Sony Cybershot DSC-V3

Review Date
July 30, 2007

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
cgarrard , Professional

Price Paid
$65900.00 at Amazon.com

Photography Experience
2-5 years , Other

Summary
The Sony V-3 is an almost forgotten, range finder style niche digicam. With the market booming in photography the last 3 years, this little guy somehow got buried from all the hooplah that has transpired. What a pity. If you are fortunate enough to be able to buy one new, or almost new, and it fits your criteria for a compact full featured digicam by all means, please purchase it. This camera still has an awesome feature set 3 years after it's introduction, and thats a major feat in the fast growing digicam market. For professionals needing to save weight on long excursions, and still take excellent images, the V-3 can (if used to its limits) still produce excellent results up to 11x14 prints, and very good up to 13x19 prints. For beginners and intermediates, this camera is a steal for the price you can get it for now, and leaves you with plenty of room to grow. I still use mine to this day (I purchased mine in early late 05'). This camera covers a broad range of needs, from very decent macro (close up) performance, to medium telephoto and decent wide angle shots. It has excellent to very good noise performance to ISO 400, but starts to drop considerably after that (typical for cameras with such a small ccd imager). It's night shot, and night framing features are truely unique to Sony, and only this camera and the F-828 (also a Sony product) have it (you can video in Night shot mode too) enabling you to shoot in complete darkness (it also can help you navigate on a dark trail at night). It's laser focus assist grid, is really a sight to be seen, and it works perfectly. Quick and accurate auto focus in complete darkness, yes why not! It has a very good video mode with sound (you can only use pro memory sticks however). It has two memory slots, one Memory Stick, and one Compact Flash slot, enabling you to carry as much memory as you can afford. It is built like a tank, with the body constructed mainly of magnesium alloy. Metal is everywhere on this camera. The buttons and dials being made of it as well. It has a very nice roomy grip that bulges out a bit, and makes it bulky for a pocket, but easily fits in a cargo pocket or jacket pocket. Battery life is very good, up too and over 2hrs of shooting if you manage your battery life well. If you set your lcd brightness at the medium/low setting you can get even more time. Images come in three forms, raw, tiff and jpeg, also 2 types of jpegs and a raw+jpeg combo capture. Perfect!. Has sepia, b/w, and various color modes that should satisfy almost any user. The flash works excellent, and is higher powered than you might think. It also has a hot shoe port, in case you want to go bigger and brighter. Shot to shot time is very fast, even by today's standards, with many different burst modes to choose from. Raw/Tiff images of course taking much longer, about 4 seconds per shot. Power up/down is a tad slow, but that can be countered by it's excellent battery life and power down mode (just keep it on if you need a quick draw time). About all the buttons you will need and some extras, are located in key positions on the backside within easy reach of your thumb. It has a decent albeit large 2.5" lcd, an optical viewfinder (for basic compositions in a pinch), and a very nice lcd viewfinder. Accessory lenses are also available in wide angle and telephoto (but be warned the camera's lens then becomes fixed focal length lens). All in all a camera that you will bond with, it truly has a personality all it's own. It can mold itself into many roles, from a beginning artist to a workhorse camera in commercial applications. If you are lucky enough to get one now, hang on to it. It may be the last of it's kind from Sony. And that is truly a pity.

Visit my gallery at www.carlgarrardphotography.com

Strengths
Features for price, a real leader.
A collectors dream?
It will steal your heart, it has a great personality

Weaknesses
Wide angle could be wider
LCD could have a better field of view, and more pixels but hey, it's an older technology! And it works fine for most applications (just keep it out of the bright light).

Similar Products Used
Sony F-828
Sony R-1 (similar, well sort of)

Customer Service
They might as well be a ghost, i've never had one Sony digicam ever break down on me.

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Review Date
March 11, 2007

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
3.50 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by
wawafoto , Professional

Price Paid
$275.00 at Ebay

Photography Experience
11-20 years , Other

Summary
By far my favorite of all the compacts -- a wealth of programs, many of them not found on any other brand. Yet very easy to use. I bought this after trying many others, and am completely satisfied.

