Sony DSC P43 Review

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC P43 is a 4 megapixel digital camera. It does not have an optical zoom lens. It is a straightforward camera and you can start taking pictures with it as soon as you have taken it out of the box and loaded the memory card and batteries.

It is aimed at the casual photographer, anyone who just enjoys taking all the normal holiday photos, shots for the family album as well as a variety of social gatherings and parties. For a camera in this price range the DSC P43 has a good build quality and feature set.

To be honest the images that I managed to take with the DSC P43 were a bit of a mixed bag. Outdoor shots were acceptable and I felt that the reproduction of colours was very good. When the digital zoom wasn't being used the pictures were sharp as well. One area where the camera didn't perform so well was when taking pictures with a degree of contrast (plenty of light and dark colours). If you look at the sample images you will see a loss of detail in the darker areas such as the trees.

The outdoor portrait came out well, but indoors the camera struggled. I was very disappointed with the indoor portrait. It is not sharp in fact it is rather blurred. This is despite the fact that I used a tripod to take the picture and cut out camera shake altogether. I also made more than one attempt to get the picture right, but to no avail.

The macro shot was overexposed. Again this caused a loss of detail in the picture.

Although the DSC P43 doesn't have an optical zoom it does have a digital zoom capability. You can zoom in up to a maximum of 3 times. Although digital zoom does not produce the same picture quality as an optical zoom lens will, it does give you the ability to zoom in on a subject.

On the back if the DSC P43 is a 1.5" LCD screen. This can be used for composing and reviewing images as well as accessing the menu system. If you prefer to use a viewfinder to compose your photos there is also an electronic viewfinder available.

The range of the built in flash unit is 3.5m. You can choose to always use the flash, turn it off, set it to slow synchro (normally used for night photography) and automatic. When you set the flash to automatic the camera decides whether or not flash is required.

For when you would like to appear in the picture yourself there is a ten second self timer.

To help you take the best possible pictures under different conditions there are a number of pre programmed scene modes available. These are twilight, twilight portrait, landscapes, soft snap (for portraits) beach and candle.

You can shoot movies at a maximum resolution of 640x480 which is good enough for television playback. The length of each movie is only limited by the space available on the memory card.

Sony supply all the necessary cables and software to allow you to connect the DSC P43 to a television set, computer or PictBridge compatible printer.

More advanced features available to you include white balance, exposure compensation, a range of ISO settings, adjusting the focusing distance, different metering options and a burst or continuous shooting mode. There are also picture effects that let you shoot in black and white and sepia.

The DSC P43 certainly scores well in terms of ease of use. The control buttons on the back of the camera all make sense while the menu system is very neat. The menu options are well presented and it is easy to scroll through the menu to find the setting that you would like to change. All in all this is a digital camera that you can simply switch on and it is ready to start taking pictures.

You can pick up a Sony Cyber-shot DSC P43 for around £125 including packing and postage.

The first thing I noticed about the DSC P43 was its build quality. Compared to other entry level models it is very well made indeed. The camera has a good solid feel to it and scores well in this area over other models such as the Fuji Finepix A120. As with most digital cameras it is a metallic silver colour and as with many Sony models it is rounded at one end rather than being strictly rectangular.

It weighs in at 195g and with dimensions of 101 x 53 x 36mm I could just about fit it into the pocket of my jeans.

The DSC P43 runs on two AA batteries. Where Sony scores over other brands is that the camera is supplied with rechargeable batteries and a charger. The fact that it uses AA batteries means that it is relatively cheap to carry a set of spare alkaline (non rechargeable) batteries around with you so that you should never run out of power at the vital moment. The fact that Sony supply everything you need to recharge the power supply means that you can also keep running costs down. Ten out of ten to Sony for this.

Images are stored on Memory Stick. A 16mb Memory Stick is supplied as standard with the DSC P43. This is an area that could be improved upon. It doesn't take long to fill up 16mb when you are taking 4 megapixel pictures or shooting movies. Therefore I recommend that you buy a high capacity Memory Stick to go with your DSC P43. Click here to check Memory Stick prices.

Build quality is excellent for the price
Rechargeable AA batteries and a charger included

No optical zoom lens
Indoor portrait and macro shots were below standard

For a digital camera in this price range the Sony Cyber-shot DSC P43 certainly has a wide range of features. With four megapixels packed in as well you also have plenty of picture power. The indoor images where disappointing though. I found it difficult to take a simple indoor portrait under artificial lighting using automatic mode. Outdoors the camera performed better. When considering buying this camera the biggest question is how you see yourself using it. If you see yourself primarily taking outdoor shots then you may find yourself attracted to the superior build quality and range of features.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC P43 Front View

Sony Cyber-shot DSC P43 Back View

Sample Menus

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Sony DSC P43