The Sony Cybershot P100 is an excellent point and shoot digital camera.
Here are a few points for the technically inclined:
It is a 5 megapixel (MP) camera with 3 X optical and 6 X digital zoom. Most importantly it has a Carl Zeiss lens which results in excellent picture clarity. It has 9 different scene modes with a 5 area multipoint smart autofocusing system. It lets you shoots movies at either 30 fps or 16 fps depending on the memory with sound. The 30 fps requires a Memory Stick Pro while the length of the movie is dictated by the memory size only. For a complete list of the major features see below.
For the others:
The P100 is an excellent camera and is an ideal buy for the first time digital camera user or for that matter, even for the first time camera buyer. It is very easy to use, offers excellent top-of-the-line features and clicks great photos.
It looks ver sleek, is easy to handle and has a nice large 1.8 inch LCD panel. The battery lasts pretty long, nearly 3 hours and comes with a charger.The USB cable and the software required for downloading to a PC is also provided.
The 5 MP is really not required for everyday shooting and I’d suggest you set it to 1 MP for normal photos ( 1 MP is enough for a 6 x 4 / 7x 5 digital printout). Also keep in mind the higher you set your MP, your image size will be larger and hence occupy more memory.
It is a tad expensive ranging from Rs 16000 to Rs 22000 (these are based on online retailer prices such as amazon.co.uk etc). But I’d still say its a good one time investment. It is NOT for long distance shots since the zoom is pretty limited. That said it gets you great shots which covers everyday photography. Those interested in shooting wildlife, nature scenes in great detail would do better to consider a camera with more zoom capabilities.
I found shooting with this camera very easy, a lot of options, complete freedom to manually override settings and most importantly it was thoroughly enjoyable.
DSC-P100 Major Features:
> Sony 5.0 Megapixel effective CCD image sensor Carl Zeiss 3x Zoom (38-114mm equivalent in 35mm photography)
> Still Image: 2592x1944, 2592(3:2), 2048x1536, 1280x960, 640x480
> MPEG Movie: 640x480 VX Fine w/audio at 30fps (Memory Stick Pro required), 640x480 VX at 16fps, length limited only by media Auto, Program AE,
> Full Manual plus 9 Scene modes Live histogram display in capture and playback
> 5 Area Multi-point AF; auto or selectable Spot AF point
> 1.8’’ TFT color (134, 000 pixels) LCD Screen with Auto Brightness ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 100, 200, 400 Adjustable color saturation, contrast and sharpness Noise Reduction:
> Automatically cleans up long exposure images 14bit A/D Conversion - allows a wider dynamic range from highlight to shadow
> Built-in flash with Auto Fill, Red Eye Reduction and Slow Synchro USB 2.0 Auto-Connect to host computer
> Rechargeable InfoLithium battery and charger included Memory Stick & Memory Stick Pro compatible to 1GB, 32MB included.
> DPOF and PictBridge direct-print USB compatible