Nikon Leica Carl Zeiss Cameras and Video

Review by Petra:

I am no expert when it comes to photography but enjoy taking good pictures of my family and friends. I have kids in sports and I like to take my own pictures for picture giving. I read many reviews (for hours) on various cameras and endet up with this one here. I first was going to get the DSC-H50 (one step up from the DSC-H20). When I went to the store to buy it, however, it was to large for my taste. It was to big to fit in a pants pocket and even for my small purse it was quite large. Here are the main reasons why this camera is awesome!

This camera here is not as compact as your typical slim camera (due to the 10x zoom), but it is small enough to fit in a purse or even a jacket/pants pocket if need be.

This camera has a burst mode so you can hold down the shutter and the camera will take numerous pictures, thus making it ideal for action shots. I took it to a Volleyball tournament and got unbelievable shots of my daughter serving and hitting! I cought her in mid air more then a few times…just what I had hoped for. I also took pictures at a track meet and got kids jumping hurdles…the pictures look almost like magazine shots!

This camera is extremely easy to use in the easy and auto adjust mode! It tells you everything on the screen. You can start shooting pretty much right away…it’s that easy! The manual is good to have for reference and questions and if you really want to get to know your camera.

The zoom is great and plenty! I took pictures from the mezzanine onto the Volleyball courts and could get nice close up shots! 10x is plenty for me!

The battery life is also impressive, as long as you keep your screen on a regular bright setting. First I had it set to “bright” and the battery didn’t do well. Then I set it to normal and it lasts a long time. I took about 150 shots and not a single bar was missing from the battery!

It has a rechargebale battery so you don’t have to keep buying regular batteries. Also, it does say that you can get a international charger so the battery charger can be plugged in anywhere in the world. (Still have to get that myself). What a nice option.

The quality of the pictures is also great! I took a team photo and my daughter took it to a practice to show the others. They choose the picture to use in a frame as a gift to the coaches. It turned out so good and all I did was push a button!

When shooting pictures, it has a option for the file size you select. If you know you want to email pictures, or for example if you sell on eBay and want to download pictures onto the ebay site, you select the small file size and shoot pictures that way for working with them online. For pictures that you use for portraits for example, you choose a larger file (pixels I guess), and that way it does not distort the picture when you enlarge it. That is also extremely easy to figure out!

Last but not least…I plugged it into my pc with the supplied USB cord and retrieved the photos the same way I always did in the past. I have not yet added the picture cd that came with it, but my guess is that it will work very good. I also took the 2GB SD card to Wal mart and made nice prints (you have to purchase the pro duo stick seperate…look for the “Sony pro-Duo Stick” cost about -). The 2 GB is plenty for me, I think it holds about 400 pictures).

Great camera…I have not found a flaw yet!

Review by sheeroses:

After much research and trying out a few cameras (Panasonic Zs1 being its main competitor) I am settling for this sony H20. The picture quality in the H20 was just much more clear. The Panasonic Lumix Zs1 had inconsistent performance and I found some pictures to be very grainy and unpleasing. I was lured in by the Panasonic’s wide angle lens and several scene selection modes, but in the end none of those matter if your picture is grainy and not of printable quality. The biggest positive about this camera is its consistently good picture quality and performance. I took this camera with me to Southeast Asia and was able to get good pictures out of a moving car and at all zooms both indoors and outdoors. I was able to get some stunning pics with the lumix but only at times and for each good pic I had about 20 bad ones, and when your traveling or trying to capture a moment you just don’t have time to shoot 20-30 frames to get a good one. For this Sony camera to be truly perfect I really wish it had a wide angle lens, a panoramic assist function (like the Sony HX1 which is much bigger and not much better pic quality but the panoramic function is incredible), a more compact design with a built in lens cap and flash so the cap doesn’t pop off every time you take a picture. I looked and looked for the perfect camera and with those added features this would be it, but for now I will settle for this camera and hopefully sony will add those functions and improve this camera in its next upgrade. If you are looking for a compact travel camera that is several steps up from the normal 3x zoom and takes consistently good crisp pictures in various settings I would recommend this camera. It is not nearly as bulky as DSLRs making it a very easy travel companion, and it takes better pics than the other competing cameras in its range as well as some mega zoom cameras.

UPDATE: November 2009-

Before I left on my trip to Turkey and Europe I ended up purchasing another camera, the Canon Sx10is. This camera was more expensive and bigger both things I was initially trying to fight against, but I am so glad I went for this extra investment because the pictures I have been able to take on my trip (panoramic and regular) have come out absolutely stunning, all on auto setting, and using the panoramic assist function. It is a little bulkier then the sony but it still fits in my purse and the results in the pic quality are incredible.I figure I will probably not come back to these places and get the opportunity to take stunning pics again, so the slightly more money and bulk ended up being no bother when I will have very memorable pictures to look back on my trips. Look for my review and uploaded pics on the canon powershot page. If you can afford it and can take slightly more bulk, this camera ended up being the ultimate winner for me, and was everything I was trying to force the sony to be. I wanted to offer this option to those who are looking for something a little more then the sony has to offer. check out this canon before deciding.

