Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W560 14.1 MP Digital Still Camera with Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 4x Wide-Angle Optical Zoom Lens and 3.0-inch LCD (Silver)

For the price, this is a very nice little camera. Easy to set up and use and takes very good pictures. A word of caution. The camera does not come with a memory card and it will not function without one. It takes two types of card: either a Memory Stick Pro Duo or an SDHC Memory Card. The old "Memory Stick" cards used in older Sony cameras will NOT fit in this camera. So either purchase a card from Amazon when you buy the camera or prepare for a trip to the store when the camera arrives (Target sells both types of cards). I recommend purchasing a second battery. As previous reviewers have noted, the battery must be removed from the camera to be recharged - there is no provision for charging in the camera. Having a second battery available allows you to just pop it into the camera and you're ready to go. If you wish to purchase an additional battery, I can't see why you should purchase the Sony battery for $35.00 when you can purchase a generic brand, which works just fine, for about 5 bucks on Amazon (just do a search on Amazon for "NP-BN1"). Another reviewer commented that removing the battery reset the time and date on his camera, requiring the time and date be set up again. I didn't have this problem. Because I got distracted with something else, I left my camera on the table with no battery for several hours. When I put the fresh battery in, the correct time and date were still programmed.

I've had 4 Sony Cyber-shots within the last 5 years or so. I've always loved the quality of the pictures I get with these cameras without too much forethought. I just put it in "auto" and click away. However, this camera would not take a clear picture in the auto mode, or any mode. In fact, every picture I took with it was blurry. I checked the lens and it seemed to be clear. I'm not sure if I received a defective camera or not as I returned it for a refund.

The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W560 is (in my opinion) the best camera available today (October, 2011) for the price. It boasts the following pluses: 1. 14.1 MP 2. 3.0 LCD Screen 3. 4x Optical Zoom 4. Several Available Colors 5. Small Size 6. Amazing Automatic Picture Control (it does every adjustment for you) 7. Really Cool Panoramic Mode 8. Easy to Use Menu's 9. Quick Access to Timer Mode 10. Fun "Smile" Mode (automatically takes pictures of people smiling) All of these features for just over $100. I highly recommend this camera for someone wanting a great, point-and-shoot camera. You won't be disappointed.

You have to understand where we came from -- an aged, clunky 4MP Sony that had been dropped in the fine sand of a California beach, pooped on once by accident (a baby), fought over in a divorce, pushed down the stairs by a cat. Compared to that old camera, the DSC-W560 is a gem. But in the bigger picture compared to modern digital cameras, it's average in picture quality but above average in value. It does HD video, has one touch no fuss photo modes, lots of neat features, and a compact profile. The LCD screen on the back is bright and easy to see. It can get amazingly close for macro pictures. Just an inch or two it seems. It can take seamless panorama pictures, automatically detect faces, smiles, and even blinking at the wrong time. It also has a lithium ion rechargeable battery. For the money, it does a lot. The picture quality is average, neither great or bad, full HD video -- though the video is limited to 2GB chunks no matter how big your memory card is, and limited to appx 29 minutes in length. The battery will do several hundred pictures or about 70 minutes of video before quitting. BUT.... It has two extremely annoying attributes that really really irritate me. First, you have to remove the battery to charge the camera. It can't be charged internally, and it can't be charged via USB. And second, when you remove the battery to charge it, you have to reset the date, time, time zone, and a few other settings EVERY SINGLE TIME. Not all of them though. Even though the date is important to me, it retains all the quality settings, the sounds, and the miscellaneous settings. I'm in shock that this is even an issue when our ancient digital camera managed this amazing date retention feature despite being 8 years old. The level of irritation by this will shock you. You read this review and think, "I can't believe this guy is so petty he'd whine about that." Look, get the camera and then tell me with a straight face that you really like resetting the date and like having to carry around a separate charger because it can't charge via USB. -- Update after 6 months of use. Camera no longer loses date and time with battery removed. Apparently it has a self-healing feature. Bizarre. However, it depletes the battery even when off. I kept yelling at my wife about leaving the battery depleted after use, but I notice that it was draining even after we had it in storage. This is extremely annoying. It will deplete a fully charged battery in a matter of weeks. Because the batteries take many hours to charge, the camera is out of commission for a long time. We have begun removing the battery from the camera when stored.

It was an amazing purchase!! The vendor is great, camera looks brand new. I was expecting some type of damage to the outside of the camera but there was not a single scratch on sight Packaging is beautifully put together, came with everything it said, I really could not be happier with my purchase and my camera!!

Lots of other good reviews on here, I'm mainly writing to address one flaw: You cannot charge via USB. To charge the battery you must remove the memory card and battery, put the battery pack in the charger, and plug the charger into an AC outlet. Charging takes 3-4 hours or more. Also, if you leave it connected to the computer via the USB cable, it will drain the battery (even if the computer is off, apparently). Otherwise the camera is generally pretty good. I've only used factory default settings. The image stabilization seems pretty decent, auto-focus is pretty good, and while the camera body is plastic it seems reasonably solid. Again, there are already plenty of in-depth reviews on photo quality. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could.