1. 1.3 megapixel CCD sensor captures images up to 1,280 x 960 pixels--perfect for e-mailing
2. Ultracompact body, weighs just 4 ounces
3. Includes 8 MB Memory Stick
4. Connects with PCs and Macs via USB port
5. Powered by two rechargeable NiMH AAA batteries (included)

Customer Review :

awesome!

This little camera was my very first digital camera. It was so cool, because I could take it everywhere. I always had room for it.

The only thing that could make it better is if it had zoom.

Rating :

Always 100% better than the camera you don't have with you

I have a better camera than this one. It's a Sony too, and it has 3X zoom, a bigger LCD screen, sound MPG's, more megapixels, and just generally all the bells and whistles that my 2-year-old miniature Sony doesn't have.
And yet I still take most of my pictures on the DSCU10. Why? Because it's always in my jacket pocket and it's always ready. It's a full-feature camera and it's smaller than a Snickers bar. Better still, the design is brilliantly intuitive. Slide open the cover, press the button. That's it! You can even get your Mom to use it. And while the batteries take a while to charge, it will hold the charge for weeks or even months while you carry it around. And oddly enough, it's much easier to download from than my newer, more expensive Sony. Just plug in the USB, the camera turns itself on and it starts downloading.
Unquestionably it has weaknesses. The postage stamp LCD viewscreen is of questionable utility; it's good enough for framing shots but it's impossible to see any detail, especially in daylight. The picture quality is merely adequate (it would be wise to opt for the higher-rez DSCU20 if possible). The autofocus can be unreliable and the flash is weak.
But it's always there for you when your bigger, better camera is at home on the shelf. Anyone who's serious about photography should have one of these (or the DSCU20) as a second camera.
One final note: I don't know if this is a plus or minus, but this camera seems to impress everyone who sees it. It really looks like some sort of spy camera and on one occasion I was actually accused of being a private detective by a woman who wandered into one of my shots. Even now that it's getting a little long in the tooth, people still want to look at it to see if it's a real camera, and they're still impressed when they see that it is.

Rating :

wore it everywhere

got the pink one as a birthday gift, i fell in love with it cos of the color and its size. I hung it around my neck (it came with a matching grey string) wherever I went, and it never failed to grab attention from people. Its feature packed and the images are fantastic. But its a pity that it doesnt have any optical zoom.

Rating :

great

Ilike the camera alot it is funky,cute,adorable i love it i have recomended it to all my friends have one

Rating :

super

I think the camera is the coolest thing i take it wherever i go the price is ok to I totally recomend it to anyone who is thinking of buying it I say go for its great the pics are good to and its soooo cute and small I love it !!!!!!!

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1. Supplied Accessories - NP-BG1 Lithium-Ion Battery, BC-CSG Battery Charger, AV/USB Multi-Connector Cable, Wrist Strap, Software CD-ROM, Note No Memory Stick(R) Duo media or adapters are included / Sony USA 1-Year Warranty
2. 7.2 Megapixel CCD for shooting hi-res still and VGA movies
3. 58MB Built-in memory / Slot for optional MemoryStick Duo memory card use
4. Accepts 30mm filters
5. Carl Zeiss 3x zoom lens - Focal Length 6.3 - 18.9mm (35mm Equivalent 38 - 114mm)

Editorial Review :

The Sony Cyber-shot(R) DSC-W70 is an ideal camera for starting out right in digital photography, combining the quality of 7.2 megapixels and Carl Zeiss 3X optical zoom, the performance of High Sensitivity mode for great low-light shots, the simplicity of on-screen Function Guide for easy setup, and the convenience of 58 MB Internal Memory for shooting images without inserting a memory card. Auto and Manual Exposure and Focus modes Focus - 5 Area Multi-Point AF, Center AF - Minimum Focus Distance 19.7 (50cm) Normal, 0.74 (2cm) Macro Shutter Speed 1/8 - 1/2000 sec. (Auto), 1 - 1/2000 sec. (Program Auto) / Aperture Range f2.8-7.1(W), f5.2-13(T) Integrated Electronic-Flash - Flash Effective Range ISO Auto - 6 to 13' 8 (0.2-4.2m) (W), ISO 1000 - 2' 7 to 24' (0.8-7.3m) (W) / Flash Modes Auto, Forced On, Forced Off, Slow Synch / Red-Eye Reduction On/Off, all modes Color LCD 2.5 115,000 Pixel TFT LCD Screen Burst Mode 3 Shot at X.XX fps (7MP JPEG fine), XX Shot VGA at X.XX fps (JPEG std.) / Power Save Mode Yes (after 3 min. of inactivity) Built-in Mic and speaker White Balance Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Flash Color Mode(s) - Natural, Rich, Sepia, Black & White Unit Dimensions 3 1/2 x 2 1/4 x 15/16 (89 x 57 x 23 mm) / Weight 4.7 oz (127g) Body; 5.8 oz. (157g) including Battery and optional Memory Stick(R) Duo Media Lithium-Ion NP-BG1 (3.6V, 950 mAh battery capacity) rechargeable battery is included USB Terminal USB Output Yes, via multi-terminal, supports USB 2.0 Hi-speed Memory Stick PRO Duo Media Compatibility Tested to support up to 2GB Memory Stick(R) PRO Duo; does not support Access Control security function Audio/Video Outputs Yes, via multi-terminal Compatible with all PictBridge printers for printing without use of a computer PC and Macintosh data-transfer compatible

