If you are a photo-purist, you will not like this camera. It does not take RAW images; there are no manual exposure controls (other than the ISO setting); and it lacks both a manual focus ring and the ability to switch-out $1,500 lenses. Add to this the fact that the camera applies a degree of in-camera processing to every shot taken and you pixel-peeping people will be outraged at the result when your images are blown-up to the football-field proportions that 18.2 megapixels affords. Maybe a D3 is the camera you need after all? Similarly, you geeky folks that wax lyrical of bells and whistles will be disappointed to learn that this camera does not do wi-fi, does not contain a GPS and, so far, I have not discovered any way to use it for sending text messages.If, on the other hand, like me, you accept up-front that the WX150 purports to be nothing more than a darn good 'point and shoot' camera, you will not be disappointed. The stats are there for all to see and, in the two weeks I have owned and used this camera, I have been more than happy with the performance. What is not there to see so obviously on amazon.com is that this camera feels sturdy and well-built, yet is small enough to fit into a cigarette packet. Battery life is excellent (250+ photos per charge, even with the $5.00 look-alike batteries); there is no (yes zero!) noticeable shutter-lag when not using the flash; and it is blazingly fast (getting from switch-on to 'ready' probably takes less than 2 seconds and when zooming/focusing it is almost instantaneous, rivaling DSLR's).
Having switched off the battery-saving 'eco' option (which, in the default mode, annoyingly shuts-down the camera after one minute if no settings are changed) I have absolutely nothing negative to say about the WX150 at this stage. I will be back to update this review if I am subsequently disappointed by some as-yet-undiscovered weakness.
July 25, 2012 Update
Looking at all the other reviews here, it seems I was wise to wait (as I did) several months for this camera to become available in the USA. I have now been using the WX150 for a further eight weeks and its performance as a truly 'pocket-sized' point and shoot continues to be hugely impressive. It could never compete with a mid/high-end DSLR, but I defy any DSLR user to find a better 'pocket alternative' at present.
In addition to the 'core' camera features, I have recently been enjoying some new perspectives using the (pretty much 1-click) artistic settings. Initially, I thought I would have no use for these 'novelty' features, but the Watercolor and Line Drawing in-camera processing effects are producing some interesting and worthwhile shots. Neither did I anticipate using the video recording option, but I discovered that, (even at the lo-res MP4 setting), this camera takes high quality video indoors in ambient lighting conditions. The hi-res video consumes a lot of memory (of course), but the quality of both picture and audio are absolutely remarkable for a camera of this size ... now you'll have to buy a 55 inch TV from Amazon.com, just to see what I mean ;-)
I would advise buyers to also get an external battery charger and an additional battery. The USB charging connection can be very convenient, but so too is being able to swap-out a battery and carry on shooting while the original recharges. The Wasabi batteries are working just fine for me. Wasabi Power Battery and Charger Kit for Sony NP-BN1 and Cyber-shot DSC-T99, DSC-T110, DSC-TX5, DSC-TX7, DSC-TX9, DSC-TX10, DSC-TX20, DSC-TX55, DSC-TX66, DSC-TX100V, DSC-TX200V, DSC-W310, DSC-W320, DSC-W330, DSC-W350, DSC-W360, DSC-W380, DSC-W390, DSC-W...I would also strongly recommend installing a 16GB/32GB Class 10 SDHC, or better, memory card (to get the high-end performance from this camera, you cannot shackle it with a low-end memory card).
We can expect broken battery/utility doors, damaged connectors and the occasional 'lemon' failure on miniature cameras such as this only time will tell us whether these and other reliability features are any better or worse for this camera than they are for its peers. So far, so good, it seems.
A photographer friend asked me the other day, "What would be the one thing you would like to improve on the WX150". He forced me to answer. After a few moments thought I replied that the one thing that I would personally like would be for the camera to provide a menu option to capture a RAW image in addition to the processed image. Don't get me wrong ... the image processor in this camera is astonishingly intelligent, but on the odd shot (less than one percent of the total) I would like to try my luck with some manual post-processing. This, despite what I said above I guess there's still some geek in me after all :-)
Mostly though, I am just loving the convenience of my WX150. You can pull this little camera out and be clicking away confidently in a couple of seconds. It is a joy to use and the resulting photographs can be posted, printed (to at least 8x10), or displayed anywhere SOOC (straight out of the camera).
November 20, 2012 Update
A couple of quick notes to add my latest experiences ... Some may find this useful.
On the negative side despite keeping my WX150 protected at all times when not in use, a fleck of dust somehow became apparent on one of my lens elements, causing a slight shadow in the corner of photos taken at the mid-zoom range. On the positive side (and quite different to my lens problem experiences with Canon and Olympus in recent years) Sony respected the warranty. The repair center cleaned and returned my camera within two weeks without charge. We all hope we do not have to return stuff under warranty, but when we do we expect to be treated like a valued customer, so this was a BIG plus for me.
