| Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 |
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Last Updated
February 15, 2010 Editor's Rating 
 
The small-bodied Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 from Sony packs a punch with a huge feature set, including a lightning fast image processor, wide-angle aperture, and a 10.2 megapixel CMOS sensor. You also get 720p high-definition video capture and TV connectivity in this mid-line $300 consumer camera. If you're in the market for a mid-line digital camera that isn't quite professional-quality, but above entry-level, and can still fit comfortably in your pocket, this is the one to get. Measuring 3.56 x 0.78 x 2.06 inches (wdh) and weighing a light 0.33 pounds, it is quite small compared to other similar cameras. Its body is one of sleek, black with still being comfortable to hold in your hand and use effectively. The controls on the back are to the right of the 2.7-inch LCD, which has an aspect ratio of 4:3 and 230,000 pixels. The screen itself is very nice and displays colors with excellent detail and color range. Among the controls include a top dial which changes the shooting mode of the DSC-WX1, a bottom navigation pad for menu controls, a menu button, delete button, and zoom toggle. The top, of course, is where the shutter release button is as well as the power button. The menu system on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 is extremely well-designed as it is on Sony's other digital cameras, so in turn, it's very easy to use for all levels of consumers. From the camera's software, you can change shooting modes, from a manual mode where you can change the ISO, white balance, exposure, and metering, to a completely automatic mode for casual photographers. Some other neat features of the software is the automatic panorama shooting mode called Sweep Panorama, which automatically stitches photos together of a landscape taking by simple panning the camera as thought you were shooting a video and not a photo. As a result, a single 4912 x 1080 pixel photo is produced. This feature comes from the DSC-WX1's speedy internal processor, which allows it to be able to do all the complex calculations and work necessary for this feature. Some of the exposure modes include auto, daylight/sunny, cloudy, fluorescent, underwater, and more. The memory cards that are compatible with this Sony digital camera include memory stick duo, memory stick pro, and memory stick duo pro. There's also an internal memory that is 11MB, which isn't really enough for more than a few pictures. All pictures are shot in JPEG, so there's no RAW shooting mode here, which means all pictures will be compressed to a certain degree. The amount of compression (and therefore, quality loss) can be controlled through the camera's menus. There's also a few other features to aid in taking better-quality pictures and one such mode is the anti-motion setting which reduces any motion blur created by fast-moving objects in the photo. Some other features aid in reducing noise and grain in pictures as well as clarity. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 is one of the more faster cameras on the market today, with a power on to first shot time of around 2 seconds and a between shot time of just over one second. Shutter lag is also very minimal, with various measures from between 0.3 - 0.5 seconds. Image quality with this camera was very good, producing very well-detailed prints in almost all shooting conditions. Dark-lit conditions were actually a little grainy at times, but still not terrible. As stated above, the DSC-WX1 allows you to shoot 1280 x 720 HD video at 30 frames per second. Unlike some other cameras, you can zoom while shooting video, but some zoom motor noise is heard on the video. The quality of the video is very good, including its accompanying audio. You may also connect it to your TV and output video to your TV via an optional cable that costs $40 purchased separately. If you choose to, you can connect this camera to your PC to download pictures via the included USB cable. Otherwise, you can just use the memory card to download pictures directly. One note worth mentioning about the cables is the proprietary connector on the camera itself, so you cannot use a regular USB or video output cable.
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