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Old 03-01-2004, 06:30 PM
Philip Colmer
Thoughts Media Review Team
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 599
Default Sony DSCU60 Digital Camera Reviewed



Product Category: Digital camera
Manufacturer: Sony
Where to Buy: Sony centres or Amazon (affiliate link)
Price: $249.95 USD or £229
System Requirements: Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000 Professional, XP Home, XP Professional, 200MHz MMX Pentium or faster; Mac OS 8.5.1, 8.6, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, OS X (v10.0-10.2), USB port
Specifications: 2.0 mega pixel, waterproof to 1.5m, 60.2mm x 116.8mm x 43.3mm, 149g, 2 x AAA NiMH batteries

Pros:
  • You can use it underwater!;
  • Easy to hold;
  • The box contains everything you need without further initial outlay: rechargeable batteries, charger, Memory Stick, USB cable.
Cons:
  • Might be a bit tricky for left-handed people;
  • The auto-focussing is a little bit on the slow side;
  • It can be a bit tricky to see what you are photographing underwater.
Summary:
Looking a bit like R2D2, the Sony DSCU60 is a reasonably priced 2MP digital camera that has been designed from day one to be waterproof to a depth of 1.5m (5ft). Not a bad starting point for anyone looking to get their first digital camera, particularly if they've got a penchant for snorkelling.

Read on for the full review!

What's In The Box?
For your money, you get the camera, two AAA NiMH (Nickel-Metal Hydride) rechargeable batteries, a battery case, a charger for the batteries, mains lead for the charger, USB cable, hand strap, 8MB Memory Stick, CD-ROM containing Sony ImageMixer and a USB driver, and a manual, all as shown in Figure 1. Sony states in the manual that the batteries will take approximately six hours to charge when fully depleted and will take approximately 140 photos with the flash used 50% of the time. In practice, I didn't find the batteries lasted for as many photos as the manual stated.

The supplied Memory Stick can hold 14 2MP images or 80 VGA images. There is a chart supplied in the manual which shows how the number of images increases with stick capacity, with the 1GB stick capable of holding 1851 2MP images or 9880 VGA images! If you want to use the movie feature (more on this later), the supplied Stick can hold five min 35 sec of video, with the biggest stick holding 11 hours, 27 minutes and 19 seconds!


Figure 1: What you get for your money. Click on the image for the full size image. (107KB)

Camera Anatomy 101
Figure 2 shows the front of the camera. The lens area consists of the flash at the top, with the lens beneath it. To the left, and slightly above, the lens is the self-timer lamp.


Figure 2: The front of the camera. Click on the image for the full size image. (100KB)

Figure 3 shows one side of the camera, with the shutter button and the catch for locking the base of the camera. The catch incorporates a lock action so that it cannot accidentally be opened.


Figure 3: Side view showing base catch & shutter button. Click on the image for the full size image. (109KB)

Figure 4 shows the rear of the camera, consisting of the LCD screen and the various buttons for controlling the behaviour of the camera. These will be discussed in more detail later on.


Figure 4: The rear of the camera. Click on the image for the full size image. (99KB)

Figure 5 shows the base of the camera. There is an inner cover (grey) which keeps the two AAA batteries in place and protects the MemoryStick. Above the batteries in the picture is the USB socket and a reset button. To the left of the MemoryStick, but not shown in the picture, is an access lamp which lights up when the contents of the MemoryStick are being manipulated. This is there to ensure that you don't try to remove the USB cable, batteries or the stick itself if there is activity taking place.


Figure 5: The base of the camera. Click on the image for the full size image. (421KB)

Those contents are all normally protected by the waterproof cover and O-ring, shown in more detail in Figure 6. The manual dedicates just over two pages to explaining what the O-ring is used for (to make the waterproof seal), how to inspect it, what damage to look out for, removing it and cleaning it.


Figure 6: The waterproof cover and O-ring. Click on the image for the full size image. (384KB)

You may have spotted in Figure 1 that the camera stands at an angle. This is a deliberate part of the design of the camera as it makes the unit easier to hold whilst keeping the LCD screen level. This is demonstrated in Figure 7. The index finger is well positioned to press the shutter button and the camera's shape follows the angle of the wrist & arm when you have the screen level.


