The DSCW1's super-sized 2.5-inch Hybrid LCD Monitor is much larger than the 1.5-inch displays common to other cameras in its class. (See detail)

The 1/1.8-inch Super HAD (Hole Accumulation Diode) CCD allows more light to pass to each pixel, increasing sensitivity and reducing noise, and provides a 5.1-megapixel effective resolution (2592 x 1944). The Real Imaging Processor offers greater clarity and picture quality as well as improved response time and battery life and decreased shutter lag.

Movie Mode
Capture video with audio at 30 frames per second (fps) at VGA size 640 x 480; the included 32 MB memory card will store 87 seconds of vide at this setting. Movie length is only limited by the amount of storage you have on hand. The Video Mail mode captures a smaller movie (160 x 112 pixels) that's more suitable to sending to friends and family via e-mail.

About Multi-Pattern Measuring

Independently light-metering 49 points of the frame, Multi-Pattern measuring establishes the optimum exposure value, even in scenes where pronounced highlight and shadow are not centered in the frame.

• Resolution modes: 2592 x 1944 (5.1MP), 2592 x 1728 (3:2 aspect ratio), 2048 x 1536 (3MP), 1280 x 960 (1MP), and 640 x 480 (VGA)
• 2.5-inch, 123K LCD monitor makes framing shots and reviewing pictures easy.
• Live Histogram Display: Available in capture and playback the Live Histogram displays the concentration of pixels at each luminosity value making it easy to evaluate correct exposure.
• Real Imaging Processor: The innovative Real Imaging Processor in the DSC-P93 not only improves picture quality and clarity but also improves camera response time, decreases shutter lag and improves battery stamina.
• Selectable Focus Mode: Monitoring AF (Auto Focus) helps you anticipate the action by focusing even before you press the shutter release.
• 5 Area Multi-Point Auto Focus: By evaluating 5 separate focus areas of the frame, Sony's Multi-Point AF system can intelligently focus on the subject and avoid mistakenly focusing on the background.
• AF (Auto Focus) Illuminator: Briefly illuminating the subject, in low--or no--light conditions, the AF Illuminator helps establish a positive focus lock.
• Multi-Pattern Measuring: Independently light-metering 49 points of the frame, Multi-Pattern Measuring establishes the optimum exposure, even when highlight and shadow isn't centered in the frame.
• Multi-Burst Mode: Captures 16 320 x 240 frames as part of a single 1280 x 960 image which plays back sequentially in the camera (selectable 1/7.5, 1/15, 1/30 second).
• Manual Exposure Mode: Manual Exposure Mode provides extended control with 46-step adjustable Shutter speed (30 1/1000 sec.), and 2-step Aperture control.
• Scene Selection Mode: With 6 Scene Modes, parameters can be matched to the shooting conditions. Choose from one of the following: Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Landscape, Soft Snap, Candle, or Beach.
• Slow Shutter Noise Reduction: During long exposures, Slow Shutter NR captures the scene, and then the CCD noise pattern with a dark frame exposure. By subtracting the two, even long exposures can be clear.
• Pre-Flash Metering: With a momentary pre-flash, the camera illuminates the subject and sets exposure through the lens for accurate flash metering. Adjustable flash level and red-eye reduction ensure great flash shots.

About Slow Shutter Noise Reduction

This process captures the scene in two exposures. The second subtracts the noise pattern from the initial shot, resulting in a final beautiful photograph that is virtually noise-free.

Direct Printing
The Cyber-shot DSCW1 offers PictBridge functionality, which enables you to transfer pictures from your digital camera to a compatible printer--such as the Sony PictureStation DPP-EX50--without a PC or image-editing software. Images can be viewed and selected for printing right on the camera's LCD, with menus for print quantity, date, and index print.

Storage and Transfer
Images are stored on Memory Sticks, and the Cyber-shot DSCW1 is compatible with Memory Stick Pro media--for storage up to 1 gigabyte. The included 32 MB Memory Stick will store 12 Fine and 23 Standard 5.1-megapixel images. The DSCPW1 transfers images to PCs and Macs via a speedy USB 2.0 connection (which is backward compatible with USB 1.1 ports).

Power and Size
The camera is powered by two rechargeable NiMH AA-sized batteries (2100 mAh). The included adapter/charger provides power while you transfer images from the camera to your PC. It measures 3.56 x 2.38 x 1.25 inches (W x H x D) and weighs 7 ounces without Memory Stick or batteries.

What's in the Box
This package contains the Sony DSCW1 digital camera, 32 MB Memory Stick, two AA-size NiMH rechargeable batteries (NH-AA-DA), battery charger (BC-CS2), A/V and USB cables, wrist strap, and CD-ROM with photo editing software.

Sony Photo Vault
The optional Sony Photo Vault mini CD burner eliminates worry about running out of space on your Memory Stick when travelling. It burns images to mini CD-R's without a PC interface--just connect your camera using a USB cable. The Photo Vault also has a Memory Stick slot (compatible with Memory Stick Pro and Duo) and features a built-in photo album capability to display photos on a television screen using a television's standard AV input.

