Being a dedicated manual user for many years I felt I had to catch up. After many months of complete bafflement, Itried to find out from numerous magazines and web sites what would be the easiest and best camera to use.
I decided to take the leap on a trip to Canada last year, and put myself in the capable hands of an assistant at Dixon's at Heathrow airport. After demonstrations of several different makes I plumped for this camera , mainly due to its ease of use and nice looks.
I have tried to make this review as user friendly as I can for the technophobes, with whom I sympathize as I am one.

Push and point button on top
Power button on/off also on top
Menu button on back
LCD Screen and button on back
Option dial on back
Zoom and wide angle buttons on back
DC in port on back
Flip up memory stick port on bottom
Tripod screw hole on bottom
Batter access on side
Zoom on front

The Sony DSC P10 features two methods of viewing the image that you want to take a picture of. One is an optical viewfinder (this a traditional view finder. You use it by putting the camera up to your eye ) remember that the image in the view finder is always just slightly higher than the picture you will actually get, so make sure head shots are in the centre of the picture to avoid cutting them off. The view finder is at the rear of the camera.

Lens

The camera allows you to shoot very good quality video clips (640 x 480 at 15 frames per second ) along with audio. The clip length is limited to the size of Memory Stick capacity. The lapsed recording time and time you have remaining plus memory space available are displayed on the LCD.
It is almost as easy as taking a photo - you have to set the dial to the 'movie' setting then press the shutter button once. A red recording symbol on the LCD display indicates that you are shooting. To stop shooting, press the shutter again.
The quality is not as good as you would get by using a dedicated video camera, but its good enough to watch back at home or on Your PC (where you could improve it with editing soft ware)

The multi mode built in flash provides Auto, Red-Eye Reduction, Fill, Slow-Sync, and off settings, output intensity is adjustable, which is great for macro shots and close up work.
The area that the flash will light up is very good, you will be able to illuminate an outside scene to about 10 feet if you set the setting at high.

This is where you can use the LCD screen. Using the arrow buttons on the reverse of the camera, select the viewing mode and scroll through

Pictures of Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P10

me using the camera

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The drivers and some extra software are provided on the CD. The drivers automatically read the memory stick whilst still in the camera, or you can remove the memory stick and insert it in either, the card reader port on the PC or via a separate portable card reader (The manual explains all the options very well) The camera also comes with a lead that attaches to nearly any TV, and you can view your photos direct from the camera,

Memory sticks
Our camera came with 1X 32MB Memory Stick PRO, which only gives you 10 to 12 pictures on the highest quality setting. Memory Stick PRO cards are available in sizes of up to 1 Gigabyte, most other makes of Memory Stick only go up to 128 MB.
Memory Stick PRO cards are faster than standard Memory sticks but they are far more expensive than comparable flash media. I would suggest that you purchase a memory stick with a higher capacity, or see if the shop will do you a deal, unless of course you already have other items that use a compatible memory stick. However, memory stick prices are always dropping and in such a competitive market it is worth shopping around for extra storage, as you may find yourself on a trip where there are no facilities to download your pictures to disc to free up memory space.

Beginners who don't want to learn about f-stops, shutter speeds, exposure settings, complex compensation settings, or ISO sensitivity, New to digital and casual photographers, who know all of the above but want good quality high resolution images.
Technically I don't' think that it would appeal to demanding photographers who will quickly tire of its limited selection of advanced features they could use. However saying that I think it makes a handy addition to a semi professional camera persons Kit. It is great for catching those quick "oh I wish I'd had my camera" shots as it is small and compact enough to carry in your pocket

Resolution: 5 mega pixels (2592 x 1944)
Viewfinder
1.5" LCD screen
Lens: f2.8-f5.2/38-114mm
3x zoom lens
Exposure: Automatic plus 7 additional scene modes
Metering: Evaluative and Spot
White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, and Flash.
Sensitivity: Auto, (which are equivalent to film speeds of 100, 200, 400 ISO)
Shutter Speeds: 1/2000th of a second (to capture quick moving objects) up to 2 seconds
In Camera Image Adjustment
Noise Reduction
Connectivity: USB 2.0 and A/V out
Image Storage Media: Memory Stick
Power: Sony NP-FC11 3.6V 780 mAH Info LITHIUM rechargeable battery pack
User CD ROM
Soft case
Instruction manual