Figure 7: Holding the camera. Click on the image for the full size image. (121KB)

Patience, Dear Boy!
The interesting thing about a camera this dinky is that you just want to start pointing it at things & taking photos. Well, who reads manuals these days Actually, it turns out that it is quite important to read the manual carefully, particularly the first few pages that deal with the batteries. It stresses several points about the batteries, including:
  • Only NiMH batteries should be used and then, preferably Sony. No surprises about the preference for Sony, I suppose, but the requirement for NiMH did catch me out – I made the mistake of using alkaline batteries instead whilst on holiday when the rechargeables had run out. The alkaline batteries did work, but they didn't last very long before the battery warning light comes on. The manual does say this ops: The alkaline batteries weren't exhausted – it is just that the process used to determine the battery life is meant for NiMH batteries and therefore gets the answer wrong if you aren't using the right ones.

    (The reason I didn't just recharge the batteries was because I thought I could get away with using alkalines & I'd left the charger at home. D'oh!)

  • NiMH batteries suffer from memory effect and, therefore, should be used until drained before recharging.
I must admit that I was a bit surprised that Sony had opted for NiMH batteries given the memory effect problem, and I was also surprised that the camera couldn't cope with ordinary batteries. Some of their other products (e.g. Minidisc players & recorders) can use alkaline batteries instead of the supplied rechargeables. I suppose that one difference between these devices would be that you wouldn't want the battery running out on the camera whilst it is writing to the Memory Stick, whereas with the Minidisc devices, you are more likely to be playing discs and not recording to them.

Using the camera, though, is really easy and all managed by using the buttons on the back (see Figure 8 for a close-up view). Start by moving the blue mode select switch (bottom left-hand corner) to "photo" (the middle option) and turn the power on by pressing the top left-hand button … errr, the one marked "Power" – see … I said you didn't need the manual :wink:


Figure 8: The functions on the rear of the camera. Click on the image for the full size image. (149KB)

The camera powers up and the display gives you a view of what the lens is pointing at, with a variety of symbols across the top, as shown in Figure 9.


Figure 9: Setting up the shot.

From left to right, Figure 9 shows the battery remaining indicator, red-eye reduction mode (second row), image size indicator (currently set to 2MP), recording folder indicator, remaining number of recordable images indictor (second row) and finally an indicator of the capacity remaining in the Memory Stick.

The different flash modes are automatic (no indicator), red-eye reduction (as shown in Figure 9), forced flash (symbol looks like a flash of lightening) and no flash (flash symbol in a circle with a line through it). The modes are cycled through by successive presses of the top right-hand button shown in Figure 8. If the flash is going to be used, an indicator lights above the flash symbol on the case to show that the lamp has charged and is ready for use.

It is possible to create & use multiple folders on the Memory Stick for saving the photos. The naming convention has to be a three digit number (101 to 999) followed by MSDCF. The menu system allows you to create the folders (you don't have to connect the camera to a computer to do this) and you can also change the folders as you wish so that you can decide where each photo is saved as you take it. You cannot delete folders, though, from the camera's interface, nor can you move photos from one folder to another. Both of these can be achieved when you connect the camera to a computer.

Pressing lightly on the shutter button causes the camera to auto-focus, during which the auto-exposure/auto-focus indicator (a green circle) blinks. When the camera has finished setting up the shot, the indicator stays on solidly, as shown in Figure 10.


Figure 10: The AE/AF lock indicator (green circle).

Pressing harder on the shutter button takes the photo … which then has to be transferred to the Memory Stick, as shown in Figure 11. The transfer process takes roughly a second and you cannot use the camera in this time.


Figure 11: Transferring the photo to the MemoryStick.

The screen display is clearly visible, particularly with the display light turned on. Under a lot of conditions, you can also use the display with the light turned off, thus extending the battery life. Where I did find the display let me down, though, was in trying to gauge how well a photo had turned out. There were a few occasions where I thought I'd got a really good shot stored on the camera but, when I transferred the image onto my computer, the image was out of focus. There probably isn't a simple solution to this, given the size of the screen. You can, in playback mode, zoom into an image 2.5 & 5 times magnification, but you cannot scroll around the image – you are left looking at the centre of the image only.

