Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P72 Digital Camera

Pros: It produces the best movies that I have found on a digital photo camera!
Cons: No diopter correction on the optical viewfinder.

The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P72 is not only a nice digital camera with good photo quality, it produces t ...

Pros: Lightweight, small, STURDY!, easy to use, good quality images
Cons: The plastic bit that holds the wrist strap is NOT VERY STRONG!

My husband and I received this camera as a Christmas gift from my parents. It's the best little digital camera I've met yet. We took a vacation earlier this year to Mexico and went a trip into the rainforests. While traversing through the trees ...

Pros: easy to understand functions, good photos, uses AA batteries
Cons: lag time between photos, auto-shut off occurs too quickly, only 16mb memory stick included

This is my first digital camera and I'm quite happy with it. [nearly a year after I originally posted this review, I still feel the same way... see update below] I was hesitant to go digital since I like to hold photos in my hand, but now that you can ...

Pros: Very easy to use, Great image quality.
Cons: Battery life

1.) Why did I buy it?

This is my first digital camera, I bought it because I need it for my summer vacation, and I need one with great image quality so the pictures can last a life time.

2.) How do I know about the DSC-P72?
...

Pros: Picture quality, size, zoom, programs, speed between shots (memory stick pro is fastest technology)
Cons: Must use Sony batteries! People on this website really need to read their manuals.

I bought my P72 6 months ago so I consider myself pretty qualified to give a review vs. those that have written theirs after only 3 days of ownership. The honeymoon phase is over for me and I am looking for a new camera but this one wasn't too bad. ...

Pros: Great pictures, easy to use, movie mode, size (small, but good feel).
Cons: Supplied memory stick is too small, more capacity is expensive compared to other media.

Okay, you can get plenty of technical specifications in other reviews, this is more about usability and user experience. When it finally came time to move my wife from film to digital cameras I knew I needed to find a camera that was both easy to use ...

Pros: - Clear, Quality pictures. 3x optical zoom, movie mode. - Low Price
Cons: - Missing some key features that would be nice. - Needs bigger smart card.

The Sny DSC P72 is a good camera. Good, not great. Picture quality is excellent as far as an amateur will tell you, has 3x optical zoom (a must) and comes with rechargeable batteries and charger, what more can you ask for? Theres even a respective Movie ...

Pros: Great low-light shots ∙ Small ∙ Able to take multiple pics quickly
Cons: The Memory Stick it comes with is just 16mg's; 32mg or 64mg should be standard

With a new baby in the house, I needed a digital camera to help me capture "moments" all day long. My key criteria were image quality (I'm old-fashioned and wanted to be able to get 35mm-quality prints from my digital shots to put in an album) and light ...

Pros: Quality LCD Screen, no shutter lag, excellent pictures, fantastic movies.
Cons: No sports/action setting. Long time btw shots when using flash. Bad software.

I got this camera for mother's day. It was easy to learn to use, the pictures look great. The only thing I would add to it is a mode for taking action/sports shots. If I want to get non-blurry pictures of my baby waving or crawling, I have to change...

Pros: Good resolution, good chargeable batteries, nice screen, great value.
Cons: Slow between shots, slow picture preview generation, overpowering flash.

Throughout the past 2.5 years, the camera has proven to be a well-functioning piece of photography equipment. This is the only digital camera that I have owned, but I have used many other models from Sony and from other manufacturers. It would be ...

Pros: Easy to use, not too big, not too small, great battery life
Cons: Blurry images in low light

I spent forever trying to figure out which camera to buy. I wanted one with great photo quality and ...

Pros: picture quality, battery life, ease of use
Cons: tiny little menu buttons on the back

I have owned this product for about 9 months now and use it daily for uploading photos to my business website. I am so impressed with this camera and very happy to have purchased it instead of the Canon Elph I was considering at the time. I haven't even ...

