Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100 Digital Camera Review

Likes

- Well positioned and effective flash - 8 megapixels - Sleeker design than previous W-series cameras - Manual controls - Lots of ISO options - Good battery life - Lots of internal memory

Dislikes

- Poor LCD resolution - Difficult to handle - Awfully slow burst mode - Can’t copy pictures to internal memory from the card - Archaic software

Conclusion
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100 offers manual control, along with automatic, movie, and 6 scene modes, at a decent price of $349. As the flagship of Sony’s W-series of point-and-shoot cameras, the W100 has 8 megapixels on its spacious 1/1.8-inch CCD. This digital camera still fits into the line, though; it keeps the traditional optical viewfinder but adds a 2.5-inch LCD screen onto a sleek body. Previous W-series cameras have been a bit chunky, but the W100 is part of Sony’s redesign. The makeover flattened its surfaces, making the 3.7 x 2.4 x 0.98-inch digital camera more portable. There is a downside to that though: the camera is more difficult to handle. Also complicating the handling are the small buttons, tight zoom switch, and lack of a finger grip. For users who can cramp their hands around the small point-and-shoot model, there are some advantages to the W100. It has a wide ISO range of 64-1250 and a High Sensitivity scene mode that works well in dim lighting. The camera has 64 MB of internal memory, more than most compact digital cameras, and can take up to 360 shots on a single charge of its lithium-ion battery too. Sure, Sony took some shortcuts: its LCD screen has poor resolution, and the Carl Zeiss lens only extends to 3x, which is fast becoming below average. Still, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100 takes great pictures, which users can control automatically or manually, for a fair price of $349.