Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100 Easy Digital Camera Review

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100 has a lot of resolution packed into a compact frame. The 8-megapixel digital camera has automatic and manual controls, along with some nice components, for a decent list price of $349. The W100 also looks much better than its W-series ancestors: Sony redesigned the new models, including the W100, to have a sleeker and skinnier housing.

While its pixel count is extraordinary, its other features aren’t so unheard of. The W100 has a 3x optical zoom lens and a 2.5-inch LCD screen. While the screen is nicely sized, its view isn’t very good because of its poor 115,000-pixel resolution. You can see the individual red, green, and blue dots! Still, there are other viewing options.

The Cyber-shot W-series is marked by its inclusion of optical viewfinders. The Sony W100’s viewfinder is quite small, but still bigger than the ones on the W50 and W30. This digital camera has a built-in flash placed directly above the lens, so pictures will be evenly lit. The flash is fairly powerful for this size of camera; it can reach subjects up to 13 ft 8 inches away.

The flash is even more effective when the ISO is manually adjusted to its highest 1250 setting or the High Sensitivity scene mode is used. The Sony Cyber-shot W100 has a wide 64-1250 range, which is hard to find at this price point. Having higher ISO sensitivities is great on digital cameras, because it allows you to snap shots in relatively low light – without adding the harsh flash to every shot and without blurring the subject. The W100 adds another lucrative feature to up its value: 64 MB of internal memory. This is enough to snap a few shots here and there and perhaps capture a bit of video, but you may want to still invest in a separate memory card.

The Sony W100’s movie mode requires a separate Memory Stick Pro Duo card to record television-quality videos with 640 x 480 pixels at a rate of 30 frames per second. Without the card, the resolution is the same but the video appears choppier because it only records 16.6 frames per second. The movies look good and the audio sounds good, but the picture looked awful in low light.

This Cyber-shot is very easy to use with its automatic functions, six scene modes, and an on-screen guide that explains all the modes and options. Handling is the biggest issue with the W100’s ease of use; it handles like, um, a box. The flat and sleek camera measures 3.7 x 2.4 x 0.98 inches and has small controls. Still, its size makes it all the more portable in a pocket.

Overall, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100 is an exceptional value with its full range of manual and automatic shooting modes, vast amount of internal memory, large LCD screen, long-lasting battery, and 8-megapixel resolution. These features make it easy to overlook the poor screen resolution and small optical viewfinder. This flagship model of Sony’s W-series retails for $349.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100 - THE BOTTOM LINE.... Rating: 324.77

Likes

- Effective built-in flash - 8.1 megapixels - Sleek redesign - Manual controls - Wide ISO range - Decent battery life - Lots of internal memory

Dislikes

- Poor LCD screen resolution - Uncomfortable handling - Slow burst mode - Simplistic software

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W70 Rating:	Canon PowerShot A620 Rating: 319.63	Nikon Coolpix P4 Rating:	Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1 Rating: 300.01	Fujifilm FinePix E900 Rating: 317.30
Better	Better	Better	Better	Better
- Added finger grip makes for better handling - $299 price	- Thicker hand grip is easier to handle - 4x optical zoom lens - LCD monitor folds out and rotates - Produces very realistic colors - High quality images look great - Spot metering linked to AF point - Lots of flash options - Custom self-timer	- 3.5x optical zoom lens - Electronic vibration reduction system - Better 150k pixel LCD resolution - Records 640 x 480 video at 30 frames per second without requiring special media - Red-eye fix technology - Time lapse movie mode - Face priority auto focus mode	- 4x optical zoom lens - Optical image stabilization system - Better LCD screen resolution with 207k pixels - Produced realistic colors - Good pictures in low light - Faster 3 fps burst mode - Records in many ratio formats - Great software program - RAW and TIFF file shooting - Record widescreen movies	- Handling is more comfortable - 4x optical zoom lens - 9 megapixels - High quality images have great color and resolution - Great shots in low light - Shoot RAW files
Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal	Equal
- Sleek W-series design - 3x optical zoom lenses - 2.5-inch LCD screen - 360-shot per charge battery life - Same movie mode - Function guide - Accepts Sony Memory Stick Duo and Duo Pro	- Optical viewfinder included - Priority and Manual modes - No zoom in movie mode	- 8.1 megapixels - 2.5-inch LCD screen with wide view - Aperture priority mode - 640 x 480, 30 fps movie mode	- 8.4 megapixels - 2.5-inch LCD screen - Manual and priority modes available - Metal construction - No optical zoom in movie mode	- Same 115k pixels of LCD resolution
Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse	Worse
- 7.2 megapixels - Off-center flash - Top ISO rating of 1000 - 58 MB internal memory - No manual functionality	- 7.1 megapixels - Not as sleek and modern looking - 2-inch LCD monitor - Optical viewfinder inaccurate and blurry - Short 50-400 ISO range - 16 MB SD card included - $399 list price - LCD solarizes easily - Body is heavy	- No optical viewfinder - 200-shot battery life - No true manual mode - 24 MB of inernal memory - $399 retail price - 50-400 ISO range	- No optical viewfinder - Resolution isn't as effective - Random noise appears in pictures - $599 retail tag - Rickety built-in flash unit - 80-400 ISO range is short	- Chunky, ugly body - Smaller 2-inch LCD screen - Only four scene modes - Top ISO of 800 - No internal memory - Only 16 MB xD-Picture card included - $499 list price