» Sony Cybershot DSCW150/R 8.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom with Super Steady Shot (Red)

Sony Cybershot DSCW150/R 8.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom with Super Steady Shot (Red) Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Poor picture quality
Comment: Purchased this from Amazon almost a month ago. I used it and compared it to a Nikon 5200 and Canon A610, both of which were 5 megapixel. What is shocking is the low quality of the pictures, which on close examination turn out to contain a high amount of digital noise and other signs of poor image processing. The Nikon has noisy images, but the Sony is noticeably worse than even that. The Canon is phenomenal in that area, with no digital noise and excellent shading in dark areas. The poor picture quality persisted even after setting the Sony's resolution to 5 megapixel (as well as other parameters) to match the other cameras.

Even though the Sony has 8.1 megapixels, I cannot imagine cropping and blowing up a section for printing (which might at times be the whole purpose of taking a high resolution image to begin with).

The camera looks very nice, and is easy to use, but the picture quality is a huge negative. I'm not sure if the firmware is upgradable, but even so, I've never found Sony to be too responsive to releasing upgrades in response to customer complaints.

I tried to like the camera, but unfortunately it's going back to Amazon.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Sony Cybershot
Comment: Excellent product. Takes great pictures no matter what lighting or setting. Perfect for the beginning photographer or the expert!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Easy to use, sleek and functional
Comment: I really like this camera, as I said, it's sleek and functional.
Ease to use as well.. I am very satisfied with this camera for the price and what I got. And it has the perfect size for what I need.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Don't miss those moments
Comment: I bought this camera as a gift for my niece, who was upset that she was missing good photos of her 18 month old son, because her other camera hesitated before capturing the photo. She told me that the Cybershot snaps the photo immediately, and she doesn't miss anything cute that he does! And she loves the red color.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Optical image stablization and 5x zoom make for a nice point and shoot.
Comment: Got this point and shoot for my high school aged daughter who wanted a camera to take pics of friends and places that she's visited. She had been disappointed by other point and shoot cameras that we had tried in the past, because the pictures would always come out blurry - the only way that we could take non-blurry shots was to use the countdown timer to take the shot, so that the act of pressing the shutter release wouldn't cause the camera to move while taking the picture. This is something that she couldn't be bothered to do, so she hated the pictures that she took.

This camera has turned out to be great for her, and she is quite happy with it. She gets lots of candid and posed shots, and almost all are blur-free. The extra zoom range works out well, allowing nicer closeups that you would expect in this class of camera.

Note that my older daughter, who is a camera snob (takes very pretty "artsy" shots) doesn't like this camera, because she feels she doesn't have enough control over her shots - her Canon PowerShot Pro Series S5 IS 8.0MP Digital Camera with 12x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom is the one for her.

Pros:
Optical image stabilization works quite well.
5x Zoom is better than standard for this class.
Face finder and "smile detection" seems like a gimmick but works surprisingly well.
Large screen AND zoom optical viewfinder cover all situations.

Cons:
Sony memory stick means less choices and higher prices, can't as easily find a replacement.
Not taking AA batteries means you should probably get a second rechargeable battery.
Not all that good in lower light without flash - ISO 400 is pretty much the limit.

All-in-all, I'd buy this camera again. I've been quite happy with the value and performance, even when keeping in mind the Cons listed above.

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