Good compact camera for an awesome price

I was walking through Best Buy when I noticed a special offer on the Sony Cybershot DSC-W80. $179 instead of $279. Now THAT'S a low price, I thought. Especially when you notice the big advertised features: 7.2 Megapixels and a Carl Zeiss lens. I am no professional photographer so I was just looking for a good and easy to use point-and-shoot camera. So after struggling with myself for a while, I bought it and immediately gave it to my wife as a "pre-Christmas" gift. And to make a long story short: We are both VERY pleased with the small Cybershot and the picture it takes.

The technical stuff:

The DSC-W80 is a small (3.56 x 2.31 x 0.88 inch) and lightweight (0.28 lb) compact camera. The CCD sensor can take pictures with a resolution of up to 7.2 megapixels. But Megapixels is not everything in the camera world. If you have a crappy lens, the best CCD sensor will only record crap...in high resolution. Luckily, the DSC-W80 has a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with a focal length of 5.8 - 17.4 mm and a 3x optical zoom. The camera has a 2.5" LCD screen and an optical viewfinder.

Since it's a Sony camera it uses Sony Memory Sticks (Memory Stick DUO, PRO and DUO PRO) only. It would have been nice if Sony would have allowed the use of standard SD-Cards, but that is wishful thinking. Sadly, a Memory Stick is not included with the camera, so you have to rely on the 31 MB size internal memory to take pictures until you buy a Memory Stick.

The battery included is good for about 250 to 300 pictures (up to 320 according to Sony). It does take a little long to charge, but is powerful enough to easily last an entire weekend of picture taking including fiddling with the settings and looking at all the pictures on the screen a million times. If you get in the habit of just putting the battery in the charger in the evening you will probably not be able to get a "battery low" message during the next day... I mean, who takes 300 pictures in one sitting with a point and shoot camera?

Oh, and the camera is available in Black, Silver, Pink and white.


Here is a more exhausting list of technical features and specs:

CCD Image Sensor with 7.2 Megapixels
3x Optical Zoom
35mm Zoom Lens 35 - 105 mm
Focus Range 19.69 in. (w)
Macro Focus Range 1.57 in. to Infinity (w) / 13.78 in. to Infinity (t)
Focal Length 5.8 - 17.4 mm

Video Resolutions 320 x 240 (QVGA) and 640 x 480 (VGA)
Video Speed 30 fps
Video Format MPEG-1

Aperture Range : f8/f14.8 (w/t) - f2.8/f5.2 (w/t)
Shutter Speed : 1 - 1/1600 sec
White Balance Auto : Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Flash
Frames Per Second : 2.8

Storage Media : Memory Stick DUO, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick DUO PRO
Built-in Memory Size : 31 MB

ISO Speeds Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Flash Built-In with : Auto Flash and Red-eye Reduction Flash

Viewfinder : Optical and 2.5 in LCD Panel (115,000 pixel res.)

Interface Type : USB 2.0

Battery Type : Rechargeable Li-Ion Battery
Battery Life : 320 Images

other features :
Self Timer 2 Sec. to 10 Sec.
Built-in Microphone
Built-in Speaker

System Requirements
Operating System Apple Mac OS 9, Apple Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP Home or Pro

Dimensions
Width : 3.56 in.
Depth : 0.88 in.
Height : 2.31 in.
Weight : 0.28 lb.

Included Accessories : Software, USB Cable, Hand Strap, Lithium Battery and Battery Charger


The Handling:

Once you turn on the camera it takes it about one to two seconds to be ready for a shot, which is surprisingly fast. All the buttons and dials are on the right side of the screen (of course the release button is on the top). The buttons are a little small for my taste but still big enough for easy use. Most quick settings are set with the quick dial. Stuff like Night Shot, Auto Shot, Movie Shot and different White Balance shots are adjusted here. If you want to adjust the settings even further, you have to go into the on-screen menu. The zoom button is the only one I wish would respond better. It's one of those see-saw buttons and personally, I like the ones better that are like a ring around the release button that you can turn left or right.

Anyway, the on-screen menu features a nice little help feature that explains every setting when you select it. So this way you can actually navigate through the camera menus pretty quickly without having to consult the manual. The on screen menu is far from intuitive though. The settings are hidden behind two menu buttons (one called "Menu", the other "Home") and personally, I don't understand why. It makes finding the setting you need just too confusing.


