Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P120 Digital Camera (5MP, 3x Optical Zoom) - includes Case and Spare Battery

I chose this camera having read reviews on amazon and digital camera sites i came to the conclusion that the DSC-P120 was the one for me, i contemplated the Canon ixus 500 but then read a damning review on two differnet sites and threw it out the window. So it came down to the Sony and some other cameras and the Sony won through for reliabilty and value for money the 5MP and the extra battery and carry case swayed me.

And i was not disappointed with the camera or the speed of delivery from amazon. the camera is small sleek and sexy and the black case jsut adds to that very impressed with the set up of the camera itself the buttons and dial are all in convinent places. I liked the way the camera had been scaled down in size compared to my parents Sony which is alot haeavier and much bulkier. Picture quality is excellent although u will need a much larger mem stick than the one supplied. this is my only comlaint that sony still onyl provide you with a 32Mb mem stick with a 5MP camera anyway have a nice 256Mb stick now so happy.

All in all an excellent buy value for money great camera, case and extra battery. would recommend to anyone looking for a good solid camera that caters for all levels of experience. and the price cant be beat inthe shops.

First I need to point out that the DSC-P120 was a replacement for my existing DSC-P2 which I have had for a number of years, through which it has provided very reliable service.

A couple of months ago I planned to upgrade to the DSC-P12, but heard about the new P120 and held off. I am really please I did.
The P120 is noticably smaller than its predecessor (which was the same size as my old P2) which is always nice. There are some minor improvements in functionality (The burst mode of taking a number of shots in one press and hold will be good for catching that elusive action shot). For me however the 'turn on' to 'snap' time improvement is by far the best feature of this camera. Basically from turning it on to taking the first shot takes between 2 and 3 seconds, this is compared with the P2 which takes around 7 seconds. A vast improvement.

Added to that the picture quality is better than every, all in all the P120 does everything I hoped and more. A great buy!

The birth of my second son this week (hello Matthew!) prompted plenty of midnight oil backed web searches. As usual - Amazon came up trumps on the quality of product and prices. I had ordered before the holiday weekend so delivery interrupted slightly - received the camera a reasonably prompt 4.5 days from order (I should have gone for the free shipping though!). The camera on first day's use is proving to be fantastic. The special edition black finish looks great. The camera feels small but sturdy with all metal case. I was not to be disappointed in terms of the main reasons I went for this model: 1. The larger TFT screen is very high quality and helped us pick the best shots from the MANY we took. The image quality on screen is superb indoors and outdoors 2. The point and shoot capabilities are perfect for a digicamera newbie like me but there looks to be plenty added features for when my experience level goes up! The new sony has improved auto focus capabilities, all I can say is the pictures look great. 3. The 120 is essentially a 100 camera in special edition black finish but includes a case and additional battery - these features make this a strong package and that's why I picked the 120 over the 100. 4. I also purchased a 256 Memory Stick, I've over 50 photos stored at 5Mb - room for the same again! In summary, we are delighted with the camera, amazon's range, prices and quick delivery has put this fantastic camera in my hands in time to capture our happy family event. Hope this helps

Lets begin at the beginning. When you take this camera out of the box you will be amazed. It is SO good looking. It is very small yet not tiny and toy like. It's about 4/5 the size of your average disposable camera and much thinner. The pictures on amazon do not do it justice - the black body is really sleek. It looks very professional yet not at all boring - I think it beats the P100 (silver version) in the looks department hands down.

The two batteries are useful - one small gripe I have is that each battery needs to be actually in the camera to be charged - it can't be done externally. Thus, you can only have one battery on charge at a time and that's only if you're not using your camera. Get the picture? However, after only an hour charge, one battery will keep you going for absolutely ages. You get an estimate of remaining battery time left on the high quality LCD screen and it's pretty accurate. With the LCD screen and flash both in use, it took me literally about 2 hours of picture taking, reviewing and making short movies for the battery to run down half way.

