The Sony Cybershot DSC-S700 digital camera is a product produced by Sony, a Japanese-based company known for their impressive products. The camera has all the basic functions of most other camera, such as a zoom function, autofocus, flash, and color tones. It also has a movie capture mode, which is a feature not always present on other digital cameras. The camera also runs on two AA batteries, and utilizes a Sony-brand Memory Stick Pro Duo. The camera has many useful features, but some are better than others.

One of the prominent features of the Sony Cybershot DSC-S700 is its video recording capabilities. The camera records video in standard resolution, 320x240. It also records full audio, a feature that is usually absent from other digital cameras. The video quality of the camera is mediocre. On the camera, the quality looks excellent, but on a television or computer, the movie looks pixelated and bumpy. The audio is decent. When speaking in a low voice or whisper, the audio is fine, but if someone is talking loudly or yelling, the audio will spike, distorting the sound. While playing movies back on the camera, the audio does not play back; only on a computer or television will the audio play. This could frustrate users who make decent movies, but come to find out that the audio ruins the whole video.

This camera also has a myriad of settings for any sort of photographic situation, may it be cloudy or snowy outside, may you be at a beach, or even at a sporting event. The settings will adjust the settings of the camera to accommodate for the current environment. These features are extremely helpful and make the pictures look phenomenal. As well as on these particular
settings, the picture quality on the standard setting is amazing. Photos will looks smooth and sharp, even without a tripod. The camera offers many choices for picture quality, from the standard 7.2 megapixels all the way to 16:9 for viewing on a high-definition widescreen television. The only sacrifice in taking higher-quality photos is that the number of photos you can take is lowered.

The Sony Cybershot DSC-S700 runs on two AA batteries. The manual provides a list of recommended batteries for prolonged battery life, but any will do. The camera also stores photos on its internal memory, a modest twenty-four megabytes, or a Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo. The fact that the camera runs on disposable batteries may serve as an inconvenience, since the batteries are drained rather quickly when using the camera and especially when shooting a video. Also, a standard one gigabyte Sony Memory Stick will run you almost forty-five dollars, which really hurts those who are on a tight budget, and the internal memory will not record more than a minute of video, or hold more than a handful of photos, so you are basically forced to buy a memory stick.

Overall, the Sony Cybershot DSC-S700 is not a bad camera. It records video and audio better than many cameras, but there are also many cameras that do that same thing much better. The camera has excellent picture quality, even at the lowest setting. The camera could have been better if Sony had decided to include a rechargeable battery pack instead of AA batteries, as well as allow the camera to store photos on a different kind of memory card. All in all, the camera is okay, but if you do decide to pick it up, try and acquire it online or from a friend for a low price.