Review by BOGY.:

This camera does take great pictures. These days the cameras are very easy to operate with all of the auto settings and advanced face detection and scene recognition – it’s hard to mess up a shot. This camera is no exception and makes the user feel like a pro when taking pictures. However, here are some things to think about when buying this camera:

1) The controls are on the right rear side of the camera. In particular the W/T buttons and the directional pad/button – the W button is hard to press and the left side of the dpad as well. For some reason they are right up against the right side of the 3″ screen which causes a problem and you have to either reposition your finger or use your nail to press the buttons I mentioned. No, I don’t have large fingers – it is just a design flaw. The buttons are set below the screen – if they were raised there would not be a problem. If you really want to see what I mean look at the pictures here on Amazon and zoom in on the back panel picture. Something I never noticed before but the directional button even has a part of the 3″ LCD frame cut out because it is so close to the button. See for yourself….

2) The video is crisp and clear (720p) but you CAN NOT ZOOM while shooting video. Compared to the T500, T700, T900, T90 ect where you can zoom when recording video. Very disappointing and if someone here mentioned that in their review I wouldn’t have bought the camera – I bet people here don’t even own the damn thing. The steady shot works well too by the way.

3) There is a rattle when you shake the camera. This is apparent only when the camera is turned on so I think it is the lens cover(s) which retract and automatically opens and closes when you turn the camera on. The lens protector is very fragile and when closed you can push it open with your finger unlike the DSC-N1 that I had which was like solid doors covering the lens.

4) This thing is BIG! OK it’s not huge but compared to the W300 It’s thick. I know, it has a 3.0″ screen compared to a 2.7″ screen but it is heavier and thicker than the W300 and the T series but I want to compare apples to apples.

5) Switching from menus and functions is a bit slow. There is definitely a processing delay with video and some pictures that I took too. I wouldn’t begin to throw a number out there (seconds) but it is definitely slower than the W300 for good comparison. Turning the camera on – slight lag – lens pops out – it’s just a lot slower than the N1 and W300.

6) There is NO docking cradle, memory or a case provided with the camera. I like the new battery charger which does not have a power cord but has plugs that flip out so you just plug it into an outlet and walk away – when the indicator light is off you are done charging – really good idea!

7) You need two hands to operate this camera. With the W300 you can work the zoom and shutter button with your right had with ease. Not so with the W290. Watch that left hand too! The RF illumination is located right where you might put your left forefinger. Careful.

The shutter button is on top of the camera along with the power button and a new SMILE button. The smile button will automatically engage the smile detector and will snap a shot automatically when activated. Very cool. However, the button, along with the power button is so small and inset that you really have to wonder if you are pressing it or not. You do feel a click I should say so it isn’t that bad I guess.

Canon – who’s that? I don’t use their products – Sony only baby. This is a great camera but could be better. Like the T700 the T900 came out and fixed a lot of issues. The W300 is a better camera than the W290. I am sure they will come out with a W400? It will be great I am sure! Get this W290 camera for the price and basic functions as a starter camera.

Review by R Lovan:

+This camera takes amazing pictures. Sharp, vivid, crisp, (insert synonyms here).

+Having such a high resolution is nice and the wide angle lens is great. It also has a little extra zoom than other point-and-shoots, which is another great feature. The smile detection feature is fun for about 30 minutes, but ultimately useless. (At least to me….)

+It has tons of little features and settings and even allows for some “editing” on the camera like red-eye removal and such.

-I do wish i could mess with the settings a bit more though. I like to be able to manually set the exposure time and mess with other things as well. These are unaccessible to the user. Regardless, it takes great pictures without me fiddling with things, so perhaps it is best. Though I do wish it had a long exposure setting to take some cool lightning shots or mess with light graffiti, but I think I’ll live.

-Also, you can’t zoom while shooting video. This is a bit of a frustration as well.

+The camera itself is amazingly small for it’s high resolution and hi-def video capabilities.

+Its construction is solid and the black looks pretty slick.

+Great “bang for the buck” camera. Simple enough for the family or girlfriend to use, and enough features and good enough quality for some more creative shots of my own. (and I don’t feel girlie carrying it, though there are other colors if that’s your thing…)

Review by R. Bellamy:

NOTE: IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT PURCHASING THIS PRODUCT, SEE WARNING BELOW!

