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Price: £250
It's relatively expensive, but you get what you pay for, for sure! You won't regret splashing out on this model!
Camera Spec:
» 7.2 effective megapixels
» Carl Zeiss lens
» Real Imaging Processor
» Fast operation
» Direct Print (via PictBridge)
» Super long battery life
» Scene & burst modes
» Optical viewfinder
» NiMH rechargeable batteries
» Manual modes
» A/V out
» Compact metal body
Click here for the camera loadout and tech specs (recomended)
--// The Review \\--
I've had my Sony DSC-W7 a little over a year now, and although I no longer use it, only for video recording (I now have a DSLR) It served me incredibly well in the eleven months I used actively.
I am going to keep this review as short as possible and thus won't go into any great depth on any particular feature.
Image quality & printing - 7.2 Mega pixels is huge. More than I ever needed to use with this camera. I regularly shot on the 3 and 5 MP settings for two reasons.
1. File size - If you make a point of consistently shooting at the highest image quality and resolution settings, you will find that both your memory stick and your computers hard drive will fill up incredibly fast.
2. 3-5 Mega pixels is fine - If you're printing on A3... you may want to shoot at 7MP, otherwise, the 3 and 5 settings give you outstanding quality.
Colour, contrast, picture quality and sharpness are all the best I have seen on any camera I've worked with. This camera outputs amazing quality and colour variation/ range even set at 1 Mega pixel. The colour range in this camera is something I really would like to emphasize. It's great! It really brings your photos to life. You can tweak the
Modes - I would say, use the program mode... NEVER use the Automatic mode. Your pictures become dull and lifeless, this isn't the case with JUST this camera, it's the case with all cameras which have an automatic mode. Automatic isn't as flexible as you think, and it won't expose every scene you intend to photograph with the best degree of accuracy, so be warned.
The P - Program mode, offers some pretty self-explanatory options that even the basic user can understand, which is why I suggest using it. I used it ALL the time I wasn't using the Manual mode. Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation all have 3 levels - ~ + so obviously + will give you added sharpness, saturation or contrast where as - will give you less and ~ is the norm.
Usability & functionally - The Sony DSC-W7 is really easy to use. The controls might take a bit of learning, but all the relevant options will be easy to learn and get the hang of. Turning the camera on takes no time... press the power button at the top, and you can be ready to take photos almost immediately. Options like, image size, flash strength and histogram... resolution and are all buttons on the exterior of the camera
Lighting & flash - The camera incorporates a handy red eye reduction which is, or can be, a little tiresome to get through (you have to scroll through the whole menu to get to it), but what is does is fire of several minor flashes before it takes the final photo with a more powerful flash. Again, you have the power to control the strength of the flash with the standard - ~ + options... and like I've said before, - being the least powerful while + is the most, and ~ in the middle. Red eye is virtually non-existent with this camera.
I regularly took test shots, using the flash, of people in low-light environments and with the exception of the odd shot; I never got any red eye. Photo editing programs (even the basic ones) offer red eye reduction tools, but there should be no need for them really, with a red eye reduction.
Video and quality - Yes, this camera has video capabilities... although not great ones. If you're looking to get this camera with the idea that the video on it will be your primary video camera, don't! For one, the video resolution will only go up to 640 x 480, and that is huge! 256 Mb = 2 minutes and 32 seconds worth of recording. It's large and the raw video footage (especially at 320 x 240) is crap! Edited and then optimized for the web, or whatever it is you are optimizing it for... maybe space on your hard drive, the quality gets worse. The video is a little disappointing because on the camera, when you play it back it seems like a high-definition video, and you get all excited... but that's just not the case.
Overall rating - Out of 10, I would give this camera an 8/10. The fact that you can't just use any memory card in it (only special Sony ones may be used) is a downside, and the video is a little disappointing (quality and size-wise). The M (manual mode) on the camera is a little restricting at times since it doesn't allow you true full control over the aperture and shutter speed.
However, those things set aside, this camera is absolutely great, with the saturation turned to + on P (program mode) you'll get some truly stunning photos with awesome colour variation at stunning size and resolution, fast. |