Also, I've changed my mind about what I would wish for (If I could have Sony improve one thing on this camera). I would ask for a more scratch-resistant display screen. Because it stands slightly proud of the casing, protective adhesive covers are pretty much useless (they quickly peel at the corners), consequently the surface of my display is now covered with small scratches (from general use and from carrying a spare battery around). Although still fine in use, this degrades the appearance of the camera. I fail to understand why it should be so delicate the 3 year-old screen on my Blackberry has received severe abuse (it's even been kicked, spinning across a concrete station platform), but it has barely a mark on it. Alright, the phone sucks, but the screen is robust. Come on Sony you can do better this weakness is causing me to question whether I might invest in a more expensive camera from Sony.
Our old digital camera was fine for throwing in our pocket when we went on trips, but the shutter delay was so horrible that we'd miss fast paced moments or people would get tired of smiling as they hold a pose anxiously waiting for that flash. We had a few trips planned this summer and wanted an upgrade that would take clearer faster pictures generally for photo books and online viewing.
I did TONS of research online and got all tangled up in megapixels and optical zoom and features that I probably would never use anyway. I'm not advanced enough to move up to a SLR camera, but I wanted something that was a step up from the camera I have now. After getting dizzy from all the online reviews I finally just went to some big box stores and played around with the cameras on display. I used them like I would use them on a trip and I even brought along my wife to make sure that she was comfortable using it.
Based on the reviews I was all set to buy a Panasonic Lumix model, but there were too many dials and settings and it wasn't user friendly when actually holding and playing with the camera. I honestly hadn't even seen a review for this Sony WX150 camera, but it was so easy to use and was much smaller than some of the other "travel zoom" cameras. It has three basic modes that you could easily toggle with a button camera, movie and panorama.
Camera is where you spend most of your time and on here 95% of the time we live it on "auto". There are several scenes you can select if you want to optimize something for a specific setting. For example, if you're shooting through glass in low light you can set it to that it doesn't flash. If you're moving around a lot you can set it for extreme anti-blur where it takes like 5 pictures super fast and then puts them all together for a crisp image. Most importantly it's easy to toggle between the settings and you don't have to scroll through countless menu/info screens to find things.
Panorama mode seems awesome when you read about it, but in practice it's been tough to get to actually work out well. The pictures always end up getting cut off pretty short. Maybe they'll look good on the computer when you blow them up, but on the camera screen it's a little disappointing.
I haven't used movie mode yet so I can't speak to that feature.
So this camera doesn't have GPS (which I think is just a battery drain) and it doesn't have wifi (another battery drain) but it has everything else you could probably want for the best of both worlds between point and shoot and travel zoom. Sure you can probably find more zoom or more megapixels, but if you play around with this camera I guarantee you'll appreciate how easy it is to use, how compact and lightweight it is, and how fast and clear it takes pictures.If you're reading this review, chances are you're researching and shopping around for a camera. I did the same thing for over a year (no even kidding). I had my heart set on a Canon because every person at Best Buy pointed me in that direction. Here were my wants:
Long zoom
Light weight and small
Cool color
Easy to use I wanted a point-and-shoot... I wanted to do exactly what it said in the title... point... and shoot. Not point, adjust, move, zoom, adjust, tweak, change color, move a few steps, and finally shoot. No thanks.
I seriously had my heart set on a Canon until I walked into National Camera Exchange in Edina and the sales guy showed me the Canons, said they were great cameras but wait... have you checked out this Sony? Again, I was stubborn but decided to check it out. The guy literally spent a half hour with me trying to sway me away from the Canon and towards the Sony. I'm SO glad he did. Sony has a 10 times zoom the Canon only had a 5 or 8, its much lighter and smaller, so much easier to use, really quick I can point... oh and look at that I can shoot! And it turns out awesome! Have you used panoramic before? It sold me! I just got back from Hawaii (the reason I bought the camera) and it took AMAZING pictures of ocean, beaches, rocks, ohhhh amazing. The picture looked better than it did in real life!
I know the other reviews on here have given the camera a 5 star and I did too but coming from someone who: A. I'm cheap. Spending 250 bucks on anything is a lot to me. B: I used my iPod touch camera for a while... apparently my standards aren't that high. C. I'm stubborn and for a year thought I wanted a Canon. Turns out I didn't. D. I listened to the expert at the store he wasn't a Sony rep, he wasn't on commission he sold me the camera he thought fit me the best and gave me the best 'bang for my buck' as I told him I wanted. Well done, sir, well done.
