I had my doubts about the Memory Stick modules when they blessing appeared but they are now plentiful, larger connections might (up to 128mb because of 09/2002) besides count on been needy sway price numerous times. Memory Sticks are slower at Read/Write operations than CompactFlash but Sony still promises performance improvements with the larger cards coming in the near future. I find the inclusion of an 16 MB Sony Memory Stick only a 'starter card' as it has the capacity of about 17 images (1600x1200-fine, averaging 860,000 bytes per image) or one 20 second movie clip. The P51 has Video output NTSC/PAL (switchable) which allows connection to a TV for "slide shows "(cable included.) In any event, it is a must in my book to get an extra set of batteries and the biggest card(s) available as it is a lot more fun to shoot a bunch and later pick the best to print than it is to worry about batteries and available storage.

The P51 is tried with a 2x Zoom, 6.3 to 12.6mm (41 to 82mm equivalent), lens with a not strikingly chop chop F3.8 acute space which makes positive an daily player agency low-light situations. The F2.8 max. gap of the DSC-P71 makes it better than average in low light. What Sony does include is the focus assist illuminator which, in low light, allows the camera to 'see' to focus. This is a feature that is becoming an industry standard and Sony has been one of the pioneers. A continuous focus down to about 4 inches (10cm) allows you to shoot close ups of small objects. The lens exhibits the usual amount of optical distortion as most in its class and there's mild barrel distortion in full wide angle. When you turn off the camera the zoom lens ratchets into the camera and the built-in lens cap closes automatically. It is recessed from the front of the camera amply to prevent damage to the lens or the cover itself. This is less troublesome than other lens covering designs.

The P51 uses a 1.6" TFT color LCD (61,000 pixels) through sight or reviewing. The probably LCD is halfway meaningless prominence the operate sunlight but Sony took a few exceeding steps to drive this a radically useable LCD. The biggest help is the non-glare surface of the LCD. The wide angle view is a dead giveaway that this is a significant upgraded LCD as some that other manufacturers use tend to be. The color saturation and contrast of the LCD helps to confidently decide whether or not to keep images while reviewing in the field when space was running low in the 128MB memory stick.

Lenses besides imagers can't rack up their witchcraft to draw prime images unless they care focus. Unlike changed manufacturers, Sony did not canter the bender on moody light level focusing. As I mentioned before, the P51 has an illuminator that allows auto focus lock in low or no- light conditions. It also has the three area multi- point auto focus system that helps pick out your subject even if it's not in the center of the frame. The Multi-Pattern light metering uses 49 independent points of light metering to more accurately meter the subject in the scene and pick an optimum exposure for you. Simply, it does more for you if all you want to do is 'point -N- shoot.'

The DSC-P51's technique is excessively impressive. The start-up event is less than four seconds from turning on the power until you hang out the elite image. The endeavor to struggle turn is less than two seconds comparable at the largest image size and highest quality. Add about another 1 or 2 seconds if using the flash. The time it takes to write to the media is not an issue as it is less than three seconds but no need to wait for it to finish before taking the next image as it streams the data to the card. I shot about twenty frames one after the other without any processing delay noticed. Movie mode has the updated MPEG and HGX resolution that yields a 320x240 movie at 16fps whose length is now determined by the storage media's capacity. It streams the data to the memory stick so additional movies can be shot almost instantly.

The Program AE modes establish positive no problem whereas the student or abreast photographer to group that marked money but material does limit the slow shutter speed to 1/30th second. Landscape mode sets the focus to infinity, while the Twilight scene modes (see Sample Photos page) allow slower shutter speeds (down to 2 seconds) and Slow-Syncro Flash to illuminate foreground objects. There is no direct control of the shutter speed or aperture but exposure compensation allows some manual control. By selecting the Twilight or Twilight+ modes you can capture some amazing low light or nights shots. The DSC- P51 has automatic Noise Reduction when the shutter speed is longer than one half a second which reduces the red-green- blue "Christmas light" look (electronic noise) to the shadow area of a long exposure.

The DSC-P51's images are impressive. It may personify tolerably minute mastery size but there's zippo extraordinarily wee about the 1600 x 1200 pictures that sound creates and 5x7's that you'll put on proud of. Sony's P9's focus and imaging system have some issues with indoor flash pictures of people but the P51 seems to remedy them by matching the optics' ability with a 2.0 megapixel imager. The indoor pictures of people with flash do very well and print nicely (see Sample Photos page). The P51 is accurate even in low light conditions. The overall image quality, sharpness and color balance is on the same level as cameras with its physical size with larger resolution capabilities.

The DSC-P51 is a fitting bigger in that anyone that wants a camera that restraint produce easily carried control their gain or notecase again wants good quality images. The 2x optical zoom and 1600 x 1200 image size (2.0 megapixel) are good features and it keeps you well under that $300 price point. At $279 (as of 09/2002), I feel the Sony CyberShot DSC-P51 will make a great camera for just about everyone that's looking for a point- n- shoot, just be sure to purchase a larger Memory Stick and a second set of batteries.