 Sony Does It Again |
| Review Date: May 12, 2007 |
| Reviewer: James D. Lytthans, Southern California, USA |
I bought the DCSW80 for my wife, to replace an old, slower Sony digital camera. After several weeks I find that I use it more than she does, because of the ease of operatin and portability. I love my Canon Rebel XTi, bt this Sony does 90% of what the Canon is capable of. The macro feature is even better than the Canon. At 7.2 mp, my enlargements are crisp and true to color. Yes, I would like to charge the camera battery while attached to the computer, but the battery life is extremely long, with the small Li-ion battery. The included charger is a bit slow, but I did find an after-market charger online that is faster.
A feature that I really enjoy is the slide show mode, with music and HD quality. Nice touch! I've owned many Sony products over the years, from an early 9" portable B/W TV, a Walkman, through a plasma TV, and have never been disappointed in the quality and features. Bravo Sony for another fine product!! |
Great Compact Point-and-Shoot
|
| Review Date: September 28, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Katherine, Wisconsin |
This camera more that matched my expectations. $230 was a little steep for a 14-year-old on a babysitting salary, but I have yet to regret the purchase.
The video mode is better than a camcorder, no lie. The sound is flawless and you can even adjust sound on the camera. The picture...never blurry or anything. The videos play on my 34" LCD with no fault! I'm totally taking advantage of this feature!
The pictures are almost too amazing for me. The camera is a 7.2 megapixel, but I set my picture quality to 5 megapixel because it takes up less space and the pictures turn out beautiful. The image stabilization works really well. I tested it by waving my camera back and forth in the air and randomly took shots without stopping my camera. The weren't the least bit blurry!
There are a few modes in this camera:
Auto Adjustment (For shooting with preset settings)
High Sensitivity (For Low Lighting)
Soft Snap (Adds soft background, good for taking pics of people.)
Twilight Portrait
Twilight
Landscape
Beach
Snow
Video
Prgram Auto (Allows more programming before taking the shot.)
Also, you can remove red-eye, crop the photo, and do a bunch of other editing right on the camera!
The lens is without flaw. I don't even need flash on my shots because the lens can take in enough light.
You can play slideshows on your camera WITH MUSIC!
There's so many things I like about this camera, I can't list them all. I love it so much. If you get this camera, you will not have regrets. It's only $230 max and worth the price. I have the pink one, but it comes in pink, silver, white, and black.
Also, it looks bulky in pictures but it is really small. A little thicker than a casio but less length and width.
Also, don't buy a camera that doesn't have a viewfinder. I was outside in the sun today and I couldn't see my screen! I love that this camera has a viewfinder!
The Only Cons:
*The battery takes 4.5 hours to charge (but it lasts a long time on full charge)
*Sony uses memory stick PRO DUO instead of SD cards, but Circuit City has a deal that when you buy this camera, you get a free 1GB card (which is all you need.)
I would reccomend this to anyone...it is really user friendly. Each setting you put it on show a description of what it is. Someone who has never used a digital camera could figure this out with ease! |
Great for the price
|
| Review Date: May 8, 2007 |
| Reviewer: jeremy, |
This is a great camera for its price. This might be the best choice for its class because it provides IS (image stabilization for shaky hands and moving objects:anti blur), 2.5 inch lcd, 7.2 megapixels and 3x optical zoom for under $235. You can find different cameras with IS and with more pixels or zoom capabilities but you should also compare their price with this one. I researched alot before buying this camera and could not find any camera with IS under $300 (brand new, not used). Morover, this is very handy, tiny and light that you can carry in your pocket without feeling it. There are cameras out there with 10x optical zooms but you have to hire someone to carry it for you:) I will always prefer a tiny camera over a bulky one because those bulky ones are usually loaded with features that you will never need or use. Additionally, those bulky cameras are also much more expensive. You would end up paying high prices for features that you will never use.
I recommend you to buy at least 2gb of memory from e-bay.Buy from someone with high feedback score. I purchased a 2gb "high speed memory stick pro duo" for $20 (incl shipping) from e-bay. As time passes, as in every technological toy, you will be able to find cheaper and better.
Menus and settings are very easy and clear. Information about the current settings appear on the lcd when you switch or push buttons for example when you switch mode dial to moon (one of the symbols on the dial) "Shoot low light scene without flash" explanation appears on the lcd for about 2 seconds which is very helpful.
I wish you could have been able to charge the battery while its in the camera but you cannot. You need to carry the included charger if you are travelling. Carrying a cable for charging instead of a seperate charger would be better.However, battery life is very satisfying and better than its competitors.
One of my disappointments about the camera (actually it is not a big deal) is you need to press too many buttons to delete an image. This is only case for deleting an image. Other menu shortcuts are great; however, I wish it had also a shortcut or a button for deleting since this is a digital camera and the great thing about these cameras is the ability to erase easily. My previous camera (Dsc-v1) had a button for erasig images on the menu buttons which was very easy and helpful. But with this camera, I had to press 5 times (on different buttons) before I can delete the last image taken.
