- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 65 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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13 out of 17 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Compact, Solid, Zoomable Mpeg 4 Video, Dual Mode"
Pros: Great Mpeg4 Zoomable Video mode, compact, durable
Cons: Pricey, photo quality could be better
Summary: I have used several Sony Cybershot digital cameras. The DSC-V3, W1, P200, T1 and now the M1. Sony makes a well designed, solidly built, functional digital camera and the M1 adds to this long standing reputation.
The solid metal case gives you a comfortable grip on the unit although the swing out LCD may make the camera seem a bit awkward. I found no difficulty getting a good solid grip on the unit and had good access to the controls. Interestingly Sony's engineers like to borrow from their own technology pool. The M1's swivel and pivot LCD reminds us of their NX series Clie PDA which also had an open swivel rotate screen. The hinge on the M1 is very solidly made and doesn't hint of the weakness in the earlier Clie models.
Sony has added touch controls to the LCD so you can view your photos and navigate from photo to photo. This is a nice touch and only makes for greater ease of use.
Some users have complained that the controls on the camera are small and unintuitive. I find this comment to be contrary to the actual ease of access I have found. The controls that one accesses regularly are easily found, and the ones that should be avoided by accident are smaller. Great touch Sony!! The menu system was also criticized by some users, and I have found that these are equally simple to navigate. Perhaps as someone that uses gadgets on a daily basis (PDA's, notebooks, digital cameras, MP3 players) the M1 is a simple to use device with many features.
There always seems to be some form of tradeoff when products get miniaturized, and are built to address a variety of uses. Most digital cameras these days offer photo and video modes. This camera is no different offering various resolutions and a good frame rate of 30 frames per second. The great thing about the M1 is that it not only allows you to film to the memory sticks full capacity, but it allows you to zoom during filming. No other camera I have heard of allows you to do this. The other superb feature is that it captures Mpeg4 compressed movies. This allows you to fit more movie time on a memory stick. Many people have again complained that the format of the movies is proprietary, however there are many free shareware utilities which allow you to convert the clips easily. Sonys software is not necessary to do this and its simpler to work with the shareware out there.
The picture modes are very good, although I find that the flash modes need some manual coaxing and tend to overbrighen the images at close range (up to 5 feet). When I tinker around with the manual settings this limitation has been overcome.
The M1 is worthy of considerable praise and its superb design, quality build, and long list of well executed features make it a great buy. Some may feel that the vertical orientation is somewhat cumbersome (It takes a bit of getting used to, but works great)and the price tag may not be worth it. However I feel that an Mpeg4 movie mode and the ability to zoom during filming make this a close match to camcorder functionality. Therefore I believe that it is worth the price.
- 1 reply to this review
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This was a fairly positive review, but I'd like to see the reveiwer edit his comments to include comments about close-up/macro capabilities as well as quality with optical and digital zooms in stills and movies. Also, is the sound quality directional, or do you hear the photographer louder than the subject?
Where to buy
Sony Cyber Shot DSC-M1:
$849.99
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$849.99 | Yes |
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