SONY CYBER-SHOT DSC-N2 Digital Camera

Sony's newest Cyber-shot, the DSC-N2, is quite a departure in interface design for digital cameras. Pulled the Sony N2 out of the box, I was thrilled to see its minimal controls and maximized LCD screen. Now granted, Sony has been using touchscreens on their video cameras for a while, so it's a natural to put one on a digital still camera. The use of the touchscreen on the Sony N2 and N1 is genius, as it greatly simplifies the interface and keeps the camera body nice and clean. With most of the controls accessed through that bright 3.0-inch color LCD display, there's really no need for a mess of buttons cluttering up the camera body.





Basic Features
10.1-megapixel CCD
3x zoom lens (equivalent to a 38-114mm lens on a 35mm camera)
Max 3.4-17x digital Smart Zoom (depending on selected resolution) plus 2x Precision Digital zoom.
3.0-inch color LCD monitor, with touchscreen capability
Automatic, Program, and Manual exposure modes, plus eight Scene modes
Built-in flash with five modes and an intensity adjustment
25MB internal memory
Sony Memory Stick Duo storage (no card included), compatible with Memory Stick Pro Duo
USB 2.0 computer connection
Single Li-Ion np-bg1 rechargeable battery and charger included
Software for Mac and PC


Sony N2 Special Features
Beach, Fireworks, High Sensitivity, Landscape, Snow, Soft Snap, Twilight, and Twilight Portrait preset modes
Paint option in Playback mode offers in-camera editing/cleanup tools
Movie recording mode (with sound)
Burst, Multi-Burst, and Auto Exposure Bracketing shooting modes
Email modes
Shutter speeds from 1/2,000 to 1/8 second in Auto mode, 1/2,000 to one second in Program mode; and 1/1,000 to 30 seconds in Manual mode.
Aperture range from f/2.8 to f/16, depending on zoom position
Image Sharpness and Contrast adjustments, plus Image Color options
Self-timer for delayed shutter release
Macro (close-up) lens adjustment
Spot, Center-Weighted, and Multi-Metering modes
Adjustable AF area (Center, Spot, or Multi-Point options)
Single and Monitor (continuous) AF modes, plus five fixed focus settings
Auto ISO setting or 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1,600 ISO equivalents
White balance (color) adjustment with six options
DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) and PictBridge printing compatibility


In the Box
The retail package contains the following items:

Sony DSC-N2 camera
Wrist strap
One Li-Ion rechargeable battery pack np-bg1 for CYBER-SHOT DSC-N2 Battery, a case, and charger
USB cable
AV cable
Software CD containing Picture Package (ver. 1.6 for Windows), Pixela ImageMixer VCD2 (for Mac), a PC-based tutorial and USB drivers.
Quick-guide manuals and registration information