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202 of 208 found the following review helpful:
 BIG value for the priceJun 14, 2005
By Calvin (SF)
I got this camera for one hundred and seventy seven dollars here at Amazon. It packs alot of power for a small camera at a very low price. Here's what I like about it:
* Small compact size. I wouldn't exactly say this camera is meant for you pockets (although it would fit) as it's thicker than the slim design cameras that you may have seen. However, the thicker frame is what I like about it. It's very comfortable to hold with two hands - very good ergonomic design...fingers to not get in the way of the flash, lens, or viewfinder. I've tried taking pictures with the Canon Elph, and the thinness of that camera is very awkward (not good if you grew up with traditional point and shoot cameras).
* Excellent, excellent battery life. Say goodbye to proprietary batteries. This puppy uses two AA batteries. If you invest $20 for rechargeable Energizer Ni-Mh batteries (4 batteries and a charger), you'll find yourself taking picutres non-stop. My prior digital camera was a Sony P-50 that also used two AAs. That camera killed off my Ni-Mh batteries after only about 20-40 pictures depending upon flash usage and how long I left it on. The S-40 didn't drain my battery until I took about 200 pictures (the vast majority with the flash on - and I didn't try to conserve the battery). I think it can take a even greater amount, because the 200 was when I 1st got the camera and started playing with all the features wasting battery life.
* Relatively fast shutter. Press half-way to focus, then press all the way - practically no lag to take the picture unlike the older digital cameras.
* When using a Memory Stick Pro, the S-40 can take video with sound at 640 x 480 fine quality - good enough to burn onto a DVD and watch on your TV.
* Intuitive menu buttons on the camera...also has limited programmable camera features (i.e. ISO settings, EV, white balance, flash strength, center vs multi focus, etc.).
* 32 MB of internal memory - probably won't ever need with my 512MB memory stick, but nice to have just in case.
* 3X optical zoom on a Carl Zeiss quality lens.
* The 35mm equivalent is 32 to 96 millimeters. What this translates to is that the camera has a wider angle (so you can capture more in the frame without backing up) than a typical 35mm camera lens. Check out the 35mm equivalent on the other "micro" digital cameras and you will find that they are something like 38mm to 102mm, which means you have to backup to capture the same amount of detail. The higher mm rating is good for zooming, but worse for group photos. It's alot easier to move forward to your subject (for a manual zoom) than to move backwards (for a manual wider angle) in crowded areas.
* Takes good pictures...much better than my old Sony P-50 (which I got in 2001).
If I had to list one complaint about the camera, it's that in low lighting any picture taken with the subject greater than about 10 feet away (which is about the flash strength area) will show up "dingy" and the background will be in dark faded colors. HOWEVER, I surmise that ALL point-and-shoot digital (and conventional) cameras have this problem as well. Unless you can attach a larger flash to the camera, which isn't an option on point and shoots, this problem will always exist. Only SLR digital cameras will good pictures in low light with subjects greater than 10 feet away. The S-40 does have a night scene mode where it makes the shutter very slow so more light is captured - in this mode, the camera will take good low light pictures, but you have to use a tripod for this mode.
Overall, for under $200, I highly recommend this camera. You don't need to spend anything greater as this camera will do the trick. 4.1MB is more good enough for photos as large as 8x10.
100 of 109 found the following review helpful:
 Not as small as I thoughtApr 10, 2005
By C. MCKINLAY
Well, just got this camera 2 days ago. Used it quite a bit for my daughters swimming lesson this morning.
My old Sony DSC-S50 was just too big to be convienient and finally we upgraded to this newer model.
Photos - excellent. I used a 2.1 MP for so long, a 4.1 really is a lot crisper. Cropping in photoshop leaves a much better image now.
Video - excellent. Memory Stick Pro on FINE mode makes for excellent video with sound. Sure does chew through the space though. 512 MB stick holds just 6 minutes of video.
I dropped a single star because I was thinking this camera would be about the same size as the L1, but it really is quite a bit thicker. It still fits in your jeans pocket, just not as slim as I was planning.
We'll keep it - maybe upgrade in another couple of years.
20 of 20 found the following review helpful:
Great BuyOct 31, 2005
By Ahmad A. Mumtaz
"amumtaz"
If you are seeking a decent camera around US$150 or less with 4 Mega Pixel or better than this is an ideal buy. Like most of sony products, it is easy to use and is of great quality. You can snap photographs in seconds. There is also a great movie mode. So you can make some good movies at 30 fps. This means the movies are full motion and do not seem jerky .... However, if you do not have the camera mounted on a stand your hands motions may create dizzying pictures. So be careful :-)
90% of the time, you would want to take pictures at 1Mega Pixel setting. That means, each picture size would be less than 500k. So essentially, the internal memory can take upto 64 images if not more. However, if you get a Memory stick card of atleast 256Mega bytes, you can store over 500 images in the camera.
One point of caution. I did not see a direct interface to connect to TV. Nor was any cable provided except USB for PC communications. So if you wanna hook it upto a TV, look for some other camera.