Pros: 3x optical zoom, you can make gif files, excellent videos
Cons: Scratches easily, sony mem sticks are expensive, LCD useless in bright sunlight

This camera rocks! I looked around before I got this camera and compared to the canon, olympus, and ...

Pros: if you focus, great pics; easy to use; good movies; included batteries and charger.
Cons: blurry images if you don't focus; bulky; slow between flash shots; 16mb card!

I have owned the camera for about a year and I have taken pretty good pictures with it. Unfortunately, if you don't focus (press down half way) before taking the shot, it takes very blurry images (And you won't know because the image looks ok in the ...

Pros: Great quality for the price. So far it has been very durable. Easy to use.
Cons: No DC connection. Flimsy flap over connection port. Small LCD screen. Software supplied very basic.

I'm just guessing at the price since it was a gift. My second digital camera, a gift from my husband last Christmas. I had a Fuji digital camera the first time around when digitals were just breaking into the average market. In this price range, it ...

Pros: The quality, flash modes, movie mode, look, ease of use.
Cons: The hassle I went through to receive the end product.

Okay, here's what my story on this camera is... You see, I first bought the Sony DSC-P71 camera back in January, 2003. It worked for all of four days, until my clumsiness caused me to drop it from approx. 2 feet onto tile floor. What this caused ...

Pros: Easy to use.
Cons: Quit working after 13 months.

Everything was great with this camera until about 13 months after I bought it. I plugged in the USB cord one day and it quit working. The green power light flashes when the power button is touched and that is it. Sony quotes a flat rate of $171 to fix ...

Pros: Great quality pictures 640X480 movie mode w/ sound NiMH batteries and charger included
Cons: Sometimes AF is slow. Redeye reduction pre-strobe sometimes causes subjects to blink

This is my first foray into digital photography and I am very pleased with the Sony DSC-P72. I did consider comparable Nikon and Canon models but I have a Sony digital TV with a Memory Stick reader, and that was the deciding factor. My wife really enjoys ...

Pros: Easy to use. Optical and digital zoom!! Included are long lasting batteries and charger.
Cons: Memory sticks are a little pricier. It's a little bulky.

I have been looking for a digital camera for several months, I have tried the Canon SD110, the Canon A300 the Konica/Minolta Dimage x31 and this camera, what decided this issue was that while vacationing in Miami I got a decent deal on it, and that after ...

Pros: Automatic still shot mode and ergonomic design.
Cons: As any digital camera it eats batteries; buy AA rechargeables. And a 128mb Memory stick.

After 20 years of shooting 35mm film, mainly with point and shoot cameras and an old Canon F-1 (you know, the last one that did not require batteries and would work well after being buried in snow for a year), I finally took the plunge today and bought a ...

Pros: Excellent starter camera.
Cons: Have to buy extra memory to get most out of resolution capabilities.

Made this purchase about 5 weeks ago in preparation for a vacation to The Keys (Key West, Florida).

This camera has it all and is very easy to use. Main features are the ability to switch between resolution modes (vga up to 3 megs each photo)...

Pros: Extremely easy to use. Great Picture Quality
Cons: Included memory card does not hold very many pictures

I've had this camera for about 15 months now, and I must have recommended it to at least 10 people in that time. When I went to purchase the camera, I had my heart completely set on a different one, an Olympus. From the specs I had researched on the ...

Pros: Easy to use, the quality of pictures are great
Cons: memory stick is expensive

I bought this camera for the trip to Hawaii. This is my first one, but it is so easy to use. The best thing about this is you can take movies with unlimited times as long as the memory stick has enough space.
It use AA battery and is rechargeable....

Pros: Easy to use. Great pictures. Instructions easy to follow.
Cons: Zoom is a little noisy.

I just got my camera and have started using it. I find it easy to use and comfortable to handle. It ...

