In addition to standard features such as six scene modes, exposure compensation, selectable autofocus, white-balance presets, and black-and-white and sepia effects, the DSC-P73 has a manual mode with adjustable shutter speeds and aperture. A decent range of shutter speeds--from 1/1,000 second to 30 seconds--is provided, but aperture selections are limited to two, which diminishes the camera's flexibility.
The DSC-P73 did relatively well in most of our performance tests. It took about 3 seconds to power up, extend the lens, flash the Sony logo, and get the first shot--not blazingly fast but pretty good. Time between shots averaged about 3 seconds, which was a little slower than we had hoped. But shutter lag was minimal, and we were able to capture a series of nine shots at about 1.2 frames per second. Low-light autofocus was efficient and accurate, thanks to the camera's AF illuminator.
Our test photos were generally good but not extraordinary for this camera's class. Although some of our outdoor test shots were on the cool side, as whites were tinged with a slight bluish cast, the camera generally produced accurate and well-saturated colors. We saw slight image noise in some shadow areas, not surprising in a snapshot camera. While purple fringing was minimal, several of our photos showed a faint yellowish-green halo along high-contrast edges; however, it was usually so faint that it was hardly noticeable. Dynamic range was often broad enough to capture decent shadow and highlight detail, although whites lost all detail in some brightly lit scenes.
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