Sony DSC-P5

Sony DSC-P5


Serial Number: Cam0187

Type:
Point and Shoot Camera

Manufacturer:
Sony

Country of Origin:
Japan

Production Period:
2001

Approximate Price:
499

Reference:
https www.imaging-resource.com PRODS P5 P5A.HTM

Status: Display

Description:
The Sony DSC-P5 is an ultra-compact, high-resolution, point-and-shoot camera with a lot of fun features but enough flexibility to satisfy even serious amateur photographers looking for a second take anywhere camera. It s so small and lightweight, there s really no excuse not to bring it along (just in case you come across one of those unexpected photo ops, when you used to wish you had a camera). It more than passes the shirt pocket test, and would even fit in a rather small handbag. If that s not enough, our test model arrived with a design sample of a new-model Marine Pack, an optional underwater housing that lets you take the P5 diving as deep as 100 feet (30 meters). (Perhaps we should say take anywhere. )

Compact isn t everything though The P5 features a high-quality 3.2-megapixel CCD and an all-glass, 3x zoom lens that delivers nice sharp, clear pictures. Use it at wide-angle for outdoor scenics, architecture, or small group pictures switch to telephoto for close-up portraits, sports photography, or to zoom in on your prized blooms and don t overlook the Macro (close-up) mode, which focuses in on objects as close as 4 inches. Sony has also provided a 2x Precision Digital Zoom that increases the lens magnification to 6x -- enough to get a close-up view of timid wildlife -- and with less image degradation than we typically see in digital zooms. In our testing, the P5 s lens didn t have quite the crispness of some of Sony s larger models, but was sharper than we re accustomed to seeing in ultra-compact digicams.

Exposure control on the P5 is mainly automatic, with a Twilight setting for low-light shooting and a built-in flash for night and indoor photography. Although you can t choose the camera s aperture or shutter speed settings directly, you do have access to a few exposure options, including color balance, image sharpness, metering options, and light dark adjustments. There s also a wide range of recording options. You can set the camera to create two files from one exposure -- one normal and one low-resolution for e-mailing pictures to friends. You can record movies with sound, pictures with sound, clip-motion animation (sort of a stop-frame animation), text documents, black-and-white or sepia-tone pictures, negative art, and solarized images. On top of that, the P5 comes with a software CD loaded with MGI PhotoSuite SE and VideoWave software, so you can do image editing and choose from a variety of creative templates for making greeting cards, sports cards, and calendars, or adding special effects.

Images are stored on Sony s Memory Stick media (an 8 MB stick is included, higher capacity cards are available), and they can be downloaded via high-speed USB connection to a PC or Macintosh computer. An AV cable is provided for viewing images or slide shows on TV. The P5 is powered by a Sony InfoLITHIUM battery pack, and comes complete with an AC adapter and battery charger. We like the InfoLITHIUM batteries because they communicate with the camera to tell you how much running time is left on the battery pack, but we always recommend buying a second battery, and keeping it charged and ready to go, especially when the AC adapter isn t close at hand. The P5 is pretty dependent on its LCD display (a large power drain), and you can t pick up extra batteries at the corner drug store. Most ultra-compact digicams suffer somewhat from short battery life, but the DSC-P5 doesn t do too badly, with a worst-case run time of 58 minutes per charge, or 83 minutes with the LCD off. In playback mode, the camera will run for 87 minutes continuously. (Still, we highly recommend a second battery.)