Sony Cyber-shot Digital Camera W350 Review

Sony is a leader in electronics. From computers and TVs, to gaming consoles and car audio, they continuously put out high quality products. You can also add cameras to that list. Today, I am going to talk about the Cyber-shot W350 digital camera.

The W350 has MANY features to make your picture taking as simple as point & shoot, or to be able to fully control exactly how you want your picture to be taken. It has 14.1 megapixels, which allows you to create beautiful prints up to 13x19 inches. One of the favorite features is that it comes equipped with a high-grade Carl Zeiss 26mm equivalent wide angle lens. This allows you to take pictures with amazing detail and to use 4x zoom to get those close-up shots. You can use the Sweep Panorama mode to take stunning wide screen photos. All you have to do is press the shutter button and the camera continuously shoots at a high speed. Then it stitches those images together with automatic position adjustment to create one panoramic image. You can then review it on a large 2.7in LCD screen. It also has a video function, which shoots in 720p high def MPEG4 format. You can record up to 29 minutes in 720p format.

The Optical SteadyShot image stabilization feature is great for those unsteady shots. It has a built in sensor that detects camera shake and automatically compensates to help prevent blur without sacrificing image quality.

The Intelligent Scene Recognition Mode automatically detects nine different types of scenes and selects the appropriate camera settings. The scene selection includes: Backlight, Twilight, Portrait, and Landscape. It also has two modes, Auto and Advanced. In Auto Mode, the camera takes a single shot using the optimal settings. You can use Advanced Mode when there is not enough lighting. It takes one picture with optimal settings, then immediately takes another with a different set of settings. You can than choose which one you like best and discard the other.

Other wonderful features include: face detection technology, motion detection, anti-blink function and Smile Shutter technology. All of these features are automatic, so you can be sure you get the best shot possible. You can also retouch and enhance photos IN camera, so you don't have to wait to get home to use your  photo editing software.

The W350 accepts Memory Stick Duo/Memory Stick PRO Duo/Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo and SD cards to store your pictures on. (Sold separately) It uses a Lithium-ion battery, and comes with its charger. It also comes with PHOTOMUSIC, which lets you add music to your photos for a fun slideshow with visual effects. You can use preloaded music, or music from your computer. This camera comes in 4 colors: black, pink, silver, and blue, for even more personalization.

For more in-depth  information on all of the W350's features, head over to Sony's site. You can also get more info and reviews from Amazon.

My Opinion

I don't know if because this camera was an upgrade from an HP 6mp camera, but I think this camera is awesome! It really does take beautiful pictures. After I uploaded the pictures to my computer to see them, I was a little worried because when I put them to full size, they looked grainy and blurry. But when I got them printed out, all of that was GONE. I have created several 8x10 photos, and the quality is amazing. The pictures are very crisp, no blurriness. The colors are perfect. Compared to pictures I have from my HP camera, the difference is VERY noticeable, in a great way. I like its size. It is thin enough to slide in your jeans back pocket, which makes it very portable. I LOVE how easy it is to switch modes. Just slide a switch to go from photo to panorama to video. It also makes cool sounds for just about everything. You can turn this off, but I like hearing all the little beeps and blips.

There are a few things that I don't really like though. The first is that it takes quite a while to go from picture taking mode, to preview mode. With my HP, it was almost immediate. I could take a picture, and very quickly be able to show it to other people. It takes about 4-5 seconds to be able to get to preview mode with the Sony. Another thing I don't care for is the "pre-flash". This is supposed to reduce red-eye. And while it does work very well, it is difficult to take good pictures of my 3-month-old son. He's got "crazy eyes" in most of them! I'm sure there is a shut-off feature for this, but I haven't looked hard enough for it. Sometimes it is off automatically. I'm guessing it has something to do with the lighting conditions. Even with this, I have taken MANY great pictures of my baby. I like that it comes with a rechargeable battery, but I really wish it was able to use regular batteries. I don't like having to wait for one battery to recharge when I could quickly just throw in some new batteries.

With all that being said, I would definitely recommend this camera. I haven't tinkered around with the advanced settings yet, but having everything on "easy mode" has produced lots of stunning pictures.