transitions between photos. No point in paying extra money for N1 for such a useless feature

ISO
N1 has higher ISO. This is important if you want to shoot professional photos. N1 is better in this aspect.

Battery
N1 does not come with charger and cradle. You have to buy this extra. Be careful. P200 is better in this aspect as you can easily charge the camera with included wall charger

Flash
N1 is better in flash range

Weight
N1 is only slightly lesser weight. Not worth paying extra amount for the slight weight reduction

Dimensions
N1 is only slightly smaler. Not worth paying higher price just for that. Remember, if the camera is too light it will cause you to shake it more and get bad pictures

Viewfinder
P200 has view-finder. This very important especially when you are running short of batteries or when there is too much sunlight and you are not able to see through LCD properly. N1 does not have this very important features

White balance
P200 is better as it offers auto and manual control too. N1 offers auto control only.

Movie:
P200 can shoot 5 frames per second wherease N1 can shoot only 4 fps. P200 is better in this aspect.

LCD
Smaller LCD is better as it will consume less battery. Bigger LCD looks good but consumes too much battery and gets scratched more easily. N1 has large LCD that consumes more battery.

Touch Screen Menu in N1
Touch screen is a pain to use in such a small screen as the menus will be too small to touch accurately. Sony provides a stylus. That makes it an extra pain to carry the stylus without losing it. Touch screen is good only if the LCD is large and the buttons are big. Also when you are viewing through the LCD and want to adjust some settings, its a pain to keep touching the LCD for menu selection. Its much easier to select through regular buttons

Paint function in N1
Useless feature. Its such a pain to draw on that small LCD. 3" LCD is big for a camera but definitely smaller than computer monitor. Its easier to download and edit photos on the computer. Computer definitely gives more options and an option to save the original intact. If you modify the picture on the camera you lose the original. If you make a mistake in editing, the original is gone.

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Makes me want to switch back to Sony, April 29, 2006
Reviewer: Gadgester
I haven't owned a Sony digital camera in years. Not that Sony cameras are not good; it's just that I always ended up getting a Canon, a Casio, a Fujifilm, a Minolta, a Kodak, or a Pentax. At the moment I use my Nikon D70 for photos that I want to keep or submit for contests, and my Fujifilm F10 for everyday snapshots. But recently I had a chance to play with a Sony DSC-N1 and I was really impressed. I think I'll buy a Sony next time, now that I've accumulated quite a number of Memory Stick PRO Duo cards (for my Sony PSP and Sony camcorders).

OK, everyboby knows the N1 has 8.1MP resolution, and the price point is sweet for an ultra-slim, stylish digital camera. The 3x optical zoom is a bit disappointing; I really wish Sony had done something outside the box and gone beyond 3x zoom. (Panasonic has a compact camera that sports a whopping 10x optical zoom coupled with optical image stabilization!) 3x is adequate for most situations, though, so maybe it's no big deal for most casual shooters.

But more than the 8.1MP resolution, which makes great enlarged prints, the N1 has excellent image quality. I always say that image quality is much more than resolution; it's more about color reproduction (is red really red and is blue really blue?) and white balance (is white really white?) as well as technical factors like saturation and contrast. Older Sony digital cameras tended to give crisp but dreadful looking pictures. Not the N1. Both indoor and outdoor pictures look terrific, and as long as you have adequate lighting (or use the flash), you'll get pictures that you'll be proud to share with friends. Digital noise does kick in quite a bit at ISO 400, meaning that in dim light situations you'll notice digital specks when you enlarge the picture. But for 4x6", or even 5x7", prints as well as viewing on a PC monitor or HDTV monitor, the N1's image quality comes across as quite satisfactory. What really impressed me was the flash quality, which seemed better than most other compact digital cameras (except Canon ones).

So if you want a digital camera with excellent image quality, the N1 should be on your shopping list. Overall I still slightly prefer Canon's image quality, but not by much, just by a little bit. It's probably because my idea of "perfect" image quality matches the calibration parameters chosen by Canon's engineers. However, I know many other people who prefer Sony's crispier looks or Fuji's "scenic, natural" looks, so you may want to compare the N1 with a Canon or something else to see which camera produces the results you personally like the most. Bottomline: the N1's image quality ranks very high among compact digital cameras.

Of course, the N1 has many other things going for it, too, like the enormous 3" LCD in the back. The LCD just looks huge because 1) it is, and 2) it takes up most of the real estate of the camera's back. Its resolution is a little over 230k, twice that of most other digital camera's LCDs. This gives a sharp-looking image on the LCD. Ourdoor visibility is good as the LCD is bright. Like Sony's camcorders, this LCD is touch-sensitive, which means you can control camera functions on the LCD itself. I myself am neutral on this. Some people don't like Sony's menu-driven interface and would have preferred a few more buttons. For most casual photographers, this is probably not going to be a big deal.

The N1 is beautiful looking, and it has good shooting performance. I'm talking shutter lag here. It's quite fast. Not as fast as a digital SLR like my Nikon D70 or a Canon Digital Rebel XT, but the N1 felt slightly faster than my Fuji F10. This is a camera that performs, period.

Battery life is decent; I think the official rating is 300 according to the Japanese CIPA standard. My Fuji F10 is rated at 450 and I swear I've taken close to 1,000 photos (about 40% with flash) and I still have 50% left. I don't know if the N1's battery has the same stamina as my F10. But even at 300 shots per charge, that's pretty good.

I want to make two recommendations to any perspective N1 owner:

1) Be sure to get a spare battery. Even though the N1's battery life is good, the battery might fail (e.g., in extreme temperatures) or you might forget to recharge it before a new day starts. Always carry a spare if you can afford it.

2) The N1 uses Memory Stick Duo, and you'll most likely buy the "PRO" version. (The "PRO" designation simply means the Memory Stick Duo card is over 256MB. Sony's marketing people are nothing short of absolutely stupid and perverted.) You don't have to buy the "high-speed" (red) version of Memory Stick Duo PRO; but as a fellow Amazonian recently told me, the high-speed and regular versions cost the same, so you might as well get the high-speed one. Now comes my tip: buy two or more memory cards instead of a single gigantic-capacity one. Say you want 2GB in total. Get two 1GB Memory Stick PRO Duo cards instead of a single 2GB one. Why? It's the old adage that "don't put all your eggs in one basket." As with the battery, always carry a spare. Trust me, if you don't have a spare battery or memory card, Murphy's Law will get you, sooner than you think, too.

In summary, the N1 is a terrific ultra-slim camera. It takes great pictures, is stylish, has a huge touch-sensitive LCD, has good battery life, is reasonably easy to use, and did I mention it takes great pictures? It's good enough for this camera aficionado that my next compact camera will probably be a Sony.

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