The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W370 has a decent user-friendly design for its compact body, and on top of it the camera comes with imposing 7x zoom lens and it is reasonably priced considering the general specifications of the printer.

Thumbs Down:

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W370 comes with long shutter lag, delivers average low-light photos and some of the components featured in Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W370 are really low end components.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Manufacturer: Sony

Price range: $209.95 – $229.99

Part Number: DSC-W370

Dimensions (H x W x D): 2.2 x 3.9 x 1 inches

Weight: 5.6 oz

Resolution: 14.1 megapixels

Shooting Programs: Snow , Pet , Gourmet , Beach , Landscape , Fireworks , Back light , Soft snap , Twilight mode , Portrait mode , Twilight portrait , High sensitivity and Backlight portrait

Exposure Modes: Automatic and Program

White Balance Presets: Cloudy , Flash , Underwater , Daylight , Fluorescent light, Incandescent , Fluorescent light (warm white) and Fluorescent light (cool white)

Exposure Metering: Spot , Center-weighted and Multi-segment

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

Digital Video Format: MPEG-4

Still Image Format: JPEG

Supported Flash Memory: Memory Stick Duo ,   SD Memory Card and Memory Stick PRO Duo

Flash Modes: Fill-in mode ,   Auto mode ,   Flash OFF mode ,   Slow synchro and Red-eye reduction

Features: Built-in lens shield, AF illuminator, Auto power save , Direct print , DPOF support , Audio recording , Face detection , Built-in speaker , Date/time stamp , Histogram display , Cropping an image , PictBridge support , Exif Print support , Progressive scanning , PRINT Image Matching , USB 2.0 compatibility , In-camera red-eye fix , Digital noise reduction , 720p HD movie recording , Sweep Panorama technology , Self Portrait Auto Shutter , Blink Detection technology , Dynamic Range Optimizer , Smile Detection technology , Intelligent Scene Recognition (iSCN) and Motion Detection Technology

Software: Sony Picture Motion Browser and Drivers & Utilities

Operating System Support: MS Windows Vista, MS Windows 7, Apple Mac OS X 10.4 – 10.6 and MS Windows XP SP3

Cables Included: USB cable , A/V cable

Peripheral Devices: CD-ROM drive and USB port

Included Accessories: Wrist strap

Power Device: Battery charger – External

Supported Battery: Li-ion rechargeable battery (Included)

Razzle Dazzle:

The first appearance of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W370 is pretty pleasing for the all the three colors (green, silver and red) in which the camera is launched. All the three models of the camera have got chrome trim on their top and on right spine. The camera has been kept compact enough to make it get into any pants pocket or in any clutches easily. Though, a little bit of heft is added into the camera by its 7x lens, and hence you always will have the knowledge that you are carrying a camera with you, either in your pocket or in your bag. Though, the overall body of DSC-W370 is rather slippery as it is made up of metal. This is what makes the one handed operation of camera a tad fiddly maneuver.

Inside Dope:

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W370’s has got a pretty imposing specifications-to-cost ratio on surface. The camera comes with a 7x zoom lens having resolution of 14 megapixels, the camera has a 3 inch LCD screen, ropes 720p HD movie capture and facilitating the easy connection of the camera to an HDTV, there is an HDMI output. But what makes this all even more enticing is the price tag around DSC-W370, and you easily can get all these for less than $230. The DSC-W370 actually is an update to 2009′s outstanding W290 camera, but the camera has plenty of resemblance and similarity with 2010’s W350.

We mentioned “imposing specifications-to-cost ratio” term above, because we still haven’t found that whether Sony has done a bit of trimmings and compromises in terms of features and performance, to bring the price down or not. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W370 comes with Sony lens, out of the three lenses we know, starting from highest to lowest; Sony G, Carl Zeiss, and Sony. The Sony lens, used in Cyber-shot DSC-W370 is not very wide, and on top of it, the camera also doesn’t have Sony’s Bionz image processor, which clarifies the sluggish shooting performance and presence of high noise in the pictures taken at higher ISO sensitivities for the camera.

