Review of Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100 Digital Camera
Sony’s Cyber-Shot range continues to grow, but we are starting to wonder whether it should or not. The W100 looks identical to its W-series predecessors, the W70, W50 and W30 and doesn’t have many extra features on board so we are left wondering exactly why it exists. However, it is a well-built 8-megapixel camera for under £250 so we shouldn’t complain to loudly. Design |
| As we mentioned, the design has remained untouched since the W70, with the ultra slim dimensions of 94x61x25mm and only weighing in at 167g, the W100 looks good enough to show off at those special occasions. It is compact and completely pocket-friendly with its tiny size. The 64mm LCD screen is large enough for comfortable viewing over long periods; however, due to this it seems Sony have had no choice but to sacrifice the control space, making them far too small, even for my small hands they were annoying to use. If the front of the W100 wasn’t smothered in logos, it would look much bettering our opinion. The W100 does have an optical viewfinder, we were happy about this as some new cameras omit them to find that the LCD screen doesn’t work well in certain conditions. You’ll find the W100 has all the usual suspects in terms of connections, including USB, DC Power Input, Composite Audio and Video Outputs. |
| Features |
| Starting with the best features, the W100 is an 8-megapixel camera with a 3x optical backed up by a 2x digizoom, and 64MB of internal memory. As with all Sony digicams, it takes the memory stick duo pro card but you’ll have to fork out a bit extra if you want one. It has a flash range of 0.2-4.3 metres with 4 specialised modes. To save your time, the W100 has a red-eye reduction system which works very well. The large TFT active matrix LCD displays 115,000 pixels, providing a perfect clear performance, rom every angle. We did the daylight tolerance test in very dim conditions and the brightest midday sun and it didn’t falter – very impressive. The W100 also boasts a microphone, self-timer, a choice of exposure metering and more importantly, a choice between manual, programme and automatic exposure modes. The W100 offers a shutter speed range of 1/2000 – 30 seconds. The W100’s sensitivity ranges from 80-800, the featured sensor allowed us to take some good snaps at ISO 80. The lithium-ion battery is conveniently rechargeable and replaceable. You can expect to find a handful of shooting modes and 2 special effects modes. There are also 5 white balance presets, one being automatic for ease of use. The W100 can take still JPEG images and MPEG VX digital video. We found the automatic focus adjustment feature worked very well, with a minimum focus range of 500mm. |
| Performance |
| The best way to describe the W100’s performance is to say that it is a no-nonsense, high-speed, quiet camera that takes average photos once you’ve got past the annoyingly extensive menus. The power-to-shoot time was impressive at 1.5secs and the shot-to-shot time impressed us even more at 1.1secs. The typical shutter-lag time was good even in dim light, we timed a 0.5 typical lag which is real good going. However, haste makes waste on this occasion, as the photos were just not up to scratch. They lacked colour saturation and were quite blurry at ISO 200, at ISO 80 the photos looked much more sharp and clear. Movies looked great though, we shot one in normal VGA mode and another in QVGA and the difference was unbelievable. We found the menus too long, wasting so much of our time. We were constantly asked preferences or questions and trudging though them for ridiculous amounts of time. Once we got past the menu saga we did enjoy using the W100, it was ultimately easy after the initial 30 minutes. |
| What's In The Box? |
| USB cable Av cable Rechargeable battery Wrist strap Camera Owner’s manual |
| Overall Opinion |
| We were reminiscing about the W70 the whole time we had the W100. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100 takes a similar quality photograph, has nearly the same features and looks the same. The massive difference is the huge £100 price difference. It’s simple really; we wouldn’t waste our money on the W100 when we could get the W70 that does the same job for less cash. |
| By Lisa Malyon |
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Pros + Easy to use + Pocket friendly + Fast processor |
Cons - Ridiculously exhaustive menus - Expensive for what it offers |
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Picture Quality 8/10
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Battery Life 8/10
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Setup Simplicity 8/10
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Build Quality 8/10
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Ease of Use 8/10
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Overall Rating 
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By Lisa Malyon
20/7/2006 at 5:11:43pm
20/7/2006 at 5:11:43pm
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