Overall, this is a very great camera for the price and features. One of the most important adventage is its IS (Image stabilization) feature. One of the best alternative for this camera is Canon PowerShot SD800 IS 7.1MP, in case you do not like DSC-W80, which you can buy around $300. Since I purchased Dsc-w80 for $230, I recommend sony over canon. |
4th digital Camera
|
| Review Date: June 9, 2007 |
| Reviewer: John D. Dooley, Southern California United States |
I was a professional wedding photographer using medium format 120 film cameras. It was a good thing I retired before the digital takeover. The speed of technological improvements both in cameras & computer programs would of broke my bank account. Happily there were & are some good priced consumer digital cameras made for the budget minded.
The 1st digital camera we bought around the turn of the century was the Cannon GS-1 3MP for appox $1000. Even in today standards the camera was easier & faster than the present Sony's because it had an easy set-up & user friendly format. Sadly the camera was dropped while visiting Hearst Castle in August 2004 & stopped working a few weeks later.
After this we decided to buy a semi-professional digital camera & chose the Sony DSC-F826 8MP which has a manual Zeiss 7X zoom lens. The camera is multi functional with infrared night vision & can take after market over head flash units, but it is rather slow in auto focus mode & the format wasn't as easy as the Cannon, too many dials and buttons all over the place. The Sony DSC-F826 takes both CF cards & Sony Memory Sticks. Price was appox $1000 in 2004.
Then my wife needed a smaller digital camera that had to use AA batteries for Eastern European visits so that we could buy batteries anywhere. We bought the Sony Cybershot DSC-W7 7.2MP for appox $400 in 2005. The camera was on sale because most people didn't want an AA battery powered camera. It has a similar format like the Sony DSC-F826 but simplified only because it has less functions. On the back of the camera is a large, bright, & fantastic LSD screen, but again was slow at shooting in auto focus mode.
We bought the Sony Cybershot DSCW80 7.2MP because the speed of shooting in auto focus mode improved & the close up function was amazing, no need of a close up focus lens. You can walk up to any subject, no mater what size, & take the picture. The camera is also half the width of the Sony DSC-W7 & has an ISO rating of 3200 with face detection. Hopefully the advertised long life NP-BG-1 battery won't be an issue in Eastern Europe & we are thinking of giving the Sony DSC-W7 to our Russian relations if the battery life is as promised. If you had Sony digital cameras before, the Sony DSCW80 functions are similar but are no longer mainly in a top dial, but are instead contained in a "HOME" button. When you want to review, you must go to "HOME" then go to "View Images" rather than turning the dial as in pervious cameras. There is also an image review button by the main dial. Great price for the functions & ease, & the Sony Memory Sticks for this model are twice in memory & half in size & price.
Report from vacation: the battery lasted up to 328 shots, very close to the promised listed spec of 340. Camera was set at 5MP & about 10 to 15 pictures were shot with flash at night. Good thing we bought an extra battery because the USA to European transformer dual pins didn't fit the wall sockets in Ukraine. Got great pictures & am very pleased.
Comment from reading other current reviews: Some users of this camera state that they are getting blurry pictures when taking action shoots. I am not a sports photographer therefore I don't have much need for super fast capture, but out of the 400 pictures from our vacation we maybe got around 30 blurry pictures for 2 main reasons:
1. The camera took great pictures when at full power, it even capture people diving into a lake without a blur, but when the battery got low during some outside night pictures is when we started noticing some problems: the people were frozen by the flash but the background showed movement. I still liked the pictures with the pan effect. The camera was set on "Auto" mode & should of been switch to the "Twilight" mode.
2. Later someone somewhere switched the camera to "Soft Focus" mode & a few pictures lacked detail.
My conclusion is that the camera must be kept at a certain power ratio with the battery. Once the pictures become blurry, change or recharge the battery. Remember I was in Eastern Europe & our battery transformer pins didn't fit the wall sockets so there was no way to recharge the battery each day. I went all the way down in battery power before changing to another battery. Not the best way to go. If at night, change the camera mode to "Twilight" or "High Sensitivity" or put the camera on a tri-pod. Also check the "Soft Focus" switch, it may have been turn on by mistake. |
Awesome camera for the price
|
| Review Date: June 12, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Techie, San Francisco, CA USA |
| I got this camera as a replacement for a Canon Elph 3 mega Pixel from 2004. I was always frustrated by the blurry pictures that I took with the Elph no matter what modes I choose. When it was time to retire the Elph, I went with the Sony based on other Sonys other people have had. I liked the speed of the shots, the Carl Zeiss len, the large display and the compact size. The new generation camera also tell you in English what mode you are in which is helpful for us who just want to take pictures and go. All the shots from the camera have been great even without the anti-blur feature turned on. My prints are clear and sharp. There is also a playback feature in the camera that adds music and transitions. I don't get the 400+ shots per battery charge as stated in the marketing materials but I do use the camera alot to preview what's been taken and to upload shots to my computer. Overall, very happy with this camera and recommend it for the point and shoot guy. |
|
No video reviews found for this product.