I also bought the Sony recharger with batteries. And usually the batteries last me atleast two weeks if not more on one charge. I highly recommend getting rechargables. They may be expensive inititally, but are cheaper in the long haul.
21 of 22 found the following review helpful:
Great buyAug 08, 2005
By Elinor Denney
I'll begin with the short review, since I know some of you just want to know the basics:
-Takes excellent pictures in close up, zoom, and at all times of day. The only time the picture is compromised is at full zoom if you are trying to shoot without a tripod. The candlelight setting can also turn out sort of orange if there is enough light in the room, in which case you can simply change to another setting.
-The camera is light and extremely portable. I haven't even bought a case for it yet and am carrying it around in my purse or backpack in the "sock" that it arrived with.
-With a 256MB memory stick you can take up to 10 minutes of video, or a combination of many pictures and a few minutes of video. (I haven't ever filled up the card just taking pictures, though I have filled it once with 8 minutes of video and around 50 pictures.)
-The pictures are very high quality at the default resolution and come out quite large. Every time I wanted to upload to the internet I scaled them down a bit so it didn't take forever to load, but I love that it takes such big pictures. I have set a picture of the sunset that I took several days ago as my desktop picture and it is not at all distorted and is very clear. The video is also higher quality than I expected and the audio is clear.
-The camera is extremely easy to use with a little common sense. I haven't even had to open the manual because everything has been so self-explanatory. I can change settings at will and the camera adjusts instantly. I even figured out how to turn the sound off without looking in the manual.
-Something of huge importance to me, this camera takes pictures quickly. There isn't a huge lag time between pictures as the flash reloads, like with so many digital cameras. You can point and click to your heart's desire without getting the annoying phenomenon of pushing down the button and having nothing happen.
Now for the long-winded version:
I've had my Cybershot for nearly a month and have been extremely pleased with my purchase. For the past four years I have been dealing with my family's 1.3MP digital camera that, while certainly a reasonably mid-ranged camera at the time, is now quite outdated and due for an upgrade.
After reading as many reviews as I could get my hands on and asking the advice of anyone I knew who owned a camera, I decided on the Sony Cybershot because it had the most positive reviews, and a friend of my mother's owned the 5.1MP version and loved it. I had originally intended to buy a cheaper camera that didn't have quite as good of reviews, but now that I have the Cybershot I'm so glad that I didn't.
I got mine for $164 from one of the Amazon Marketplace sellers and it came more quickly than I even hoped it would. The camera was so much lighter than I expected, even with batteries it is scarcely heavier than my cell phone. It is also very compact and fits nicely in the palm of your hand, but isn't so small that you feel like you might drop it. I would recommend keeping the wrist strap on at all times, however, if only for your own peace of mind.
As for picture taking and quality, I have no complaints. The first thing I did was go outside and take some close-ups of my mother's sunflowers and the pictures came out beautifully. The colors were vibrant and the picture was in focus; what more could I want? Some people have complained of fuzzy night time shots, and while I agree that it is difficult to get a perfectly clear picture with the full zoom extended without a tripod, I am still happy with the vitality of the colors in night time pictures.
A huge plus that I hadn't even taken into account was the video ability of this camera. As I was shopping I noticed that you practically couldn't find a 4MP digital camera that didn't have a video feature, I honestly didn't think that I would ever use it. Was I ever wrong. Within the first week of owning the camera I got a perfect opportunity to use the video feature; a situation where the subjects I was trying to capture were too far away to get decent pictures, and were moving to fast to get a clear shot. I decided to try out the video feature in this, the most demanding context I could think of, and it performed wonderfully. The video was of surprisingly good quality considering it was taken by something not intended for capturing high quality video, and the audio was also clear and recognizeable. I consider this to be a major plus.
I still can't get over the portability of this camera, compared to my clunky old 1.3MP which weighed surely twice as much. I would never just cart that thing around wherever I went, but my new camera comes with me everywhere. It is amazing how many more photo opportunities you find when you have a good camera with you.
I also found the menus to be completely self-explanatory (I haven't even cracked the manual yet) and with a 256MB memory stick I can take up to 10 minutes of video or as many pictures as I can stand of the deer in my back yard.
As I mentioned above, I was so happy with how quickly I could take pictures. With the old 1.3MP it took forever for the flash to load and I would often miss shots because I couldn't get the timing to work out. With this camera that problem no longer exists, and I am immensely pleased to be rid of it.
All in all this is an excellent camera and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in an easily used digital camera that takes decent shots.
23 of 25 found the following review helpful:
 Does not work!Nov 03, 2005
By F. Massena
I had the same problem as a previous reviewer. The camera stopped working pretty much the same day as I got it. It turned off randomly by itself, with the lense cover open. However, since the lense was open, the camera would not turn back on until after very many tries. Then, it would only turn on in review mode, but as soon as you switch it to camera mode, it would shut off again. I thought my camera was defective so Amazon.com sent me a replacement. The replacement camera did the same thing!
I have to note that when it actually did work, it was easy to use, and the pictures were great. I just wish that it worked properly.
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