Sony Cyber-shot DSC-N2 10.1-megapixel digital camera

Smart Zoom: In addition to the Precision Digital zoom, the DSC-N2 features the Smart Zoom to enlarge the image digitally with almost no distortion. The maximum magnification varies with the image size:

• 8M: approx. 3.4x
• 5M: approx. 4.2x
• 3M: approx. 5.3x
• 2M: approx. 6.7x
• VGA: approx. 17x
• 16:9: approx. 5.7x
• 10M & 3:2: Smart Zoom not available

Image Size/Compression: When recording digital still images, the DSC-N2 allows you to choose from seven image sizes and two compression (image quality) settings--Fine and Standard. The larger the image and the higher the image quality you choose, the better the image will be, but it also takes a larger amount of data to preserve the image. The image sizes include:

Auto Focus: The camera has the following auto focus methods using the AF range finder. These methods are easily selectable from the touch-screen menu:

• 5-area Multi-point AF: The camera calculates the distance in five areas to the left, right, top, bottom, and in the center of the image. This method is helpful when your subject is not centered in the frame.
• Center AF: The camera focuses only on the subject framed in the AF range finder in the center of the image
• Flexible Spot AF: You can move the AF range finder frame to the area of the frame that you want in focus by simply touching the spot on the LCD monitor. This method is for focusing on an extremely small subject or a narrow area.

Focus Presets: When it is difficult to get the proper focus in the auto focus mode, you can use one of 5 preset focus distance settings. You can select from 0.5 meters, 1.0 meters, 3.0 meters, 7.0 meters, or infinity.

Macro Focus: For close-ups of small objects such as flowers and insects, this camera has macro focus capability. With the zoom set all the way to wide, the camera can focus on objects as close as 2-3/8" from the lens. With the zoom set all the way to telephoto, the camera can focus on objects up to 13-3/8" from the lens.

AF Illuminator: The AutoFocus Illuminator, located on the front of the camera near the lens, emits red light to allow the camera to more easily focus on a subject in dark surroundings. Focus is achieved as long as the AF Illuminator light reaches the subject. The AF Illuminator has a range of up to 78-3/4" when the zoom is at full Wide position, and up to 59-1/16" at full telephoto position.

Auto Power-Off: If you do not operate the camera for approximately 3 minutes during recording or playback, it will turn off automatically to conserve battery power.

Multi-use Cable: The DSC-N2 comes with a cable designed for multiple uses. One end of the cable has a proprietary camera multi-connector with an additional pigtail that allows you to plug in the optional AC-LS5K AC adapter to operate the camera on AC power. The other end of the cable has three terminals: a full-size USB-A male connector for connecting the camera to the computer, and two RCA jacks (mono audio and composite video) for connecting the camera to a TV.

Battery Information: This model uses the high-stamina Sony NP-BG1 Lithium-Ion battery (3.6 Volts/960mAh). The approximate length of time to charge a completely discharged battery pack is 330 minutes (using the supplied BC-CSG battery charger). A "practical charge" takes approximately 270 minutes. The charge lamp on the supplied battery charger goes out when a "practical charge" is reached.

Battery Performance: The capacity of the NP-BG1 battery under normal operating conditions is as follows:

• Recording Still Images: Approximately 300 images or 150 minutes
• Viewing Still Images: Approximately 6000 images or 300 minutes
• Recording Movies: Approximately 140 minutes

Still Image Shooting Modes: You can choose one of the following shooting modes:

• Auto: The camera automatically adjusts the focus, exposure and white balance.
• Program Auto: Allows you to shoot with the exposure adjusted automatically (both the shutter speed and the aperture value).
• Manual: Allows you to shoot with the exposure adjusted manually (both the shutter speed and the aperture value).
• Scene Selection: You can select from the following modes to shoot according to the scene conditions. (Functions available from the menu):
  • High Sensitivity: The camera shoots without flash in low light, reducing blur.
  • Twilight: For shooting a distant night view. Tripod recommended.
  • Twilight Portrait: For shooting subjects in the foreground at night. Tripod recommended.
  • Soft Snap: For recording portraits of people, flowers, etc. with a gentle atmosphere.
  • Landscape: For shooting far away images.
  •  Beach: For shooting seaside or lakeside scenes. The blue of the water is clearly recorded.
  • Snow: For shooting snowy scenes or other places where the whole screen appears white.
  •  Fireworks Mode: For shooting fireworks. The focus distance is set to infinity. Tripod recommended.