Customer Review :

No review yet

1. Budget entry-level digital camera with a 1.3-megapixel CCD
2. Digital zoom to 3x
3. 1.5-inch LCD for previewing your photos
4. Built-in flash and included 4MB Memory Stick media card for picture storage
5. InfoLithium NP-FS11 battery included

Editorial Review :

Take memorable pictures using this digital camera! With features like 1.3 megapixel gross resolution, 1.5" LCD screen, 3-mode Intelligent Flash with Red-Eye Reduction, 3x Digital Zoom, and Clip Motion Animation and Video Capture, you just might have a new hobby. The Date-Time stamp helps you keep track of your pictures and the included 4MB MemoryStick will store your photos until you're ready to put them on your computer. Use the USB connection for easy editing and sharing.

Customer Review :

blurry close ups

great little camera for taking people pictures,but if your an ebayer and need close ups of small items.like watches,forget it,it gets close to item but very blury....

Rating :

I LOVE THIS CAMERA!

I got this camer for Christmas. It is awesome. It comes with great software, looks sharp, takes great looking shots, lets you edit them on the camera, although it is hard to see thru the viewfinder, the LCD works great. The Camera has its own little OS and it is fun to use. the zoom is nice and smooth and it can even take horrible quality videos. Well, they are ok, but the pictures look MUCH better The LCD is clear and sharp, and all of the buttons feel great,and arent hard to use. I highly recomend buying the kit with the recharger, rechargable battery, and carrying case! And i also got a 128mb memory stick which works great. I have never filled the stick up with pictures, so I am very pleased with the capacity. On the other hand, the 4mb it comes with leaves you wanting more. I like the Lens Cover, but remeber to close it when you are done! I tried a Polaroid PDC640CF before this and was not satasfied woth 640x480 this has well over 2 times that! It works great, takes great pics, transfers them fast, etc. NOW JUST BUY IT!!

Rating :

Low priced, but expensive

This camera takes decent pictures, but is a real battery hog. You'll need to buy rechargeables or buy the battery pack offered by Sony. The memory stick supplied with the camera won't give you many pictures, so you'll also need to buy a bigger capacity stick.
The LCD screen is fragile and easily broken. If that happens, you just have a paperweight.

Rating :

Great starter camera

If using regular AA batteries you're camera will run out of life before your disk runs out of space, try getting rechargables. I did have a problem with Sony's product warranty and the extended warranty my husband purchased as well though. Apparently I will need to get myself another camera because neither policy will cover condensation (or liquid damage as they put it). The repair for this exceeds the purchase price of the camera and I won't pay it. Be careful using this and all digital cameras if you are going to use it in different temparatures. Don't take the camera from a warm room to the outside if its wintertime. Use the ziploc baggie they suggest in the manual if you can remember!

Rating :

Just OK there are probably better alternatives.

I primarily bought this camera to put photos of stuff on e-bay. The camera is ok for this use, but I found the OEM Sony batteries to be unreliable and expensive. We got the error warning mentioned by others and the same cold reception from Sony. I warn others considering this or any digital camera to make sure it does not use a proprietary battery. For the cost of the Sony battery we were able to buy a charger and 4 NiMH 2200 mAh batteries. The camera cycles faster with the flash and it appears that we get more photos per charge, plus we have a back up set. I don't see a down side with the non-sony battery. On the otherhand it takes pretty good pictures and its easy to cheat the shutter for special effects. We get very good close ups, but I always use a tripod for these and I bracket shoot at a few distances. After all there is no film, why not take several shots and pick the best one?

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1. 1,600 x 1,200 top resolution
2. Professional Carl Zeiss lens: 2.5x digital zoom with high-speed auto macro capability
3. 2.1-million-pixel CCD
4. New 2-inch, hybrid, LCD color monitor with brightness control
5. Memory Stick memory storage

Customer Review :

Very nice older digital camera.

Wish they still made this camera! Takes nice pictures, easy to use. Only down side is the special batteries needed. Get two of those so you always have one ready. Can find them cheap online, too.