Pros: Great picture quality, zoom, and battery life (with the lithium batteries), video capability
Cons: No unboard storage, memory sticks are expensive

This is the first digital camera I bought. I am a bit of a technology buff and after a lot of research I picked the P72. This camera is great! The 3.2 mega pixels are more than enough if you are just taking basic pictures, 5x7 's, to get developed. The ...

Pros: Great picture quality. Excellent low-light performance. Easy to use.
Cons: Night shots aren't the greatest. Sony software is kinda weak.

Great performance for the price. This camera has plenty of features for the point and shoot picture taker. Easy to use with plenty of automatic modes. Plenty of user adjustments available. Nice zoom. Good size and weight. I got 150 pictures on one...

Pros: Good Pictures
Cons: Poor software, difficult connections, poorly marked controls not user friendly

I have had my Sony cybershot now for about 2 months. It replaced a Canon Power Shot I had for two years that broke after a bad fall. I bought the Cybershot mainly because I own a Sony laptop and the two would talk to each other easily. I don’t ...

Pros: compact, easy to use, great quality pics, it comes with rechargeable batteries and the charger
Cons: like most digital cameras the batteries don't last too long.

My husband and I just had a baby in March. Before, we had always bought those disposable cameras which cost about 6 bucks a camera. When the little one came into our lives we discovered that we would go through 2 cameras almost a week. (We're first...

Pros: Excellent picture quality; flexible & easy picture settings
Cons: LCD hard to see in bright light; Autofocus takes some time in low light situations

As a less experienced photo enthusiast, I find using the P72 a great experience. After shooting a fe ...

Pros: It has tons of great features. You can even choose to make your picture black/white.
Cons: It was difficult to learn to use all the great functions that it provides.

This is the first digital camera that I have owned. It has tons of features which were hard to learn ...

Pros: Great movies & sound capabilities, small in size, comes with recharger, simple to operate.
Cons: Delayed flash, batteries need longer life, not good at close-ups.

I bought mine when it first came out. The memory stick had to be upgraded right away. Seemed like a great camera at first until I wanted to take close-ups for Ebay merchandise listings. Just doesn't offer enough mega-pixels to do this efficiently. The price has come down quite a bit since I purchased mine so I wish I had waited a year before buying.

Mine came with rechargeable batteries and a charger. Even though it will use regular AAA batteries, I DO NOT advise it. It is harmful to your camera. (Read Manual)

My camera is not even 2 years old and already I can buy a 5.0 megapixel for what I paid for this originally.

TIP: I usually do my homework before buying anything like this and I didn't. So take note people, SHOP AROUND especially if this is your first digital camera purchase.

Pros: camera speaks for itself!
Cons: ditto!

fantastic little number this one you have to be pretty thick if you cant run this unit, what a little ripper keep up the good work sony.

Pros: Several features; Easy to understand menus; Great at Night
Cons: The rocker switch/ touch button can sometimes be hard to manipulate.

I have used this camera in Las Vegas, on snowy mountain tops, on sandy beaches, and even at the kitchen table. It works great. I purchased the camera to be able to take pictures of materials for a website, pictures of family gatherings, photos on trips, and pictures for various company assessments. I love the quality of the pictures (3.2 MP) in every type of light, even no light and its ability to immediately connect with video devices via USB or RCA to display the images one at a time or through a slide show. The only thing I hate to do with this camera is rotate the images 90 degrees for shots that I take with the camera rotated.

Pros: Good quality photos, videos. once learnt, easy to use
Cons: Zoom capability on 3.1meg. is a let down.

This is a great camera. Does have a flimsy feel about it. I really can't see a lot of difference in quality between 3.1 and 1.2 megs. I have printed some nice photos. The twilight mode has produced some neat pictures.(use a tripod). I have used the various manual settings and feel that auto produces just as good as the programme modes.

I feel Sony has mislead us in advertizeing this as a 3.1meg with a 3x optical zoom WITH smart zoom. 16mb card is too small.

I still have my old Kodak DC3200 and on its better setting, takes as good a shot as this Sony does set to 2.0/1.2. The manual could be a lot friendlier to use.

