Good At What It Does--Great for active people who need a quick snap!
Written: Sep 30 '03 (Updated Sep 30 '03)
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Pros: Waterproof to 5ft deep--splash proof, snow proof, and sand proof!
Cons: Low resolution photos; No digital or optical zoom; No sound in Movie Mode; Fixed Focus
The Bottom Line: Give it to the kids and don’t worry--short of stepping on it or dropping it to the bottom of the lake, it should come home in one piece.
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| briandalsmom's Full Review: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-U60 Digital Camera |
There aren’t many digital cameras designed to be used in rough conditions. Specifically, one that is water-resistant or even waterproof. Waterproof models usually are way out of the price range of us “regular” people, but this one isn’t. This one has a great operating range--from freezing to scorching! Granted you pay a lot of the $249 price for the waterproof features of this camera, as a camera with similar features but minus the waterproofing, would be less expensive. This isn’t a high-end, quality camera. It’s a camera meant to take a bump, but not an award-winning photo.
Knowing that, why would you buy one? If you’re looking to take good pictures in harsh conditions and not great pictures in perfect conditions. Not only can you use this in rain and snow, you can actually take it as far as 5 feet under water. Deeper than that and the camera isn’t guaranteed not to succumbed to the outside pressure and lose its seal.
FEATURES
2.0-mega pixel with 1” color LCD monitor (It’s TINY! You’re not going to be able to tell if you’ve gotten the shot or not, at least I can’t!). It’s crowded with information about battery life and number of exposures taken. It’s 5.0mm lens is said to be the equivalent of a 33mm on a 35mm camera with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 (my son has been teaching me about the benefits of learning to use and set the aperture—I still just like to point and shoot). It has automatic exposure control (to keep it from being over- or under-exposed, and has automatic white balance. Getting the white balance right is one of the most important features to me--I prefer cameras with a manual white balance as I find them more reliable. There are four built-in flash modes so you can control the flash (Auto, Anti-red-eye, On, Off).
SPECIAL FEATURES
Underwater Mode--To enhance the color which can be washed out with the lack of light and to overcome overwhelming blues.
Active Outdoors--Meant to capture fast-moving subjects with a reduction in blurring.
Soft Snap--A pseudo-portrait mode which is supposed to enhance skin tones and applies a soft filter—I thought it just looked blurry. Other cameras do it beautifully, this one didn’t.
Illumination Snap--Used for low-light situations when taking photos of live subjects—it automatically uses the Red-eye reduction mode and adds some backlighting to the photo.
Twilight--Also for low light situations but for non-living photos as there’s no red-eye reduction used (it basically just disables the flash).
Vivid Nature--It tries to correct landscape photos but upping the blue and green tones.
Self-timer--You have 10 seconds to hop into the photo
Pre-Flash Metering--The camera sends a quick pre-flash to calculate the exposure for accurate flash metering.
Red-Eye Reduction--Remember to turn it on and it will make an effort to reduce it, I found it only worked occasionally and I often had to fix the Red-eye with software.
MISSING FEATURES
No optical or digital zoom
No lens cap
Fixed-focus (at least there are four settings--Auto, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 m, infinity)
No sound in the movie mode
No tripod mount
Only two resolution settings (1,632-by-1,224 and 640-by-480)
JPEG only
No AV output
LOOKS
It is oddly designed with a purpose. Meant to be used one-handed, it fits into your palm and is operated with your index finger. It measures 2 3/8" w x 4 3/8" h x 1 3/4" d and weighs 5.5 ounces (6.7 ounces with battery, strap, and memory stick). It feels quite natural and is not cumbersome at all. It does look odd though—nothing like a typical camera. The orientation is portrait rather than landscape. It’s made completely of plastic—white with blue and black accents. The areas touched most by the fingers are colored (good to hide the finger gunk—you know it happens!). It doesn’t have a lens cap, instead it has a clear plastic window that covers the lens—scratch it and you’ll be in trouble, but they don’t offer any kind of cap for it.