Rating :

terrific optimization of inevitable tradeoffs

I used the DSC-F55's predecessor unit for two years before losing it, sadly, on a Christmas vacation trip to Mexico a year ago... it was a terrific unit, easy to shoot with, good capacity (about 50+ in medium resolution mode); with all its shortcomings on resolution, etc...it had two features that I personally consider critical for easy, spontaneous day-to-day use, especially on travel: extremely lightweight/small (fits in pocket) and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. When I saw the DSC-F55 this spring, I jumped! While expensive, it very largely retained the best elements of the small form-factor/weight and rechargeability elements that I was looking for while presenting significantly enhanced resolution and(!) MPEG video, to boot. This latter capability has been a tremendous boon --- I've picked up a 16meg memory stick (have 2 4Meg sticks in addition); agree with another reviewer that compared with downloading to PC over serial port, nothing beats using memory stick in a PCMCIA port adapter directly in a notebook -- since trasferring images to the PC has to be the most time consuming and least attractive part of the digital photography value proposition, make no mistake: direct memory stick insertion into a PC is the way to go (especially if you're using a Sony PC -- I'm not, so the only drawback is having to pay a usurious amount on a PCMCIA adapter to carry the memory stick; maybe there are better third party alternatives now) Lithium ion battery recharges rapidly and is standard Sony issue (i.e., not proprietary to this camera, therefore relatively readily available in many video stores --- good for 60-70 minutes continuous use typically. I recognize there are some risks with Sony's proprietary memory stick form factor, versus Compact Flash, but it works brilliantly. Controls on camera look complex, but after a day, most features are intuitively accessed and ergonomics are first rate; continue to like the rotating lens; mpeg capabilities invariably wows anyone unfamiliar with the product; I always follow up with an email; agree that bundled software is not so-so --- album manager pretty helpful --- can always use Mediaplayer for MPEG. Audio went dead in second month but was easily repaired under warranty. Don't miss absence of optical zoom -- find digital 5x capability more than adequate given the resolution. My only regret is that these products, as compelling as they are, tend to have product cycle half-life of 9 months --- if you buy for features, you have to be ready for 70% depreciation in year 1. Conclusion: terrific product quality, great images --- most importantly, for me, delivers this with the best in portability and rechargeability.

Rating :

Great Pictures

This Camera takes awesome still pictures and the good thing is that you can move the lens so its easy to take self pictures and when you want to time them too.

Rating :

Sony's Product Support

I bought a DSC-F55 in November 99 for just under 600 dollars and with the new 32 mb stick available the amount of photos you can take is almost unlimited. My biggest complaint is Sony. You buy the product, they give you a lite version of their software Picture Gear 3.2 tell you to purchase the full version and accessories but nothing is available. It seems too bad that a company with Sony's reputation can not bundle the full lenght version of their software or at least make it available for download from their site. I have not been able to buy an extra battery yet or the DC adapter for the car or the camera case.

As far as the camera I have really enjoyed the small size. Lots of my friends have the larger Sony's and they all love mine. The red eye problem I solved since I have to work with the pictures in Adobe Photoshop and have been able to remove the red eye that has shown up in some picures. I realize that the camera is new to the market and that printer manufacture will probably catch up in the near future.

Rating :

great photo quality, lacks common controls

I got this one instead of some other digital camera because it could take short movies in MPEG format and the image quality was excellent. (There was another camera that did MPEG movies too.. I think it was the Hitachi InternetCam or something.) There are some aspects of the camera that I do find lacking. For example, I can not control the exposure time and it does not come with different flash modes or zoom functionality. The exposure time isn't really necessary since the camera takes care of it very well. In low light I have to hold the camera still or else the image may be blurred. I usually do not use the flash with this camera because it is overpowering and I can usually get away without it (and adjust the image later on the computer). I don't usually photographed people so I haven't had a problem with red-eye. The movie capability is great and helps capture a whole scenery or environment that can't be conveyed with a still image. Unfortunately the software that comes with the camera really sucks and I have yet to find software to work with the MPEG format. Transfering the files off of the memory stick is a drag with the serial adapter so I prefer to use the PCMCIA card on the laptop. Another feature I really love is the ability to take macro photos of things up-close and they come out incredibly well. I don't need to use the swivel feature of the lens but I find it's flexibility useful when I do. The battery lasts about an hour and is rechargeable or you can use the AC adapter. The 4 MB memory stick that comes with camera will hold about 8-10 images at the maximum quality/resolution or about 3-4 movies at 320x240. It seems this is the "first" in a new series by Sony so you may want to wait until you can buy the next model, the F505, when it comes out in your area. I have seem a couple of these for sale on Ebay.

