Sony DSC-M1: Good Video, Disappointing Pictures
by Stephen Caston on June 20, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
Recording Features
In all recording modes except Auto, the DSC-M1 records images as JPEG files with quality settings: Fine or Standard. In Auto mode, the camera always uses the Fine setting. The resolution options are below:| Setting | Resolution (pixels) |
| 5M | 2592x1944 |
| 3:2 | 2592x1728 |
| 3M | 2048x1536 |
| 1M | 1280x960 |
| VGA | 640x480 |
The DSC-M1 offers 11 different still image recording modes: Auto, Program, Magnifying glass, Twilight, Twilight portrait, Landscape, Snow, Beach, High-speed shutter, Fireworks, and Candle. In Auto mode, the camera will determine all the advanced settings for you. However, you still have access to some of the basic controls via the 4 directional buttons. For example, pressing the up arrow button will cycle through 4 available flash modes: Auto, Forced flash, Slow-synchro, and Off. With Auto flash, the camera will determine if there is enough light to take a properly-exposed photo. If more light is needed, the camera will activate the built-in flash automatically. The Forced flash option ensures that the flash fires even if there is already enough light to take a picture. This option can be used to fill in dark shadows caused by harsh lighting (often outdoors in direct sunlight). Slow-synchro mode will cause the flash to fire and the shutter will continue to stay open to gather ambient light. This is often used in situations with dim ambient light in order to capture a more realistic flash exposure. By pressing the left arrow button, the camera will enable/disable the macro mode. The down arrow button can be pressed to enable a 10-second self-timer. In all modes other than Auto, the right arrow button can be pressed to toggle between Multi-pattern and Spot metering. With Multi-pattern metering, the camera will measure light from the entire frame to determine the appropriate exposure settings. With Spot metering, the camera uses a small portion from the center of the frame to determine the exposure. When Spot metering is selected, a crosshair appears in the center of the frame to indicate the area that will be metered.
 Detailed |
 Detailed w/live histogram |
 No info. |
By pressing the Display button, the camera will toggle through four different displays: detailed, detailed w/live histogram, less information, and backlight off. In the default display, the following information will appear on the screen: image resolution, number of frames remaining, AF-illuminator, Red-eye reduction, shutter speed, f-stop, recording folder, focus points, movie resolution and frame rate, video time remaining, and battery life remaining. When the Display button is pressed again, a live histogram will be added to the display. The option to turn off the backlight is a great idea. We found that when shooting outdoors, we could not even tell the difference between the on and off states. This leaves the user a real opportunity to save battery power in brightly-lit situations. It is refreshing to see Sony continue to design the battery status indicator to provide the number of minutes remaining in the battery charge. Most cameras simply have a two- or three-bar indicator, which leaves you guessing about the exact battery life remaining.
In Program mode, there are several additional options that can be manipulated. For example, by pressing the Menu button, the following options can be adjusted:
| Menu | |
| EV | ± 2 stops in 1/3 stop increments |
| Focus | Multi AF, Center AF, Spot AF, 0.5m, 1.0m, 3.0m, 7.0m, Infinity |
| White Bal | Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Flash |
| ISO | Auto, 100, 200, 400 |
| P. Quality | Standard, Fine |
| REC mode | Normal, Speed Burst, Exp Brktg, Multi Burst |
| BRK | ± 0.3, 0.7, 1.0 EV |
| Interval | 1/30, 1/15, 1/7.5 |
| Flash Level | -, Normal, + |
| P. Effect | Off, Sepia, B&W |
| Saturation | -, Normal, + |
| Contrast | -, Normal, + |
| Sharpness | -, Normal, + |
| Setup | Enter |
 Multi AF, Focus lock |
 Center AF, Focus lock |
 Spot AF, Focus lock |
The auto-focus area can be selected from Multi AF, Center AF, or Spot AF. If Multi-AF is selected, the camera will select one or more of 5 possible focus points automatically. The chosen points will be displayed as green brackets. If all points are used, the green brackets will not be displayed. When Center AF is chosen, the camera will focus on the area in the center of the frame. If Spot AF is chosen, the camera will use a smaller portion of the center focus point. The M1 also offers 5 preset focus distances from which to choose. These can come in handy when shooting in particularly low lighting or in other situations where the camera may have trouble focusing.
The M1 offers a few options for continuous shooting: Speed Burst and Multi-Burst. With Speed Burst selected, the camera can take up to 4 images while the shutter button is held down. In Multi-burst mode, the camera records 16 consecutive images at a selectable interval (1/30th, 1/15th, 1/7.5th). The images are then compiled into a single image at a 1M resolution (1280x960 px). The M1 also offers the option to set an exposure bracket with the "Exp Brktg" setting. The bracket amount can be set to ± 0.3, ± 0.7, or ± 1.0 EV. The camera will take 3 pictures when the shutter button is fully depressed. The order of the pictures will be as follows: overexposed, normal, underexposed. For adjustment of the flash level, saturation, contrast, and sharpness, there are 3 levels from which to choose: "-", Normal, or "+". Setup mode is available in all shooting modes, so we will discuss those options a bit later.