This is the reason why if you are committed to get a Sony Compact then its better to go for W350 rather than W370, at least that’s what we think. But if you are committed on buying a reasonably priced camera with 7x optical zoom and a compact body, then the W370 is a decent choice, but if you making this decision then be prepared for certain sacrifices.

The control panels for W370 are rather simple, with the power button and shutter release button located on the top. The power button here is tad flushed with the surface, but still can be pressed easily, but it can be tricky to allocate the buttons for the first time users. The rest of the controls of the camera are placed on the back of the camera and at the right of the LCD. Though, the LCD is decently bright, but not bright enough to be used in bright sunny conditions. Located at the top of the camera is a zoom rocker of the camera and located underneath it is the shooting mode dial.

The rest of the tasks of the camera are handled by Playback, Menu, Delete button and a rounded directional pad. On a whole the controls and control panel is rather simpler and user friendly, so even if you are a novice user you wont have any problem in navigating through the camera.

Nitty Gritty:

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W370 is pretty decent camera with a long lens and reasonable price tag. Though, the long lens, poor low-light photo quality and shutter lag stops it from being a high-end camera.

Very good low-light picture quality; various fun features; lightweight and compact design; fast shooting performance than its competitors

Thumbs Down:

Limited manual controls; soft videos and still pictures

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V is a 10.2-megapixel digital camera. It has 10,200,000 pixels Exmor R CMOS optical sensor. It features BIONZ image processor, 2x digital zoom, frame movie shooting mode, Unsharp masking special effect, Steady Shot Optical image stabilizer, and face detection. It has 45MB internal memory and its memory expansion slot accepts SD/SDHC Memory Cards, Memory Stick Duo, and Memory Stick Pro Duo cards.

The light sensitivity levels are ISO Auto, ISO 3200, ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, and ISO 125. The shooting programs are Panorama, Handheld twilight, Pet, Gourmet, Sports, Fireworks, Beach, Landscape, Soft snap, Twilight portrait, Twilight, High sensitivity, Program and easy. The maximum shutter speed is 1/1600 second and minimum is 30sec.

The exposure compensation is ±2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps. The exposure modes are Program and Automatic, while the exposure metering is of three types: Multi-segment, Spot, and Center-weighted. The DSC-HX5V has three types of white-balance: Presets, Automatic, and Custom. Its presets are Fluorescent light (warm white), Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (daylight), Incandescent, Daylight, Cloudy, and Flash.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V supports JPEG still image format and video formats of MPEG4 and AVCHD. The video capture resolutions are AVCHD 1920×1080, AVCHD 1440×1080, MPEG-4 1440×1080, MPEG-4 1280×720, and MPEG-4 640×480. While, the image storage resolution options are JPEG 3648×2736, JPEG 2592×1944, JPEG 2048×1536, JPEG 640×480, JPEG 1920×1080, and JPEG 3648×2056.

The inbuilt flash features 10-inch to 25ft. flash range and AF illuminator. The flash modes are Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode, and Auto mode. The aspherical lens has 4.25-42.5mm focal length with F/3.5-5.5 that features 10x optical zoom. The digital camera has inbuilt lens shield and stereo microphone.

The 3-inches LCD display has a format of 230,400 pixels. The connector set includes 1×USB, 1×Composite video/audio output, 1×Component video output, and 1×HDMI output. The supported operating systems are Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 and Apple Mac OS X 10.4-10.6.

Accessories supplied inside the box are an A/V cable, one USB cable, HDMI adapter, wrist strap, user manual, battery, power charger, and drivers & software disc. Sony provides one year limited warranty with the Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V camera.

Razzle Dazzle:

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V has black box shape with a bit cylindrical grip on the right side. You can rest the thumb and fingertips on the back. The digital camera is 4.1 inches wide, 2.3 inches tall and 1.1 inches deep. It weighs 7.1 ounces with media and battery.

