The metal body not only looks great but also gives the reassurance that the camera is robust and can be carried anywhere. Controls are straightforward and include a mode dial, a zoom toggle, and menu navigation buttons. Access to the Memory Stick and battery are from a single compartment door on the side of the camera. Input-output jacks are the fairly standard power, USB, and AV out.

The 3x optical zoom lens tucks neatly into the body of the camera when not in use and includes an automatic lens protector. In use, the zoom moves from wide to full telephoto in less than three seconds, although it is a little noisier than expected, especially as compared to the notably quiet transport on the Kodak DX4900.

The Sony menu navigation, which is fairly consistent across the range, is extremely easy to use. In capture mode, there are options to set exposure compensation, manual focus, white balance, spot metering, ISO, image size from 2,272 x 1,704 down to 640 x 480, compression levels, flash levels, and picture effects. There is also a scene selection mode that offers presets for twilight, night portrait, and landscape. While useful, this is extremely limited when compared to some other digital cameras, such as the easy-to-use Nikon Coolpix 2500 or the endlessly configurable Casio QV-4000.

The image quality is what you would expect of a 4-megapixel camera--plenty of detail and scope for cropping to get just the right composition. When using the automatic settings, the images were not as sharp as expected, although this can be compensated for using the in-camera sharpening. Both exposure and white balance were generally accurate, but it would have been nice to see the ability to take a manual white-balance reading like on the Nikon 2500. To its credit, the DSC-P9 has a powerful autofocus illuminator that greatly aids focusing in poor light conditions.

One feature we feel should be included in a camera of this quality is an orientation sensor that automatically rotates images when stored to match the photographs as taken. Despite this we would still recommend the DSC-P9 as being one of the sexiest high-resolution cameras available. --Nick Baxter

The pictures are outstanding for a digital camera, the other thing that is really cool about it is you can capture mpeg format video with sound. Dont toss your video camera yet though, its dark light performance is hideous and resolution is not even close to a digital or tape video camera, but it is a neat feature when used under the right circumstances.

My biggest grip is Sony never came out with Memory Sticks larger than 128mb and doesn't appear to ever support it. They've produced a smaller MemoryStick version thats half the size but has an adapter to make it work but still none of larger capacity. I recently read on their web site that they are comming out with a total new format that isnt going to be compatable with any current MemoryStick device but will have capacities in the future exceeding 1 gigabyte.

At max resolution 2200x something, you can get 65 still pictures on a 128mb card. The pictures are in fact so good that you can stand 30 feet away from a soup can and snap a shot of the label, view the picture and zoom in to the point where you can read the ingredients. You can also set it down to 640x480 and get like 1500 pictures on to that same 128mb card so theres a lot of flexability depending on your needs.

Its a great camera if you need something compact and good enough to take pictures of things in every day life for instant digital gratification. If you dont plan to blow up prints the size of a poster you will have no problems with the resolution and find that the max setting is many times too much for your standard birthday party or trip to San Diego.


Tiny camera packs a power punch!!   May 13, 2003
 4 out of 5 found this review helpful

No words can describe the beauty, simplicity, and power of this little miracle device! I've been using it for about 9 Problem-free months. This camera is super for digital snapshots. Connectivity to the PC is simple via USB. It uses a proprietary Sony MemoryStick and a tiny rechargeable removable battery pack (which you can buy on ebay for cheap).

This camera has many functions that even a die-hard photographer will go nuts over: EV, aperture focus, white-balance, spot meter, iso, picture quality, image size, sharpness, flash brightness, & record mode ie video, email, voice & more!

I'm the dummy so I keep most things on default, and it still works well.

It also features red-eye reduction, flash on-off, and video recording (but the quality is very poor so I advise from using it)

You can choose from among 5 picture sizes:
2272x1702 (4 megapixels)
2272(3:2) -- I call this the widescreen, my favorite setting
1600x1200 (2 MP mode, quality like 4MP, use if cramped for space)
1280x960 (quality is ok, use for auction pix and shrinking later)
640x480 (quality not so good, for email or low bandwidth use)

All in all, in today's day in age, I still think that 4 megapixels is overkill for an ordinary Joe. 2 Megapixels is the best bang for the buck today. But if you're into taking high quality pictures, want ease of use, want a decent fair price, AND want bragging rights, then this camera is for you!