Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-WX1 – A Fast Performer

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Better hardware pays off to give improved image quality, fast and speedy performer.

Thumbs Down:

Nothing in particular.

Inside the Trunk:

A/V cable, USB cord, wrist strap, external battery charger.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

DSC-WX1 is a 10.2 mega pixel camera, light sensitivity options include ISO auto, ISO 3200, ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 160. It has 2x digital zoom,

Shooting programs include Twilight portrait, High sensitivity, Twilight mode, Underwater, Soft snap, Landscape, Fireworks, Gourmet, Beach, Snow, Pet.

Maximum shutter speed is 1/1600 second, minimum shutter speed is 2 seconds.

White Balance Presets include Fluorescent light (warm white), Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (daylight), Incandescent, Underwater, Daylight, Cloudy, Flash.

Videos are stored in MPEG-4 format and images are stored in JPEG format. Video resolution options are MPEG-4 – 640 x 480, MPEG-4 – 1280 x 720.

Image resolution options are JPEG 1920 x 1080, JPEG 3648 x 2056, JPEG 3648 x 2432, JPEG 2048 x 1536, JPEG 2592 x 1944, JPEG 3648 x 2736.

Flash modes include Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode, Auto mode

The camera has Zoom lens – 4.25 mm – 21.25 mm – F/2.4-5.9, which has focal length of 4.25 mm – 21.25 mm. Minimum focus range 2 inches and lens aperture is F/2.4-5.9. It has 5x optical zoom.

Additional features include – DPOF support, face detection, auto power save, built in speaker, PictBridge support, progressive scanning, in-camera red eye fix, digital image rotation, digital noise reduction, RGB primary color filter, blink detection technology, camera orientation detection, automatic display brightness adjustment, direct print, audio recording, date/time stamp, cropping an image, PRINT image matching, touch-screen control, USB 2.0 compatibility, 720p HD movie recording, dynamic range optimizer, sweep panorama technology, smile detection, intelligent scene recognition (iSCN)

The camera has 2.7 inch TFT LCD display. Connectors on the device include Component video output, Composite video/audio output, USB. The device has a card slot for putting in Memory Stick PRO Duo cards.

The device comes with Sony Picture Motion Browser software and drivers & utilities. The camera is powered by li-ion rechargeable battery.

Razzle Dazzle:

We were surprised to find that the body is lightweight and tiny in spite of all the hardware that has gone inside. This looks like a typical compact camera; it is slim, sleek and will easily fit in your pants pocket.

Inside Dope:

You rarely find a compact camera that gives stellar performance in low light conditions. DSC-WX1 is trying to be the first one in this class and it has put high-end lens, fast image processor and new sensor design to do this and we must say that photos under dim light now look better. The faster processor also gives you a speedy camera. This camera has Sony G f2.4 wide-angle lens (which is quite fast) and back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor to give you the same set of capabilities that was the bigger HX1 achieved.

The controls are all located at the back, next to the LCD but this doesn’t make it looked crowded. On the top of the DSC-WX1 there are a couple of buttons like shutter release, a button for high speed shooting and power button. The shutter release and power key are located quite close to each other and we had problems with this. Often we ended up switching off the camera when we were trying to access the shutter button.

For all the settings and the shooting controls there is the menu button. We have known the Sony cameras to warn us in certain situations and we were glad this model too that feature. The camera alerts you that you face detection won’t be available for use when you set the camera to spot meter light. Then again the camera will tell you that face detection will not be used because you have selected spot metering.

You don’t get much of advanced features since this is a compact camera so don’t even expect control over shutter speed or aperture. However around the mode dial there options like movie mode, program auto, white balance, exposure, metering and focus, Sony’s Intelligent Auto. Apart from these there is an easy mode which removes all the settings which might confuse you and gives you a point-and-shoot mode. The SCN has options for 11 scenes which you can select from. Remember that the movie mode can capture videos of 720p with optical zoom.

In the option of sweeping panorama the camera lets you shoot vertical or horizontal panoramas with a single press of the button of shutter release. Apart from that there are Handheld twilight modes and Anti Motion Blur both of which uses the camera to fire six shots and then combine them into a single picture to give you better detail and reduced blur. Pictures aren’t impressive but you won’t notice any problems with the prints as long as you stay at 8×10 or below.

For newbies who don’t want to bother themselves too much with settings there is Sony’s Intelligent Auto which selects for 8 types of scene(iSCN), turns of image stabilization and face detection. The iSCN has options of advanced or auto, in the former, the camera takes 2 shots with settings changed for each so that you have an option of 2 photographs. This camera is not for people who don’t have much patience because it takes a lot of time to store the photos about 2-3 seconds for each picture.

Fortunately the WX1 is quite fast in other departments. It takes just 1.5 seconds to wake up and start shooting and time between shots is 1.7 seconds. If you use flash, it will further increase that to 2.3 seconds. In bright conditions the shutter lag is 0.3 seconds and it is 0.7 seconds for dim lighting.

The photo quality is good as long as you are below ISO 200. After ISO 400 and above there is noise and the poor quality will start showing when you view the photographs at 100%. The quality of the photos is good in the center but at the sides it is softened. White balance, exposure and color are all great from the WX1, the pictures look vibrant, nice and natural.

Nitty Gritty:

We had high expectations from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 because it used lens which are used in dSLRs and sensor that is used in high-end camcorders. We must say that our expectations are fulfilled because the photo quality is better than what average compact cameras offer. We will definitely recommend this one if you are looking for a good compact camera.