Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-55E

The new wave of mega-pixel digital cameras is beginning to pick up momentum this month, after the first, disappointing example arrived from Fujifilm two months ago (reviewed issue 56, p176). This month, things have changed.When Sony's diminutive Cyber-Shot DSC-55E arrived at the last minute we were expecting great things, having already been impressed by the Nikon CoolPix 950 (reviewed opposite)

The most interesting thing about the Cyber-Shot isn't the resolution of its 2.1 million pixel CCD, however, it's the way that it stores its pictures. The Cyber-Shot is the first device to arrive at the PC Pro offices to use Sony's much-vaunted, long-awaited Memory Stick technology. This is the company's alternative to the SmartMedia and CompactFlash cards you'll find in most other digital cameras and many PDAs at the moment.

The stick that comes as standard with the Cyber-Shot doesn't look like anything special. It's slightly thinner than a CompactFlash card but not quite as slim as SmartMedia. It weighs 4g, is 50mm long, 21.5mm wide (about the size of half a stick of chewing gum) and plugs into a slot at the bottom right hand corner of the camera. On the rear of the stick you'll find a write protect switch, but apart from that there's precious little difference between it and its rivals. If, however, Sony fulfils its promise to include Memory Stick technology in much of its future consumer electronics equipment, the format could well end up overtaking the competition in the popularity stakes.

Disappointingly, Sony only supplies a 4Mb stick with the Cyber-Shot as standard. Considering the high resolution of the images that can be taken with the Cyber-Shot (2.1 million pixels equates to 1,600 « 1,200), this seems a little on the stingy side, especially when it will cost you £34 to add another 4Mb and a whopping £60 for an 8Mb module. On the positive side, the size of the Cyber-Shot's JPEG images averages out at around 400Kb in its best quality mode, so you should be able to fit ten photos on the card quite comfortably.

Another surprising plus point is that, like the Nikon, the rather hefty amount of compression required to do this doesn't unduly affect image quality like it does with the Fuji MX-2700, or Kodak's disappointing pair, the DC-240 and DC-265 (reviewed issue 56, p179, and issue 57, p159). In fact, compared side by side with results from the higher-end - and more expensive - CoolPix 950, it's a close run thing. On close examination, the JPEG compression is more obvious in the Cyber-Shot's images, but it makes up for this with its gorgeous colour rendition and sharp detail reproduction, which is probably down to its Carl Zeiss lens. The Nikon just edges it, but not by much.

Where the Cyber-Shot does beat the Nikon is in its ability not only to take stills but also movie clips. The DSC-55E has the ability to shoot up to 15 seconds of MPEG movie footage, complete with sound, and these can taken be in either 320 « 240 or 160 « 112 resolutions. It's a bit of a gimmick but it works well and could be used to add small amounts of useful footage to emails, for example.

In other respects, however, the Cyber-Shot lags behind the Nikon. For instance, the Sony doesn't have a proper optical zoom, just a single-stage digital one. It also has far fewer features than the Nikon, but then the Cyber-Shot isn't aimed at the same market. Actually, the distinct lack of tweakable options, coupled with a really intuitive on-screen menu system and straightforward navigation controls, make the Sony much easier to use.