Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P12

Author's product rating:   

Picture Quality	Excellent
Range & Quality of Features	Diverse
Ease of Use	Very Easy
Durability	Good
Overall Look & Design	Excellent
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Smart looking, lightweight, easy to use but many more functions/settings to discover .
Disadvantages:	No zoom on Movie Mode .   Can't use one battery and charge the other .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This review is on the Sony DSCP-12 digital camera.

SPECIFICATION

- Sony DSCP-12 Cybershot® digital camera combines unrivaled image quality with compact Sony design.

- Sony DSCP-12 Cybershot boasts effective 5.0 megapixel resolution images and 3X optical/4x digital zoom lens.

- Intelligent features, like 3-Area Multi-Point AF (Auto-Focus) and Continuous AF allow Sony DSCP-12 Cybershot to produce sharply-focused shots even in low-light or active conditions.

- 16-Frame Multi-Burst function lets Sony DSCP-12 Cybershot capture 16 320x240 frames with 3 selectable intervals for convenient motion analysis.

- Sony DSCP-12 provides MPEG movies and voice memo recording for your photos.

- Sony DSCP-12 also features a lightning-fast USB 2.0 interface for high-speed transfer.

- Sony DSCP-12 Cybershot is Memory Stick® Pro compatible with included 32MB Memory Stick® Pro flash memory card media.

- 1/1.8" 5.0 Megapixel Effective Super HAD™ CCD.

- 5 Megapixel (2592 x 1944) Image Size.

- Ultra Compact Design.

- Slow Shutter Noise Reduction.

- Scene Selection Mode.

- 14-Bit DXP A/D Conversion.

- 0 - 4.0 Smart Zoom (at VGA size).

- 1.5" LCD Monitor.

- MPEG Movie VX Mode.

- True Zoom Optical Viewfinder.

- Clip Motion Mode.

- AF (Auto Focus) Illuminator.

- Pre-Flash Metering.

- Continuous Auto Focus.

- Auto Daylight Synchro Fill Flash.

- Playback Zoom, Trim and Resize.

- Multi-Pattern Measuring.

- Live Histogram Display.

- Battery Type/Capacity: InfoLithium NP-FC11 780 mAh Rated.

- Sony DSCP-12 OS Compatibility: Microsoft® Windows® 98/98SE/Me/2000 Professional/XP Home/Pro; Macintosh® OS 8.5.1/8.6/9.0/9.1/9.2.

- Sony DSCP-12 digital camera dimensions (W/H/D): 4 1/4" x 2" x 1 7/16" (108 x 51.5 x 35.8mm).

- Sony DSCP-12 weighs 200g

This camera is the special limited edition version of the silver Sony DSCP-10. It is exactly the same in its functions but there are three fundamental differences:
i) The colour, which is midnight blue.
ii) The P-12 comes with an extra battery
iii) The P-12 comes with a carrying case.

We chose the special edition version as we thought it’d be a little different to everyone else, as digital cameras are quite often silver, and the extra accessories would come in handy as well.

I’ll run through all the buttons, modes and functions first because then it’ll be easier to understand what I’m referring to when I give my opinion on specific functions of the camera:

1) The main navigation menu is operated via one small circular button surrounded by four crescent shaped buttons, which I will refer to as a ‘joystick’ as it operates in such a way.

Each crescent shaped button has two functions: One for when navigating through a menu, and one to be used whilst shooting images. I will list the uses in brackets with the Menu On option first and the Menu off option second (Menu on/Menu off).

a) The small circular button in the middle of the joystick is the control button that is used as an ‘Enter’ or ‘Select’ button.

b) The button above the Select button is used for (Up/Select Flash modes)

c) The button below the Select button is used for (Down/Timer)

d) The button to the left of the Select button is used for (Left/Used for switching between an image that has already been shot, and back into real time shooting mode)

e) The button to the right of the Select button is used for (Right/Macro mode)

2) There is a button above the top left hand side of the joystick, which is used to switch the LCD display screen On or Off.

3) At the very top of the back of the camera there is a viewfinder (which you can use in exactly the same way as an ordinary viewfinder) although I always keep the LCD screen turned on and use that instead of the viewfinder.

