WAS a good camera

My mother got this camera with points from Air Miles. We weren't expecting much from it, but we got a lot - While it worked, anyway.

The pros:

The camera takes fantastic pictures. The zoom and assorted settings are decent and the menu is easily accessible. The camera takes memory stick PRO duo cards, which goes into an adapter and which fits right into the port on my laptop. (They supply you with a USB wire if you do not have a port for the card). Uploading pictures is simple and quick, and Sony provides software with the camera to simplify the uploading process. Though the software is unnecessary, it is useful as it remembers which pictures have already been copied and makes folders to organize your photos.

The camera itself it simple to use - just aim and click. My mom has never had any problems using it, which says a lot as she isn't very tech savvy. There was no tinkering required to get perfect pictures as the 'auto' mode worked very well. The camera took fantastic pictures, some of which we had enlarged (and their clarity did not diminish).

The cons:

Though it took amazing pictures, it also took very bad ones. The slightest touch made pictures blurry, and I got into the habit of taking multiple pictures of everything then saving the best one. If the lighting was a little dim without the flash on the pictures would become very blurry, and the flash washed things out. Though it had a lot of settings, they didn't seem to change very much and I often found it hard to get a proper setting to get the pictures right. Videos taken with the camera were alright but not great. They can be played with the provided software, however I have yet to find a mainstream program that will run them. This basically only allows me to watch them on the camera or my own computer with their program. I also found that the camera chewed up the batteries like crazy. After a few months some of the silver paint that coats the camera started chipping off near the button, and it will probably continue to chip.

Finally, the worst part. The camera was dropped one day and the spring on the door for the batteries broke. We were forced to tape it down as it will no longer close. We inquired about repairing it but the parts need to be ordered from Sony and they are expensive. Lastly, one day the lens just refused to open and stays half-closed. We have not been able to take pictures since, and when we turn on the camera it makes a loud noise and displays "Turn the power on and off again". Once again, the repairs MUST be made by Sony (independant camera repair people have said they are basically not allowed to touch the camera and must ship it to Sony, and its rather expensive - especially considering the camera's cost).

Overall, the camera served us well for about a year and a half until the lens mishap. I truly loved using it and wish this had not happened. We were lucky enough that my father got a free camera from work, otherwise we would no longer have a camera.