The camera is light and small. It has plenty of "scene modes" that make it easy for anyone to take a picture. You can also take 640x480 movies with sound for as long as your memory stick pro will hold them. (If you are using a regular memory stick, the time is limited.) The camera is lightning fast, both in startup time and time to store an image after shooting. There is a "burst mode" too that can allow multiple shots to be taken in succession, but it is too buried in the menus to be useful unless you know that good action is coming.

Night photography seems to be working out quite well with this camera. One thing I liked over similar cameras in this category is the 30 second exposure time, which is fairly high. (Many didn't allow anything more than 10 seconds.)

I ditched the included Sony batteries after reading a review somewhere and bought some Powerex 2300 batteries from MahaEnergy. I haven't been able to go through two sets of batteries (the camera takes two AA's.) in a day's time. In fact, one set seems to do just fine almost all of the time.

The Sony supports up to 400 iso, though there is a fair amount of noise at this level. I've been using Neat Image to clean it up though and I have no qualms about shooting at this speed as long as I'm using software to clean it up.

I'm just beginning to learn how to photograph things somewhat well, and I do have a few gripes. Most are very minor, and most would have been solved if I would have saved up the money to buy a digital SLR instead of trying to force this point and shoot to try to be a digital SLR.

First, macro mode doesn't seem to let you get very close. With my friend's Olympus Camedia, I seem to be able to all but rest my lens on the subject. With the DSC-W1, I can't seem to get much closer than 6 inches with it getting too blurry to take a picture. You can get some close shots, but if you are really looking at getting into macro photography, you might want to look at the Olympus, or at other cameras.

Night photographers will find it irritating that there is no sort of remote cable release or remote IR release. You can get around this problem with the self timer if necessary, but some shots you just aren't going to get. There isn't any sort of built-in stabilization either, though I wouldn't expect any on a $400 point and shoot. A tripod is required gear if you are going to take shots in dim light without a flash.

Also, it is worth noting that the camera doesn't have a hot-shoe. You are going to be using the built in flash. The built-in flash seems to be okay, and I'm imagining that the average point-and-shoot photographer won't care.

Overall, I'm really pleased with this camera. If you want to be really get into the technical side of digital cameras, save up and buy a Canon Digital Rebel or some other spiffy SLR. If you want a camera that you'll be happy to put in your pocket and take with you, the Sony is an excellent choice.


Perfect Camera...   January 21, 2005
Sandeep Taneja (NJ, USA)
81 out of 83 found this review helpful

I bought this in Jan 2005 and I love this one. I have done quite some research before I bought this one. Some research sites recomended are
- PC World
- Steves Digital. www.steves-digicams.com
- Imaging- Resource(www.imaging-resource.com). This site has a comparometer by which you can comapare images from 2 cameras side by Side. Although thi site is little biased towards cannon as they did not use the correct settings for sony camera.

But one thing was clear from my research- Cannon Camera are the best in Image quality(I'll give 5 to Cannon on image quality and 4.8 to sony. 4.2 to Kodak, 4 to Nikon. But One ditinct advantage that made my choice to sony was the Spped of the shot. Basically sony cameras take shot between .2 -.3 seconds after the button is pressed and cannon takes 1.1 - 1.3 seconds to take the shot. With my kids it is imposiible to get a posed Picture I want with cannon.

Here are some of the feature comparison between Sony and Cannon(I ignored all others because of image quality)

1. Image quality - Sony 4.8 - Cannon 5.0. although at uptill 8x 10 the quality is same.
2. Image clarity and details - Sony 4.7 - cannon 5.0. Cannon has the lot more details. A picture of grass shows sharp edges of grass in cannon but sony is little blurry. But at 8x10 u don't need that kind of sharpness.
3. Color - Sony w1 4.9. cannon 5.0. again cannon is better but not by far. Sony P93 and P73 are worst in color but W1 does a good job and V1 and T1 are closest to true colors
4. Night shots - Sony 4.9 Cannon - 4.5. Here is the difference. Sony's shots in dark lights are the best.
5. Shot TIme. As I said earlier Sony is the best by 2-3 times better performance than any other camera. Besides startup time on Sony camera is about .3 seconds where as cannon is about 1.7 seconds. This is due to faster processor of Sony.
6. Batery Life - I could take 170+ pictures with sony using LCD and using the review mode Extensively. For cannon I don't have the numbers but I heard it is around 100 pictures(official number is 250 for both). Besides the charger is included in Sony but not in cannon using AA bateris. This saves another 30-40 bucks
7. Price - Both are same with cannons Flashs card being cheaper than sony' memory stick. But amazon.com gives 128 MB stick free which gives you 60 images at 5 MP resolution. Cannon' Battery charger for A85,95 series is going to add 40$ to your price range.
8. Noise reduction - Sony is the best. no comparison in digital processing with any other brand.
9. LCD Size- I've had couple of camcorders and trust me u need a bigger screen like W1 or else u miss details while reviewing, and while on a trip you try to take the best pictures only and delete the others.
10. Appearance and weight. All are same weight (couple of ounces here and there) but Cannon uses 4 AA bateries which makes is little more heaview and the battery torage space required in camera makes it even more bulkier(Bigger size) to carry.
11. Lens extensions. Cannon has better acceries available but I'm not professional either:)