Inside Dope:

Again, Sony has used its G-lens, Bionz image processor, and backside illuminated Exmor R sensor in the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V for trying to find a solution for low-light quality and shooting performance. As a result, the Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V has fast shooting performance and nice picture quality with various fun features. It costs $349.99 and looks like larger version of the Sony WX1. It has a lightweight and compact design as compared to its competitors. Its advanced highlights are wide-angle lens, inbuilt GPS receiver, and compass. On the downside, the videos and still pictures appeared soft. The digital camera has limited number of manual controls. Still, the Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V remains an excellent mega-zoom compact camera.

The controls of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V are straightforward and remain easy to use even for a first time user. The turn on/off burst shooting switch, power button, zoom ring, shutter release, and the mode dial are located on the top. The power and burst buttons are flush inside the surface, which makes it a bit difficult to find the correct button. The stereo microphone openings are located at the left side on the top. We are disappointed that the silver highlights around the flash can be easily blocked by finger while shooting.

The 3-inch LCD display is located on the back and other controls are located on its right side. You will find the Playback button, directional pad with center select button, Delete and Menu buttons below the movie record button. The directional pad can be used for menu navigation; adjusting display information and brightness; changing flash settings; and turning on time-activated & smile shutter options.

The Menu displays mode specific shooting options on the left with a toolbox icon for general settings at the end of each list. The onscreen explanations provide the related information of each option like disabling of face detection while turning on spot meter light. The option for turning on/off the GPS receiver is buried inside the menu options. We are disappointed that the geo-tagging capability is not full featured like that in the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7. However, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V provides more accurate longitude and latitude information than others. It seamlessly adds the GPS information at EXIF data of a picture so that you can use the Picasa or Google Earth on transferring the pictures to your computer.

One of the main highlights of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V is the Transjet. It allows the Wi-Fi file transfer for pictures and videos between the camera and other compatible device. We like that there is no need to make any kind of pairing, but both devices are placed within one inch range. It will also require at least 8GB Memory Stick card that costs $100 per piece. You can buy the Sony USB TransferJet receiver for your laptop by paying additional $150. However, some Sony laptops and desktops are coming with the inbuilt TransferJet receiver.

The battery compartment is located on the bottom and it does not have a locking mechanism. Next to it, you will find the multifunction port for included HDMI dongle, and connecting USB/AV cables. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V has both optical image stabilization and Active option to suppress the shake while moving the camera.

You will get numerous shooting options in the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V. It includes Manual mode to adjust aperture, shutter speed and other for still capture. The Movie mode can record 1080i high-definition video in MPEG4 or AVCHD formats with optical zoom. The Program Auto provides access to metering, focus, white balance, and ISO levels. On the mode dial, you will also find the Intelligent Auto, Easy Mode that turns off all options except basic one, and SCN mode that lets you to select from 11 scenes.

The Intelligent Sweep Panorama mode allows shooting vertical or horizontal panoramas with one-press at the shutter release. It automatically detects the moving objects and faces for avoiding the distortion. The Twilight and Anti Motion Blur modes capture six images continuously and combine them in one picture with better details, lower noise and less blur. The overall results are good until watching the images closely at full size. However, they remain excellent for 8×10 inches or smaller size. The Backlight Compensation HDR mode captures two shots at different exposure for improving the highlight and shadow details.

The Sony Intelligent Auto mode provides better results because it picks one from nine branded scenes as well as turns on image stabilization, dynamic range optimization, and face detection. You can set the iSCN mode to Advanced or Auto, which are separated with different settings. The full-resolution high-speed shooting option has three levels. The Manual mode has two aperture settings each at telephoto and wide ends: f5.5 & f13 for telephoto, f3.5 and f8 for wide end.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V has excellent shooting performance. The time from power on to first shot is 1.8 seconds that is better than 2.1sec for the Fujilim FinePix F70EXR, 2.3sec for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7, 3.2sec for Kodak EasyShare Z950 and 2sec for the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS. For the Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V, the shot-to-shot time is 1.5 seconds without flash. The shutter lag is 0.8 second in dim lighting and 0.4 second in bright condition. The continuous shooting performance for the high-speed burst mode is 10fps, which is better than 2.5sec for the Fujifilm, 2.2sec for Kodak, 1.7sec with the Panasonic and 0.5sec for the Canon model.

