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June 12, 2008
[REVIEW—SONY CYBERSHOT W150]
Price: $380
Outstanding
The low-down: This is an 8 megapixel camera with a zoom range of 30mm to 150mm, film equivalent. Body construction is rugged, with beautiful fit and finish. Operation can be either fully automatic or in program mode, which gives the user a degree of control. Some functions that ought to be on the camera body – exposure compensation and ISO speed, for instance – are accessible only through the menu. The Menu system is clear and elegant and provides good supplementary information about settings. The optical viewfinder is a little hard for spectacle wearers to use. The LCD review screen is large (6.7cm) with excellent clarity and resolution. The W150 can take photos in the native resolution for high definition TV sets. Unfortunately the HDMI connector, necessary for HD transfer, is an optional extra.
Like: The picture quality is good, with fine resolution and colour rendition. At ISO200 noise reduction is well judged, although there is some blurring of fine detail. The pictures are as clean as any we have seen from an 8 megapixel camera.
Dislike: There is no proper printed instruction manual, only a pamphlet that doesn’t even tell the user how to change the ISO setting or exposure compensation. If Ricoh, for example, can provide a 210 page printed manual then Sony should do no less. And we do not care for Sony’s Memory Sticks – they are too expensive and fiddly to read in a PC card reader.
Verdict: We are impressed. The black model that we had for testing is handsome. It has a high quality feel and appearance. The inclusion of an optical viewfinder is a plus, even if it is small and restricted in the coverage of image area. It has the usual gimmicks of face detection and the so-called “smile shutter” which serve no real purpose. We have yet to try the connection from camera to high definition television, but we expect to do that before the camera is returned. This display method promises to be spectacular, giving a whole new life to the family slide night. The Sony goes to the top of the list of recommendable compacts.
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Posted by terry at June 12, 2008 12:46 AM
Worth Checking Out
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