Great Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX10 Reviews,Prices, Features & Specifications

The Sony Cybershot DSC S950 is a simple, snapshot digital camera. It has 10 megapixels and a 4x optical zoom lens. Like other Sony digital cameras the Cybershot DSC S950 has a feature called Smart Zoom. This feature increases the amount of zoom available to you when you take photos at lower resolutions. This transforms this camera into one with up to 22x zoom available.

In theory the 2.7 inch LCD screen is a step up on what you are likely to see on the most basic digital cameras. I say in theory, because while testing this camera I found the LCD screen very difficult to see when the sun caught the screen. Although this can be a problem with many digital cameras this problem was more pronounced with the Cybershot DSC S950.

Compared with many entry level digital cameras the Cybershot DSC S950 is fairly compact. It will fit into a pocket, but it might be a bit of a squeeze. There is not much to report when it comes to the design of the camera. It has that typical rectangular look that most digital cameras have. To add a touch of variety Sony offer three different coloured versions. These are in black, silver and pink.

Sony Cybershot DSC S950 Review

One of the reasons for the compact size is the fact that the camera runs on a lithium ion battery. These are a fair bit smaller than AA batteries and help to keep the dimensions of the camera down. Sony suggests you should get over 300 shots in between charges. They supply a charger and a battery as standard.

If I was serious about macro photography I would accept I have to pay more for a digital camera that can produce great macro shots. Mind you the Cybershot DSC S950 can get in quite close at 5cm from the subject. My macro tests were good without being anything special. Under artificial lighting my macro shot took on a blue colour caste. Beware of this if you are taking photos under different lighting conditions. It may be something you can reduce by working with the different white balance controls that are available to you.

An area where the camera does not measure up is with the movie mode. This is one of the few digital cameras unable to produce TV quality movies. The maximum resolution available is 320 x 240 pixels. This is enough to create movies for playback on a computer, but I am surprised Sony has put in this limitation, especially with more and more cameras moving up to offer High Definition movies.

As you would expect, Sony has not gone overboard when it comes to features. The camera does have the now obligatory face detection setting. I am not totally convinced of the value this adds to a camera. After all there were millions of great portrait shots taken before it was introduced. Sony has included image stabilisation to reduce problems caused by camera shake. There is also a feature that helps to clear up any red eye problems in a portrait shot taken using flash.

On the whole I felt picture quality could have been a bit better, even in a low priced camera. The pictures could have been a degree sharper and detail was lost in bright areas of photos. I also found the camera one of the slowest I have tested for started up times. It was more than five seconds between turning the camera on and the first picture being captured. Turning the flash on also slows the Cybershot DSC S950 right down increasing the danger of missing a photo.

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