Sony Cyber-shot DSCS2000

Sony’s latest super budget compact, the S2000, is a no frills point and shoot. Compared to the competition, things don’t look so hot in the features department. However, its image quality is very good, making it a matter of sacrificing a few features in exchange for quality pictures.

Launched this January, the Sony Cyber-shot S2000 is an attractive compact that feels very nice in the hand thanks to some good ergonomics. It’s also very solidly constructed and weighs just 125g excluding the two AA batteries needed to power it. You’ll find a 10 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom lens, and a 2.5-inch 230k pixel LCD on the back. As is becoming increasingly common in digital cameras this year, there is no optical viewfinder present. There is also support for high ISO modes, ranging from 100 to 3200 and a few cool features like face detection and smile shutter – the latter once setup only takes a snap when it detects a subjects smile. While the S2000 does support video recording (what digital camera doesn’t?), it isn’t HD, only supporting maximum of 640×480 at 30fps. Compared to the competition at this budget focused end of the spectrum the S2000 doesn’t look so hot with many out there offering larger sensors, LCDs, and HD video. However, photo quality is the focus here and it shows.

Image quality on the Sony S2000 is reportedly very good, producing sharp, detailed images and natural colours that are clearly better than many in its price range. Low light conditions are also well handled, producing low noise images with ISO levels up to 400. Video recording is said to be standard fare though, but they should still look quite nice even if there is no support for 720p.

While you do sacrifice some bells and whistles for the Sony brand name, the S2000 is capable of producing images above its RRP. If your order of importance is price strictly followed by image quality, the Sony DSC S200 is a great choice.