dkozin's Full Review: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-M1 Digital Camera
After I got my Sony DSC-M1 (DSCM1), I took it out the box and looked at it for about a minute, marveling its strange design. The camera/camcorder promises the best of both worlds: 5-Megapixel digital still pictures and MPEG4 videos with stereo sound and quality that, as Sony claims, is Excellent on TV. Does it work? Let's find out.
Pictures
I took pictures of the camera and sample pictures. They are available at the address below (you can copy and paste it into your web browser's address area):
The Sony DSC-M1 is a 5-Megapixel compact digital camera/camcorder with a 3x optical zoom (38-114 mm equivalent with maximum f/3.5 aperture at wide angle, f/4.4 at telephoto), a large 2.5-inch LCD screen that rotates in all directions, powered by a proprietary rechargeable InfoLithium battery.
The camera features ISO range of ISO 100-400 (automatic or manual), automatic and manual white balance, exposure compensation. The camera stores pictures on Sony Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Duo Pro (32 Stick is supplied) and features USB connection to PC and Mac computers.
In addition, the camera can serve as a digital camcorder, recording video at up to 640x480 resolution at a frame rate of 30 fps in MPEG4 compression with stereo sound. The video is stored on the same Memory Stick as the still pictures.
Getting Started
Once the camera arrived, I discovered that the battery compartment door is rather difficult to open since it is not hinged, but rather uses a plastic band, which you have to bend to open the battery compartment wide enough to insert the supplied InfoLithium battery.
The battery is charged in camera, using the supplied adaptor/charger. The memory card (supplied 32MB Memory Stick Duo in my case) is inserted in an uncovered slot at the other end of the camera.
Overall design of the camera is far from conventional instead of being horizontally-oriented the way the regular camera are, this one is oriented vertically in operation. The rear panel rotates outward and the LCD screen can be rotated as well. It is rather difficult to explain, just look at the pictures and you will understand.
The camera seems to be sturdy, and well-built. It has a lens that does not extend when the camera powers on or while zooming - a design similar to the one used in some other Sony cameras (Sony T1, T7, T33).
The bottom of the camera (short side) has a metal tripod mount and the battery compartment lid. The side has a rigid lid that covers a proprietary connector that can be turned into USB, A/V and DC power ports. The Sony proprietary connector is something I do not like. Neither I like the necessity to use the expensive Memory Stick Duo media. And wait, there will be more items I do not like about this camera.
The rear houses a large 2.5-inch LCD screen that rotates in many different directions. I cool concept in theory and looks high-tech and unusual too, but the camera is not convenient to hold and operate. It is difficult to rest it in the palm of your hand comfortably and difficult to pish buttons with your thumb.
The whole control panel is counterintuitive. There are too many buttons, little switches, which you simply cannot use without your other hand. Some button (menu control buttons) at too close to the bottom and your thumb will struggle to reach them. And the rec/play button is so well hidden in the corner, you will struggle to reach it with any finger. Horrible, horrible ergonomics!
Although I was able to figure out how to operate the camera, even after you figure it out, you will be prone to forgetting things. The camera uses typical Sony menus, which makes things easier if you have used a Sony camera before.
The camera has a power button and also powers on if you rotate the LCD screen-bearing rear half outward. The lens lid opens and the camera is ready to shoot, be it photo or video. You use one of the two large round buttons (one for video, another for stills). One problem I fund is it is difficult, if not impossible to hold camera stead while pushing either of buttons, so the camera stability suffers in this critical moment, which may leasd to blurry pictures if there is not enough light.
I inserted the supplied 32 MB memory card and the rechargeable battery, charged it for about 1.5 hours and was ready to shoot.
Usage
As I stated already, I find the ergonomics mediocre at best and the ease of use rather low. There is no manual control over the focus, aperture or shutter speed. The camera has no Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or Manual mode. You get Auto, Program and scene modes. The camera also has exposure compensation that lets you make the picture brighter or darker, depending on how you would like it to look.
