Sony DSC-S600 Review

Note: The S600 is not equipped with a video-out port. As a result, our screen captures are not up to our usual high standards.

Here is the Auto mode screen display. Minimal information is displayed and only a few parameters such as image size or recording mode can be changed. Upper left is the battery level that's constantly displayed. The image size is "6M"egapixels, the image folder is 101, there's space for 72 shots, a graphical icon of the Memory Stick's available space, in the center are the Auto Focus area target marks and the S AF on the bottom indicates Single-AF focus mode.

This is a "P"rogram AE screen. Top left shows the battery level (full). The ISO speed is set to 80, sharpening, contrast and saturation parameters are at other than default values.

When you half-press the shutter release the AF marks will turn green indicating the area of focus, it will also show the selected shutter speed and aperture.

The still image camera mode is selected in Camera menu. Select from: AUTO, Program AE, High Sensitivity, Scene Modes (Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Soft snap, Snow, Beach, Landscape).

Record options for Program or Manual mode:

Exposure Compensation - Override the metering by +/- 2.0EV in 0.3EV steps

Focus - Multi AF, Center AF

White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent or Incandescent

ISO - Auto or fixed at 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000

Picture Quality - Fine or Standard

Mode - Normal, Burst or Multi Burst

Multi Burst - 1/7.5, 1/15 or 1/30 (option appears only when mode is Multi Burst)

Flash Level - High, Normal or Low

Picture Effect - Off, Sepia, Black & White

Saturation - Default is 0 but may be + or -

Contrast - Default is 0 but may be + or -

Sharpness - Default is 0 but may be + or -

The screen in the 640 Fine Movie mode. Fine mode is VGA resolution 640 x 480 full screen @ 30fps with audio and the length is limited only by the space available on the memory card.

Movie resolution can be set to 640 Fine (30fps), 640 Standard (16 fps) or 160 for E-mail (160x120, 8.3 fps), these movies will playback in a smaller window. The advantage is that the file sizes are smaller and more practical for email purposes.

Movie menu options:

Exposure Compensation - Override the metering by +/- 2.0EV in 0.3EV steps

Focus - Multi AF, Center AF

White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent or Incandescent

Picture Effect - Off, Sepia, Black & White