Pros: Fits in your pocket. Lightweight. Takes great moving and still image pictures.
Cons: No sound for movies. Uses memory sticks and not SDcards

I have owned this camera for well over 3 years and the camera is great for beginner and novice picture taker. It can be used in a variety of light conditions. It does take some getting to use too but once the setting are optimum for the picture taking conditions the photo will come out great.

I have taken pictures of Jet Airplanes flying by at airshows, firework displays at night, in and outdoor close-up photos of people, wildlife and nature. It did great in all venues.

The most difficult setting to take a picture was the fireworks display, because it was at night and the exploding fireworks had different speeds due to burst charges being different.

Do not give up, there is some trial and error to get the perfect pic.

I only wish I could post some pics especially from the airshows!

Pros: Takes good photos, but takes Experience to shoot good Photos. Can create GIF animations.
Cons: Macro mode is bad. Shutter speed is too slow. Rather Big.

I am not happy with this purchase. My first digital camera. Here are the details:

1. Will not even turn on with normal AA batteries, unless they are alkaline. Even then it will run out fast.
2. Battery life isnt that great.
3. Macro mode isn't very good.

I am an aquarist, and I find it impossible to take photos of my fish. The macro mode doesnt work very well, and the shutter speed is far too slow. It can be sped up, but not nearly as much as it takes to photograph a moving object.

Overall, this is a very poorly built camera, and not recommended unless you are prepared to be dissappointed.

Pros: The ease of use.
Cons: It could be more compact and I dislike the auto shut-off being so short.

I like the ease of using this camera; it's pretty self explanatory. This is why I usually buy Sony brand. I am not overly crazy about the camera because of the quick shut-off time, diminished battery life and I just recently got an e-mail about a suit out in California because of a dysfunction with this camera. I haven't had any problems yet.

Pros: Good looking images, nice optical zoom, lots of nice features, decent price
Cons: Images sometimes look better on camera than on computer, not good for quick pictures

Very satisfied with this camera. Takes great pictures, decent quality movies and has various different options. However, if you like to take candid pictures of people (which I like to do), this camera may not be for you. With the flash, it takes a few seconds to take the picture and flashes twice (which ruins all attempts to surprise people).

The battery life is pretty decent.

You may want to upgrade the memory stick because the default memory stick doesn't hold that many photos at higher resolutions.

The smart zoom is fairly useless, the image quality decreases by too much when you use it.

This may be more of a problem with my computer but when I take pictures, they often look much crisper and sharper in the camera than they appear on my computer. It's misleading sometimes.

But, all in all, these are minor complaints and I am very happy with this camera which embarasses my friend's camera that he recently bought for around the same price as mine.

Pros: easy to use, rechargeable batteries or AA batteries, fantastic picture quality
Cons: none

Have had this camera about two years. It takes beautiful photos, and the video clip feature is great. I love this camera for it's picture quality and ease of use.

Pros: Great image quality, great prints, ease of use, cost efficient!
Cons: Found none

I have owned my Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P72 digital camera for almost 2 yrs. I've used it on vacations, race tracks, ball games, and just capturing cute moments at home. The quality of the pictures is wonderful!!! It is easy to use, even if you have never used a digital camera before. If you decide to print your pictures, then I'm sure you will be pleased with the outcome! The color and the vividness of the images is unbeatable! For the price, you won't find a better digital camera! Before I bought my Sony, I had a 5.0 mega pixel digital camera, that was unfortunately stolen. Even though my Sony Cyber-shot is 3.2 mega pixel, there is no difference in the image quality of the 5.0 that I had! If you purchase this camera, you will not be dissapointed!

Pros: Excellent Picture Quality in Automatic. Good Zoom. Good Video & Sound for Movies.
Cons: Can't zoom while filming movie. Poor picture quality if flash manually shut off.