PHOTO QUALITY
Sorry, it really suffers here. The pictures (jpeg format) are grainy and the flash too bright. If you have time to think about the set up you can overcome some of these situations, however, its purpose is a point-and-shoot, and as one, it’s just OK. The color was adequate. Underwater photos were fine, no better or worse than those taken above the waves. It took the best photos in bright sunlight, or sunlight using a fill-flash. Close-ups of faces reproduced the skin texture well, but photos taken at a distance tended to blur out the face beyond recognition. The resolution of this camera is only going to give you a good print up to 5x7”—you won’t get a decent 8x10, and actually, a wallet is the best. If you’re taking photos for printing, this probably isn’t the best one. If you’re taking them to share or store digitally, this one isn’t bad. Using the flash underwater didn’t result in great pictures—using the underwater mode actually worked better.
USE
It’s quick to start and quick to shutdown—important when you need to whip it out, take a photo, and get it back in the pocket quickly. Shutter lag, one of my complaints about digitals, is actually fast on this one. This is a plus for taking a quick shot—you’re assured that the shot you saw through the LCD is the shot you’ll get (my old Sony freezes for at least 3 seconds before it takes the shot—by then the person has moved on, very annoying). It does have a Burst Mode—this allows you to take up to five frames in a series. It does this quite well, mostly thanks to that quick shutter speed but also because it writes to the media quickly. This feature is only available in low-resolution photos𥁘x480. One of the best features is the ability to turn off the “beep”—I hate cameras that beep and I would never buy one that couldn’t be turned off.
LCD
Just a tiny LCD on this one, no viewfinder. I prefer one that has both—each has a benefit and use.
BATTERIES
The two AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries only last an hour if used continuously or used repeatedly to view the photos or movies on the stick. Recharging fully discharged batteries averages about 6 hours. With all NiMH batteries the life cycle depends on the camera’s activities-- use it just to take photos it will last for hours. You can turn of the LCD backlight to save batteries. The backlight is only required in low light situations--the LCD is quite viewable as long as their is ambient light. It also has an auto-off feature. Leave it for three minutes and it will power off.
STORAGE
The included 8MB Sony Memory Stick isn’t going to allow you to save very many images, especially if you take your photos at full resolution (1,632x1,224). Your file size will average about 500kilobytes—this number can be greater if the photo is very detailed, or lower if it’s a fairly simple photo. You’ll only get about 15 images at that resolution. You can increase the storage by lowering the resolution to 640x480 (e-mail size). At this resolution, you’ll get about 80 photos per 8MB stick. You can mix the resolutions on a stick and you can delete photos you don’t want to keep to regain space (you’ll need to switch to Playback mode, delete them, and then switch back to Record mode to start shooting again). If you only use the card to store the photos until you can get them uploaded to your PC you might be OK; however, I would suggest buying a second card with more storage capacity.
PC INTERFACE
Since your computer connects with a USB cable, the connection speed is dependent on the computer speed and the computer’s USB interface. Older computers will upload at a slower rate and may require the included software to transfer the files. Newer computers running Windows 2000 or higher should recognize the camera as an additional drive—no additional software necessary. This also means you can plug your camera into any USB port, on any computer, whether they have the Sony software or not (a big drawback in the “old days” was only computer with the software could upload the photos).
SIMPLE TO USE
There aren’t many features so you don’t have to worry about having a lot of buttons. In fact, there are only a few. The shutter button is located on the far right—press it halfway down to focus, and fully press to take the photo. Easy, huh! The power button is clearly marked and it does feature a fast start up—less than 5 second from power button to shutter click. That lets you catch pictures on the fly (of course, there’s nothing to open or extend so it should be fast!). There’s a Menu button with is used to access the special features (more about them later)—once in the menu there is an up and down arrow button to navigate. The up/down arrows are also used for moving through photos when viewing in playback. There’s a button marked EXEC which is used accept the menu choice, but while looking at photos it enlarges them up to 5 times the regular size (just a portion of the photo and it isn’t scrollable—useless features in my opinion). The only other button is the Mode Dial—chose from playback (typical play symbol of right facing arrow), camera icon to record, and filmstrip icon to denote Movie mode.