In Magnifying glass mode, the M1 is capable of focusing on subjects as close as 1cm from the lens. In Twilight mode, the M1 can expose scenes for as long as 2 seconds. In Twilight Portrait mode, the camera uses a slow synchro flash to capture both subject and background detail. In Landscape mode, the camera focuses to infinity. In snow and beach modes, the camera applies a positive exposure compensation to ensure bright images. With Beach mode, the camera also ensures that blue tones from water are captured properly. High-speed shutter mode puts priority on the shutter speed in order to capture fast-moving subjects. In Fireworks mode, the camera sets the focus to infinity and uses a long exposure. In Candle mode, the M1 uses a slow shutter speed and daylight white balance to capture natural looking candlelit images.
One of the things that make the M1 so unique when compared to other digicams is its integrated movie mode. The option to record a movie clip is not buried in a menu or hidden on a mode dial. In fact, the M1 has a separate shutter button to start and stop video clips. In addition, the M1 records video clips with MPEG-4 compression to provide high-quality videos at a very small file size. This means that the video files will take up less space on your memory card, but it also means that you don't need a "Pro" card to keep up with the data stream. You can use the cheaper Duo cards and still record video at the highest quality setting. By default, the camera is set to record video clips at 640x480 and 30 fps. However, the resolution can be changed to 320x240 at either 30 or 15 fps by pressing the Image size/Delete button. Another great thing about the movie mode on the M1 is that the optical zoom can be used while recording. The "5Sec" switch under the Movie button will cause the camera to record a 5-second video clip instead of a continuous one. Under the Photo shutter button is a switch labeled "Hybrid". We thought that this was an interesting concept. When the camera is switched to Hybrid mode, the camera continuously records 5 seconds of video until the Photo shutter button is pressed. The camera then stores the 5 seconds of video before the picture was taken, the picture, and 3 seconds after the picture was taken. When played back, this adds a bit of context to the photo and gives a bit of a "behind-the-scenes" feel to the photo.
At any time, the user can access the Setup menu, which contains 4 screens of adjustable settings. To get to the setup menu, you simply press the Menu button and select the Setup option from the far right. Below, we have outlined these 4 screens:
| Camera Menu | |
| Hybrid Rec | Normal, Pre Rec |
| Digital Zoom | On, Off |
| Date/Time | Day&Time, Date, Off |
| Red-eye Reduction | On, Off |
| AF Illuminator | Auto, Off |
| Auto Review | On, Off |
The "Hybrid Rec" options allow you to adjust how the Hybrid Photo option operates. If Normal is selected, the camera will record 5 seconds of video before the picture and 3 seconds after. With "Pre Rec" selected, the camera will only record the 5 seconds of video before the photo. The Date/Time option allows you to stamp either the date and time on future pictures or just the date. The Auto Review option will determine whether or not the camera will display a picture on the LCD monitor immediately after it is taken. Even when "On" is selected, the user is unable to delete an unwanted image without switching to Playback mode.
| Memory Stick Tool Menu | |
| Format | OK, Cancel |
| Create REC Folder | OK, Cancel |
| Change REC Folder | OK (Select), Cancel |
By selecting "Create REC Folder", the camera will create a new folder with a number that is one higher than the last. With the "Change REC Folder" option, the M1 allows you to select the folder to which you would like to save future images.
| Setup 1 Menu | |
| Beep | Shutter, On, Off |
| Language | Select |
The Beep option allows the user to control the camera's operating sounds. When Shutter is selected, the camera will make a shutter sound when a picture is taken. If On is selected, the camera will make beeping noises whenever buttons are pressed in addition to the shutter sound.
| Setup 2 Menu | |
| File Number | Series, Reset |
| USB Connect | PictBridge, PTP, Normal |
| Video Out | NTSC, PAL |
| Clock Set | OK (Set), Cancel |
If Series is selected for the File Number option, the camera will use the next file number for new files even if the recording folder or Memory Stick Duo is changed. If Reset is selected, the camera will reset the file number whenever the folder is changed. The USB Connect options refer to the type of connection that the camera is making. For example, if the M1 is connected to a PictBridge compatible printer, you would select "PictBridge".
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Gatak - Thursday, June 23, 2005 - link
#14, #11:My mistake. I read up on the NTSC standards. Originally they wanted 60Hz to avoid interference from the 60Hz power lines and also to use as syncronization for some camcorders. But they later choose 59.94Hz. The old b&w TV was 60FPS though.
Still, 59.94 or 29.97Hz seem strange to me. Converting a 24FPS FILM source would work just nice to 30 or 60FPS. (24x1,25=30, 48x1,25=60). The whole concept of using telecine is horrid to me:
1) reduce speed from 24fps to 23.976fps
2) split frames into fields
3) insert one new field every 4 fields.
4 playback with jerkiness!!!
Why not keep the 60Hz and at least remove step 1 in this list?
