Reviews of the Sony Cybershot DSC W7

Michael Rys reviews the Sony Cybershot DSC W7

“I think that the current crop of 5 to 8 mega-pixel point and shoot cameras such as my Sony DSC-W7 have come into a quality/price range that makes it a good choice to start relearning UW-photography with digital cameras. While they still have some limitations (the Sony only gives you the choice of two aperture settings), the ability to compose your picture through a 2.5in LCD screen, review the pictures under water, and all the other benefits of instant gratifications of digital photography make it bearable. And if I flood it again, the camera is again cheap enough to be self-insured and quickly get a new one. When Ikelite finally announced that is has a housing, I jumped at the opportunity (and expense :-)) to gear up! BTW, I chose the Ikelite housing over the Sony marine pack since the Ikelite housing can be used below 40m (the Sony’s limit) and Ikelite has a very good reputation regarding customer service.

After having done two dives so far with my new camera, I love the ability to see the whole composition in the view finder. The whole package is also quite a bit smaller and lighter than my old Minolta/Hugyfot setup (which I eventually will resurface for those special photo trips), although it is slightly negatively boyant, which I consider to be a good thing. The shutter lag is barely noticeable (although once or twice the fish was quicker :-)) and when the DS-125 flash is firing on time, the color is outstanding. This however brings me to my biggest gripe: The DS-125 is using the manual Ikelite EV-controller (#4100.6) that picks up the camera’s built-in flash and then triggers the DS-125 based on the manually chosen flash intensity setting on the controller. For some reason, I only get about every third picture to trigger the DS-125 on time. I am not yet sure whether it is because the DS-125 triggers too late (although the a bit too slow 1/40s flash sync time of the DSC-W7 should be slow enough), it may not trigger at all, or what the problem could be. Ikelite recommended some settings on the EV which I used with no discernible difference. Next I will increase the DSC-W7’s flash output, hoping that the controller will be more likely to pick up the flash.”

DCRP review the Sony Cybershot DSC W7

” The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W7 is a very capable 7.2 Megapixel camera. It offers very good image quality, robust performance, limited manual controls, support for conversion lenses, excellent battery life, and a nice movie mode.

The DSC-W7 is a fairly compact camera that probably won’t fit in your back pocket, but it’s still small enough to take just about anywhere. The body is made almost entirely of metal, and it feels very solid. The controls are well-placed and it’s easy to operate. The W7 has a redesigned 2.5″ LCD display that’s both easy to see in bright outdoor light as well as dimly lit rooms.

Camera performance is excellent, with a super-fast startup time of just one second, fast focusing times and no shutter lag. The one area in which the W7 lags a bit is in the continuous shooting department. Battery life was well above average, especially if you use high power NiMH rechargeables.

Photo quality is very good for the most part, with saturated and accurate colors and reasonable noise and purple fringing levels. Images were a little soft at times, though that’s a pretty subjective observation. In addition, the night shot was a little soft and noisy, and there was more purple fringing than I would’ve liked to see.

The W7 has a decent selection of features as well. It has full manual control over shutter speed and limited control over aperture and focus. I would like to see less restricted control over aperture, and while Sony’s at it, how about a custom white balance feature? The W7 has quite a few scene modes plus a fully automatic mode for those seeking simplicity. The camera’s movie mode is excellent, though do remember that you’ll need a Memory Stick Pro card in order to take advantage of it.

I have a few other complaints before I end this review. The included 32MB of built-in memory is somewhat of a joke — you must factor the cost of a Memory Stick into the purchase price of the camera! Second, with the exception of that Cyber-shot Life tutorial, the bundled software is pretty bad. And finally, you cannot swap memory cards while the camera is on a tripod.

Overall the W7 gets the thumbs up from this reviewer.

