xavierarmadill's Full Review: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W5 Digital Camera
I have been loyal to Sony Cybershots since my first DSC-P3 and have since had several of them. I purchased the W5 in hope it was better then my previous model, which was better then the model before it.
Well I really like having a 2GB memory stick that holds so many pictures I don't have to ever worry about filling it up. Gives me plenty of time to get around to sorting all my pictures out. Plugging the the USB and having Vista pop open the folder right away is wonderful. I love the ability of this camera acting like a hard drive. I had one non-Sony camera before my interests in Cybershots, and it required me to download the pictures painfully slow using some poor software. The Sony is fast and doesn't need anything special.
Image quality is very nice. Video recording is even better with more options; you can change video size and image quality to better match your memory stick and wants. Sound recording is very high quality too.
the large screen is a great improvement, and is wonderful. I just which the eye hole lined up with the lens better, because it makes the eye hole redundant when the LCD is more accurate. The colors are strong and vivid, and pictures are easy to see.
The menu options are more refined then earlier models, but still there are no new options to speak of. The biggest difference that I notice is that the selection wheel has presets on it, rather then in the menu. I find this a little confusing honestly since I don't use all the features and there are so many.
The zoom is nice, can take many good pictures at events like air shows, and see the action up close. I don't like how you can't zoom real-time in videos.
My biggest complaint and reason I am thinking of not buying Sonys anymore is the decrease in quality. The zoom lens is cheap and loud. Dust builds up inside and now there are spots on all the pictures. Dirt makes its way in the lens and cloggs all the gears so rather then getting a picture, you get a message telling you to "Turn camera off and back on again" to hopefully fix the problem. It doesn't help, and so if turn the camera on five times, once it might not take any pictures. That is annoying since I don't leave the camera on all the time, I try to save battery life. It is always when I need to take a fast picture once in a lifetime the camera locks up.
As for batteries, it is nice using standard batteries since you can get them anywhere and still use your camera. Even in other countries you can get AA's. The rechargeable batteries that came with the camera went bad, and made the camera act funny, so I now only use alkalines.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 40 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W5 Digital camera complete kit + 1 year warranty included BRAND NEW NEVER USED WITH ALL ORIGINAL ACCESSORIES AND BOOKLETS UNUSED -...More at eBay
5.1 MP CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 13 x 17-inch prints 3x optical zoom; 2.5-inch extra-large display Features Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar...More at Amazon Marketplace
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.