Sample shots
The continuous or burst mode lets you take up to 100 shots at 2s intervals
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This shot from one end of Tottenham Court Road shows the Euston Tower block in the distance using the wide-angle setting
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The same shot but this time using the 10x zoom to the max (focal length 63mm). See how much closer to the action this camera can take you
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Colour reproduction was good. This shot was taken with a shutter speed of 1/800s, ISO 125, F4.0
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We were impressed with the sharp images: this was taken with a 1/50 shutter speed, ISO 125, F3.5
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This shot (taken through a train window) shows how the Twilight mode can be used to produce atmospheric shots at dusk
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COMMENTS
Missing 2 important teatures
I got myself an Olympus C-300 (aka D-500) from Cash Converters (£30 well spent), and there were only 3 problems with it. Apart from it being a bit too small to hold comfortably and steadily in my ham fists (a problem which this Sony seems to address) the two great lacks were a manual focussing ring and a shoe for a flash. Without these essentials it just doesn't cut it as a tool for taking photographs, rather than snapshots.
Remember the FD-91?
Now that was a cool camera... http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/FD91/FD91A.HTM
Nice optical zoom (14x!), nothing of that digital zoom stuff.
Still using it sometimes, to just see 'what's going on over there'. Always makes me smile, the ka-chunk of the floppy drive :-)
So in a way, Sony comes full circle, it seems...
Re: Viewfinder again
Yep, I've got a TZ3. Nice, but the lack of viewfinder is indeed annoying and makes shooting steadily harder, so think well before getting a camera without one. And it's also very noisy at ISO 400 equiv. already. If I have to shoot in darker conditions with it, I underexpose at "ISO 100" and do layer additions later. I only bought it to have a camera I can take with me everyday in my backpack without much concern, and for that it is quite good and cheap -- no carrying my K10D around all the time for sure. It even fits in the jeans back pocket (hard to sit down, though...).
Olympus
Usually I go for the Olympus equivalents to this, my SP-560 has an 18X wide angle zoom (27-486MM equiv) - and with a $30 adapter supports a couple of telephoto lenses.
Because they've just released a new version it's about the same price as this one too.
Still the Sony seems a decent buy, $300 is pretty good and their image stabilisation is a touch better than Olympus. You can't use a tripod every time you want to grab a quick photo, so it is a decent feature.
Viewfinder again
"The lack of an optical or LCD viewfinder is a non starter for me."
Agree entirely. The Panasonic TZ3, which would otherwise be on my shortlist, is a desirable competitor in all respects, with a wonderful 28-280mm zoom, but no viewfinder, no sale. Sorry.