By default, the photo will be 2MP (1632x1224). It is possible to reduce this to VGA (640x480) or burst mode – the latter being where the camera takes up to five VGA-sized photos in quick succession. If you release the shutter button before all five have been taken, the camera stops shooting when you release the button. Apart from a reduction in resolution, the other main restriction is that you cannot use the flash – not unreasonably, I suppose, given the time it can take to recharge the flash lamp. It is a shame, though, that Sony couldn't or wouldn't design the camera to handle the 2MP images in burst mode.

The camera incorporates a self-timer mode which causes the photo to be taken approximately 10 seconds after activation. During the countdown, the self-timer lamp flashes red and a continuous beep sounds.

There isn't the capability to use a tripod with this camera, but the base of the camera is flat and in the right place to hold the camera at the correct angle for the photo to be level.

Using The Camera Underwater
And so to what must really be the main reason for buying this camera – using it underwater. It is waterproof to depths of 1.5m or five feet. This depth is just about right for snorkelling, but not diving. The manual does advise against using the camera where it might be subject to high water pressure (although it says direct jet streams of normal temperature fresh water are OK), hot springs, bathtubs or any water hotter than 30°C.

The first time I took the camera into the sea was a bit nerve-wracking … would it really be waterproof? Would I drop it & lose it? No, everything was fine and there was something liberating about taking high technology into water :P

Here are some examples of photos taken underwater (in Barbados :P ). Click on each image to see it full size (245KB, 419KB, 404KB and 524KB respectively).


Figure 12: Some underwater photos.

The reason for the diamond-shape artefacts in the photo of the turtles was because I had the flash on. This was one of my first uses of the camera underwater and I wasn't sure how well they were going to come out – the water looked a bit dark. It would appear that using the flash underwater is a bad idea ops:

On the whole, I am very pleased with the quality of the underwater photos. However, using the camera underwater is a very different experience from using it on land for a few reasons:
  • Since the camera has no zoom, it becomes important to try to get the camera as close to the subject as possible if you want it to come out clearly. However, if you are snorkelling, it can be tricky to stay close to the top of the water for breathing and yet get the camera near the object of interest.

  • The further the camera is away from you, the harder it becomes to see the display and, therefore, what the camera is actually pointing at. Since the fish often didn't oblige by posing for the photo but, instead, insisted on swimming around all of the time, I ended up adopting a tactic of following them and pressing the shutter button as often as I could in the blind hope that one of the photos would actually capture the shot I was after.

  • The lag in the auto-focus became a bit of a nuisance, particularly with the fast moving fish. No sooner had the camera sorted itself out than the fish had moved on 8O I tried fixing the focus instead of using the automatic mode but you then struggle to gauge what distance to set the focus to.
That said, I think that using a digital camera underwater beats a traditional film camera underwater hands-down. You may end up taking loads of photos, but at least you can very quickly see if you've got one that works and, if not, try again. You simply cannot do that with a traditional camera – you still have to take loads of photos (just in case) but you won't see the results often until it is too late to do anything about it.

Focusing
In the main, the automatic focusing works well although, as I mentioned above, it can be a bit slow if you've got a fast moving object that you are trying to photograph. If that is a problem or if you want to focus beyond an object such as a wire fence or glass, you can fix the focus to a choice of 0.2m, 0.5m, 1m and infinity. The chosen focus is indicated in the display by the use of an icon representing a flower, a head-shot, two people and a mountain, respectively. This is all well and good, but you've got to have a good eye for distances in order to be able to decide which setting to use!

Scene Selection
The camera supports a variety of differing modes for adjusting its behaviour to different shooting conditions. The different modes are cycled through by pressing repeatedly on the down control button - marked SCENE in Figure 8 - with the currently selected mode being indicated by a fish, a person skiing, an outline of two people, a person with a moon shape, a moon shape and a mountain with reflection, respectively.

Underwater mode is used when taking photos underwater, strangely enough! Apparently, the white balance is adjusted to "the appropriate setting to enable impressive underwater photographs of your subjects". Well, that's what the manual reckons, anyway. In practice, I didn't really see much difference, although I was pleased with some of the underwater photos I did manage to take!


