Introduction
In the summer of year 2006, I decided to go about looking for a nice digital camera. Two things were very clear from the offset for me while purchasing the camera:
1) Being just a casual photographer, I did not need an all frills camera, but one that would give me best value for my budget
2) But, being a person who invests after long consideration, I wanted to make sure that the camera that I purchase should be able to satisfy my requirements for at least the next 5 years.
Keeping these two paramount things in mind, I did some research and found that the camera that fitted best with my requirements was Sony Cyber-shot DSC S600
The Features as per Sony Website
6.0 Megapixel Super HAD™ CCD
More megapixels mean more detail and definition in digital photos. Sony’s advanced Super HAD (Hole Accumulated Diode) CCD design allows more light to pass to each pixel, increasing sensitivity and reducing noise.
Carl Zeiss? Wide-Angle Lens
The DSC-S600 has a new Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar? lens design with great wide-angle shooting capabilities, making it easier to take indoor photos and capture group shots without leaving people out of the picture.
3X Optical/2X Digital Zoom
3X Optical Zoom helps the DSC-S600 bring distant subjects closer and lets you frame shots for better composition; Sony’s precision 2X Digital Zoom provides an additional 2X magnification to zoom in close without jagged edges.
High Sensitivity
The DSC-S600 offers a high-sensitivity shooting mode (ISO 1000) for brighter pictures in low light, to help capture the mood and also shoot in locations where flash is prohibited.
Strong Flash
With strong flash and high sensitivity, you can light up subjects more effectively up to a distance of 33 feet -- much farther than any previous Sony camera. That’s a real advantage for portraits, group shots and candid photos of children or pets -- because you don’t have to stand so close to your subject.
Capture Images In-Camera
With 32 MB2 Internal Memory, the DSC-S600 allows you to shoot without using a memory card -- then easily transfer your images to Memory Stick? DUO media, upload photos to your computer or make prints on your digital printer.
Cyber-shot Viewer Software
Sony’s new software that makes it easy to import images via camera or Memory Stick? media -- then organize and browse through photos on your PC with simple scrolling through thumbnail images.
MPEG Movie VX Fine Mode
The DSC-S600 can capture VGA (640 x 480) audio/video clips at high frame rate (up to 30 frames per second), with length limited only by the capacity of your media.
Real Imaging Processor™ LSI
To capture the moment before it gets away, the DSC-S600 has Sony’s Real Imaging Processor LSI (Large Scale Integrated) circuit that improves camera response time, decreases shutter lag, improves picture quality and clarity, and increase battery stamina.
13X Smart Zoom™ Feature
At VGA resolution, Sony’s Smart Zoom feature lets you magnify your subject by intelligently cropping into the central portion of interest in your photo without sacrificing full CCD resolution -- avoiding the jagged-edge image distortion of other digital zooms.
Memory Stick? Media Convenience
The DSC-S600 has a built-in slot for optional Memory Stick? DUO or higher capacity Memory Stick DUO PRO™ media that expands your shooting capacity up to 2 GB.
My Usage Experience
The first and foremost thing that I liked about this digicam is the small size and the compact design. Had they reduced it’s width slightly it could have passed off as a mobile phone rather than a digicam. The second thing that does strike you the is the picture quality. With a 6 MP resolution, the clarity and the color precision is fantastic and I just loved to see some of my nature shots with this camera.
The 3x zoom that the camera provides is more than enough for most of my purposes and the zoom does not in any way seem to affect the quality of the pictures. Another feature that I liked, but of course it common with cameras these days, is the alarm based photo which I used to capture a lot of my snaps even when travelling alone.
Next up, I was able to hook up the camera to my computer with the USB cable provided and was able to download all the pictures. Using the Sony Cybeshot Viewer software, I was able to add the red-eye correction and also adjust the contrast etc. to my liking. I found that this software was much easier and better than the Canon ZoomBrowser Ex which came with my earlier Canon Digicam.
The best part of the camera was to come a bit later, when I went for the physical prints of the photos that came, the colors and the picture came out so vivid, that they were some of the best pictures that I had shot. I simply loved the snaps.
So much for the up side, now let’s see the flip side that I experienced. First of all, if you put the camera in the 6 MP mode and go about snapping photos without any additional memory card all you get is 10-12 snaps and no more. If you reduce the resolution to around 2 MP you get around 30 odd snaps. So practically without a memory card, the camera is no good.
Secondly, the night vision mode of the camera is not very good. All the snaps that I took in the the night even with flash enabled were just about ok. Add to that the fact that if you put the camera in the night vision mode, the slightest tremble of the hand would give a blurred picture, it is a letdown for such nice camera otherwise. I had to redo a lot of shots in the night vision mode, just because of this reason.
Suggested Accessories
1) Memory Stick Duo Pro - If you really want any good 6 MP resolution photos then you will need to get a Memory Stick Duo Pro. I went with a 1 GB stick and found it very adequate for all my purposes.
Cost
Sony Cyber-shot DSC S600 came at a price tag of around US$ 150 when I purchased it in March. I am not sure of the current price tag. It was the least for any of the 6 MP cameras at that time.
Summary
For any casual photographer with dreams of snapping that price winning snap at a local competition, Sony Cyber-shot DSC S600 fits nicely into the scheme of things. At an affordable cost, the digicam gives a casual photographer a slight insight into a professional’s viewpoint.
I would give this camera a 4 star rating. After all, It’s a Sony.