You won't regret the camera =)Try buying a camera nowadays and you're deluged with choices, which is ultimately a good thing but takes time figuring out which is best for your needs. I wanted a camera that I can tote comfortably in my pocket but didn't want to sacrifice photo quality or capability. Here's a synopsis of what I found and why these didn't not make the cutoff:
Canon S100
only 5x optical zoom, high price, and low battery life (CIPA rated at only 200 photos)
Canon Elph 510
only takes 10 minutes of HD video
Canon SX260 HS
typically has high review ratings however lacks HDR, only takes 15 minutes of HD video, and no in-camera stitching of panorama photos
Nikon S9300
nice feature set but reviewed lower than the competition (CNET, Amazon, PhotographyBlog, and TechRadar)
Panasonic SZ7
compared to the WX150 this has shorter battery life and longer off-to-on-and-shoot time but otherwise was competitive in my search, however, in direct comparison at least one pro review (PCMag) site says WX150 is much sharper
Panasonic ZS20
more than one pro review site indicated strong redeye and limited ability of in-camera adjustment to reduce this; additionally not as good in low light as others. Further when I played with this model in the store the autofocus seemed slow to react
Samsung WB850F
reviewed lower than the competition (Amazon, DigitalCameraInfo, PCMag, PhotographyBlog, and TechRadar)
Sony HX20V
larger than I prefer, otherwise I would have bought this one
After a week of looking at paper stats the Sony WX150 won out so I picked one up at Target for the same price as currently here on Amazon (~ $250). Target only has the silver, although I'd call it gun-metal grey because it's a dark silver. I wanted black but in the back of my mind I thought I'd be returning this for the Sony HX20V. However after several days of practicing with the WX150 I'm going to keep it; plus the "silver" color is growing on me.
As suggested in reviews, the pics are sharp and colors are punchy. No complaints there. My main concern were lack of manual controls, particularly shutter control when taking extreme low-light pics. This baby has a max shutter speed of 4s but control is entirely automatic. I selected the low-light setting in the SCENE controls, mounted on a tripod, and gave it a go. The WX150 did ok but nothing to write home about. If you have specific need for extreme low-light photography you'll want the next class up in P&S cameras with a 30s max shutter speed.
With that said, in conventional low-light settings the WX150 is fantastic! If you want pics that look like what your eyes see then use the auto mode. If you want pics that capture more light than what your eyes can see then use the handheld twilight setting. On this setting I can take pictures in a dark room and the photos look as if the light was turned on. Its pretty amazing.
Low-light video is exceptional as well; the videos you take will be WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). The video does not fall down in low light however it cannot "add" lighting by adjusting shutter speed as in the case of capturing stills.
Pictures taken at the full 10x optical zoom are just as good as with no zoom. The ClearImage zoom goes to 20x and only a really critical eye will see any differences. Beyond that, the digital zoom takes you out to 40x which indeed shows image degradation as expected. Overall, exceptional. Truly exceptional considering it's less than 1 inch thick.
Focus, metering, white balance, ISO, and exposure are individually selectable. A live histogram is displayed. Tracking focus is a usefull feature if you wish to make sure a specific spot is continually in focus.
Panorama capturing is easy as pie. The camera lets you capture in any direction: up, down, left, or right.
Off-to-on is as quick as advertised. Press the on button and you're ready to capture in an instant.
I bought a class10 32GB SDHC card and downloading 100MB videos happens in just seconds.
When I was reading the marketing promo's for this camera I kept seeing it has what Sony calls an Exmor R sensor, which is simply their branding for backlit CMOS sensors. Judging from the low-light capabilities I'd say this technology is more than lip-service. If you are in the market, keep this in mind. Last year's models may be cheaper but those would likely have the older frontlit CCD sensors.
Overall I'm very happy. I won't be trading this for the bulkier Sony HX20V but I don't need anymore capabilities than the WX150 has. They say the best camera is the one you have with you. This thing slips into your pocket with really no more bulk than your phone.I was looking for the following qualities in a travel zoom:
1) At least a 10:1 zoom
2) Good low light performance
3) Lightweight and compact
4) Optical Image stabilization
It performs well in low light. This may have to do with its latest generation CMOS sensor.
It is lightweight at 133 grams most cameras with this much performance weigh in at closer to 180 grams.
The size is nice at 118cc. Other cameras in its class come in at around 190cc.
Things I didn't care about:
1) Movie performance
2) GPS
I spent a couple of days researching cameras that fit my requirements. There are some wonderful camera comparison sites out there (dpreview, for one) that were invaluable in my research.
All in all, I'm very happy with this camera and would buy it again.
My only quibble? I don't care for the charger because it comes with a cord that attaches to the camera in order to charge the battery. I prefer the self contained chargers that you just pop the battery into. For $11 I got the aftermarket charger I wanted along with an extra battery.
About me: I started on film SLRs and had a B&W darkroom. This is my 10th digital camera.
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