Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P43 review

Digital cameras are often dogged by slow operating speeds and poor battery life.

Choose the wrong camera, and you'll find that by the time it's ready to take a shot, you've missed your moment. That, or the battery runs flat just as Nessie appears out of the water.

This is no problem with the DSC-P43. Its rechargeable 'stamina' batteries enable you to shoot for hours without worrying about power. There's no waiting around between shots, and shutter-lag is minimal. It takes just a couple of seconds to prepare for video capture, too. In short, you've no reason to miss that moment.

The Cyber-shot is a 4-megapixel compact with a greater level of control than many of its competitors, including spot metering and a choice of auto-focus modes. It doesn't offer complete control over aperture and shutter speed, but there's a broad range of presets to suit most conditions. Those who prefer to stick with automatic settings won't find many problems.

One really useful feature that helps you compose shots in low light is the AF illuminator. This projects a light on to foreground subjects. The camera measures how long the light takes to hit something and uses this to work out what to focus on.

Image quality isn't amazing, but there are minimal amounts of digital noise, even when the photos are compressed to reduce file sizes. Fine detail such as hair could be sharper, but it's not a major flaw. Colours look natural, if occasionally lacking contrast and saturation. White balance in auto mode is very good. The manual presets were very accurate at balancing interior lighting, leaving pictures free from colour casts.

The lens has a wide field of view, equivalent to 33mm on a 35mm camera, which will make your pictures feel dynamic and allow you to fit lots in. The down side is that to get a closer view, you need to get closer to the subject or use the digital zoom, which simply enlarges a portion of the image. Neither option is ideal. A 'smart zoom' is supposed to enlarge images with less distortion, but this still degraded the image and only magnifies 1.1x at 3 million pixels.

The Cyber-shot is a pretty little camera that feels well made and fits in the palm of your hand without being fiddly to use. It has everything you would expect from a compact camera and a little more besides. A charger and AV cable make it easy to keep your camera charged and ready for action at a moment's notice. Without the inclusion of an optical zoom, though, it can't win an award.

Author: Danny Bird