Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P50

What's Hot: The DSC-P50 is very novice-friendly. Turn it on, choose a shooting mode (still image, low-light still, or movie), and hit the shutter release. The camera will emit a beam of light to aid focusing in low-light settings, and the 3X zoom button (plus a 3X digital zoom) works smoothly, accurately, and moderately quickly in any shooting mode (though it doesn't pause when it enters digital-zoom territory).

Several special effects (solarize, black-and-white, sepia, and negative art) allow a little creative flair, and you can activate them easily through the menu system. In addition, you can rotate and resize captured images within the camera; the former is useful when playing back images and movies on a television via the video-out port, and the latter is useful for when you run out of storage space. The camera takes smooth-playing MPEG movies (without sound); you can divide a movie into two segments, also within the camera.