A Canonian Goes Sony: The DSC-V3

I've been looking for a digital compact camera to complement my Canon EOS-10D for a while now. I used to own first a Canon PowerShot S40 (still in active use by my wife) and then a Minolta Dimage 7i. Although excellent cameras in their own right and especially compared to what else was available at the time, I felt both were seriously lacking in certain critical areas, in particular focusing speed and precision. After months of pouncing on every new review, and bugging camera stores to let me fondle some of them, I finally broke down and bought the Sony V3. Here are my impressions of it. As usual, this is not intended to be a comprehensive review, but rather a "field report" of my experiences in using it for the mission I bought it -- a take-anywhere "second camera." Take it for what it's worth.

Street shooting with the DSC-V3. (Helsinki, January 2005)

The DSC-V3 proves that Sony knows how to engineer a camera, and how to build a camera, but they still have a thing or two to learn about designing a camera. It is built well, loaded with features, and performs excellently. However, while the design has clearly been thought through thoroughly, it lacks the extension-of-your-hand feel of really good designs that have gone through several iterations (or been made by people who have done similar designs for decades). Even after a fair bit of use, it still feels just a little bit awkward and strained. In the end, this doesn't really matter much -- all cameras have their weak points, and as weak points go, this one is fairly harmless.