My wife and I are planning a long vacation trip and needed a compact, but versatile, alternative to a full blown DSLR. I’ve owned this little camera for just 20 hours, but can offer some first impressions. We bought a Canon SX110IS at Christmas for our daughter. Compared to the jewel-like Sony, the Canon’s build quality seems substantially less. However, it has a 10X optical zoom compared to Sony’s 5x, but 9 mega pixel resolution compared to 12.1 on the Sony. I doubt that the image quality difference will be notable, but I will update this when I can make a valid comparison.

One of the main reasons I picked the Sony over the Canon is that it is truly compact. While the Canon is small, the Sony is flat – less than 1″ thick – and hardly shows in a pocket (although I have ordered a case). Comparatively speaking, its LCD screen is huge and bright (but does not swivel like some Canons). BTW, neither camera has a viewfinder, so I am not confident that either will be easy to see in bright sunlight.

This model does NOT employ a touch screen (which I did not value), but the controls (though small) are simple and generally intuitive once you learn Sony’s ops language (different from Canon’s). I will admit, if you happen to be a bit ham-fisted, you may not be willing to struggle with such tiny controls which are suited more to a child’s hand than an adults. Also, because they are so small, the two adjustable dials are hard to read – not so handy when your eyes start to fail as are mine.

The special features (many on this camera) all seem like they may be useful, but the “smile” feature seems a bit useless to me. The facial recognition works great – even when I pointed it at a TV image. It takes longer than I am used to to auto focus (I normally shoot with a Canon full frame 5D that uses focus motors in the lenses – hardly a fair comparison).

Also, if you plan to use this camera to record full 12.1 mega pixel images, you will have to buy plenty of Memory Stick storage, although it will shoot at much lower resolutions, it has limited internal memory. I bought two 16GB Sony brand Pro Duo sticks on eBay for each to be able to do so. BTW, that is much cheaper than Amazon, say. Also, since this camera shoots HD (720P) video in MPEG4 format – one of the features I plan to exploit – you’ll want plenty of extra storage anyhow.

I’ll have to reserve my opinions on picture quality until I can do a real world test, but the images I shot indoors with the built-in flash were crisp and noiseless at 12.1 mega pixels, less so, of course as I tried lower resolutions.

And did I mention that the Sony’s “anodized” blue finish trimmed in “black chrome” is elegant and stunning?

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

Shortly after writing this review, I decided to double-check my “cheap” memory purchase. What I found was disturbing. It is very likely that the Pro Duo memory sticks I bought on eBay are FAKES! I’m telling you this so you won’t make the same mistake I probably did (my Memory Sticks have not yet been delivered). If you will check out this eBay link BEFORE you buy memory for your new camera (or other Sony device), you may be able to save yourself a lot of trouble (and $$$).

http://reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-Sony-Memory-Stick-Pro-Duo-MagicGate-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001236041

Like they say, “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is”. I know better, and now, so do you. I will confirm the results after I have had a chance to try them out. Incidentally, just shot some outside images of our flowering crabapple blossoms. Pictures look great and I could see the LCD in “cloudy bright” afternoon sunlight.

4-28-09

As promised, an update. The Memory Sticks from Hong Kong did indeed turn out to be bogus. They look exactly like Sony products, including the very detailed packaging, but they simply didn’t work. The Sandisk Ultra 4GB version I bought at Staples works great, even when recording “HD fine” video. Playback looks beautiful (considering the source) on the computer, but not nearly as sharp on an HDTV when using the composite cable that came with the camera. I now have no qualms about substituting this for my miniDV camcorder on the next trip, however.

The “smile” function actually works, but I could live without it. The camera makes it really difficult to mess up exposure. I’ve even tried fooling it with extremely harsh back lighting and it still exposed faces properly. 12.1GB images are not as sharp as I’d like when I carefully examine the detail, and there is some noise present. Keep in mind, however, that I typically shoot with a Canon full frame DSLR. I will, however, compare it to a Nikon Coolpix I used a couple of years ago. The Nikon was substantially sharper in similar situations. If the ultimate picture quality is high on your priority list, look at the comparably priced Nikons and Canons. For the features I wanted, this Sony remains the best choice for me. Finally, Sony make two affordable underwater housings for this camera. One for snorkeling and one for diving.

Review by J. Grignon:

I had just purchased the new Canon 880is, ive always owned Canon cameras,

and was not that impressed. My Canon 710 was much better. Anyways, thought I would try this new Sony 290. I am pretty impressed. The few photos I have taken, indoor and outdoor, have been really good. The colors and clarity are nice. Low light were consistently still (not blurred). The 880is blurred in the low light occasionally. The face and smile recognition works very well.

I never write reviews but after all the slamming Sony gets, as far as point and shoot cameras, I felt that this camera is as good or better than the Canon 880is and Im the first to defend Canon.

Review by Busy Executive:

I was looking for a small camera to keep with me when I didn’t want to lug my big and heavy pro grade DSLR, and I’m finding the Sony generally works out for me pretty well. It’s easy-to-use and relatively high performance for a compact point and shoot camera, and it’s capable of producing good images under a wide range of conditions when used properly.