Figure 13: Under the sea ... Click on the image for the full size image. (512KB)

The next mode is "Active outdoor mode", which "lets you stop the movement of your subject and get lively shots of fast-moving objects in bright outdoor conditions". I couldn't find any fast moving objects in Barbados so I had to resort to playing with traffic instead. Figure 15 was taken with the camera just turned on, so everything was set to the default settings, while Figure 14 is a similar setting but with the active outdoor mode on. In both cases, the vehicles would have been travelling at around 30mph. The basic premise of the mode is to increase the shutter speed, thus managing to catch the objects without the smearing evident in Figure 15, but it does have the knock-on effect of reducing the amount of light, hence the need for bright outdoor conditions.


Figure 14: Traffic with the camera in "active outdoor" mode. Click on the image for the full size image. (503KB)


Figure 15: Traffic with the camera set to the defaults. Click on the image for the full size image. (461KB)

"Soft snap mode" lets you "shoot skin colours in brighter and warmer tones".

"Illumination snap mode" lets you "capture beautiful images of both subjects and night scene backgrounds at the same time". Figure 16 shows an example of this mode in use, while Figure 17 shows the same viewpoint but with the camera set to normal mode. This was taken at night, so the flash had to be used on both occasions. Selecting this mode also introduces a cross filter effect and this can be seen on the lamp. The overall effect is, I think, generally pleasing. However, I think the camera has focused onto the fence at the back, rather than my enthusiastic assistant. I think this is because I had the camera closer than a metre to Eeyore and the manual does state that when the focus mode is set to auto, the focus is adjusted to approximately 1m to infinite and than photographing objects closer than 1m requires the use of a focus preset. As I mentioned earlier, it is design issues like this that can make the camera harder to use than you might expect if you haven't got a good eye for distance.


Figure 16: Photo taken with "Illumination snap mode". Click on the image for the full size image. (318KB)


Figure 17: Same setting but in normal mode. Click on the image for the full size image. (272KB)

"Twilight mode" lets you "shoot night scenes at far distances without losing the dark atmosphere of the surroundings". Figure 18 shows an example of this mode in use, while Figure 19 shows the same viewpoint but with the camera set to normal mode. The camera was held on a steady surface and, therefore, should not have been subject to any shake. Yet, the twilight mode picture is clearly not very sharp. The manual is confusing on trying to understand exactly how the camera operates in this mode, in that in one bullet point it states "The focus setting changes to infinity" and then in a subsequent bullet point in the same section, it states "When the focus setting is set to [auto], the focus is adjusted to telephoto". Maybe I just wasn’t far enough from the subject 8O


Figure 18: Photo taken with "Twilight mode". Click on the image for the full size image. (251KB)


Figure 19: Same setting but in normal mode. Click on the image for the full size image. (395KB)

Finally, "vivid nature mode" lets you "shoot natural landscapes with vivid, striking colours". Figure 20 shows an example of a photo taken in this mode, with Figure 21 showing the same scene but in normal mode. I don't know about you but I can't tell the difference between the two photos. If you look at the detailed properties for the files, you do see some small differences (exposure time, light source and exposure program) but these don't appear to translate into a visible difference in the images. Arguably, Downtown Disney is not a "natural landscape" but it was the best I could do at the time


Figure 20: Photo taken with "Vivid nature mode". Click on the image for the full size image. (486KB)


Figure 21: Same setting but in normal mode. Click on the image for the full size image. (479KB)

On the whole, I think that the results from these special modes are a bit mixed. As with other aspects of this camera, more use may lead me to become more accustomed as to when to use a particular feature. At the moment, though, I think I'll mainly leave it on automatic apart from, perhaps the odd night-time shot where the illumination snap mode does help to capture both foreground & background.

Red-eye Reduction
"Red eye" occurs when the light from the flash is reflected off the subject's retina. Cameras with a "red-eye reduction mode" typically try to deal with the problem by shining light at the subject ahead of the photo being taken. The theory here is that the light will cause the pupils to contract which then reduces the amount of the retina that is visible.

The DSC-U60 has such a mode and activating it causes the flash to trigger twice – once slightly ahead of the photo and again with the photo being taken. The good news is that, as far as I had experienced with the photos I'd taken, the camera didn't suffer as badly as some others I'd come across. The even better news is that activating the red-eye reduction feature did further reduce what little there was. Figure 22 shows a highly magnified example of an eye taken with the feature turned off whilst Figure 23 shows the same eye with the feature turned on. All other conditions (e.g. ambient lighting) remained as constant as possible between shots.


