Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S60

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S60 is a lightweight, reasonably priced compact camera that will serve beginners well. It's a little on the large side, but the DSC-S60 produces quality still shots that make it a good entry-level compact camera.

The 4.1-megapixel DSC-S60 has a Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar lens with a 3X optical, 6- to 18-mm zoom (a 35-mm equivalent of 39- to 117-mm) and a maximum f-stop range of f/2.8 to f/5.2 across the zoom range. Its 2-inch LCD is a bit on the small side, but not terribly so for a camera at this price.

Where the DSC-S60 clearly lags behind other beginner cameras, specifically those from HP and Kodak, is in usability. HP and Kodak cameras have excellent menu structures with plenty of on-screen help for newbies; the DSC-S60 doesn't do as much hand-holding.

Picture quality also wasn't quite up to par, compared with entry-level cameras like the HP Photosmart M417. In both flash and simulated daylight images, we found very fine, non-colored noise throughout the photos. There were no color casts or major problems, and the colors were vivid and vibrant. There was significant fringing in the images. We also found the camera tended to underexpose shots by one f-stop. There was also too much contrast and muddy shadows in both flash and simulated daylight test shots. And in our flash shots, we saw there was slight vignetting, and we felt the flash could have provided more even illumination.

The camera really shined on our resolution and performance tests. The DSC-S60 scored at the top of the 4MP range on our lines of resolution test, with 1,300 average lines. The camera proved to be quite speedy as well, booting up in a respectable 2.8 seconds, with a decent recycle time of 2.3 seconds. We did find some noticeable shutter lag, and in our distortion test, we found barrel distortion at the wide-angle end and, surprisingly, at the telephoto end of the zoom.

For video clips, the camera lets you shoot 640-by-480 VGA video at 30 frames per second to the capacity of the MemoryStick Pro media card. In our real-world test video clips, we weren't overwhelmed with the quality, though the clips were definitely better than the HP M417's, which are recorded at 288 by 216 pixels at 15 frames per second.

Overall, the differences between the DSC-S60 and the HP M417 roughly cancel each other out, so choosing between the two will come down to your priorities: The DSC-S60 is significantly faster and shoots better video, but we like the M417's images and usability, and it gives you a bit more on the wide-angle end of the zoom (36 mm instead of 39 mm).

Compare the DSC-S60 and the M417 side by side in our comparison table and take a look at their benchmark test scores.