4) Directly to the right of the viewfinder there are three small lights:

i) The one at the top is used for the self timer/recording lamp and when it lights up it is coloured red).

ii) The one below this is the AE/AF lock lamp and when it lights up it is coloured green.

iii) The light at the bottom says ‘CHG’ next to it and this is the one which indicates when you’re running out of battery power. When it lights up it is coloured orange.

5) On the left half of the back of the camera there is a 1.5” LCD screen.

6) There is a button below the bottom left hand side of the joystick, which is the ‘menu’ button. This button brings up a selection menu for whatever screen you are in.

7) On the bottom right hand edge of the back of the camera there is a small plastic strip which pulls out (but is still attached to the camera). Beneath this there are three sockets:

i) The one on the left is ‘DC IN.’ This is the socket that connects the camera to the battery pack for charging it up.

ii) The middle socket is a round yellow socket labelled ‘A/V Out (Mono).

iii) The socket on the right hand side is the USB jack for connecting the camera to the computer for image transfer.

8) There is a button below the bottom right hand side of the joystick, which is used for (Menu on - Image Size/Menu off – Delete)

9) If you look at the camera from above, on the top edge there is the power On/Off button, then to the right of it there is the circular Mode Dial (which has 6 options on it) and the shutter button in the middle. You can rotate it either way, but I will go clockwise.

i) There is an image of a Green Camera – this mode is for shooting still images in auto adjustment mode.

ii) Next there is a Black Camera with a ‘P’ next to it – this mode is to shoot still images in programmed mode.

iii) Next is SCN mode – This is used to shoot in Scene Selection mode.

iv) Next is SET UP – This is used to change various settings.

v) Next is a picture of a film reel as this is Movie Mode – This used to shoot movies, clip motion images or multi burst mode images.

vi) And finally there is an image like ‘play’ on a CD/tape recorder (a black arrow in a box) – This is playback mode – used to view shots you’ve recorded in other modes.

10) Going to the back view of the camera again, on the top right hand corner there is a small rectangular button which presses down to the left or the right. This has two functions:

i) Zoom In/Out whilst shooting.

ii) Index button whilst viewing.

Pressing down on the left zooms out, right zooms in.

11) If you turn the camera clockwise there is a section that you can slide down to reveal a little hatch. The hatch contains two very important elements of the camera:

i) The battery, which you remove by flicking a little lever.

ii) The Memory Stick, which you press in and it pops out itself.

12) Inside this hatch there is also two other important parts.

i) The Reset button.

ii) The ‘Access Lamp.’ NEVER remove the Memory Stick and/or Battery if this lamp is lit. This means the camera is in action and it could seriously damage the camera/ruin the shot.

USING THE CAMERA

Getting started –
As you can see, this camera has many functions and settings, but what I love about it is that it can be as simple or as complicated as you like. By that I mean that if you’re not a professional nor do you want to read the whole manual before taking photos, you don’t need to! I had taken my first picture with this camera within 10 minutes of it being delivered by courier to my house (brilliant, as I’m not that patient with anything, especially a new gadget!)

It is pretty self explanatory (well, it seems so to me anyway, and I’m not computer nerd). I had a little play around with the mode dial and managed to take a few decent pictures straight away. *point and shoot* just like that. You can read the manual at your leisure, finding out what you need when you need, either that or do as I do and just get experimenting with the camera :)

Everything I’ve needed to know so far has been in the manual, described clearly step by step (with example screen shots as well).

UPLOADING PHOTOS TO THE COMPUTER

We used to take pictures as still shots from my boyfriend’s video camera, but we could often never be bothered with the hassle of uploading the photos to the computer, as the cable was very unreliable and the whole process was very long winded. This is totally the opposite of the Sony DSCP-12! You just plug the USB cable in (this is provided in the box set) and plug the other end into your computer’s USB port and away you go (after you have the Sony Image Transfer software installed of course). We had some brilliant pictures on the computer within the hour that we’d received the camera.

To me, ease of uploading the pictures to the computer is absolutely essential to the use of the camera. Who wants to be messing around for hours transferring photos? (when you’re not even sure if they’re worthwhile keeping yet). I like taking a load of photos and uploading them and then deciding which ones to keep and which ones to scrap, and this camera is perfect for that purpose.

