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SONY DSC-U60: Impressions of a self-contained Waterproof Digital Camera John Hart Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80302 nimbus.colorado.edu/hart/science.htm July 28, 2003
The Sony DSC-U60 is the first self-contained waterproof digital camera. Because it was designed to be a water sports camera, it is more compact, cheaper, and easier to use than a combination of a normal digi-cam and a waterproof housing. Although the depth rating is small (5 feet), potential uses include scientific photography in fluids laboratories, run of the mill touristy beach pictures, and, in imaging adventure sports like white-water kayaking, white-water rafting, class C (wet) canyoneering, etc. This camera will probably be reviewed more scientifically by the big digital camera websites, but here are some first impressions: Important specifications, the plusses:
Some minuses:
The little DSC-U60. 7 ounces of neat and ruff stuff. I dropped it on hardwood from 3 feet. No problem (though not recommended). I left it in the bathtub (1 foot under) for an hour. No problem. The case is quite robust. The flash and lens are behind an oval glass plate. O-rings seal the LCD display and the battery/connector compartment. The buttons act through rubber membranes.
There is no viewfinder. The bright little LCD screen is it. A small (gratefully) number of buttons allow for quick changes to the limited operation menus. Basically it's power up (< 1 sec) and shoot.
The LCD screen shows the view, battery status (full here), the rez setting (full 2Mpix: 640x480 is an option), along with some other garbage.
The six buttons on the back allow you to power up (and down), select the mode (play, record, standby), go to the menus, select menu items (with arrow keys), and execute those items. Record selections include resolution choice (2), focus (4 choices), flash properties, scene type (action, nature, soft, night, etc), among others. You can also shoot low-rez movie clips. Play-mode selections include deleting one pix or the entire folder, etc. For more specs see the dpreviews database. Examples of picture quality. Full size versions are available. The full-size files are between 0.5 and 2MB.
A bright wide-dynamic-range scene. Very little noise in the sky, good detail in the brights and shadows. Direct out of the camera. Download the full-size version.
Overcast sky scene (1/60, f4, ISO100 on Nikon CP5000). Sony (L) picks its exposure automatically. 5Mpix Nikon CP5000 (R). (Note: don't worry about the color balance here because the Nikon was set wrong)
Another view of Boulder Falls. Sony (L), 5Mpix Nikon CP5000 (R). Compare the full files:
The bright light performance of the little Sony is quite good. Here is another example:
Good definition remains in both the highlights and shadows. Histogram shows no burn out or black out. See the full version.
How will this camera do in dark canyons, etc. With a broken leg, I had no way to test it in a deep dark slot. But here is an indoor shot (1/4 sec, f3, ISO100 on the Nikon CP5000). This is typical of light levels in a rather dark outdoor setting.
Pretty sharp with good colors. Some noise in the wall (right) is present but not bad (considering...). Get the full rez version. On occasion, the little Sony exhibits some "foggy areas". These are clumps of blurred pixels in what should be a small area with structure. This is typical of a noise reduction algorithm that acts to over-smooth certain low contrast portions of an image. Similar unflattering "noise-reduction" behavior has plagued the $5000 14-Megapixel Kodak14n DSLR. Such faulty smoothing does not seem to arise in bright scenes (see above above). It has appeared in low contrast shadow regions of about 10% of my "dull" images. An example is:
The circled areas went soft. Once in a while it happens. Not very predictable. Such behavior appears to be an occasional artifact in many digital cameras. A solution: shoot high contrast scenes when possible. If you can't, make several shots. Throw away the duds.
CONCLUSION: This camera seems quite good for making moderately-sized prints, or to project some imagery. The fact that this camera can hang on your belt and be at the ready instantly is a great advantage in many situations. After lugging 35mm equipment in a dry bag through extremely wet environments, I know the frustration of slowly packing and unpacking everything, trying to keep things dry, and in the end missing the best shots. This little camera can fill a real need - it's at the ready, rain, soak, or shine. Depending on what you want to do (photographically) it could fill the role as the main man, or as a neat little pocket camera to use in those dicey wetter-than-wet happenings. I'll take it along whenever I think there'll be swimmers. CLICK HERE FOR MORE RECENT ANALYSES OF IMAGES FROM THIS CAMERA |