At least with PAL you would only have the first step, although they use 4,17% speedup instead. Some say it is worse, but I think it renders motion a lot better. Not to mention the almost 20% better resolution of PAL.
Locut0s - Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - link
My original quip about "multi-use" products could probably use a little clearing up. I am not against the idea of a product that integrates more than one feature. And in fact there are examples of products that I own that do just that and that I am happy with, like the printer/scanner/copier here. However my experience is that more often than not features are tacked onto products not to add another good feature but to add another line to the "features" list for marketing. I too would be happy with a video camera that takes sub par but still very good stills. But more often than not you end up with a video camera that not only takes sub par stills but they are blury and the feature seems like an afterthought, barely integrated with the rest of the features and cumbersome to work with in the software.PrinceGaz - Tuesday, June 21, 2005 - link
I'm cool with devices that do more than one function, but they must do every function well else in my opinion it is a non-function. So for instance the nGage which combined a baadly designed game console, with a cumbersome mobile phone, and a poor PDA, failed on every count and deservedly was a total flop as basically it was a device that did nothing well.A decent camera that takes substandard video-clips is fine by me, as it is still a camera and that is what I want from it. Similarly a camcorder with substandard still-image shooting (like the DSC-M1 reviewed) is still a camcorder and tbh I wouldn't really expect it to rival the still-image picture quality of a dedicated high mega-pixel camera. Oh sure it would be great if it did, but that's not of any real concern. It may have been best to review the DSC-M1 from the point of view of it being a camcorder, with higher resolution still image shots as just an extra feature. It certainly looks like a camcorder.
As for batteries, like I said I prefer AA's but as others have mentioned, they are larger because you generally need two to four to power most gadgets. I see NiMH AA capacities of 2400mAh are now readly available so thy continue to rise. Another reason to favour AA cells- as battery technology improves, you can get longer life cells cheaply. Certainly beats paying £30/$50 for some proprietary battery that is only available from the product manufacturer.
SDA - Tuesday, June 21, 2005 - link
Like johnmcl7, I prefer AAs. Definitely bigger, but they offer better battery life, and it's a lot cheaper and easier to replace dead NiMH AAs than dead proprietary Li-Ion batteries. Remember, Li-Ion batteries have a hard three-year limit on useful lifetime even if they're not used at all.. kind of sucks if they haven't been made in a while.I don't really care how many things a device does so long as it's reasonably good at all or most of them. Problem is, that doesn't hold true for a LOT of gear. Not that it doesn't for this, of course.
GoatMonkey - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
It's pretty narrow to think that you should need a separate device for everything. Why should you? You can share common storage and batteries easy enough. You can share a common LCD screen and most of the control buttons. You can share a common CPU between the devices. Maybe if they would start to see these devices as small scale computers instead of just a camera, just a video recorder, just a phone, just an mp3 player, just a PDA, just a GPS...I don't see a reason that you can't have a device that is a common platform for each of these things where you could just attach the physical pieces that you want or need. There is no reason that the physical devices even need to be attached to the central platform if you're using Bluetooth, or whatever its successor is, Bluetooth 2 maybe?
I imagine an mp3 player that plays to a wireless bluetooth headset. Maybe that wireless headset could actually contain a processor a camera lense. I hate to say it, but I think people are going to be walking around looking like Borgs in about 3-5 years.
Johnmcl7 - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
#9 - That attitude is just a bit daft, why limit devices to one function when they are capable of more than that? The expectation with combination devices is that they must be able to replace all the separate devices of which they attempt to offer the functionality of. I don't see it that way, I don't think my digital camera offers anything like the quality and functionality of a proper video camera, however I don't expect it to either - I'm glad to get some video capability, which is acceptable for me without having to carry another device with me.On the subject of batteries, I prefer AA batteries where possible, although on small cameras they can increase the size quite a bit. I went from the proprietary li-ion battery on the Fuji 4900z to 4xAA batteries in the S7000, it significantly increases the size and weight of the camera but it lasts far, far longer plus it's great being able to use any batteries, when I run out of power and really need some batteries I can just pop into a shop and grab some. Have to say, I'm very impressed with the battery in the Canon Ixus 500, it is a propietary battery but unlike other compact cameras I've used, the batterylife is surpsisingly good, I thought I would have to charge it up often but I only have to charge it occasionally, it's great that's always ready when I need it.
John
xt8088 - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
#10, that's the standard frame rate for NTSC TV stanard(North American, Japan, Taiwan and etc use it).xt8088 - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
Though, the Li-ion battery is smaller and lighter, that's more important for smaller P&S cameras.xt8088 - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
#8: I agree. I was trying to say something like that. Proprietary Li-ion battery is way too expensive. But the calculation of capacity is more just mAH. You need to multiply the Votage to get correct capacity. 3.6V 680mAh 3.6V 680mAh almost the same as 1 NiMH AA 2000mAH@1.2V. Anyway, 2 or more such AA batteries have much more battery life than the proprietary one.stephencaston - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
Gatak, yes this is the original video straight from the camera. I agree on your FPS concept...I would hope that advanced features like that are available in future MPEG4 cameras.