Sony DSC-N1

Reviewed March 2006

Interface & Software

Interface

A 3-inch touch screen makes the interface extremely responsive, very intuitive and unique. Basic camera parameters are clearly indicated, arranged mostly across the top of the screen. Pressing the On-Screen Key button replaces all superimposed information with the touch panel buttons, avoiding any possible confusion.

The icons that form the touch screen buttons are arranged to the left and right of the screen so that they can be easily accessed with either thumb while holding the camera, a system that becomes second nature in a matter of minutes. Still, some manipulations could have been further refined. The Self-timer, for instance, needs to be re-selected at every shot, and the white balance is glaringly absent from the touch screen buttons, and needs to be selected from the menu.

The menus of the N1 also respond to touch, either using the stylus or a fingertip. A maximum of 4 options are displayed per screen, making it not only very legible, but also easy to use even by someone with big fingers. Whatever the menu, an access to the Setup menu is presented as the last option. One small regret, however: the menus of the N1 do not loop back to the beginning once the last option has been reached, making some operations more time-consuming than they could have been.

The Setup menu of the N1 is very extensive, and is composed of 8 screens, each marked as a separate section. The first section, is called Camera 1:

• AF Mode serves to select how the autofocus operates:
  • Single (S-AF): focuses only when the shutter release is pressed.
  • Monitor (M-AF): focuses continuously when the shutter release is pressed and held halfway.
• Digital Zoom offers 3 options: Smart, Precision or Off (see the Characteristics section of the review for more information).
• Date/Time: selects whether or not the Day and Time, or the Date, are permanently stamped on the image.
• Red Eye Reduction: turns On or Off the red-eye reduction pre-flashes.

The next section is called Camera 2 and contains only 2 options:

• AF Illuminator: to turn On of Off the AF assistance light that comes on when the ambient light is insufficient for the autofocus to function reliably.
• Auto Review: On or Off. Decides whether or not the image is shown for 2 seconds on the LCD monitor immediately after capture.

Memory Stick Tool comes next if one is loaded into the camera, or Internal Memory if there is not. This section has either 4 options or 1 depending on the presence of a Memory Stick Duo:

• Format: (the only option shown if the camera is using its Internal Memory) serves to format a Memory Stick Duo, or the Internal Memory.
• Create REC. Folder: to create a new folder into which stills and movies will be stored.

• Change REC. Folder: to change the folder that is currently in use to record images to another.
• Copy: serves to copy images or videos from the internal memory to a Memory Stick Duo.

The next section is entitled Album, and it provides options for:

• Write in Album: On or Off, controls whether or not the camera keeps a VGA at Standard compression copy of the images captured.
• Format: formats the Album memory space, deleting the images there.
• Check Album: verifies the integrity of the Album file.

The last 4 sections of the menu are all called Setup 1 through 4.

Setup 1:

• Download Music: serves to download music to be used with a slide show.
• Format Music: allows formatting the memory space that contains music files for the slide show should the file become corrupted.

Setup 2:

• LCD Backlight: serves to adjust the brightness of the monitor's backlight (Bright or Normal).
• Beep selects if and when the N1 produces sounds while being operated:
  • Shutter: only produces a sound when the shutter release is pressed.
  • On: allows both shutter and operation beeps.
  • Off: turns off all sounds.
• Language: selects the interface language (English, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese or Japanese).
• Initialize: returns all camera settings to their factory defaults.

Setup 3:

• File Number: selects how images are numbered:
  • Series: numbers images sequentially, irrespective of the the memory card.
  • Reset: restarts numbering from 1 when a new Memory Stick Duo is used, or formatted.
• USB Connect provides 4 settings:
  • PictBridge: to connect and print images directly from the camera to a PictBridge compliant printer, by-passing the need for a computer.
  • PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol): to automatically transfer images to a Windows XP or Mac OS X computer.
  • Mass Storage: to connect the camera to a computer.
  • Auto: lets the camera decide the protocol to use automatically.
• Video Out: selects the signal output by the camera NTSC or PAL.
• Clock Set: to set the time and date on the DSC-N1.

Setup 4:

• Calibration: serves to calibrate the precision of the touch screen by tapping 2 of the corners of the monitor and the centre when a green cross is shown.
• Housing: On or Off, lets the camera know that it is in the optional Marine Pack, changing the way some buttons operate.

Over the years Sony's manuals for its compact digital cameras have often been a bit skimpy. But with its recent cameras, the information provided to the consumer has become, in our opinion, inadequate.

A single folded sheet of paper — entitled "Read This First" and referred to in the rest of the documentation as a "volume" — and a thin manual that is printed in small characters and in a pale blue ink that make it hard to read are all that is provided. Although the manual is entitled "User's Guide", it is poorly organized, and fails to provide details about important functions and features. Moreover, it occasionally glosses over important functions by referring the user to the "Read This First volume", which it turns out may only offer a sentence or two about the function.

Thankfully, the DSC-N1 is very intuitive, which lessens the importance of the information provided in the manual. Nevertheless, the manual does not measure up to the quality of the camera.

Software

A single CD is bundled with the DSC-N1 in North America. Titled Cyber-shot Application Software it contains the following programs:

• Picture Package version 1.6.1.
• USB Drivers for all operating systems that require it.
• ImageMixer VCD2 from Pixela for Windows and Macintosh OSX.

This version of Picture Package has been revised to provide additional functions, such as a capability to upload music files to the camera. Picture Package starts by presenting a Menu from which tasks are selected:

• Viewing video and pictures on a PC.
• Music Video Slide Show Producer.
• Save the Images on a CD-R.
• Burning Video CD.
• Transfer Slide Show Music.

The image viewer portion of the program presents images as thumbnails or as an index sheet, and any image can be opened into a separate window, which provides access to image editing tools.

There images can be processed for automatic red eye removal, or re-sized, or cropped, or edited in another part of the program called Image Editor.

With Image Editor it is possible to adjust the image brightness, contrast, hue, saturation and sharpness.

Picture Package also links to Pixela's ImageMixer VCD2, a program designed to create slide shows and albums that can be burned onto CD ROM (Video CD).