool online services
Palm's objects of D-Zire
Gateway's Tablet a winner
Outlook 2003 beta: A promising program
Tungsten's handy "Dubya"
Lexmark's winning all-in-one
Wireless ways
Long distance tech support does trick
Tablet Planner software a hit
Up and down the road with Joyride
Clarion's "AutoPC" is no "Joyride"
Apple's Keynote is PowerPoint for less
Moving adventures
Traveling companions
HP's Compaq Tablet PC a winner
The war on spam continues
Browser for Mac users has good start
New Adobe software organizes photos
Techno-war
The year the PC grew up
PC meets philately: one hit, one miss
Digital Nikon camera a winner, at a price
Honey, they shrunk the COMDEX
Last-minute ideas
Microsoft's Tablet PC has promise, problems
Upgrade with a plan
Palm's New Tungsten PDA Shows Its Mettle
Nobody asked me, but ...
Love, in Quicktime
T-Mobile's sidekick a good partner
Put on a (happy, unwrinkled, tanned, whatever) face
Apple software upgrade very useful
I came, I saw, iPod
How's that? A tech critic reflects, briefly
Satellite radio gets favorable reception
HP's desktop printing marve
Mac satisfaction --- and some really good software
Off to college ... with eMachines
Have PC, must travel
After Shot manages your digital camera images
X200: Mobile worker's fantasy
Beware: Consumers face a fee for printing own checks