Digital Trends

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W200

July 23rd, 2007 | by David Elrich

Testing and Use

Nothing unusual when you press the power button—the camera is ready to go in just over a second. Using the 12MP setting, the camera saves 4000 x 3000 pixel files at only one compression option. I know this is a point-and-shoot digicam but Sony should offer more than one setting, just like Nikon does with its Coolpix cameras including the recently reviewed Nikon CoolPix P5000. This is a shortcut Kodak typically takes; Sony should march to a different, better drum.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the LCD screen for framing images, since it worked nicely indoors and out. A flick of the four-way controller makes it gain up. I purposely shot with the sun shining directly into it and I never had to use the viewfinder. Where the lack of pixels makes its presence felt is during playback. I’d still prefer the better screens from the T series…

Although saving 12MP files, the camera barely labored as I snapped away. If you go into Continuous (or Burst) mode, it will take five shots in a row at 2 frames per second before pausing (with the flash off). After a few seconds, it takes another five-shot burst and so on. This is pretty amazing for a point-and-shoot digicam. The reason behind it is the Bionz processor first used in Sony’s alpha D-SLR. Overall I found the camera to be very responsive with good shot-to-shot times and very little shutter lag. When you realize you’re saving 12MP files—and this is basically an aim-and-forget camera—it’s pretty impressive.

Unlike many point-and-shoots, the W200 lets you adjust aperture and shutter speed. Using the four-way controller you have a variety of options and the LCD shows what the image will look like at that shutter speed/aperture. This is very helpful as you tweak the settings. It doesn’t have aperture- or shutter-priority but if you can adjust both, you’ll achieve the same results.

After shooting a variety of images indoors and out, it was time to make some prints. One of the key benefits of 10 and 12MP digicams is the fact you can make huge 13x19 prints or crop the photo and still get a large print (8.5x11). I made many letter-sized full-bleed prints with the full frame and cropped others. Here’s what I saw:

Photos taken in bright sunshine were as accurate as can be. Blue, orange and yellow flowers were spot on. Images of trees against the bright blue sky were also very lifelike with no evidence of purple fringing. Where the camera fell short was shooting indoors in available light at high ISO settings. The W200 hits 6400 but only a D-SLR like the $5,400 Canon EOS-1D Mark III can actually pull off that stunt. Here there was noise galore. The same held true with images shot in Program with the flash turned off. Noise and more noise. When the flash was turned back on, the shots were much better. The little flash did a good job illuminating the various still lifes (pottery, bottles and so on). Other sites have complained about the slow recycle times when shooting with a flash but it’s not as bad as painted. Within two seconds the camera is ready to flash again. Again this is a point-and-shoot 12-megapixel digicam for under $400 USD, not a D-SLR at the twice the price so you shouldn’t expect the sun, moon and stars. Sony could have eliminated some of these noise issues by offering compression-level options. I’m sure if there were a Fine option, many of these noise issues would go away or at least be reduced.

With cropped images, around 50 percent and then blown up to fill an 8.5x11, the prints were acceptable, not something you’d jump up and down to show to friends and family.

This camera has Super SteadyShot, Sony’s name for optical image stabilization, and it did a good job eliminating the jitter from handheld snapshots. It also has DRO (Dynamic Range Optimizer), another trickle-down feature from the alpha D-SLR. Similar to Nikon’s D-Lighting, it helps bring out shadow detail. Unfortunately, you can’t use DRO in post processing as you can with the Nikon P5000.

Image Courtesy of Sony