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1. 10.1-megapixel Super HAD CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality poster-size prints
2. Carl Zeiss 5x optical zoom lens; Smart Zoom feature
3. 2.7-inch Clear Photo LCD display; Face Detection
4. Smile Shutter mode; in-camera retouching
5. 15 MB internal memory; capture images to Memory Stick Duo/Pro Duo media

Editorial Review :

The Sony DSC-W170 features an enviable 10.1-Megapixel resolution, Carl Zeiss 5x optical zoom lens, and Sony's Double Anti-Blur solution for crisp, clear images with a sophisticated, compact body. A large, bright 2.7" Clear Photo LCD display includes an anti-reflective coating that provides for excellent visibility to help you compose, view, and share photos with superb clarity and color reproduction, even in bright sunlight. In addition, Face Detection technology, Smile Shutter, and Intelligent Scene Recognition elicit stunning detail from special moments. High-resolution images can be enjoyed in 16:9 High-Resolution Mode simply by connecting the camera directly to a Sony BRAVIA HDTV or other compatible HDTV with an optional cradle for optimal HD playback. Because an off-center subject can make your shot more interesting, a 9-point auto-focus measures the focus at 9 precision points instead of 5 for a greater creative freedom to compose your image. Super SteadyShot(R) Optical Image Stabilization compensates for shaky hands and minimizes blur with optical sensors that detect camera movement and send correcting signals to a stabilization lens. Shutter Speed - Auto (1/4 - 1/1,600) / Program Auto (1 - 1/1,600) Aperture Range - Auto (F3.3/F8.0 (W), 2 steps) / Program auto (F3.3/F8.0 (W), 2 steps) with ND Filter White Balance - Automatic, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent, and Flash Movie Modes - MPEG VX Fine with Audio (640x480 at 30fps), MPEG VX Standard with Audio (640x480 at 16fps), Presentation (320 x 240 at 8fps) Scene Modes - Beach, High Sensitivity, Landscape, Snow, Soft Snap, Twilight, and Twilight Portrait Flash Modes - Auto, Forced On, Forced Off, and Slow Synch In-Camera Editing - Red-eye reduction, soft edge filter, cross filter, partial color filter, and fish-eye filter

Customer Review :

I love this camera.

Its been two years since I bought this camera and even today it works so perfect that I do not feel the necessity in purchasing another one. The picture clarity is perfect and also the pictures taken in the dark also come out so nice. I love this camera. The video recording is not of that good quality when compared to a HD cam but its nice. The LCD panel is also nice which helps me to see the pictures which I take with full quality. Its the best cam for me and most important its worth the price paid for. I would recommend this camera even today to anyone.

Rating :

Sony just can't get past the Betamax thing....

The camera works fine, but is it any better than the several dozen competitors in this price range? Is it so much better that customers should have to put up with the Sony proprietary memory card and USB cables? My daughter promptly lost the cable....no biggie, surely one of our other dozen USB cables we have here would work....only took a moment to see that the camera connector is totally unique and no where near any kind of industry standard. And Sony wants $35+ for a replacement cable. Best deal here on Amazon is $20. All other USB cables (standard connectors) are way less than $15. and of course, can't just pop out the memory card and plug it into my laptop reader....nope, it's proprietary as well. gee, thanx for that.
Why does Sony insist on steadfastly refusing to use any industry standards? Makes ya think that maybe the Sony engineers and management are still a bit miffed at loosing the Beta/VHS battles back in the 80's.....come on Sony - get over it and quit taking your customers for a ride with your proprietary, but no better than any other manufacturer's, connectors and memory cards.

Because of Sony's obvious arrogance and contempt for their customers, I will never buy another Sony product, nor recommend one.



Rating :

black spots

I loved this camera until after the 2nd year of use I have black spots on my shots. Very poor longevity. I've seen other people with camera having the same problems. Not bad if you want black spots in all you pictures.

Rating :

Worked fine for about a year

This camera took great pictures and video and was great for what I wanted, but now for some odd reason when i turn it on the lens goes in and out about 3 times then the lcd display says "turn camera off and on again" I cant get it to go back to normal no matter how many times i have turned it on and off. Many people with the same problem seem to be able to fix this by banging on it because this is usually caused by dust getting stuck in the lens, i tried everything and still can not get it to work. So now i have a useless camera. Not happy.

Rating :

Great quality photos, easy to use

We had always purchased Olympus digital cameras, and when our last Olympus failed to impress, we decided to try the Sony. It has been a great camera, takes excellent photos, and has given us no hassles. Like any small digital, in very low light you must hold the camera very still, but it has been better than the Olympus cameras we've had in the past. Syncing to the Mac is very quick and easy, and charging is simple as well. No complaints!

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