The case supplied with the camera is also stylish BUT it's hard-leather design literally makes the camera feel about twice as big in your pocket. Still, for carrying in a bag it's great - very protective. You also get the other usual gimmicks like the hand-strap (not much to say about that really) and the AV-cable (makes it SIMPLE to connect to your TV).

Talking of simple, it's time to discuss the cameras menu system. It is perfect, I really can't fault it. It is VERY easy to navigate - which is something that might not mean alot now but if you purchase this camera you'll see how useful and helpful this feature can be. You've got all the tools for simple picture editing built into the camera - cropping, dividing, rotating etc. I haven't experimented much with the different scene selections - you get beach mode, candle lit dinner mode, macro mode, etc - I'm more of a point and shoot person myself.

The built in flash and view finder are typical of most cameras obviously - I haven't found much use for the viewfinder due to the fact the batteries last so long even with the LCD screen, and the screen is clearly visible even outside in bright sunlight. The built in flash is brilliant, and there's also a cool laser thing (to do with focusing) that someone's already mentioned - fun to shine in people's eyes ;)

Start up time is virtually nonexistant. The power up and snap buttons are perfectly positioned. One of life's simpler pleasures can be found by just watching the lens slide gracefully and nimbly in and out of the camera - it's practically hypnotic :P

Picture and video quality. Simply amazing. Check out the sample pictures on www.steves-digicams.com if you want - but they really do not give justice to the fine snaps I have produced - and it's not like I'm a professional photographer. The Carl Zeiss lens is arguably one of the best camera lenses in existence. The camera will focus perfectly on the subject of your picture - and take brilliant, amazing quality high resolution pictures, which can be printed out in A4 size and beyond. The colours are crisp, you'll never get any blur - and what's more it doesn't tend to pick out spots and blemishes like some other digital cameras do. ;) Plus - alot of other cameras seem to mess up black parts of pictures for some reason - this one doesn't. The movies come out brilliantly, especially if using high resolution fine mode (which is only available if using a Memory Stick PRO - which is understandable - you'll be using just under 1MB per second of film you take on this mode). The movie quality when played back is so good that even when watched on my 28" TV via the AV lead, they appear better quality than film taken on my dedicated Sharp digital video camera which is only a year old! A picture taken on 5.1MP (fine) will use up about 2MB. 3.0MP will take up between 1 and 1.5MB. Unless you're buying this camera especially for the 5.1MP then you'll be just as happy with your results when using 3.0MP mode. Even when dealing with these large file sizes, the camera has a fast shutter speed and no delay in saving images. USB upload also fast. The zoom is great - no difference in quality whether not zoomed at all or using the full 3x optical zoom.

There is a large range of accessories available for this camera from Sony - everything from docking stations to PictBridge printers to special effects lenses to underwater cases so you can use your Cybershot in the swimming pool. You get a brochure listing these in the camera box - unfortunately many need to be bought direct from Sony so they're probably all fairly expensive.

The 32MB supplied will hold about 10 pictures on highest quality. I would recommend buying a 512MB memory stick - certain third party suppliers available on this site sell theirs for the same price as Sony's official 256MB memory (which I own). My 256MB memory stick will hold about 100 highest quality photos or/and 3 minutes of highest quality movie. Obviously the camera's LCD screen displays available memory in the corner.

Well, there you go. For this price, you really cannot buy a better camera. I hope this has helped to make up your mind. My friends are jealous of my camera. My family are jealous. My family's friends are jealous. This is a brilliant piece of equipment - suitable for anybody short of top professional. Buy it now.

A brilliant little camera. Bought the Sony P120 plus a 256M Sandisk Ultra II memory stick.

Photo performance is very good: ideal for walking and travel. Software is simple but works even with XP service pack 2. Sandisk is very good - download on USB2 is very fast and playback through TV is a feature I wouldn't have thought would be so useful.

If you want great pictures from a pocket camera: buy it.