Picture Effects: When desired, you can select one of the following picture effects:

• Vivid: The image has bright and deep color.
• Natural: The image has quiet color.
• Sepia: The picture is sepia-toned like an old photograph.
• B & W: The image is recorded in monochrome.

Continuous Shooting: You can shoot a sequence of photographs using one of the following modes:

• Burst Mode: When you press and hold the shutter button, you can shoot images until the maximum number of images are shot. The maximum number of images shot continuously depends on the image size and image quality settings:
  • 10M:
    • Fine: 3 images
    • Standard: 4 images
  • 3:2:
    • Fine: 3 images
    • Standard: 4 images
  • 8M:
    • Fine: 3 images
    • Standard: 5 images
  • 5M:
    • Fine: 4 images
    • Standard: 8 images
  • 3M:
    • Fine: 7 images
    • Standard: 11 images
  • 2M:
    • Fine: 10 images
    • Standard: 15 images
  • VGA:
    • Fine: 15 images
    • Standard: 15 images
  • 16:9 (HDTV):
    • Fine: 15 images
    • Standard: 15 images
• Exposure Bracketing: Records a series of three images with the exposure values automatically shifted.
• Multi Burst Mode: Pressing the shutter once records 16 frames in a row. You can set the interval between frames at 1/7.5 second, 1/15 second, or 1/30th second. All 16 frames will be recorded as one 1M image (1280 x 960). When you play back images recorded in Multi Burst mode with this camera, the 16 frames will be played back in order, either continuously with a fixed interval or manually frame-by-frame in either direction. When the images are played back on a computer or a camera without Multi Burst, the 16 frames will all be displayed at the same time as part of one image.

Flash Modes: The flash automatically strobes when surroundings are dark. The recommended distance for using the flash is 7.875" to 15.75' inches (wide) and 13.5" to 18.21' (telephoto) when ISO is set to Auto. You can set the flash to one of the following modes:

• Auto: The camera decides to use the flash based on lighting conditions.
• Forced Flash: The flash strobes with every shot regardless of lighting conditions.
• Slow Synchro: The flash is used regardless of the amount of ambient light, but the shutter speed is slower under dark conditions, allowing you to clearly shoot a background that is out of the flash-lit area.
• No Flash: The flash does not fire regardless of lighting conditions.

Flash Level: When the camera is in a mode other than Auto, you can increase or decrease the intensity of the flash.

ISO Speed: The ISO speed can be set to Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1600. When shooting under dark conditions or shooting a fast-moving subject, you should use a high number setting. When recording high-quality images, use a low number setting.

Metering Modes: You can select from the following metering modes:

• Multi-Pattern: The image is divided into multiple regions and metering is performed in each region. The camera judges the subject position and background brightness, and determines a well-balanced exposure.
• Center-Weighted: The camera measures the center of the image, and determines the exposure based on the brightness of the subject there.
• Spot Metering: The camera measures only a part of the subject. Useful when the subject is a backlit or when there is strong contrast between the subject and the background.

EV Compensation: You can adjust the exposure of an image + or - 2EV in increments of 1/3EV.

Histogram: A histogram is a graph showing the brightness of an image. A live histogram display is available in both recording and playback modes, making it easy to evaluate the correct exposure.

White Balance: When the white balance is set to auto, the white balance is set automatically in response to the condition of the subject, and the overall color balance is adjusted. When shooting under special lighting conditions, you can select the settings manually. In addition to Auto, the white balance can be set to Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, and Flash.

MPEG Movie VX: The camera can record movies in VGA (640 x 480) in Fine Mode (30 frames per second) or Standard Mode (17 fps), or Video Mail (160 x 112, 8 fps). Monaural audio is recorded with all movie modes through the built-in microphone (on top of the camera).

Album: When the Album function is activated, an additional still image is saved to the Album in the VGA size (640 x 480) in the Standard picture quality setting.

Approximate Recording Capacity: The number of images that can be saved in Fine or Standard image quality:

Viewing Images: Still and moving images can be played back on the camera's color LCD screen, or the images may be transferred to a computer, where they can be displayed or manipulated with the use of compatible software. In addition, the images can be played back on a television (NTSC or PAL), if the television has an RCA composite video input.

