Digital Camera News

Sony Launches New W-Series Models with Face Detection

February 27, 2007 – With nearly 70 percent of all photos containing faces, digital camera users are increasingly taking portrait pictures, according to Sony senior product manager Kelly Davis in an interview with DigitalCameraInfo.com. In response to the growing trend, Sony launched their face detection system, to be debuted on their new spring 2007 products at PMA. Sony included face detection on their entry-level models, the new Cyber-shot W200, W90, and W80. The W-models also come with HD viewing capabilities, 9-point auto focus, a Bionz processing engine, and new retouching functions. The Sony W200 will retail for $399 when it debuts in May. The W90 will sell for $299 and W80 for $249, when they hit the market in March.

Gearing their spring product line to the market of repeat camera buyers, according to Davis, Sony incorporated new features and advanced functions from the higher-end cameras on the entry-level line with the new W200, W90, and W80. The new W-series models will include a Bionz processor, a borrowed feature from the Sony Alpha DSLR, along with its Dynamic Range Optimizer.

The 12-megapixel Sony W200, the 8.1-megapixel W90, and the 7.2-megapixel W80 differ only in megapixel count. All new Cyber-shot W-models feature a 3x Carl Zeiss optical zoom lens and 2.5-inch, 115,000 pixel resolution LCD monitor.

Like other models announced today (H9, H7, T100 and T20), the new W-series cameras tote Sony’s new face detection system that can recognize up to eight human faces in a scene. While some other manufacturers’ detection technology can detect up to nine faces in a scene, Sony’s facial recognition adds auto white balance and automatic flash, in addition to auto exposure, unlike its competitors.

The Sony W200, W90, and W80 feature new capabilities for viewing photo slideshows in high definition for 1080i output on HDTVs. The new Cyber-shots also include a 9-point auto focus system, up from 5 points in previous models. Other features include a new cross bar user interface and new built-in editing functions for retouching such as red-eye correction, soft-edge filter, cross filter, partial color filter, and fish-eye filter.

W-Series Key Features:
Face Detection (with auto white balance and auto flash)
Bionz processor (New to Cyber-shot line)
Dynamic Range Optimizer (New to Cyber-shots)
HD Viewing
New 9-point AF
New user interface
New In-camera editing
Double Blur Reduction (Super Steady Shot, High 3200 ISO)