Overall I'll say Sony is the best overall camera. Image quality compared to cannon is not the best but it is not off by far either. But If you don't care about the time taken to get the picture after button is pressed and are very hung on perfect image quality- go for cannon. But within 200-325 Price range , Sony is the best and W1 is the best in that range. It is also voted the best Point and Shoot camera by PC world(PCworld ratings are known to be best in electronics).
Summary
Sony W1 is good at.
1. Faster snap time
2. Best Night shots.
3. Very true colors(4.9 sony W1 and 5.0 to Cannon)
4. Excelent Scene Modes.
5. Decent Manual controls(You don't need them with scenic modes)
6. Very good image quality.
7. Lighter and better Look camera over all.

Cannon is good at.
1. Image quality.
2. Very true colors almost perfect.

Hope this helps


Great 5MP Value   June 30, 2004
Paul J. Howell (Fort Lauderdale, FL USA)
46 out of 47 found this review helpful

This our third digital camera. Our other cameras are from Canon and Nikon. I was leaning toward the new Canon S60 because we love our other Canon and they both would take the same CompactFlash memory cards. This camera was going to be mine and I wanted 5MP so I could do some cropping of pictures and still keep up the quality when printing in 8 X 10 format. The Canon S60 kept being delayed, so I started looking at alternatives.

The DSCW1 seems designed to compete with the Canon S60. Both are 5 MP, both are compact, both have manual modes which allow you to be creative with your pictures. The Sony pulled ahead with its larger LCD display and its ability to use standard AA batteries. The Canon relies on a propriatory lithium-ion rechargable battery. The Sony comes with AA rechargables, but should they go dead at an inopportune moment, you can pop in any AA batteries to keep you going.

I bought the Sony and have had it for almost a month. The batteries don't seem to last quite as long as our Canon, but I picked up a couple of spare rechargables for less than $10 and just alternate them in the charger. The DSCW1 downloads using USB2 so even though each picture is larger than 2MB each, they download FAST. The picture quality has been great. Indoor low light shots have a bit more blur than I would like, but they didn't come out at all with either of our other cameras. Colors are crisp and true and prints from the pictures (on a Canon i470 printer) are excellent.

One word about the included software. Yuck. It is useful for downloading and for doing a quick view of what you took, but beyond that it is very limited.

Overall, I am very happy with my Sony DSCW1.


Good pictures from a palm-sized camera   October 15, 2004
Mark Pontius (Irvine, CA United States)
38 out of 39 found this review helpful

I've had this camera for about 4 months, including one big vacation, and lots of picnics, parties, etc. with my 9 month old son. I've taken about 5,000 photos. I'm very happy with the performance of this camera.

I upgraded from my old Olympus C-700-UZ, as a result of my wife's complaints that it didn't fit in the diaper bag. The Sony is definitely a convienient size.

Negatives:
--Memory Stick: not my favorite media, and not found in anything not made by Sony. For about $50 at Costco, I got a 256MB card which holds 100 pictures. A week later I got a second. My HP printer's built-in card reader won't read the Pro version of the memory stick, which means anything bigger than 64MB. I had to buy yet another card reader.
--Poor flash range. The old Olympus did a better job with the flash at about 10', while the Sony generally comes out a bit dark there.
--Bundeled software. It is darn near useless. It is the only place I can view the 16-frame burst mode pictures.

Positives:
--AA batteris. Not rechargable, but when you can easily get 1000 pictures off one pair of Energizer E2 Photo Lithiums ($5), why bother with a rechargable that runs out after a hundred or so? This is with the screen on all the time, and lots of flash photos. The secret to getting longer battery life: use the card reader to erase the pictures, not the camera (erasing flash memory uses lots of juice).
--5MP sharp pictures. Most pictures are of my son and the things he does, so I probably couldn't tell you if there was any subpixel abberations or thermal noise affects, but my son is pretty darn cute in every picture.
--Good Size. Fits comfortably in the hand. Sony's smaller twin to this just felt too thin to be comfortable.
--Durable. I've thwacked it a couple times and it's shown no problems.
--Video. Nice video capabilities. Does a better job than the Olympus. Will not allow changing zoom during a movie, and sometimes it will hunt around looking for focus at odd times during a recording.
--Cool 16-frame burst mode. Takes 16 smaller pictures (640x480?) in under a second, and puts them together in one frame as a 4x4 array. It can play them back as a movie on the camera or with the bundeled software, but other programs just show the tiled picture.