Sony USA Announces 7 Megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-P200

#1 primablinkie

what's the difference between this and their cybershot dsc-p150?

8:33 pm - Thursday, January 6, 2005

#2 anon

Someone will probably correct me if I'm wrong, but I think 1) lower suggested retail, 2) larger LCD, 3) manual setting in addition to the fixed ISO speeds, and 4) only being released in Europe.

6:29 am - Monday, January 10, 2005

#3 primablinkie

just when i was about to buy the dscp 150. i guess this changes everything for me.

8:12 pm - Monday, January 10, 2005

#4 Mark Goldstein

Not neccesarily. If you think the P-150 meets your requirements, then buy that model (especially as the price may fall following the introduction of the P-200).

8:45 am - Tuesday, January 11, 2005

#5 primablinkie

that's what I am pondering about. since it saids above that the price is gonna be lower for the new camera, if i buy the new one, the resell value later would be higher right. but then yes the p150 price will drop and i found a site that sells a black one so i am still torn. but then i have a month to think about which is good

7:46 pm - Tuesday, January 11, 2005

#6 Dave

How do you know it's only being released in Europe?

10:34 pm - Wednesday, January 12, 2005

#7 Mark Goldstein

It's definitely being released in the US (this is a Sony USA press release!)

10:36 am - Thursday, January 13, 2005

#8 Ciaran Donnelly

I was also thinking of buying the dsc P150 but I might aswell wait on the arrival of the new dsc P200 as it has a slighly larger LCD and it may be the compact camera of 2005 it would be a shame to miss it due to impatience at this stage

3:15 pm - Thursday, January 13, 2005

#9 primablinkie

i agreed! i really care about the aesthetic appearance of my camera and it is so great to hear they are putting in a bigger screen for the new model. i almost bought dscp150 during boxing week but i guess i should wait for the new model to come out first.

7:52 am - Friday, January 14, 2005

#10 Dave

Just beware... I just bought a DSC-P150 along with a SanDisk Memory Stick Pro... and returned them both because I was getting a "memory stick error," which apparently is a problem with many Sony cameras. Sony claims the problem is incomplete compatibility with SanDisk memory sticks and suggests using only Sony brand memory sticks as a solution. I don't think that's much of a solution. If the camera is not compatible with any brand memory stick, Sony should come out and say that up front. Just keep that in mind as you evaluate cameras and figure how much it will cost you once you add the amount of memory you need. The Sony memory is very expensive. Google "memory stick error" and "c:13:01" (the error code) to see lots of people having this problem and Sony's lack of a fix.

2:28 pm - Friday, January 14, 2005

#11 Madnutter

Hi all,

I too have been looking at the p150 and deliberating on black or silver - hoping a blue one would come out the works but found the cheapest p150b @ 272 delivered. Did a sony site search and saw this P200, well i've currently seen in at komplett.co.uk for £290 delivered. As the p120 p100 prices never crashed down when the p150 came out and they are 5mp then i cannot see the p150 dropping too low the average retail is £300-350. With komplett, they hounour their price cos i bought some memory from them and and even though it was not in stock at the time i checked a few days later and it increase by £40, and got it at my original price. Additionally the p200 they state as being Black, i will think about it and will order by the end of the wkend if not 2nite.

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=306549&cks=PRL

6:00 pm - Friday, January 14, 2005

#12 primablinkie

Thanks for telling me about the memory stick problem. Sony memory stick does cost a lot. I guess I will just have to wait for a good bid on eBay!

The price with komplett does look pretty cheap. I was thinking about ordering it from them but they only ship to UK addresses and I live in stupid canada -_-

6:50 pm - Friday, January 14, 2005

#13 Madnutter

Me again, just gone to the sony style shop (see link below) they quote the p150 to be £398, and the p200 @ £299, don't figure does it (only diif is the lense type)
Carl Zeiss® Vario-Sonnar T*(p150) Carl Zeiss® Vario Tessar (p200).

Any ideas?
http://shop.sonystyle-europe.com/SonyStyle/b2c/readshop.do;jsessionid=ID4001DB0.9100226912266169End;sapj2ee_*=4001?z_Forward=setDefCatalog2&url=www.sonystyle.co.uk&SonyForward=Z_MapURL&redirected=true&nextExecute;=/catalog/z_InitShopISAEntry.do&shopId=SST_GB_EN

7:58 pm - Saturday, January 15, 2005

#14 Deborah

I was thinking of buying the Sony Cybershot
DSC 150 also, but saw the news of the upcoming DSC P-200. Does anyone know the
difference between the two lenses?
Is the Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T better than the Carl Zeiiss Vario Tessar?
Has anyone seen a review on the P-200?
Can you buy it in the U.S?
Thank you

12:33 am - Sunday, January 16, 2005

#15 Mark Goldstein

Deborah, there are no reviews of the P200 at the moment, just a Preview at this site:

http://www.photographyblog.com/index.php/weblog/comments/digitalcamerainfo_previews_sony_cyber_shot_dsc_p200/

It will be available in the US.