Strengths

Terrific and intuitive control. Solid professional-looking presentation. On-screen information is extremely useful, and not too intrusive. All buttons and dials are cleverly placed for quick adjustment, including dedicated control of Exposure-lock and compensation. Very good on-screen readout of focusing areas, (particularly superior to other brands in multi-zone mode), with manual of moveable auto-focus area. Lightning-fast shutter delay and quick recording, with easy one-touch review of last shot. Unique-to-Sony interpolative program allows trimming images to HIGHER resolution than original. This makes printable images out of VGA's! 3 video settings, including LOW-Res, which makes videos that fit in emails, the usual 30fps, and high-res 60fps. Very easy video editing. Flash-shoe -- necessary for most still-life. Optical viewfinder. Holds TWO memory cards at once -- one Flash, the other Sony Memory-stick. These can be selected, one or the other, at will without opening camera by a switch on the camera back-- a BIG plus because you can shoot "snaps" on one and put pro-type work on the other. Excellent white-balance features including "Flash White Balance". Unique (that word again!)"Night-Shot" infrared, which does not require going into menus, is surprisingly useful for artistic work in low-light. Unobtrusive and quick-off night focusing. In-camera battery-charging when A/C power is attached. On-screen readout of remaining battery power in minutes and seconds instead of just the usual ideogram. Bracketing for both exposure and white balance. RAW files simultaneously record JPEGs. Half the cost of a DSLR and better than most of them, both in features and performance. A professional or informed amateurs dream compact camera, as far as I'm concerned!

Weaknesses
Whole package is just a little big: it won't fit into your pocket. I wish the wide-angle was a little wider. There are add-on wide-angle and telephoto attachments, but these are bulky and require an extension tube. Sunshade attachment impedes the on-camera flash, especially for macro. Proprietary battery instead of AA cells, expensive and not found everywhere. Focusing speed is OK, but not ultrafast. Made in 2004, so no anti-shake technology.

Similar Products Used
Olympus SP-350
Casio EX-P600
Fuji E900

Customer Service
Unknown -- but I got a full service/parts warranty from Ebay Square Trade (a good logo to look for on Ebay items) -- for $34.99.

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Review Date
March 10, 2007

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
wawafoto , Professional

Price Paid
$275.00 at Ebay

Photography Experience
11-20 years , Other

Summary
Still my favorite of all the compacts -- a wealth of programs, many of them not found on any other brand. Yet very easy to use. I bought this after trying many others, and am completely satisfied.

Strengths
Terrific and intuitive control. Solid professional-looking presentation. On-screen information is extremely useful, and not too intrusive. All buttons and dials are cleverly placed for quick adjustment, including dedicated control of Exposure-lock and compensation. Very good on-screen readout of focusing areas, (particularly superior to other brands in multi-zone mode), with manual of moveable auto-focus area. Lightning-fast shutter delay and quick recording, with easy one-touch review of last shot. Unique-to-Sony interpolative program allows trimming images to HIGHER resolution than original. This makes printable images out of VGA's! 3 video settings, including LOW-Res, which makes videos that fit in emails, the usual 30fps, and high-res 60fps. Very easy video editing. Flash-shoe -- necessary for most still-life. Optical viewfinder. Holds TWO memory cards at once -- one Flash, the other Sony Memory-stick. These can be selected, one or the other, at will without opening camera by a switch on the camera back-- a BIG plus because you can shoot "snaps" on one and put pro-type work on the other. Excellent white-balance features including "Flash White Balance". Unique (that word again!)"Night-Shot" infrared, which does not require going into menus, is surprisingly useful for artistic work in low-light. Unobtrusive and quick-off night focusing. In-camera battery-charging when A/C power is attached. On-screen readout of remaining battery power in minutes and seconds instead of just the usual ideogram. Bracketing for both exposure and white balance. RAW files simultaneously record JPEGs. Half the cost of a DSLR and better than most of them, both in features and performance. A professional or informed amateurs dream compact camera, as far as I'm concerned.

