For those of you who’ve recently been out shopping for a digital camera, you know there’s an entire panoply of options.  In all honesty, it’s probably a lot MORE than a panoply, which is nuts.  So we have to take things one at a time, and this time, we’re taking a look at the Sony CyberShot DSC-S950.  I found one of these at Wal-Mart selling for a hundred and twenty-nine dollars, so it’s actually pretty solid price-wise.

The DSC-S950 is a 10.1 megapixel camera, with a 2.7 inch color LCD screen, a Memory Stick Pro Duo card slot, and both SteadyShot and face detection capability to improve your pictures.  There are plenty of options on this camera, especially for roughly a hundred and thirty bucks, so you’ll definitely get a solid value out of this one.  There’s plenty of memory and the zoom is smooth and easy to use, plus the forward reticle that controls the zoom functions collapses fully into the camera when not in use, making it incredibly compact and easy to carry around.

The only problem–and yes, there’s a problem–comes when you consider ease of use.  See, the design on the back side of this puppy is really, REALLY, complex.  Like REALLY complex.  There’s a wide array of zoom and mode selects and assorted whatnot all sandwiched into this one tiny column on the right hand side of the LCD screen.  Really, the biggest problem with the Sony CyberShot DSC-S950 is density.  There’s too much command capability wedged into entirely too small a space.

Though there’s one thing in its favor:  after a little while, you’ll likely get used to the controls, which will render the density of the console thoroughly irrelevant.  You’ll know what you’re doing, and when you want it, so chances are you won’t be terribly concerned about the placement of buttons.  I suspect most people will have a steep learning curve with this model, but once you finally get the hang of it, you’re likely to have a solid piece here.  Especially given the relatively low price.

Related posts:

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2. Sony CyberShot DSC-W55/P Camera
3. Sony DSC-T77 and DSC-T700 Cybershot Camera
4. Sony Cybershot DSC-S650
5. Sony Cybershot DSC-N2 Camera Review