This camera is great. It is very easy to use, has great features. The video and sound quality of its movies are quite good. The picture quality is excellent. Its automatic focus and shutter speed is awesome.

Pros: Great quality, excellent video, durable, and cheap!
Cons: Cannot zoom in video mode.

I am extremely satisfied with my digital camera. The pictures are as clear as I would ever need them. Even when I blow them up to fit an entire page, the printed image is not pixelated at all! The Sony Cyber-Shot has convinced me that 3.2 megapixels is absolutely enough. The Cyber-Shot also features an extensive settings page where you can change just about anything you want, so I've had a lot of fun playing with the various options on that page. The camera is also very durable. I will admit, I dropped it once. The front lens bent to the side, and I thought that my camera was a goner for sure. In an act of desperation I pushed the lens back into place, and miraculously the camera works perfectly fine. I would not recommend any camera but this one, and the value is unbelievable.

Pros: good size, great functions and picture quality
Cons: breaks often

I owned this camera for 3 months, and it was phenomenal. Then one day the lens wouldn't open. It got stuck and failed to raise up. As a result, the camera was useless- I had to send it to the manufacturer, where it took 4 months and a couple hundred dollars to fix.

Then when I got it back I used the camera once successfully. The second time I used it after getting it back, the lens started doing the same thing. So, I called Sony, and they are only willing to do what they did the previous time- send it in to get fixed.

I never dropped the camera, and I kept it in a secure case. There is nothing that I could have done to have altered this camera's functioning, yet it has cost far too much money to keep working properly.

Pros: Battery life.
Cons: the time between taking one picture and the next is at least 10 seconds.

Just bought this camera 3 days back and love it.Love the clarity of pictures too.

Excellent battery life.

Took almost 50 pics and used for 5 hours of party with switching on and off,and still the camera worked for another hour or so.Also Sony provides a battery charger and batteries.

Well,guess what? Got it for a price of 269.99 with a FREE 128 MB memory stick.+ the 16MB stick which Sony provides!!!!

Pros: Light, easy to use for basics, fairly good optics.
Cons: Moderately complex, display not accurate to PC output, software low average.

As with most DSCs it takes some time to learn all the functions and the results. Prime negative for us is that what you see on the display, in terms of contrast, colors, and brightness, ain't what you get once inside the PC.

One clear negative of the software that comes with the P72 is that its not that user-friendly. It's internal logic has some nice features but when you want to move outside the environment, its not handy. We use another program once the photos are loaded.

It's a good basic camera for the middle-level user and most web work (which we do). Given recent price reductions on this model, I find it hard to justify the move, for the average user, to the 5 megapixel unit. You clearly need the optical zoom at a 3x minimum. We bought a second unit for our staff. So the conclusion is that if you are above average but below expert, this is a nice price/feature unit.

Pros: Compact
Cons: Blurry pics, dark even w/flash, movie feature useless

This is my second digital camera. My previous was a low-end Sony. The DSC-P72 cannot begin to compare. Pictures cannot be taken indoors - the pictures are too dark even with the flash. The smart zoom indoors ends with dark and blurry pictures. More times than not, the picture is not the sharp picture I am use to. The movie feature is useless indoors as they are even darker than the pictures. This purchase is a major disappointment.

Pros: Great, high quality pictures; Many options; good movie quality (for a still cam)
Cons: no zoom or auto-focus on movies

This is my first digital camera. I have finally went out and bought one and I LOVE it. Has a great picture (5 megapixels are just too much). The movie function has much to be desired, however the quality is great for a still camera. Great options for a beginner photographer.

Pros: Great pictures.
Cons: Maybe too many features

I bought it because it was 3 pixel camera. Didn't need 5 pixel and it was much more pricier. There are so many features that I am still learning. If you are looking for a great camera to just take out of the box and start shooting w/ good pictures, stick w/ a film camera. If you want a camera that takes EXCELLENT pictures, get this. Keep in mind, you owner's manual will be your friend. I had the same complaint as everyone else about the blurry pictures. I read the manual and other sites online. Changed a few settings and voila. Great pictures.