What I liked:

* Very good photo quality (though see issues below)
* Fairly compact metal body
* Huge 2.5″ LCD is usable in bright outdoor light and in low light too
* Robust performance
* AF-assist lamp; good low light focusing
* Excellent movie mode
* Support for conversion lenses and filters
* Great battery life; rechargeable batteries included
* Live histogram in record mode
* USB 2.0 High Speed supported

What I didn’t care for:

* Images a bit soft; some corner blurriness
* Redeye
* Disappointing burst mode
* 32MB of built-in memory is way too little; Memory Sticks cost more than other card formats
* Except for the tutorial, bundled software is lousy
* Can’t swap memory cards while camera is on a tripod

Some other cameras in this class include the Canon PowerShot S70, Casio Exilim EX-P700, Fuji FinePix E550, Kodak EasyShare Z760, Nikon Coolpix 7600 and 7900, Olympus C-7000Z, Pentax Optio 750Z, and the Samsung Digimax V700.”

Sony Cybershot DSC W7 Specifications

Imaging Device: 1/1.8″ 7.2 Megapixel Super HAD CCD
Recording Media: 32MB internal flash memory1, Memory Stick® Media, Memory Stick PRO Media
Lens Construction: 7 Elements in 5 Groups, 3 Aspheric Elements
Zoom: 3X Optical
Smart Zoom® Feature: 0 14.0X (at VGA Resolution)
Digital Zoom: Precision, 0 2.0X Range, 6X Total
Filter Diameter: 30mm, by required VAD-WA adaptor
Focal Length: 7.9 23.7mm
35mm Equivalent: 38 114mm
Auto Focus: 5 Area Multi-Point AF, Center AF, 5-Step Manual
Minimum Focus Distance: 19.7″ (50cm)
Macro Mode: 2 1/4″ (6cm)
Shutter Speed: 1/8 1/2000 sec. (Auto); 2 1/2000 sec (Program Auto); 30 1/1000sec (Manual)
Aperture Range: f2.8 f5.6 (W); f5.2 f10 (T)
Exposure Compensation: +/- 2.0 EV, 1/3 EV Steps
Color LCD: 2.5″ 115K Pixel TFT LCD Screen2
Flash Modes: Auto/Forced On/Forced Off/Slow Synchro
Red-Eye Reduction: On/Off
Flash Effective Range: 11.8 in. 14.75 ft. (0.3 4.5 m)
White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent
Burst Mode: 5 Shot 7MP (JPEG fine), 100 Shot VGA (JPEG std.), 0.9fps
Picture Effects: Sepia, Black & White
ISO: Auto, 100, 200, 400
Scene Modes: Twilight, Twilight portrait, Soft snap, Landscape, Beach, Snow, Candle
Self-Timer: Yes, 10 Seconds
Audio/Video Output: Yes, NTSC/PAL Selectable
Still Image Modes: Normal (JPEG Fine/Standard), Burst, Multi-Burst
MPEG Movie Modes: MPEG VX Fine with Audio (640 x 480 at 30fps), (MPEG VX Fine requires Memory Stick PRO media) MPEG VX Standard with Audio (640 x 480 at 16fps), Video Mail (160 x 112 at 8fps) with Audio
Microphone/Speaker: Yes/Yes
USB Terminal: Yes, Supports USB 2.03
Memory Stick PRO Media Compatibility: Tested to support up to 2GB media capacity4; does not support Access Control security function
Compatible Battery: Alkaline, AA Nickel-Metal Manganese
Supplied Software: Picture Package for Sony v1.6 (Windows), Pixela ImageMixer VCD2 (Macintosh), USB Driver, Cyber-shot Life tutorial (Windows)
OS Compatibility: Microsoft® Windows® 98/98SE/Me/ 2000/XP Home/XP Pro; Macintosh® OS 9.1/9.2/OS X (10.0 - 10.3)
Supplied Accessories: NH-AA-DA Rechargeable AA Batteries, BC-CS2 Battery Charger and Cord, A/V and USB Cables, Wrist Strap, Software CD-ROM
Dimensions: 3 9/16″ x 2 3/8″ x 1 7/16″ (91 x 60 x 37.1mm)