Sony DSC-N2

Reviewed March 2007

Interface & Software

Interface

Although a plastic stylus is provided with the 3-inch touch screen of the DSC-N2, the screen is so responsive to fingers that we found the stylus to be left unused, dangling at the end of the wrist strap most of the time. The result of this laziness, however, is an embarrassingly dirty screen which, after a prolonged use of the camera, can become a bit tricky to clean. (We found eyeglasses cleaner and cloth to be effective.) The touch interface of the DSC-N2, in addition to its very good image quality, is the strength, and attraction of the camera, a compromise must be made.

The large LCD monitor makes it easy to see camera settings and similarly, the large buttons of the On-Screen Keys are not only very simple to operate, but easy to read. The menus is also composed of large buttons as each option is a button and can be touched anywhere to open it and reveal its alternative settings. By far the longest menu of the DSC-N2 is the Setup menu which is accessible as the last menu option of all menus. Composed of 8 screens, each a different section, that flow from one to the next as the tabs on the left side of the screen are not touch selectable.

The first section, is called Camera 1:

• AF Mode serves to select how the auto focus 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).
• Red Eye Reduction: turns On or Off the red-eye reduction pre-flashes.
• AF Illuminator: Auto or Off. Decides whether or not the AF assist light comes on when the ambient light is insufficient for the auto focus to operate reliably.

The next section is called Camera 2 and contains only 1 option:

• 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 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 DSC-N2 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 and menu settings to their 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-N2 and the date format (Y/M/D, M/D/Y, or D/M/Y).

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 printed 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, simply inadequate, lacking basic information such as, in this case, the specifications for the DSC-N2. Details such as the sensitivity range of the camera when set to the auto mode are nowhere to be found, leaving it up to the user to discover that while the sensitivity can be manually set at 100 ISO, the Auto range does not appear to access it and instead starts at 160 ISO. Regrettably, the information Sony provides on its various Web sites is similarly lacking in detail, and even occasionally erroneous.

Software

A single CD is bundled with the DSC-N2 in North America. The disc contains the manual in Adobe Acrobat format in 23 languages, and three programs:

• Picture Motion Browser version 1.1 (Windows).
• Music Transfer for Windows and Macintosh.
• GPS Image Tracker for Windows.
• and the USB Drivers for operating systems that require it.

Picture Motion Browser serves to browse and manipulate still images or videos. Images must first be imported through a rather arcane process that involves "registering folders" so that images or movies can be brought into the program's database.

Once imported into the program, images are shown as thumbnails in the right side of the program's window (alternatively a detailed view can be selected) while the registered folders are shown on the left. Placing the mouse over any image adds a transparent overlay that indicates the image's file name, its location on the computer, the date on which it was captured and its size. Moreover, detailed information about each image can be displayed in a separate window, including all the shooting data.

From the Browser window, images can be imported, folders can be registered, a selected image can be printed, deleted, rotated left or right, or even edited using Picture Motion Browser or an external editor. In addition, images can be seen in a slide show, or e-mailed which creates a 640 x 480 pixel copy for emailing, or positioned on a map if the image's GPS coordinates have been attached to it using GPS Image Tracker (see further).

Once an image is selected for editing, it opens in separate window. There, the image can be Auto corrected, or adjusted for brightness, saturation, sharpness, tone curve, or red-eye. Whatever the correction applied, the corrected image can either be saved by overwriting the original, or saves as a new image.

This part of the program can also be offers the possibility to trim an image, and save the trimmed section as a new image.

GPS Image Tracker is the program which imports position information (GPS log files) captured using a separate GPS Unit. The position information can then be applied to images captured with the DSC-N2.

Finally, Picture Package Music Transfer is a tool designed to upload music that will be used with the DSC-N2's on-camera slide shows.