12:05 pm - Monday, January 17, 2005

#16 Deborah

Thank you Mark for answering my question,
and directing me to the Preview. I found
it helpful. Do you think the Sony Cybershot
DSC 150 has a better lens than the P-200?
The Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T rather than the Carl ZXeiss Vario Tessar? Thanks for your input.

7:47 pm - Monday, January 17, 2005

#17 Mark Goldstein

I'm afraid I have no idea which camera has the better lens, based on the name of it. Sorry!

11:20 am - Wednesday, January 19, 2005

#18 Dave

Here is what Carl Zeiss support said about the lenses when I emailed them:

It is not a matter of one being better. They are just different. Vario-Tessar makes for smaller lenses (because of smaller zoom ratios and lower speed, like f/3.5).
Vario-Sonnar is bigger and enables higher zoom ratios -like 6x, 12x and beyond- at higher speeds - like f/2.0.

Resulting image quality of either zoom lens version is on the same high Carl Zeiss level.

6:30 pm - Friday, January 28, 2005

#19 Jonathan

I've also been researching cameras and was about to purchase the DSC-P150, until I heard about the DSC-P200 coming out. The digitalcamerainfo_preview site linked above mentions the P-200 not having a continuous autofocus option, but I recall a review (I can't remember where) of the P-150 saying the autofocus could be either continuous, or not engaged until the shutter release is pressed halfway, and further saying that the continuous would allow you to get a shot faster, at the expense of battery life. If the P-200 really doesn't have this option, it would seem to be a pretty big functional difference.

12:28 am - Saturday, January 29, 2005

#20 DWB

Orders are now being taken here at the Sony Style website...
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start?ProductSKU=DSCP200&CategoryName=NewDigitalImagingModels_DigitalCameras&DCMP=CNET_DF&HQS=DC_DSCP200

1:31 am - Sunday, January 30, 2005

#21 Herve

Too big links disturbs page presentation quite a lot...

10:31 am - Sunday, January 30, 2005

#22 Madnutter

Thanks for the info on the Lense Type, i guess this does not matter too much as both cameras are 3x Optical, i've never found digital zoom to be any good\useful anyway or is it just me!
Why is it that the P200 is cheaper State Side than the UK approx £80 which is $140?

SO WHICH ONE WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?

8:36 am - Monday, January 31, 2005

#23 Louise

I, too, was thinking of buying the P150 (impressed by all the great reviews I'd read)and am now left wondering if I should wait for the P200. I'm just concerned that this model may not be quite the same re quality and result in disappointment. I think I'll try 'n be patient, and wait till I've seen some reviews from the professionals and other early buyers. If anyone has seen any reviews, please can you advise? Thanks.

6:16 pm - Monday, February 7, 2005

#24 Laura

like everyone here, I too have waffled over 150 vs 200 - only I had already purchased the 150 and then found out about the 200 the following week. At first my heart sank b/c I really had done soooo much research on the 150. Nothing out there givess a complete list of the differences. I've posted to many boards with no response - so I'll provide what I have found in hopes that it helps people here. They say the changes are mostly cosmetic. Not so. I can't speak to the lenses but as for the rest:

1) Shorter body NOT the same size as P150 as some sites erroneously report. Thicker but shorter. Oh, and 3 grams lighter. whoo! That 3 grams was starting to bog me down. Pretty soon Sony will be so light that it will weigh negative ounces - it will actually make you lose weight !

2) Change in size means different accessories for:
2a) Lense Adaptor -looks like they leveraged the shorter body to introduce an improved lense adaptor - it's all-silver which probably stands out less
2b) Docking Station - the cradle is shorter than previous model and appears to have additional buttons on the station
other accessories appear to be remain unchanged.

3) speaker on bottom of P150 has been moved to top of P200 -a feature enhancement in my opinion as people may have been putting their thumb over the speaker. However, for my purposes 1) I find camera sounds annoying --like cell phone noises:mad: and 2) I usually have the camera hooked up where the sound comes from the TV or computer, not the camera anyway.

4) .2 difference on LCD screen size (same resolution though) P150 is 1.8 vs P200 at 2.0 - while bigger is better, I'm indifferent about this change as it is not dramatic enough for me to care.

5) Price - all the R&D is in the P150 so it is no shock that sticker price is down on the P200. Sony does this regularly - slight changes to models the following year to ensure continuous sales stream (plus they get to sell a whole new set of resized accessories). Think they take Marketing classes from Bill Gates.