Pros: none
Cons: bad quality

A few weeks after purchase a Sony digital camera DSC-P72 (from a reputable store) it stopped working. Sony service center refused to fix it (actually it offered a repair for three times its original price!) saying the camera had water damage. They blamed me! Though I always handled it with great care. Someone at the Visa claims center said she heard similar stories about Sony products. It's a pattern. Don't buy anything from Sony!!!

Pros: The quality of the pictures are great.
Cons: I have heard that the lens can break easy.

I have never owned a digital camera before, so this was my very first one. I have to say that I have been very pleased with the quality of the pictures it produces, and how easy this camera is to work. I recommend this camera to anyone out there looking for a good quality digital camera.

Pros: Small Size, good quality, easy to use
Cons: Not actually 9.6x zoom unless in lowest quality setting.

I just bought this for someone as a Christmas present, and thought I would try it out before gave it to them. I have a different brand of digital camera myself, and this is my first experience with a Sony. The camera seems to be well made and easy to use. The main features that I wanted were: 1) small size 2) good zoom 3) easy to use. Unfortunately I feel mis-led about the zoom on the camera. Beware that if you are running the camera in 3.2 megapixel mode the digital zoom will not operate, so you can only zoom to 3x using the optical zoom. When you scale down to 2.0 megapixels you can zoom to 3.8x, 1.2 megapixels you can zoom to 4.8x, and finally at the lowest quality setting, VGA, you can take advantage of the zoom to 9.6x. If I am buying a 3.2 megapixel camera with a 9.6x zoom, I want to be able to use it as a 3.2 megapixel camera with a 9.6x zoom. This camera does not allow that.

Pros: lovely pictures and simple to use (short term only)
Cons: Yes - a total con!!!!

This is the second of these cameras I have purchased. One for my son and one for my Son in law. Beautiful pictures until as described by so many (without any warning) the lens would not open. This is most definitely a Sony problem and is not being addressed. A ridiculous amount is being asked for repair and I will not be buying another camera from Sony!!!!!

Pros: easy to use, good picture quality
Cons: long wait time between pictures

we needed to buy a camera for my sisters graduation. since sony is know for its high quality products i decided to buy a sony digital camera. i am proud to say that this camera is great. it take great pictures and is pretty easy to use. one feature i love is the movie mode. the quality is good for a digital camera. the only problem with the camera is the battery life is a little short, but you can use regular AA batteries if the others die out. i love this camera, i recommend you do and buy it.

Pros: Excellent photo quality, video movie mode is fantastic - even the audio records very well!
Cons: Long wait between shots - I've missed several photo ops waiting for the shutter.

This digital camera is compact but not too small; it is a good-looking camera with no bulging parts like some other digital cameras, and the functions are easy to use.

Pros: great outdoor shots
Cons: see above

Okay, it takes nice pictures, really nice pictures, well, at least sometimes it does - and that's about it.
Here's what I had problems with:
1. You have to wait several seconds between pictures.
2. Don't even try standard batteries - there is a reason it comes with NIMH batteries.
3. Auto Focus inside is iffy at best
4. The movies are too dark
5. Too fragile, the LCD screen is unprotected and broke after one very small drop.
6. Once the LCD screen broke, I could not change any settings anymore.
7. After being dropped, it continued to work for several months, and then just stopped working full stop.

Pros: Battery life, equipment, good image quality.
Cons: Poor manual settings.

This camera is great for holidays when you're on a beach and want to take a quick shot of something you see. Also great for situations when there is no time to think about the settings, as it has very good automatic mode. On the other hand, if you need more freedom for manual settings, this camera is not very appropriate. There are several predefined modes for different shooting conditions, but they are satisfactory only so far.
I would recommend it as a "family camera" as it comes with all the necessary equipment to get you started.
Nevertheless, very good value for money!