Sony's DSC-P73 offers
a 4.1 megapixel resolution and a 3X zoom lens packaged in a smooth
and rounded silver plastic body at an attractive price.
12 position Mode Dial with
a 2-stage shutter release in the middle, and the Power Switch.
As with other recently released Sony digital cameras,
rotating the Mode dial while the 1.5 inch, 67,200 pixel
LCD monitor is active, displays a virtual dial that spins as
the dial is turned from one shooting mode to another, a system
that avoids having to look at the top of the camera when changing
modes.
The Mode dial provides 9 still image shooting modes, 1 movie
mode, a playback mode and a setup mode:
Auto: leaves the camera
in control of focus, exposure, sensitivity and white balance.
Image quality is set to Fine and cannot be changed,
but the user can select the burst modes, the flash modes
and the macro modes.
Program: lets the
user adjust all parameters except for aperture and shutter
speed. However, both the selected aperture and shutter
speed are displayed when the camera's shutter release
is held at the halfway point.
Manual: provides control
over all camera functions with the exception of exposure
compensation as adjusting the shutter speed and aperture
achieves the same results. This mode allows selecting the
shutter speed over a range that covers from 1/1000 sec
to 30 seconds, and one of two apertures: f2.8 and f5.6
in wide angle, and f5.2 or f10 at the maximum telephoto.
Twilight Mode: forces
the flash to Off. Noise reduction is applied to images
captured at low shutter speeds and the speeds can be as
long as 2 seconds and up to 1/500 second. Sensitivity is
automatically set to 100 ISO.
Twilight Portrait Mode: forces
the flash to Slow Synch. If Red-eye Reduction is desired,
it must first be enabled in the Setup menu. The shutter
speed range is similar to the Twilight mode, covering from
2 seconds to 1/500 second.
Candle Mode has a shutter
speed range of 1 sec to 1/2000 sec., fand orces the focus
to the centre, the white balance to daylight, the sensitivity
to Auto ISO, and cancels the flash.
Landscape Mode: has
a shutter speed range of 1/8 sec to 1/2000 sec. and allows
2 flash modes, Off or Forced On. With this mode, sensitivity
is controlled by the P73 and will vary according to the
light available to the camera over a range of 100 to 320
ISO.
Beach Mode: ensures
that the camera records blue tones accurately, and limits
the flash to Forced On or Forced Off. Sensitivity is set
to Auto (between 100 and 320 ISO). Here again, the shutter
speed range is between 1/8 and 1/2000 sec.
Soft Snap Mode is a
Portrait mode which softens the image and accentuates skin
tones and has a shutter speed range of 1/8 to 1/2000 sec.
Setup: is used to configure
the basic settings of the DSC-P73. (See the Interface
and Software section of this review for an overview
of the available options of the Setup menu.)
Movie: serves to
record videos in any 1 of 3 formats:
640 (Fine): offers a 640 x 480 pixel frame
size but is only available if a Memory Stick
PRO is used.
640 (Standard) also records a 640 x 480
pixel frame, but with a stronger compression. Standard
Memory Sticks can be used.
160 has a frame size of 160 x 112 pixels
and a standard compression.
In all cases, movies are recorded at 25 frames per
second and the optical zoom is disabled during recording.
Focus, exposure and white balance are adjusted as necessary
during the recording. Recording lasts as long as there
is space on the Memory Stick.
Playback: serves to
see images and videos.
The zoom control is fitted into
the upper right of the camera's back. The lens transits from
wide angle to telephoto in just over 1 second, and the zoom motor
is extremely quiet.
In Playback, the control serves to zoom in (up to 5X magnification) and
zoom out of an image displayed on the screen. In addition, the W side
is also labelled with ,
indicating that it also serves to display thumbnails (9 per screen) when
pressed and held.
The remaining external controls
of the DSC-P73 are all arranged on to the right of the monitor.
The four-way control is composed of four grey plastic buttons
which are used for navigation of the menus or setting shooting
parameters, arranged in a circle around a central button which
is used to make some selections.
As usual, the four arrow buttons have additional uses:
The up arrow controls
the Flash modes: Auto, Forced On (fill-in), Off
and Slow Synch. Red-eye reduction, which fires pre-flashes,
must be turned on and off in the Setup menu.
The right arrow engages
the Macro mode which lets the camera focus as
close as 10 cm (3.9 inches) from the lens at the wide
angle setting, and 50 cm (19.5 inches) when the lens
is at the telephoto end.
The down arrow starts
the 10 second Self-timer. Note that the Self-timer
only remains active for a single shot, and must be re-selected
if needed again.
The left arrow starts
the Quick Review Mode which avoids having to switch
from a shooting mode to the Playback mode using the mode
dial. The Quick Review mode only shows the last captured
image, but allows the photo to be magnified for a closer
look, or deleted. There is no access to the Playback
menu when the camera is in Quick Review mode.
A single button is to the right
of the directional controls:
When pressed in any of the capture
modes, the button displays a menu which serves to select
one of the five image sizes available.
While in the Playback mode the buttons serves to erase unwanted photos.
Finally, two other buttons are aligned
on the immediate right of the LCD monitor. The upper one is the Monitor button
and it controls the monitor's status and the information overlaid
on it:
The Monitor button cycles
between various display modes. The first indicates most
camera settings, and in the Program or Manual modes displays
the shutter speed and aperture. Alternatively, the display
button can be used to overlay a real-time histogram,
or eliminate most of the overlaid information leaving
only the most critical elements. Last, the button turns
off the monitor.
The last button is the button.
It displays the menu appropriate to the mode in use. (See
the Characteristics section for an overview of the menus.)
The DSC-P73 is not
as fast to start as some of the other recently tested Sony cameras,
but it is still able to be ready to shoot in a bit less than
2 second after its power switch is pressed. Moreover, its controls
are responsive and make it easy to use. Still, the LCD monitor
is quite small, and the information overlaid on it with small
characters can be difficult to read.
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Introduction
,
indicating that it also serves to display thumbnails (9 per screen) when
pressed and held.
button.
It displays the menu appropriate to the mode in use. (See
the Characteristics section for an overview of the menus.)