MODES
Record: Use this mode to capture still images—you can control the aperture (not like a SLR, but just controls the amount of light by size), shutter speed (works with the aperture setting to take better photos in special conditions like low light). You can set picture effects like Solarize, B&W, Sepia (browned to look old fashioned), or Negative Art (everything dark is light and light is dark). Unlike most cameras, these modes must be selected when the photo is taken, not during the playback—it’s best to take them all in normal mode and use a cheap or free photo editor to add these features if you desire while retaining the original.
Playback: You can review your photos and movies, which are stored on the memory card by selecting this mode. You can delete photos that to make room on the stick or if they’re just bad. You can view the full photo or thumbnail index (a tiny picture of four of your photos at one time).
Movie Mode: You can record movie clips, sans sound, in 15 second lengths, but you can take as many 15-second segments as your memory stick can hold. The resolution is 160 x 112 video, very grainy! Saved in the MPEG format, you can e-mail them, but I don’t see any other use for them. The 8MB stick can hold about 5 minutes of video if there’s nothing else on it.
CAUTIONS
Remember to check the O-ring to be sure it hasn't been damaged.
Keep the camera and especially the LCD out of direct sunlight.
When charging the batteries, Sony recommends leaving them in the charge no longer that 24 hours.
Never put the camera away dirty or wet--if dirt clings to it wash it gently and dry it to avoid rusting of metal parts.
Watch out for suntan lotion or other oily substances--clean them off as soon as possible with lukewarm tap water--no cleaners.
Watch out for condensation--if you bring the camera inside from a very cold area, Sony recommends putting it in a plastic bag to warm slowly. Never use the camera with condensation inside.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
8 MB Memory Stick (Sony-specific, no generic cards can be used); USB cable; two AAA NiMH batteries and charger; Software CD; Instruction manual; and wrist strap.
ACCESSORIES
Memory Sticks (they come in all sizes by you must buy a Sony Stick)
FINAL THOUGHTS
Send it with the kids to camp and don’t worry about sand, dust, water or anything else. Short of stepping on it or dropping it to the bottom of the lake, it should come home in one piece. You could buy a cheaper camera but could it withstand the backpack or bag? Also, remember, it’s quick—pull it out, turn it on, and snap. You’ll get some good pictures that you may not have gotten with a better camera.
SPECS FROM SONY.COM
Operating Temperature Range - 32 F to 104 F
Storage Temperature Range - -4 F to 140F
Power Consumption (when shooting) 1.35 W
• Imaging Device: 1/2.7" 2.0 Megapixel Super HAD™ CCD
• Recording Media: Memory Stick® Media and Memory Stick PRO™ Media
• Optical Zoom: 1X
• Focal Length: 5.0mm
• 35mm Conversion: 33mm
• Aperture: f 2.8
• Focus: 4-Step Manual Preset with Auto
• Minimum Focus Distance: 3.9" (0.1m)
• Macro: Auto/Selectable
• Shutter Speed: Auto (1/8 – 1/2000)
• Manual Exposure: N/A
• Color LCD: 1.0" 64K Pixels Hybrid LCD
• Flash Modes: Auto, Forced On, Forced Off, Red-Eye Reduction
• Flash Effective Range: 1.6 - 6.0 feet (0.5m - 1.8m)
• ISO: Auto
• Memory Stick PRO™ Media Compatibility: Tested to support up to 1GB media capacity; does not support high-speed transfer function; does not support Access Control security function
• Software Supplied: Pixela ImageMixer™ Software for Sony v.1.5, USB Driver SPVD-010
• OS Compatibility: Microsoft® Windows® 98/98SE/Me/2000 Professional, XP Home and Professional, Macintosh® OS 8.5.1 / 8.6 / 9.0 / 9.1/ 9.2 Mac OS X (10.0 - 10.2)
• Supplied Accessories: NH-AAA-DI Rechargeable NiMH Batteries, BC-CS2 NiMH Battery Charger, USB Cable, Wrist Strap, MSA-8A 8MB Memory Stick® Media, Software CD-ROM
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 250.00
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Fool-Proof for Absolute Beginners
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briandalsmom
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Member: Mom
Location: USA
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