What this means is you should start seeing the price of the P150 drop dramatically. I bought my P150 just at US$400 AND it came with a FREE Epson R200 Photo Printer that prints on CDs/DVDs and sells for $100. Had to throw in the towel when I saw that offer. What this also could mean is that accessories for the P150 may also drop in price or become available on auction sites whereas P200 will remain full price for some time.

6) Lastly, the Set Up function on P200 has been removed from the command wheel, which means (although not confirmed) that the setup functions will probably be manipulated from within the Menu options. *THIS is something that I don't like. Not sure, but my gut check doesn't like it. *Because* one of the things I like about the Sony Menu feature over other brands is that it's intuitive and fast to move around --you get in and out quickly to get back to taking shots. I'm not sure I want a lot of extra menu items to have to scroll through to get to settings that I change more frequently between shots. This alone may be the one change that reduces any buyer's remorse I may have felt.

Both models are so similar that it comes down to

4:06 pm - Tuesday, February 8, 2005

#25 Laura

After an additional search, I found the following two technical comparisons between the P200 and P150. Aside from the changes I mentioned above, there appears to be ZERO technical improvements. The lense is the same, the manual & program settings exactly the same. Thought this proved useful to dispel any rumors about improved functionality.

P200: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0501/05010602sony_p200.asp

P150: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscp150/

hope this helps
Laura

6:09 pm - Tuesday, February 8, 2005

#26 Louise

Thanks very much for your feedback, Laura, that's really good to know and has provided lots of food for thought!

6:12 pm - Tuesday, February 8, 2005

#27 Laura

One minor change to my post above:

It appears that it is *NOT* the speaker that has changed position on the P200 but rather the microphone (inspection of the front view pic confirmed this). So the speaker is the same on both models (on the bottom), but the microphone has moved to the top on the P200.

This is another feature I don't care for - IMHO sound will be picked up more clearly from the front than from the top (unless you want to capture your own voice

2:35 pm - Wednesday, February 9, 2005

#28 Shambas

I am also between P150 and P200. Can it be a bug fixing type of upgrade? Is there a known bug for P150? By the way, I found the most usefull information about this comparison in this page. Thanks everyone.

6:01 am - Thursday, February 10, 2005

#29 Sam

After reading the above I have decided to go with the newer model, as 200 is a rounder number than 150. Now I'm wondering if anyone knows the cheapest site in the US to purchase it from.
Thanks, Sam

6:39 pm - Thursday, February 10, 2005

#30 DWB

Hi Sam I always check prices at dealcatcher...here's the link for the p200

http://dealcatcher.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=6550653/prsrt=1

9:25 pm - Thursday, February 10, 2005

#31 Will

Was anyone aware of the fact that the 150 does not have the trimming/cropping feature? I hope the 200 does. I purchased the 150 and sent it back for that reason.....and I'd do it again. I love that feature.

1:57 am - Friday, February 11, 2005

#32 Laura

Are you talking about trimming/cropping movies or still shots? Which cyber-shot model ever allow you to crop/trim a still shot? My P50 did not. Almost all the cyber-shot models allow for movie cropping/trimming and so does the P150.

8:39 pm - Friday, February 11, 2005

#33 Michael

I'm trying to find a picture of the P200 in light brown, all I can find is red, black, and of course the ubiquitous silver

12:52 am - Thursday, February 17, 2005

#34 DWB

check out this price for the new sony here...

http://www.dealcatcher.com/

Sony DSC-P200 7.2 Megapixel Digital Camera
$400 Only $295.81

2:58 am - Tuesday, February 22, 2005

#35 Sky

I'm ready to get my camera. Since I can find the P150 for considerably cheaper now, I am leaning towards it. My only question is, does the P150 have the Sony Real Imaging Processor? I know the 200 does, and I know I really want it.

12:34 am - Tuesday, March 1, 2005

#36 Sam

I don't know about the Sony Real Imaging Processor, but I looked at circuitcity's online site today and after adding the p150 to my cart, I got a price quote of $303.99. I hope you can get it cheaper than that (please let me know if this is the case) otherwise give Circuitcity a shot, the offer was good as of an hour ago.

6:23 pm - Wednesday, March 2, 2005

#37 Sky

I'm actually getting it from circuit city because of the warranty, and my friend who works there will add a 10% discount.

1:56 am - Thursday, March 3, 2005

#38 Sam

Does circuit city offer a special warranty, or is it that the warranty they offer will come out cheaper because you're getting it through your friend?