Taking pictures:

Well, there is actually not much to say except that it's very, very good. They are crisp with vivid colors very true to the original I have yet to find a picture setting that the camera can't handle. Low light or mid light levels are no problem at all. The flash is powerful enough to brighten up even the lowest light level I had so far. Sony put a feature in that they call "Double Anti-blur technology". No matter what they call it, it does a good job to reduce a shaky camera hand. Another thing I am really surprised of is how fast the camera takes pictures in full-automatic mode. Most cheaper cameras have a slower processor built in that takes a couple of moments to calculate the picture requirements, like flash/no flash, ISO setting, focus and other things. Worst case scenario, all that takes one or two seconds, effectively ruining your chances of taking a fast shot at a moving "target". With this one, I had no problems taking a picture of a fast moving cat in a low-light environment. And if at some point you really need a faster response time, you can just adjust the settings yourself and with the flip of the dial to "P" (Automatic shot with personal adjustments), you should be able to should even really fast moving objects. Keep in mind though that I am comparing this feature to other compact cameras in the same price-range. Obviously, if you take a $500 compact camera or a $1500 SLR, the DSC-W80 will not be
as good in comparison.


Recording Videos:

As with most other digital compact cameras, this one can record videos too. In the 640x480 resolution those videos are actually pretty good. Yeah, of course they are not as good as a real camcorder, but it's enough for a quick video, especially if you don't record fast moving objects and/or just want to put the thing on YouTube or something like that. The camera records in MPEG1 standard, so again, don't expect DVD quality.

Included Software:

Sony has only included the minimum software you need. Basically you get the drivers and software needed to get the pictures off the camera. If you happen to have a Memory Stick reader, you won't even need that, since you can take the pictures off the stick directly. I uninstalled the software right away again.


Things that annoy me:

Not much, but some things could be better:

1. Like I already said, the Zoom button could be better. Especially people with bigger hands might have a problem with using the zoom, especially while keeping the camera fixed on an object.

2. Only Memory Sticks can be used. Again, Sony should abandon their monopoly-thinking and get on board with the fact that people might want to use SD-Cards. Sony already started to accept SD-Card readers in their Computers (for years, those things could only read Memory Sticks, while other computers did have multi-card readers) so why don't do they do the same thing with their cameras?

3. After taking a picture, it doesn't get displayed long on the screen. You have to go into review mode most of the time, especially if you want to show the pictures to others. Luckily, the review-mode is quickly accessed over one button so it's not that big of a deal.

4. No Memory Stick included. If you have the camera on the highest quality setting (7 MP), you will only have enough memory for about 10 to 12 pictures. While that is okay for a quick snapshot in case you want to take one while the Memory Stick is removed, you cannot really do much without buying a Memory Stick right away.


Things I really like:

1. The picture quality. I have to say, I have yet to see a picture that the camera screwed up. If a picture doesn't turn out the way I want it, it's because I either screwed up the settings or I was simply not fast enough.

2. Overall quality. The camera is very well put designed and put together. The casing is brushed aluminum, which gives the camera very sturdy feel and look. The fact that you can choose between four different colors makes it even better. In addition, no button
is loose or wobbly.

3. The display of the camera is very good. Not only will it make taking pictures easier as it's very large and bright, but it also makes finding those shots you don't want easier. No longer will you be looking at a too small screen wondering if the picture you
just took only looks good on the tiny screen. Not that it actually matters nowadays, since Memory Sticks are so cheap that you can easily store hundreds of pictures and can afford storing even the bad shots until you can download them on a computer to take a
closer look.

4. The price. $279 is already a very good price for this one, but $179 is just a bargain for a 7.2 MP camera with a Zeiss lens.

5. Battery life is just awesome. Even though it takes a while to charge the battery (couple of hours) you can easily go with it for a weekend without needing to recharge - on average use.



Overall judgment:

Not much to say except that you can't go wrong with this one. It's a bargain and the pictures it takes are of very high quality. The issues I have with the camera are only minor (see above) and I think everybody that uses the camera for what it's made for, namely point and shoot, will have lots of fun with it, especially with the reduced price. Definitively a recommendation.