Sony Cyber- shot DSC WX1- An agile snapshot camera that shoots reasonably good pictures in the dark without even a flash, but those who expect terrific quality might be disappointed.

Sum n Substance:

Thumbs Up: Impressive design, entertaining utility features, performs well in low illumination and on the whole good performer.

Thumbs Down: Photographs a mix of high, low and mediocre quality which is on the whole averagely impressive.

Inside The Trunk:
Launching Price: $329.00 – $ 349.00
Dimensions (WHD)- 3.6×2 x 0.8 inches
Weight (inclusive of battery and media) – 5.2 ounces
Megapixels- 10
Image sensor type- 1/2.4-inch Exmor
Size: R CMOS LCD size
LCD size -2.7-inch LCD
Resolution/viewfinder- 230K dots/none
Lens (zoom, aperture, focal length) – 5x, f2.4-5.9, 24-120mm (35mm equivalent)
File format (still/video)-JPEG/MPEG-4 (.MP4)
Highest resolution size (still/video)- 3,648×2,736 pixels/1,280×720 at 30fps
Image stabilization type- Optical, digital
Battery type and life – Li-ion rechargeable
Battery Life- 350 shots

The Whiz Kid Speaks: How many cameras have you come across that can shoot well in dim light even without a flash? I haven’t seen many. The Sony Cyber- shot DSC WX1 is one of those that have achieved this to an impressive degree. A novel sensor design, sophisticated lens and a speedy image processor help it do that. You get good snaps fast, but you’d better be complacent with that. Those of you expecting high quality images might be disappointed.

The technological infrastructure of the WXI is simply amazing – so much in such a small and lightweight body. The Exmor R CMOS sensor and G f2.4 wide-angle lens give it the same capabilities as the HX1. The sensor and G lens quality are the same as the dSLR and prosumer camcorder.

The controls are laid on the rear of the camera and are neatly organized. You can hold the camera with a single hand but there’s no chance for pressing buttons or dial mode changers accidentally. The power, shutter release and high speed shooting buttons on top make essential handling rather convenient while shooting. . The power and shutter release button are widely spaced so that you don’t press one accidentally while intending to operate the other. This enhances your ease of switching on the camera with your left hand. However, it makes accidental switch off an easy affair too.

Just press the menu button and you gain access to most controls. You can also see all settings by pressing this single menu key. The WX1 also has the capability to alert you when certain adjustments are not proper. For example, if you wonder why the Face Detection is not functioning, it’ll tell that it’s because Spot Metering was On. This is a very advantageous feature because even a technically non-savvy person can set problems right. Otherwise you’ll have to spend hours in detecting problems. You rarely get to see such a feature in most other cameras.

The WX1 comes with special shooting modes but the shooting features are essentially basic. You don’t have total control over shutter speed. The Movie mode on the dial with optical zoom will help you shoot 720 HD- quality videos. The Program Auto gives ISO control, focus and metering. The SCN gives you a choice for 11 scene types to choose from. Sony’s Intelligent and Easy Auto modes automatically handle most of the operations.

With the Sweeping Panorama you can shoot both flat and upright images with a single press of the shutter release button. In other cameras you’ll find that you need to take a number of shots for these two orientations. The Anti motion Blur and Handheld Twilight modes allow for  elimination of error in shooting by eliminating blurring and motion effects by combining six images. The result will be a sharper and more detailed picture than you’d have otherwise got with a single click. The images are ideal for viewing up to 8 X 10 sq. inches or lesser than that. Bigger images will come with problems in detailing.

The Intelligent Auto’s performance is pretty credible with a selection of 8 scenes, face detection and picture stability. You can set the iSCN to Auto/ Advanced. In the Advanced setting the camera will automatically shoot two instead of one picture in dim settings and select the better one. You can hence expect better quality snap amongst the two. The automatic photo shooting at 0.3 EV , 0.7 EV or 1.0 EV next to your selected exposure gives you a couple of snaps more than what you had actually shot. The camera does not come with a continuous shooting facility.

The photo quality is good till 200 ISO but at 400 ISO or more detailing suffers. You can notice this in highly detailed modes of viewing or when the image is cropped. The color for 8X10 inches and smaller images is perfect at ISO 1800, but ISO3200 images look faded. The images are sharp at the centre while they fade away towards the ends. Chromatic deviation is not observed much. On the whole the color, the white balance and exposure all seem to be good for the WX1.

Nitty Gritty: The Sony Cyber- shot DSC WX1 is essentially a point and shoot camera. I specifically like its ability to shoot good pictures without a flash even under insufficient lighting features and also its adjustment alerting property which make it one of the special cameras of its genre.

Popularity: 14% [?]