3:22 pm - Thursday, March 3, 2005

#39 Sky

No, I just wanted to buy the camera from an actual store so I would have somewhere to go if anything happens to it. The warranty will probably be the only thing that I can't get a discount on ($70 for 3 years, full coverage).

2:54 am - Friday, March 4, 2005

#40 Laura

Sony P150 does indeed have real imaging processor - this came from the P150 review at imaging-resources.com

"Sony has included their new Real Imaging Processor to speed up everything from autofocus operation to the saving of images to the memory cards. Like the P100, the P150 has a Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar lens, for better image sharpness and contrast from corner to corner."

For the price drops surely to come with the introduction of the *slightly* improved P200, I find the savings hard to pass on the P150. The primary differences (besides slightly larger LCD) mostly increases manual controls such as 1 more setting on manual white balance and spot metering. Given that I am more Point&Shoot; person, the extra manual controls will probably never be touched by a consumer like me.

A few forums have mentioned the addition of the Vivitar DF120 slave flash (US$19) as an excellent companion to boosting the internal flash and it even works with the preflash mode that Sony uses. Several people posted proven success with the flash. Just an FYI if you're disappointed with the internal flashes of the subcompacts like I am.

4:46 pm - Tuesday, March 8, 2005

#41 DWB

not sure how long this price will last for the new p200...posted today (3-10) for $300 from Dell at coupon portal site...

http://www.dealcatcher.com/

9:16 pm - Thursday, March 10, 2005

#42 DWB

sorry just sold out at that price...five minutes ago...this deal only lasted for four hours...sorry again but I got mine...

9:20 pm - Thursday, March 10, 2005

#43 DIBBA 44

Can anybody confirm the 'max shutter speeds' of these 2 cameras? Dpreview.com has the P200 with a 1/2000 max, where the P150 has only a 1/1000 max. Not sure if this is misprint, but that would seem like a big difference.

9:44 pm - Friday, March 11, 2005

#44 julie baldwin

can anyone tell me where i can buy the Sony DSC P 150 or DSC P 200 with a RED body?thanx...julie

4:04 pm - Sunday, March 27, 2005

#45 Horace

I found this interesting review. It should help disipate most questions and dubts
H


I have been using a P200 for a couple months now and have to say right off the bat it is by far an awesome camera. I was looking for a pocket camera with semi-pro features and the best quality I could find. I did a lot of research online and looked at many forums with other professional photographers who also considered and purchased the p200 as an upgrade to their p150 or other pocket camera. There are quite a few improvements over the P150 of last year. The main differences which the P150 lacked are a one push manual (custom) white balance, a spot focus mode, and a center-weighted metering mode. Another difference is that it has lower power consumption than its predecessor. The lower power consumption is due to the fact that the image processor is newer and more efficient. The 2 inch LCD screen is protected by a plexi-glass screen that also improves visibility in daylight by eliminating glare. Another difference and improvement from the p150 was a groove for the index finger to be able to hold the camera more firmly in the hand. The most impressive feature for me was the startup time. It takes less than a second to turn on and take a picture. This camera is so fast that you can take a handful of pictures in only a matter of seconds between shots in the highest quality as well. The movie mode is like something out of a James Bond film. You have to see the Super high quality to believe that it is coming from such an ultra compact camera. If you need a pocket size camera and are someone who just wants to turn the camera on and click away, this camera is for you. Also, if you like to control what your camera is doing in order to get the perfect shot, this camera has an excellent manual mode. Since I've been using it for a few months, I have to say I love the camera even more now since I've been able to take lots of pictures and movies since then.

9:14 pm - Wednesday, May 11, 2005

#46 Wayne

Before you buy a SONY camera, search Google “c:13:01” (the error code) to see 14,000 pages of angry customers.

Lots of people having this problem. SONY do not recommend anyone use a SanDisk stick in their cameras but they dont advertise that fact until after you lose 300 images and waste $150 on memory.

I think SONY and SanDisk worked together to produce the memory stick but now SONY blame SanDisk for all these thousands of failures. The fact that 90% of SONY people deny all knowledge of the problem at all just turns me right off SONY cameras.

8:52 am - Friday, September 16, 2005

#47 malcolm gauld

hi i have just upgraded to a p200 , but i cant email my pics , i opens outlook express
and i am on AOL , my friend set me up with outlook but once i have chosen what photo i want and written my email there is no send icon to send it ! any ideas ?
thanks
Malcolm

11:20 pm - Saturday, November 19, 2005

#48 Mark

On THe Cyber-shot VX dsc p200 is there an option to take black ans white photos?

1:08 am - Tuesday, February 28, 2006

#49 Darren Peacock

Can I take Black & White photos with my DSC P200? If so how?

12:52 pm - Saturday, June 23, 2007