The overall photo quality is good for the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V. The pictures looked soft, but not sharp at the lowest ISO 125. The details become a bit mushy due to noise reduction at ISO 400. The noise became more visible up to ISO 3200. The still captures were good for small print and Web usage only. It means that you cannot print the pictures larger than the 13×19 inches even with enough lighting.

It is quite annoying that the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V does not produce the most accurate colors. However, the colors are vibrant and pleasing. The exposure is good, but the highlights tend to blow out. The high-dynamic range can be used for balancing the light and dark areas of the scene while capturing images. The barrel distortion at the widest position of the lens and the pincushion distortion at its longest setting remain in check. The below-average amount of purple fringe is visible in the high-contrast objects. The sharpness remains consistent from edge to edge.

The recorded video looked soft like the still captures. The 60i frame rate provides smooth movement. Overall, the DSC-HX5V cannot replace the high-definition camcorder.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V uses Sony NP-BG lithium ion rechargeable battery that has a life of 310 shots. We do not like that the battery cannot be charged inside the camera. It is quite annoying to remove the battery for charging and plug it again.

Nitty Gritty:

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V remains a worth-considering digital camera if you need excellent shooting performance, and good low-light picture quality. However, its competitors provide more accurate colors and sharper picture quality.

Thumbs Up:

Simple interface, supports SDHC and SD cards, big three inch screen, 26mm-equivalent wide-angle lens, auto shooting mode is reliable.

Thumbs Down:

14-megapixel resolution tag doesn’t do justice to the poor photo quality.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W330 is a 14.1 megapixel camera. ISO options include ISO auto, ISO 3200, ISO 1600, ISO 800, ISO 400, ISO 200, ISO 100, ISO 80. It also has 2x digital zoom, shooting programs include Backlight portrait, Twilight portrait, High sensitivity, Twilight mode, Portrait mode, Back light, Soft snap, Landscape, Gourmet, Beach, Snow.

Maximum shutter speed is 1/1600 seconds, minimum shutter speed is 2 seconds, white balance presets include Fluorescent light (warm white), Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (daylight), Incandescent, Daylight, Cloudy, Flash. Images are stored in JPEG format. Video capture resolution options are 320×240, 640×480. Supported flash memory cards are Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick Duo, SD Memory Card. Flash modes include Red-eye reduction, Flash OFF mode, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode, Auto mode.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W330 has Zoom lens – 4.7 mm – 18.8 mm – F/2.7-5.7, Focal Length is 4.7 mm – 18.8 mm, Focal Length Equivalent to 35mm Camera is 26 – 105 mm, Lens Aperture is F/2.7-5.7, optical zoom is 4x.

Additional features include Intelligent Scene Recognition (iSCN), Motion Detection Technology, Smile Detection technology, Self Portrait Auto Shutter, Dual image stabilization, Digital noise reduction, USB 2.0 compatibility, In-camera red-eye fix, Progressive scanning, PictBridge support, Cropping an image, Built-in speaker, Date/time stamp, Auto power save, Audio recording, Face detection, Direct print, DPOF support. The display of the camera is 3 inches big.’

Connectors on the camera include HDMI output, Component video output, Composite video/audio output, USB. Expansion slots include SD Memory Card and Memory Stick PRO Duo. Sony gives you a one year warranty for this product.

Razzle Dazzle:

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W330 is available in red, blue, black and silver exteriors. It is compact, lightweight and easy to squeeze in handbags or pants pocket. The front of the device has a metal plate which is brushed and thin. It doesn’t have that typical cheap plastic body.