Index Mode: In addition to viewing images one-by-one in full screen, you can view multiple images at once in the index mode. This feature lets you to display 6 or 12 images at a time, allowing you to easily find the image you want.

Slide Show: The Slide Show function lets you play back images one after the other. You can choose all images from one folder, or show all images in memory. All slide show modes are set to music, except Normal. You can choose between the following Slide Show Effects:

• Simple: A simple slide show suitable for a wide range of images.
• Nostalgic: A moody slide show reproducing the atmosphere of a movie scene.
• Stylish: A stylish slide show proceeding at a medium tempo.
• Active: A high-tempo slide show suitable for active scenes.
• Normal: A basic slide show switching images manually or at a predetermined interval (3, 5, 10, 30, or 60 seconds).

Downloading Music: You can download from a CD or MP3 file into the camera up to four music cuts to replace the four pre-loaded cuts. The maximum length of each music file is 180 seconds.

Deleting/Protecting Images: You can delete a selected image, or you can delete all the unprotected images at once. In order to avoid accidentally deleting an image, it can be protected.

Playback Zoom: You can enlarge a recorded still image and record the enlarged item as a new file. To select the area to be enlarged, you can move the enlargement "frame" up/down/left/right with the touch-screen, and adjust the zoom with the W/T button. You cannot use Playback Zoom with movies or images shot in the Multi-burst mode.

Painting Images: You can "paint" or put stamps on still images and save them separately. You can select from 5 line widths, 15 stamps, and 10 colors. You can also use an "eraser" to make corrections.

Trimming Images: After an image is captured (still images only), you can resize (trim) the picture and save it as a new file. Images can be resized to 10M, 8M, 5M, 3M, 2M or VGA. The original image is retained even after resizing. You cannot resize a picture to a 16:9 or 3:2-sized image.

Print Order Mark: You can place a print order mark on still images recorded with this camera. This mark is convenient when you have images printed at a shop that conforms to the DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) standard.

PictBridge Compatible: You can easily print images recorded on this camera by connecting it to a PictBridge-compliant printer. You can connect the camera via the supplied USB cable.

Exif Print (Exif 2.21): The DSC-N2 conforms to "Exif Print," a worldwide standard. Vital camera settings (such as: exposure mode, white balance, exposure time) and scene data are recorded to the image file when it is captured. Printers compatible with "Exif Print" are able to use this information to produce high quality photographs, exactly the way they were intended at the time of capture. This intelligent communication process also allows the printer to correct for poor lighting or mistakes, resulting in photos that can be even better than the originals.

PRINT Image Matching III: PRINT Image Matching III (P.I.M. III), the newest version of a technology developed by Seiko Epson Corporation, ensures that P.I.M. III-enabled digital cameras and printers work together perfectly to produce the best possible prints. After an image is captured, the camera automatically tags the picture with numerous optimal image settings and includes it as part of the Exif Print header in the JPEG file. A P.I.M. III-enabled photo printer reads and utilizes the information in order to make the most accurate print.

Software: The camera comes with the following software:

• Picture Motion Browser: Picture Motion Browser allows you to do the following:
  • Import images shot with the camera and display them on your computer
  • Organize images on the computer into a calendar by shooting date
  • Retouch, print, and send still images as e-mail attachments
• Music Transfer: allows you to transfer music from your computer to the camera

Picture Motion Browser and Music Transfer Windows System Requirements: The supplied software can be used on a Windows PC but cannot be used on a Macintosh. Your Windows computer must have these minimum system requirements:

• Operating System: Windows 2000 Professional, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows XP Home Edition, or Windows XP Professional Edition pre-installed
• CPU: Pentium III 500 MHz or faster (Pentium III 800 MHz recommended)
• Memory: 128 MB or more (256 MB is recommended)
• Hard Disk: 200 MB or more
• Sound: 16-bit stereo sound card with stereo speakers
• Display: 800 x 600 dots or more colors; High Color (16-bit color, 65,000 colors) or more

Music Transfer Macintosh System Requirements: Your Macintosh computer must have these minimum system requirements:

• Operating System: Mac OS X (v10.3 or later) pre-installed
• CPU: iMac, eMac, iBook, PowerBook, Power Mac G3/G4/G5 series, Mac mini
• Memory: 64 MB or more (128 MB is recommended)
• Hard Disk: 250 MB or more