Digital Trends

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S600

February 9th, 2006 | by David Elrich

Conclusion

With the Cybershot DSC-S600 Sony was clearly trying to hit a “price point,” as they say in the business. In this case it was a 6MP camera with a 3x optical zoom for under $200 from a respected company. As of January 2006, the HP 717 ($239), Kodak Z760 ($299), Pentax Optio S6/S60 ($259) and the Olympus FE-120 ($229) were the few with similar basic specs. The Sony is aimed at casual photographers who want decent image quality and not too many frills. In that instance, Sony succeeded by providing an O.K. compact point-and-shoot camera that does an adequate job in Auto for a very good price. For someone who wants even a smidgeon more, this digicam is not for you. There's nothing even resembling aperture- and shutter-priority or manual focus. And the uneven picture quality in Program mode was worrisome. For those photographers who want something better, Sony has plenty of other options (DSC-W7, DSC-R1 ). Canon has them too. The DSC-S600 is not quite a blister-pack camera you'll find at Wal-Mart but it's pretty close. Why Sony eliminated the video out to a television boggles the mind. Perhaps the engineers thought every person buying this $200 camera has a sleek Sony flat screen TV with Memory Stick slots. Wrong. Maybe they will over time but not today. That said the DSC-S600 with its uneven performance is for novices looking for a bargain.

Pros

• 6MP resolution
• Fast response, virtually no shutter lag
• Hurray! New software supplied
• Uses AA batteries

Cons

• Uneven picture quality in Program Mode
• Very cheap feel
• No simple video output