Inside Dope:

When we looked closely at the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W330, we found that the bells and whistles have been cut down to bring down the price to less than $170. Sony’s other offering, W350 priced at $199 and comes with optical image stabilizer. The W330 instead comes with VGA quality movie mode which doesn’t let you use optical zoom. Other turn offs include lower quality noise-reduction, less internal memory, no unsharp masking option in playback, no manual white balance, no autofocus illuminator light, and child and adult priority are detached from the options of face detection. There is no Sweep Panorama mode or any other panorama mode. This product doesn’t have the Bionz engine which might be responsible for the lack of aforementioned features. We would recommend you to go for the W350 which offers a lot more in features and costs only $30 more. The only advantage that the W330 has over the W350 is the bigger screen. However, if you are ok with the lack of options and are just a light user, you can go for the W330.

One thing that we are really glad about Sony cameras is that these devices will now accept both SDHC and SD cards. Battery and slot compartment are locked under a door, you will have to open this a lot for charging the battery. Internal camera memory is just 28 MB but there is a software which lets you upload movies and photos directly to sharing sites when the device is connected to a computer.

Controls on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W330 are straightforward. You get shutter release and power button on the top. These buttons are comfortable to press but you will probably have to look at them while pressing. Rest of the controls are located on the back of the camera next to the LCD. The screen is big but the quality is poor, off-angle viewing could have been better. The zoom rocker is located above the thumb rest and there is a vertical slider on the body’s edge for toggling the movie and photo mode. The directional pad, Delete, Menu and Playback buttons are responsible for other tasks. The directional pad not only navigates through the menus but also changes timer and flash functions, activates smile detection and changes display information. Sony has revamped the menu systems and we welcome the new user-friendly and uncomplicated interface.

W330 is principally an automatic snapshot camera but you do get some control like exposure values, light metering, autofocus points, white balance and ISO adjust. You also get to control Sony’s Dynamic Range Optimization amount to rescue the shadow detail. The Intelligent Auto scene recognition mode gives you good results and you don’t have to make much adjustments. But it still gives you options like setting smile detection sensitivity, burst shooting activation and adjusting exposure. Easy mode will take away all the options, all you get is onscreen text enlargement option and image size (small or large). There are ten shooting options for scene which include Underwater, Pet, Food, and High ISO. There is also a SteadyShot mode but you don’t get mechanical or optical image stabilization. This options will just adjust the shutter speed and ISO sensitivity to make up for the motion blur and camera shake. The movie mode records VGA quality videos and you cannot use the optical zoom for video recording.

W330 is a quick camera but it is better suited for subjects that are stationary. The camera takes 1.8 seconds to wake up and start shooting. Shot-to-shot timings are 2.6 seconds and it goes up by one more second if the flash is turned off. In continuous shooting mode, the speed is 1.1 fps. Shutter lag is 0.7 second in low light and 0.4 second in bright environment. Photo quality is good on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W330 but that depends on how much you expect from a $170 camera. Photo quality below ISO 200 is good but after that the subjects start to get fuzzy, there is lack of definition and detail loss begins to creep in. If you are taking small prints, photos will be good up to ISO 800 but after that, the colors start shifting. Photo quality at ISO 1600 and ISO 3200 is out of question.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W330 has 14 mega pixel lens but large prints don’t have much high quality. The photos on this device are lack in fine detail and are soft. Sony recommends photos prints up to 13×19 inches on the W330.

When it comes to wide-angle lens, the barrel distortion in checked by Sony and we didn’t find any signs of pincushioning at the zoom’s long end. There was a bit of purple fringing but that is not unexpected in camera of such class.

Colors on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W330 are accurate, natural and bright. But the blues look a bit pumped up. Auto white balance and Flash setting looks a bit warm.

Video quality of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W330 is OK, you can use it for Web sharing. Remember, you don’t get to use optical zoom while video recording.

Nitty Gritty:

You save on $30 if you go for the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W330 instead of W350 but we think there is too much to lose. We would recommend you to put that extra money and get the latter camera. The extra investment will pay your rich dividends with better photo quality. W330 has a bigger screen but that is the only advantage it has over the W350.