Sony DSC-P8 Cyber-Shot Digital Camera. Reviews, Price Comparison and Ratings.

Sony's range of six new Cyber-shot® digital still cameras (DSC-P32, DSC-P52, DSC-P72, DSC-P92, DSC-P8, and DSC-P10), announced today (Feb. 24, 2003), is a reflection of the consumer boom in digital photography.
"While we're seeing incredible growth in the first-time buyer market, we know there are millions of consumers who are upgrading to get better picture resolution and more features," said Steve Haber, senior vice president of Sony Electronic's Digital Imaging Products Division. "Our new 2003 P-series Cyber-shot camera line-up now starts at 3.2 megapixels, a resolution threshold that will provide even novices with confidence in their photography results."
The size of the new DSC-P8 is ultra-compact with a metal construction. The digital camera is using a 14-bit DXP and a Clear Color/Luminance Noise Reduction function to make this end result as high quality as possible. The DSC-P8 features a Tracking Auto-Focus System to maintain continuous focus lock on moving subjects, a live histogram, and adjustable color saturation and contrast. The new Cyber-shot model is also able to handle with video clips with the new MPEG VX movie function that also records audio. The new Smart Zoom option replaces digital zoom, and intelligently uses the full resolution of the camera's imager at lower resolution settings to zoom into the portion of interest by cropping the image size.

The Lowest Price is not always best !

When you buy a digital camera, the basic package almost always includes extras such as a battery charger, lens cap, batteries, flash memory card, and software. One of the more disreputable practices a dealer can engage in is called unbundling. These dealers remove items from the package that are normally included in the price and price them separately.

When purchasing a camera you have three components of the price to consider - the camera price, postage and handling, and taxes. Many dealers lower the price to make the camera more attractive, then increase the postage and handling to boost their profits.

Hesitate before accepting extended warranties. Every knowledgeable consumer expert says it's better to gamble. Most of a company's profit is in the sale of these warranties so they press, and press hard. Your job is to resist, and resist hard. The only thing to keep in mind is that digital cameras can be horribly expensive to repair. If you want peace of mind, you may want the warranty, even though it's probably overpriced. The cost of a repair can approach, or even exceed, the original purchase price.

When you buy a camera from a reputable dealer, you expect to be able to return it if you aren't satisfied. Some dealers try to discourage this by requiring a restocking fee for returned merchandise. This is always explained as a way to recover their costs of checking the merchandise and restoring the packaging you may have opened.

Many dealers is truly a false, deceptive and a total crook. Bait and switch tactics used. Does not sell new merchandise and will ship used or refurbished goods without notifying customer. They then try to charge a restock fee on top of their exobitant shipping fees to make a profit where they could not on their goods. A try case of buyer beware.