Viewfinder
The Sony S600 uses an optical viewfinder, which is becoming a rarity for point-and-shoot digital cameras. Many compact models omit them because of their inaccuracies and to save space, since compacts are usually so small and LCDs are constantly getting larger. The viewfinder on the S600 is slightly inaccurate – it crops the bottom of the picture off – but is still pretty decent compared to other compact optical viewfinders. Its placement is a bit strange, however, as it is unattractively located to the far right edge when viewing the camera front. This places it quite close to the lens, which while odd-looking aesthetically, does make the viewfinder more accurate.
A button at the bottom right corner of the LCD monitor can turn the LCD view off completely so that the optical viewfinder is the sole viewing device. That same button can also turn the LCD screen on to be utilized as an electronic viewfinder. Its accuracy is better, but the view is clearer with the optical viewfinder since the LCD resolution is poor. Overall, it’s nice to have the option of an optical viewfinder on the S600. Sure, the batteries last 440 shots on rechargeable AAs – but they can last even longer with the LCD turned off.

LCD Screen
The Sony S600 has a 2-inch LCD screen. While this is an overall average size, 2 inches looks petty next to the 2.5 and 3-inch screens that have been put on several new models this year. Still, remember the $199.95 price. Sony saved a little bit of money on this screen. It solarizes a bit when turned left to right—a rarity for Sony’s LCDs—and does so even more when turned up and down. At only 85,000 pixels, users can see the individual dots on the TFT LCD.

The LCD can be turned off in favor of the viewfinder or shooting information can be shown upon it; the button in the bottom right corner of the LCD changes the display on the screen. The 2-inch screen shuts off, along with the rest of the camera, after 3 minutes of inactivity when the Power Save Mode is selected in the setup menu. Sony did not include a brightness function on this screen, so the LCD could be hard to view in bright daylight as well. The LCD screen is certainly one of the features that Sony took shortcuts on so that the camera could be offered at a low price point.

Flash
On the front of the Sony S600 is a large (for this size camera) oval-shaped built-in flash.
Sony markets this flash to reach from 6 inches to 23 ft. in the automatic ISO mode. When the camera is set to ISO 1000, the flash can reach from 2 ft. 7 in. to 36 ft. Most compact models have weak flashes that only reach to 13 or 14 feet, so to have a powerful flash on a model like this is pretty interesting. It is controlled by the top portion of the multi-selector, which has a flash icon on it and allows access to the following modes: On, Off, Slow Sync and Auto. Within the setup menu, the red-eye reduction can be turned on and off as well. When it is on, the S600 fires about 4 pre-flashes before shooting the final flash. This system seems to work pretty well as test portraits came out red-eye-free. The flash level can also be adjusted to fire normally, at High (+) or at Low (-) in the recording menu. Unfortunately, the flash doesn’t fire evenly. There is an overly bright spot in the center that can be distracting if shooting a large group of people who aren’t all centered.

Zoom Lens
The Sony S600 has a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with a 5.1-15.3mm focal length that is equivalent to 31-93mm in 35mm format. That is a wider angle than lenses on most compact models. The 3x optical zoom lens is constructed of 7 elements in 6 groups with 3 aspheric elements present. The zoom is controlled by two square buttons on the back of the camera: one is labeled with a ‘W’ for wide and the other with a ‘T’ for telephoto. When these are pushed, a zoom bar appears on the LCD screen. The ends are labeled as ‘W’ and ‘T’ and a number is assigned to the zoom bar; for example, “1.5x.” There are about 8 stops in the zoom range, which shows the S600’s control is sensitive and stops where users want it to.

The lens has a wide maximum aperture of f/2.8 at its widest setting, but loses that in telephoto where its maximum aperture is f/5.1. There is some barrel distortion noticeable around the edges of the frame; this will make unflattering self-portraits or macro shots. There is no designated macro mode on the S600, but the Sony specs claim an “auto macro mode.” This Cyber-shot can focus as close as 4.75 inches, which is decent but not amazing. The S600 has 2x digital zoom that should be totally avoided and a 13x “smart zoom” feature that only works in the 640 x 480-pixel image size. Overall, it is nice to see the Carl Zeiss brand name on the lens but its barrel distortion and tiny telephoto max aperture are a bit disappointing to us.

Physical Tour	Page 3 of 10		Design / Layout
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S600 First Impressions Review Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour	Components	Design / Layout
Modes	Control Options	Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras
Overall Impressions	Conclusion