On the 32MB Memory Stick provided you can fit 16 pictures with the resolution set at the highest (5 megapixels). This resolution produces stunning quality images once transferred to the PC. We have bought an extra Memory Stick for our camera (approx £50 from eBay – brand new). It is 256MB and can fit 124 pictures with 5 megapixels resolution, which is more than enough for us!

RECORDING MOVIES

Even this is very easy to do….I was recording movies straight after I had discovered the Mode Dial. It’s as easy as taking the still shots, literally just ‘point and shoot.’ There is a microphone on the camera, so there is an audio soundtrack to anything you record as well. The sound is a bit ‘tinny’ on the camera, but once uploaded the movie to the computer it’s quite decent quality.

Beware though, obviously there is no flash while recording movies, so make sure there is a good light source in the vicinity.

I have just tested how much movie footage you can fit on the 32MB Memory Stick, and I fitted 1 min 27 seconds. Not too bad if you just want a short movie clip, but not so good if you wanted to use it for longer periods. On the 256MB Memory Stick we bought, I fitted approximately 10 minutes of movie footage, which was more suitable for us.

Probably the best selling point of the Movie Mode on this camera is that when uploaded to a computer, the size of the movie screen that the clip can be viewed in is a massive 800 x 600, compared to the more common size of around 320x320. (If you don’t know what kind of size that is, if you have Adobe Photoshop create a new frame and resize it to 800x600. You’ll see it’s quite a decent size for such a little digital camera!)

However, in saying this, if you’re serious about movie making I would recommend buying a movie camera rather than this digital camera, as the images they produce would be of a superior quality.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Weighing in at only 200g this camera is incredibly light. It’s a good size to put in your pocket, so you don’t need to worry about taking it places and it being a pain to carry. The camera came with a little carrying rope which you can attach to the top right hand corner (I would advise you do as the camera can easily slip out of your hand being so small). It also came with a smart black carry pouch, which is good for keeping it protected from scratches and dust/general dirt.

The battery life is approximately 90 minutes, so with the extra battery provided you can get a good 180 mins/3 hours use out of the camera.

CONCLUSION

I shan’t go into all the functions and settings in this review (mainly because I don’t know them all!) but I will say that my boyfriend and I are more than satisfied with the camera. It’s better than we expected it to be, in many ways. It’s a lot smaller and lighter than we expected.

It’s a very smart looking camera and pretty much everything we’ve tried on it so far has turned out really well. However, there are a couple of ‘bad’ points I’d like to mention that we’ve noticed so far:

1) The battery charges whilst in the camera, therefore you cannot charge one battery whilst using the spare one; you have to wait while one charges, or use the camera attached to the charging kit. It’s not a major disadvantage but if you wish to use the camera for prolonged periods of time (possibly not near a plug socket) make sure that you plan well in advance and have both batteries charged at all times.

2) When using the camera in Movie Mode it won’t zoom (because this would cause too much noise on the recording). It really depends what you wish to use the Movie Mode for, but it’s perfect for us because we just like to mess around with it making silly little clips of nothing serious.

Following the bad points I'll mention a couple more good points:

1) The little hatch that houses the Memory Stick and battery is very well designed. The slide down cover is great because it doesn't detach therefore you can't lose it, and the Memory Stick and battery are very easy to retrieve as they just pop out.

2) The small plastic strip at the bottom right hand corner of the back of the camera is also well designed because that doesn't remove either. You pull it out to use one of the three functions underneath and the plastic case remains attached to the camera (so you can't lose that either).

There are many other great points to this camera, but the main thing for me is that it was easy to use from the outset, and I feel that it still has a lot more potential for further use, when I get round to reading the entire manual provided. It would be perfect for someone like me, who wants to be able to use the simple functions straight away, and discover the rest as they go along at their own pace.

STOCKISTS

My boyfriend purchased the camera online from AJ Electronics. I’m sure they sell it at most big camera stores, but shop around for the best price (I’m not sure we got the best price, but we wanted quick delivery). It cost £308.00 in total and came with a 32MB Memory Stick, two batteries, little rope attachment for carrying round your wrist, and a carrying case. It was delivered 2 days after he ordered it.

Their website address is www.ajelectronics.co.uk

 carly_pussycat - Ciao UK ©