Figure 22: Photo taken without red eye reduction.


Figure 23: Photo taken with red eye reduction.

Special Effects
Like many consumer digital imaging systems today, this camera allows you to apply special effects when taking a photo. The four modes available are negative art, sepia, black and white, and solarize. Each of these modes is shown below, starting with a photo of the view without any processing turned on. The subsequent photos have all been processed by the camera and not by software – I just tried very hard to keep the camera looking at the same thing all the time. That said, I've never been a great fan of using these options within a device since, once you've applied them, they are there forever. It is much better, in my opinion, to keep the image as close to the original as possible and then manipulate it afterwards in something like PaintShop Pro or Photoshop.


Figure 24: The untouched view. Click on the image for the full size image. (438KB)


Figure 25: Negative art. Click on the image for the full size image. (442KB)


Figure 26: Sepia. Click on the image for the full size image. (316KB)


Figure 27: Black and white. Click on the image for the full size image. (321KB)


Figure 28: Solarize. Click on the image for the full size image. (411KB)

Connecting The Camera To The Computer
The camera is connected via the supplied USB cable to the computer. If you are using Mac OS or a version of Windows other than Windows XP, it is likely that you will need to install the supplied USB driver.

When you do connect the camera to the USB port, it becomes powered by the USB interface and turns itself on automatically. For both Windows & Mac OS, once the camera is connected, the contents of the Memory Stick appear as a new drive and it is possible to browse the contents directly. The CD-ROM also contains image transfer software for Windows if you prefer to have the contents copied onto the PC automatically when you connect the camera.

The CD-ROM also contains an application called ImageMixer (not compatible with Mac OS X). This can be used to create MPEG-1 video files or complete Video CDs. The software is good as far as it goes, which is about right for bundled software, but you can probably easily find something better.

Printing Your Photos
The manual advises that the 2MP photos taken are suitable for printing A5 size (148 x 210mm). The camera includes support for the DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) standard, which allows you to electronically mark selected images on the stick and then have those selected images automatically printed at a shop or on a compatible printer. The box that the camera comes in also claims support for EXIF and PIM (Print Image Matching). I say "claims" because (a) the manual doesn't mention it anywhere and (b) trying to print the photos to my Epson Stylus Photo 950 (a PIM-supporting printer) doesn't engage the PIM feature in Epson's PhotoQuicker application. When I asked Sony about this, their response was that this only works if you use the MemoryStick directly in a printer and that the information gets lost when the images are transferred to the PC. I suspect that the author of the reply was confusing DPOF with EXIF & PIM. I have asked for further clarification but not received any yet.

If you do copy the files onto your computer then, in Windows at least (I don't have a Mac OS system to compare against), you can look at the properties that have been stored in the image. An example of the settings that are stored can be seen in Figure 29.


Figure 29: Settings stored by the camera in the image file.

Convergence or Madness?
For a while now, I've had a digital camcorder that can take photos as well as record video. Increasingly, though, digital camera manufacturers have been extending the capabilities of digital cameras so that they can record movies, and Sony with the DSC-U60 is no exception.

But I just don't get why they think we would want this feature! After all, the camera has no microphone, so there is no sound recorded, the maximum record time is 15 seconds per recording (on this model, at least), and the image size is only 160x112. When the 15 seconds is over, the camera goes back to "stand by", so if you want to record some more, you have to press the shutter button again. The video is stored as an MPEG file.

The quality isn't too bad, I suppose, given the above restrictions, and you can use the special effects discussed above, and the self-timer if you want to video yourself, but I don't think that the movie mode should be seen as too much more than a gimmicky feature.

If you want to see a movie made with this camera, click here (280KB). You may want to save the file to disc before playing it.

Conclusions
It is possible to get waterproof cases for a few digital cameras now, but the DSC-U60 is possibly unique in being designed to be waterproof without any additional hardware. That gives me peace of mind – I don't have to worry about whether or not I've fitted the camera into the external case properly. The camera isn't without its limitations – the most noticeable is the lack of zoom and the slightly slower than desirable focusing & photo saving. All told, though, I've enjoyed using this camera, particularly underwater, and longer term use will probably help me to get better results.
 
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