Sony Does It Again! The P200 is Coming!!

[aeplumly]

davej wrote:

It's here, it's charging, it's a lovely piece of design. Contrary to the specs on sony.co.uk and sonystyle.com, it has, according to the manual, the following features that the P150 doesn't:

+ "One push" white balance ( = custom/manual)
+ Centre-weighted metering (in addition to spot & multi)
+ Spot AF (in addition to centre & multi)

It also has lower power consumption than the P150, despite the bigger screen!

BTW sonystyle.ca got all these details right.

Dave

Agreed! Got mine last night. I was happy to see the manual white balance! I want to post a review, but haven't had enough time to play around with it yet! But the design is lovely and the bigger, protected LCD is great! Will post more over the weekend!

[kazaan]

awesome !! dave and aeplumly...

hope u guys had a good weekend shooting with the p200.

did sony add more aperture stops to p200 or is it still 2 aperture choices for all zoom?

i had read abt the p150 selecting lower shutter speed indoors resulting in some blurry images..did p200 solve this issue?

btw, if the camera is put in a camera pouch, is p200 still pocketable or a bit of struggle there?

thanks,
kaz

[davej]

kazaan wrote:

awesome !! dave and aeplumly...

hope u guys had a good weekend shooting with the p200.

Less photography and more doing odd jobs than I would have liked! I managed to get a few pics, though. Pleased with the camera. The image quality seems in line with what I've seen in reviews of the P150.

did sony add more aperture stops to p200 or is it still 2 aperture choices for all zoom?

Still just two choices at each focal length.

i had read abt the p150 selecting lower shutter speed indoors resulting in some blurry images..did p200 solve this issue?

When shooting indoors with flash in not-very-bright incandescent lighting, the P200 seems to select 1/40 sec at the widest zoom setting and 1/50 at all other focal lengths, regardless of ISO. I'm not sure if that's exactly the same behaviour as the P150, but it will no doubt result in some blurry pics towards the tele end for those of us with less than rock-steady hands.

btw, if the camera is put in a camera pouch, is p200 still pocketable or a bit of struggle there?

The camera's small but not as slim as, say, an Ixus 40 (Elph SD300), so with a pouch thick enough to be strong & protective, you'd want slightly baggy trousers or a jacket/coat pocket.

Dave

[kazaan]

Thanks a lot Dave!!

Have fun with your new Sony...

Kaz.

[davej]

An update on my P200 experiences: I found that some pics taken at full aperture and wide angle had a very soft patch in the extreme top-left corner. I told the dealer (Berridge) and they said they'll send a replacement. They haven't had any other reports of faults with the P200, so this may well be a one-off.

I had a bout of indecisiveness, thinking that I'd really like a camera with optical image stabilisation and wondering if the dealer would offer me a refund or exchange. My hands are often not very steady and I think Sony's ISO ratings may be a bit overstated: the P200 selects approx 2/3-stop longer exposures than my 35mm SLR at the same aperture & ISO (of course my SLR's metering may not be perfect). And I like shooting in available light. In England . I had initially been considering the Panasonic FX7, but opted for the P200 because of the VGA video mode, manual exposure, optical viewfinder, faster AF, lower noise, better battery life and longer max. shutter speed. I'll probably stick with the P200 for those reasons, it's an excellent camera. But the first manufacturer to produce a pocketable model with OIS and a full range of exposure control, in addition to all the P200's good stuff, will tempt me to reach for my credit card!

Dave

[kazaan]

Hey Dave,

I am a bit concerned about the small shutter speed in auto mode in p150/200 also.
I am now debating between 7MP P200 and punitive 3MP Canon A510 ( i shouldnt be mentioning it in sony forum :lol: ) since A510 is 200$ cheaper and has FULL manual controls.
Since I am a student...it might be wiser for me to go for A510....learn some photography then upgrade to a GOOD camera...
still in confusion though coz the movie mode on A510 sucks compared to p200 ...the only drawback i see apart from 7MP vs 3MP.

I so wish Sony had put atleast 1 midway aperture setting if not giving aperture n shutter priority modes.

Kaz.

[Gabby]

davej wrote:

An update on my P200 experiences: I found that some pics taken at full aperture and wide angle had a very soft patch in the extreme top-left corner. I told the dealer (Berridge) and they said they'll send a replacement. They haven't had any other reports of faults with the P200, so this may well be a one-off.

Dave

I'll check mine out ASAP too and let you know if ours does the same - I also bought from Berridge (not that that's the issue here! They were actually very good!).

Hopefully it's just yours that's got this problem! aranoid:

[davej]

kazaan wrote:

Hey Dave,

I am a bit concerned about the small shutter speed in auto mode in p150/200 also.

In most cases the P150/P200 are simply selecting a shutter speed dictated by the light level & lens size, and other cameras would choose a similar speed.

There are a few scenarios where it would have been possible and perhaps desirable to choose a faster speed. E.g. in fairly dim indoor lighting with flash, my P200 selects 1/40 sec at full wideangle, 1/50 at all other focal lengths, regardless of ISO. The old rule of thumb is that to avoid camera shake, you need a shutter speed of 1/f or faster, where f is the 35mm-equivalent focal length. So 1/50 all the way out to full zoom of 114mm is too slow. Luckily the flash will freeze movement, but if the ambient lighting is bright enough to register in the picture, which it may well be for things in the background beyond the flash's range, then you'll get a bit of blur from that unless you have very steady hands. There are advantages to the relatively slow sync speed, too: it allows more ambient light to register in the picture, which can produce a more pleasing, atmospheric result. Even so, I would have preferred a shorter shutter speed at longer focal lengths.

The good news is that you can just switch to manual, set a faster shutter speed & full aperture (unless the subject is very close) and the flash will still adjust to give a correct exposure.

Other than that, I've occasionally seen the P200 flip to its smaller aperture when I would have expected and preferred it to stay at full aperture and give me a faster shutter speed. But that depends on the type of photo you're trying to capture and individual preferences: another photographer may have said, I'm glad it chose the smaller aperture there, I wanted more depth of field and the shutter speed is fast enough. That's why we have scene modes and manual!

If the lens allowed more aperture choices, the camera would have more flexibility in its choice of shutter speed.

As for the ISO issue I mentioned, Maxx on the Imaging Review forum compared his P150 with his Nikon 35mm SLR and found that in spot metering mode, their exposures agreed within 1/3 stop. So it may be that my SLR is -1/3 and the P200 is +1/3; I haven't changed the batteries in the SLR for ages, which may be a factor!

Dave

[davej]

Gabby wrote:

I'll check mine out ASAP too and let you know if ours does the same

I found that the problem came out most clearly by photographing a newspaper laid on the floor, with the camera on a tripod and carefully aligned to be horizontal and the newspaper filling the frame. Choose a page with small print all the way into the corners to give an accurate comparison. I recommend using daylight or a bright, even light source and disabling the flash, as the flash vignettes slightly at full wideangle, obscuring the problem.

I also saw the problem in natural scenes but a carefully set-up shot will help you to test definitively. Keep an eye on the exposure or use manual. For me the problem was worst at f/2.8 at full wideangle. I shot a broadsheet newspaper opened out so that I was far enough away not to need macro mode.

Dave

[Gabby]

davej wrote:

Thanks for the tips - I'll check mine out when I get home!