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Sony Cyber Shot DSC-U40
An ultra compact 2-megapixel camera, the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-U40 succeeds U30 enclosing most of the essential features expected from a point-and-shoot ability camera.
Available in four shades (silver, black, blue and red), it has user friendly dimensions of 82.8 x 39.0 x 26.0 mm and weighs a minuscule 114 g. Do we need to say that it is highly portable?
The control arrangement is similar to its predecessor but some aspects do disappoint. A slider supposed to be used for alternating between the recording and playback features is especially tough to operate. Sliding lens cover is the saving grace as it is ultra smooth.
U40 encompasses a 1-inch LCD which, though vivid is too small to be of efficient use. More bad news comes in the form of the absence of an optical viewfinder. This means you have to depend completely on the LCD for framing shots which in turn leads to more battery consumption.
Features incorporated make it clear that this is a point-and –shoot capability camera. The maximum picture resolution of U40 is 1,632x1,224 (2 MP) or 640x480 (VGA).
A manual focus function is present. Five scene modes include Active Outdoor, Soft Snap, Illumination Snap, Twilight and Vivid Nature. Apart from the generally encompassed special effects, the White Balance settings feature Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent and Incandescent.
Burst mode is inadequate as it can capture only two successive shots.
Shooting videos without sound is facilitated via the two MPEG movie modes; (320x240 at 8.3fps) (160x112 at 8.3fps- specifically for emailing clips).
Images can be stored on the 8MB Memory Stick DUO. Higher capacity cards can be purchased for elevating the storage features.
For direct printing, U40 encloses the PictBridge functionality through which you can take prints without connecting to a PC.
Starting up the camera takes 1.3 seconds while recycling between shots is seen to be less than 2 seconds. Shutter lag of half a second is impressive.
Even after using a fair amount of the flash features, the two AAA nickel-metal-hydride rechargeable batteries are capable of clicking more than 300 snaps, provided it is fully charged.
Picture quality is decent at best. The images lack perfect sharpness, exposure is mediocre while color interpretation isn’t bad. But the noise interference is more than that expected from even a point-and-shoot camera.
Considering all the facets, it has to be said that the camera can be of use only for complete greenhorns in photography.
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Not bad at all
When I was initially coaxed by my friend into purchasing I was quite reluctant. And I had every reason to do so. After all, it was only a 2 megapixel camera with a 1inch LCD and no optical viewfinder. But my pal explained that for a complete novice in photography, this was more than enough. And yup it has turned out to be that way. I have really enjoyed using this camera ever since I purchased it. The photos are excellent considering the limited features. There are a few negatives like the poor red eye reduction function. But otherwise, it is a very good camera with user friendly features, compact designing and a decent battery life.
User Rating : 7 /10  (
by :
maddypal on
Tue, 25 Oct 2005 10:46:16 GMT
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