I usually start my camera shopping by paying close attention to the lens, and the Sony comes with a Carl-Zeiss 4x zoom, biased towards the wide-angle end of the spectrum. I generally favor less zoom range if it means getting a higher quality picture, and this is exactly the approach Sony implements. Yes, you can get 5x – even 10x – zooms in camera like these, but in my experience, the sacrifice in image quality isn’t worth it. Sony’s 4x tends to mean I get pretty solid lens performance in a useful zoom range. To be clear, any DSLR with a good quality lens will beat the pants off the small lens on this sort of compact camera, but that’s the nature of the beast…besides, if I’m doing something where absolute best performance is a requirement, I’m carrying my heavy-duty DSLR and lenses that cost ten times what this Sony does – that’s not the mission I have in mind for the Sony anyway.

The 14.1MP sensor seems to be high quality, so long as you’re using the camera in well and evenly lit conditions. Where the camera struggles somewhat is low light (high ISO), or when there is substantial dynamic range (difference between brightest and darkest parts of an image). Under good conditions – bright and evenly lit – the sensor provides excellent detail, certainly way more than adequate for email, web sites or prints up to maybe A3 (13×19 inch) size. Still, under more challenging lighting, the Sony may be a bit disappointing…where a large DSLR can capture details in highlights and shadow, the Sony tends to blow out the highlights or will transform shadows into a sea of black. Again, this is really normal for cameras with small image sensors – the Sony’s performance is very good indeed considering the small form factor and product price point.

The camera’s built-in software is also very good, helping to capture lots of detail even as images are compressed to manageable sized JPG files. In Photoshop, I compared a Sony-compressed image to a similar image taken by a pro grade DSLR, and there are few if any differences due to the image processing. Noise reduction and sharpening is handled well, and there are few digital artifacts visible. This is really the best performance I’ve seen for a camera in this price range.

In terms of construction quality, the camera is solid and seems to be well built. Most of the controls are easy to use, and you don’t get the sense of “fighting” against it. The 2.7″ LCD display is sharp and easy to use, although it can be a bit difficult in bright sunlight or for those like me with aging eyes that struggle with small text on the screen. Performance is generally quick, and you’re not waiting for the camera to figure out what to do next. The camera is small, and one thing that helps me is Sony’s well-designed image stabilization feature. I tend to have a hard time holding small cameras steady, and image stabilization helps me get sharp photos in most conditions.

Sony adds a number of cool features, such as Sweep Panorama, that allows you to take multiple pictures of a scene, and then have them “stitched” together in the camera for a wide panorama view. I have similar software in Photoshop to do this, but it’s cool to see it implemented right in the camera. Sony also provides a workable HDR (High Dynamic Range) capability in the camera, giving you a way to handle certain otherwise difficult scenes. Both of these features make up for camera limitations, such as low dynamic range capabilities of small sensors and the limited zoom range. Sony also makes it easy to upload photos and videos to popular sharing sites, saving you a few steps from doing this on the computer.

The camera can also record HD (720p) video clips up to half an hour long. I rarely use this feature, so other than to say it works, I’ll leave that one to other reviewers.

I considered several other choices from Nikon, Canon, Pentax and even the new Leica X1. I like Nikon because the software and menus are the same as my DSLR (also a Nikon). Canon seemed to produce slightly better image quality. I’ve owned several Pentax point-and-shoot digital cameras and found them rugged and long lasting. And of course, the Leica is in a class by itself in terms of quality. Still, while all of these competitors offered unique advantages, the overall package of price and performance seemed to be best with the Sony – at least today.

Overall, considering the price, I’m happy with the Sony DSC-W350 and would recommend it to anyone wanting a low-cost, easy to use digital camera that gives good quality images under a wide variety of conditions.

Review by A. A. Alasso:

Took a chance on this camera as it was just released by SONY and no reviews were available. But I really like this camera. The pictures are sharp. Color reproduction and exposure is accurate and all of this is done automatically. This camera has 14 mega pixels but I shoot with an aspect ratio of 16 X 9 which uses 10.5 mega pixels. The camera has a panorama feature that with a little practice takes cool panoramas that could definitely come in handy for some landscape shots. This camera has a 26mm wide angle lens with 4X zoom. I love the wide angle which works beautifully with the 16 X 9 aspect ratio. Indoor low light performance has been very good. In bright rooms with the camera on auto flash it often chose not to flash and still the pictures were very good. My other cameras always flash indoors no matter how brightly lit the room was. Indoor shots without a flash create more natural colors. Of course this is probably only possible due to the really good anti shake technology built into the camera. The camera can also shoot hi def movies but I haven’t taken any movies yet. One other thing that I like is that this camera can easily fit into any pocket. It is slim and light.