The camera can display a histogram, which I find useful in estimating if any part of the picture will be over- or underexposed, but the histogram is rather small. Surprisingly, you can turn the LCD backlight off to conserve power, but you need light to see what is displayed on it.
In auto mode (and in other modes as well, actually), the camera can be used by anyone who can point and shoot. The preprogrammed scene modes give you more control.
In addition, you can select Macro mode at a push of a button as well as adjust the flash mode using the other button. Video mode is rather unsophisticated as well. You get to choose among 3 video resolution/frame rate combinations: 640x480 30 fps, 320x240 30 fps and 320x240 15 fps.
The camera has a dedicated review mode (for both videos and photos), activated by a play/rec button. As I metioned, the button is difficult to reach.
Macro
I have not tried the macro mode yet.
LCD and Viewfinder
The camera has no viewfinder but has a large 2.5-inch LCD monitor that "gains-up" in the darker environments and has adjustable brightness. It works well overall, even in darkness. It also has backlight that can be turned off to conserve battery power.
Performance
The camera takes about 1 second to power up and open the lens lid. This is pretty fast. The shutdown is even shorter.
The camera focuses fast - under a second in good light, under two seconds in dim light using its autofocus assist lamp. It can take pictures at intervals of about 1 second in single-frame mode with no flash. With flash, the camera can take picture once in 2 seconds.
The burst mode lets you take several pictures per second. The zooming feels slow. You can fully zoom in or out in about 3 seconds.
Battery
The camera should allow you to take about 200 pictures on one battery charge. The Sony InfoLithium system shows you how much time you have left in the battery.
Computer Connectivity
The camera uses USB connection to transfer pictures to a computer. You can also remove the memory card and use a memory card reader (if you have one). I used my memory reader. The camera comes with an adaptor that can be used to plug the Memory Stick Duo into and then plug the adaptor into any device that supports full-size Memory Stick. A cumbersome solution to Sony's greed. Sony wants you to use their expensive and inconvenient proprietary memory so that they can make more money.
I used the supplied adaptor with my memory reader and it worked well.
Flash
The flash is decent for most tasks and has good color. It is not as powerful as on some other cameras, but certainly sufficient.
Image Quality
The camera has a good white balance system overall. As many others, overall, the camera favors slightly warm white balance in auto mode.
The camera produces decent photos with well-exposed, contrasty images (see the samples). But the sharpness seems artificial. The camera seems to have high levels of noise, even at ISO 100 and uses aggressive sharpening, which is combines with high overall default contrast.
You can judge the image quality using the sample I provided. Look at the yellow fire hydrant. It has rather fuzzy edges. This was the case with several photos of it I took. I myself am not very impressed. Seems like the camera has good optics, but the imaging sensor (CCD) is noisy. This still holds true: devices designed to do video and stills do neither really well.
If you are printing 7x5 or 6x4 pictures, the noise should not be visible. And at lower ISO settings, enlargements up to 10x8 are possible. I have not tried larger prints, but looking at the picture on the computer screen, I can tell that it will not enlarge well aver the 11x14.
Movies
I shot videos with the camera and they looked rather good. But Not as good as something from a dedicated video camcorder.
Pros
Cool, unusual style, rechargeable InfoLithium battery and charger included, compact, sturdy, large LCD, histogram, reasonably fast operation, good movie mode.
Cons
Expensive, expensive Memory Stick Duo cards, no manual control, poor ergonomics and ease of use, mediocre image quality and noise levels.
Bottom Line
I cannot recommend the Sony DSCM1, unless you have to have a gizmo that is so unusual. The camera does not produce as good image quality as you might expect and is difficult to use to boot. Expensive and ergonomically unsound, the DSC-M1 is not something I would recommend to a friend or anyone for this matter.
5.1-megapixel sensor allows for photo-quality prints up to 13 by 17 inches Camera features 3x optical zoom in a unique vertical orientation Large 2.5-...More at Amazon Marketplace
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.