Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13087 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Sony
• Model: DSCW130S.CEH
• Released on: 2008-02-25
• Dimensions: .27 pounds
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens
• Large 2.5-inch LCD Display
• BIONZ processor
• Double Anti-blur/Super SteadyShot
• Megapixels: 8.1

Manufacturer's Description

W130 The DSC-W130 Cyber-shot digital camera delivers Smile Shutter technology for automatically capturing smiles as they happen and lets you share them beautifully in HD. You can expect stunning detail, thanks to 8.1 megapixel resolution and a Carl Zeiss® 4x optical zoom lens. Plus, Sony's Face Detection technology controls focus, exposure, and colour on up to eight individual faces, resulting in more accurate, natural skin tones. Whether displayed on the 2.5" LCD screen or your HDTV, the DSC-W130 conveys your vision with precision and style.

8.1 MP Super HAD CCD More megapixels give you more detail and definition when you make big prints or crop in tight on your subject. The advanced Sony Super HAD (Hole Accumulated Diode) CCD design allows more light to pass to each pixel, increasing sensitivity and reducing noise.

Carl Zeiss® 4X Optical Zoom Lens 4X optical zoom brings distant subjects closer to help you capture sharp, detailed long shots and quickly frame images for better composition -- great for family sports, outdoor fun, and travel photos.

Smile Shutter Mode Smile Shutter technology captures smiles the moment they happen - without the need to press the shutter. The mode can be set to capture when your subject laughs, smiles or even grins, and like Face Detection is able to differentiate children and adults to set priority.

Face Detection Face Detection technology automatically controls focus, exposure, colour, and flash to help reveal faces in shadows, make skin tones look more natural, reduce red-eye, and eliminate harsh facial glare, so your photos bring out every expression on every face in every shot. Now with adult or child priority so you can determine who the focal point should be.

In-Camera Retouching Add creative effects to photos after you shoot using any of 9 filters, including a "radial blur" effect and "retro" colour tint and trimming function, as well as a soft edge filter to soften backgrounds, cross filter to place starry "dazzles" at highlight points, partial colour filter to mute surrounding colours, or even a fish-eye filter to create interesting fish-eye lens effects, and unsharp maskunsharp masking to sharpen the image.

2.5" TFT LCD Display The large, bright 2.5" TFT LCD (115K) display makes it easy to compose shots, check results, and read menus in sharp natural colour, even in bright sunlight.

PhotoTV HD PhotoTV HD compatibility allows the camera to be connected to a PhotoTV HDcapable Sony BRAVIA HDTV via the optional HD output adaptor, for highly detailed, high-definition color images displayed in unprecedented realism and full HD quality.

BIONZ BIONZ image processor delivers speed and precision for enhanced image quality.

Dynamic Range Optimizer Powered by the exclusive Sony BIONZ high-speed processing engine, Dynamic Range Optimization preserves image data in bright highlights and reveals more detail in shadows or backlit areas -- for great results even in difficult lighting conditions.

Sony Double Anti-Blur Solution The combination of Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization and high ISO sensitivity helps compensate for shaky hands, minimizes blur, and allow flashfree shooting to preserve the mood.

High Sensitivity (ISO 3200) Mode With high sensitivity of ISO 3200, you can shoot effectively in low light without flash to preserve the mood, while the Sony Clear RAW Noise Reduction system helps suppress the colour noise that can degrade low-light shots.

STAMINA Battery Power Provides extended battery life and shooting capacity when using a fully charged Lithium Ion battery-- enough to cover that long weekend or holiday.

Customer Reviews

It's amazing!
I bought this camera as a starter camera. I was looking for something that wasn't too expensive but was GOOD. I didn't want to have blurry, horrible images. I decided to get this one (Amazon seemed to be the website that had it cheapest that I knew I could trust). I got it today, and I was so happy with it! The picture quality was amazing - I could zoom right in and see dust in fine detail! It's really simple to use too - there are a lot of on-screen instructions. I only needed the instructions booklet to find where the battery went in. Other than that, I just worked it out myself.

The extra features are really cool too. You can add all sorts of effects to your pictures to make them interesting. The anti-shake thing worked even better than I thought it would. To test it, I shook the camera as much as I could whilst taking a shot. I looked at it afterwards and there were no signs of shaking at all!

I could go on for longer, but all you really need to know is that it's a fantastic camera. Five stars!

All that you need in a take it every where ultra compact P&S.
Build Quality is excellent: metal body, firm tactile buttons, no creaks in the casing and battery compartment is extremely secure.

Looks: Bearing the Sony Cyber-Shot name across the front against the brushed allumium is absolutely stunning with the dark metallic trim matching the body of the lens.

Battery life: It is quite good I haven't experienced it dying out in the middle of a day trip or occasion where lots of snaps get taken.

Images: Are as good as you can get in a Point and Shoot of this size. Extremely sharp n clear in daylight & darkness and the 4x optical zoom is great. Auto-focus and smile detection are useful for snapping the kids.

Ease of Use: Takes a bit of getting use to as I'm more used to big cameras, this is a solid compact camera with smaller buttons (easily fits in your jeans ((who's Jean? lol)) front pocket or a lady's purse) and the zoom is a tiny toggle button on the back instead of on top. Menus are easy to get round though....

Other accessories to buy are the Lowepro Rezo 15 case, screen protectors (helps reduce glare in high sunlight), at least 2GB produo memory cards and micromate MSPD card reader for convenience of avoiding cables. All available cheaply on Amazon.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Really Excellent All-Rounder
The Sony W130 looks and feels more expensive that it is with its all metal case and sleek, uncluttered good looks. It may not be the easiest camera to get to grips with and there are certainly easier cameras to use, but it makes up for this with some of the features on offer.

Key amongst the features that differentiate this from most of the competition is the optical viewfinder. This I think is far more intuitive to use than the LCD screen on the back. It is very small but helps in bright conditions where the screen can be difficult to see. The W130 also has image stabilisation, which really helps to keep the image sharper in low light conditions.

The image may not be best-in-class but it has to be close, only really suffering when images are blown up above A4. It also yields better results than most at higher ISO settings and used at a concert the quality of the images taken at 1600ASA are excellent.

The internal memory won't get you very far (about 4 photographs) and you'll need to buy one of Sony's proprietary memory sticks for storage, these used to be over priced but are now relatively inexpensive.

The x4 zoom lens is another excellent feature and sets this camera apart from the majority with a x3 zoom. This takes the Sony lens from 32mm-128mm, a wider angle than just about any similar camera but this doesn't get you any closer to the action than the average zoom lens. If you need a compact camera with a longer zoom I'd be inclined to look at the Panasonic LZ8.

I recommend that you order a case, like just about every camera in this bracket; the W130 doesn't come with one. I ordered the Sony soft case and this (as you would expect) fits the camera just fine and affords it some protection from the elements.

In conclusion, a very good camera for the price, very possibly the best, compact and well made with good picture quality, movie mode, and crucially an optical viewfinder. Well suited to point-and-click applications and for use in low light conditions.