Weaknesses
Whole package is just a little big: it won't fit into your pocket. I wish the wide-angle was a little wider. There are add-on wide-angle and telephoto attachments, but these are bulky and require an extension tube. Sunshade attachment impedes the on-camera flash, especially for macro. Proprietary battery instead of AA cells, expensive and not found everywhere. Focusing speed is OK, but not ultrafast. Made in 2004, so no anti-shake technology.

Similar Products Used
Olympus SP-350
Casio EX-P600
Fuji E900

Customer Service
Unknown -- but I got a 2-year full parts and service warranty through Ebay Square Trade for $34.99.

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Review Date
October 28, 2006

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by
Jung Oh , Intermediate

Price Paid
$350.00 at ebay

Photography Experience
2-5 years , Outdoor

Summary
Reviewed numerous fine point and shoot digital camers.
I am quite struggled between Canon S80 and Nikon 8400, and
Sony DSC-V3. but I choose this and I am very happy about my decision.
I checked many photo images taken from these camera through many
phot sites such as pbase and photosig. I concluded that sony V3 is
over all best among them.
key point is:
Excellent photo quality with great detail
excellent lens quality (optics) CZ lens.
excellent macro photo

Strengths
durability in excellent body
strong gera in dim light and night photo

Weaknesses
Not muxh, except poor performance in red eye reduction
but it can easily overcom free software PICASO.

Similar Products Used
Epson PC3000Z

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Review Date
June 12, 2005

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
2.07 of 5, 15 votes

Reviewed by
BULL , Expert

Price Paid
$650.00 at ATHENS - GREECE

Summary
I BOUGHT THE SONY V3 AFTER A LONG SEARCH THROUGH THE ENTIRE DIGITAL FOTO MARKET.
I HAD THE CAMERA FOR ABOUT A MONTH AND WAS VERY PLEASED AND IMPRESSED BY IT.
THE RESOLUTION WAS MORE THAN GREAT AND THE OVERALL USE WAS EASY.
EVERYTHING WAS GREAT UNTIL ONE DAY I REALIZED THAT I COULD NOT TAKE A PICTURE BECAUSE THE MAIN SNAPSHOT BUTTON DID NOT WORK!!!
I KEPT TRYING FOR A WHILE BUT NOTHING HAPPENED UNTIL THE BUTTON WAS DETACHED FROM THE CAMERA AND FELL DOWN ALLONG WITH A SMALL SPRING WHICH WAS PLACED UNDER IT!
I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT.
I TOOK THE CAMERA IMMEDIATELLY TO THE STORE WHERE I BOUGHT IT AND DEMANDED A NEW CAMERA SINCE IT WAS BRAND NEW AND SOMETHING LIKE THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED.
I GOT A RESPONCE FROM SONY A FEW DAYS LATER THAT THEY WOULD NOT GIVE ME A NEW CAMERA AND THEY WOULD CHARGE ME FOR THE REPAIR OF THIS ONE!!!
I WAS AND STILL AM FURIOUS FOR PAYING SO MUCH MONEY FOR A CAMERA THAT BROKE DOWN ONE MONTH AFTER PURCHASE AND SONY THE NUMBER 1 SELLING COMPANY IN THE WORLD WOULD NOT COVER THE OBVIOUS FAULT PART!
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CAMERA WAS GIVEN BACK TO SONY FOR REPAIR SCRATCH-FREE AND IN MINT CONDITION (NO MISUSE)
IT HAS BEEN ALMOST 2 MONTHS NOW AND EVEN THOUGH I AGREED TO PAY THE 100 EUROS FOR THE PART (LIKE I HAD A CHOICE) THE CAMERA IS NOT YET FIXED.
SORRY SONY SIMPLY NEVER AGAIN!!!

Strengths
GREAT ANALYSIS... THE REST I DID NOT GET A CHANCE TO EXPERIANCE

Weaknesses
THE MAIN BUTTON MALFUNKIONED AFTER A MONTH

Similar Products Used
VARIOUS FOTO AND VIDEO CAMERAS OVER THE YEARS

Customer Service
ABSOLUTELY NO CUSTOMER SERVICE AT ALL. SONY - GREECE IS WORTHLESS.

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