Sony Cybershot DSCW80 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot (Silver) by Sony
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Digital camera reviews of Sony Cybershot DSCW80 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot (Silver)
Digital camera Review: 4th digital Camera
Summary: 5 Stars
I was a professional wedding photographer using medium format 120 film cameras. It was a good thing I retired before the digital takeover. The speed of technological improvements both in cameras & computer programs would of broke my bank account. Happily there were & are some good priced consumer digital cameras made for the budget minded.
The 1st digital camera we bought around the turn of the century was the Cannon GS-1 3MP for appox $1000. Even in today standards the camera was easier & faster than the present Sony's because it had an easy set-up & user friendly format. Sadly the camera was dropped while visiting Hearst Castle in August 2004 & stopped working a few weeks later.
After this we decided to buy a semi-professional digital camera & chose the Sony DSC-F826 8MP which has a manual Zeiss 7X zoom lens. The camera is multi functional with infrared night vision & can take after market over head flash units, but it is rather slow in auto focus mode & the format wasn't as easy as the Cannon, too many dials and buttons all over the place. The Sony DSC-F826 takes both CF cards & Sony Memory Sticks. Price was appox $1000 in 2004.
Then my wife needed a smaller digital camera that had to use AA batteries for Eastern European visits so that we could buy batteries anywhere. We bought the Sony Cybershot DSC-W7 7.2MP for appox $400 in 2005. The camera was on sale because most people didn't want an AA battery powered camera. It has a similar format like the Sony DSC-F826 but simplified only because it has less functions. On the back of the camera is a large, bright, & fantastic LSD screen, but again was slow at shooting in auto focus mode.
We bought the Sony Cybershot DSCW80 7.2MP because the speed of shooting in auto focus mode improved & the close up function was amazing, no need of a close up focus lens. You can walk up to any subject, no mater what size, & take the picture. The camera is also half the width of the Sony DSC-W7 & has an ISO rating of 3200 with face detection. Hopefully the advertised long life NP-BG-1 battery won't be an issue in Eastern Europe & we are thinking of giving the Sony DSC-W7 to our Russian relations if the battery life is as promised. If you had Sony digital cameras before, the Sony DSCW80 functions are similar but are no longer mainly in a top dial, but are instead contained in a "HOME" button. When you want to review, you must go to "HOME" then go to "View Images" rather than turning the dial as in pervious cameras. There is also an image review button by the main dial. Great price for the functions & ease, & the Sony Memory Sticks for this model are twice in memory & half in size & price.
Report from vacation: the battery lasted up to 328 shots, very close to the promised listed spec of 340. Camera was set at 5MP & about 10 to 15 pictures were shot with flash at night. Good thing we bought an extra battery because the USA to European transformer dual pins didn't fit the wall sockets in Ukraine. Got great pictures & am very pleased.
Comment from reading other current reviews: Some users of this camera state that they are getting blurry pictures when taking action shoots. I am not a sports photographer therefore I don't have much need for super fast capture, but out of the 400 pictures from our vacation we maybe got around 30 blurry pictures for 2 main reasons:
1. The camera took great pictures when at full power, it even capture people diving into a lake without a blur, but when the battery got low during some outside night pictures is when we started noticing some problems: the people were frozen by the flash but the background showed movement. I still liked the pictures with the pan effect. The camera was set on "Auto" mode & should of been switch to the "Twilight" mode.
2. Later someone somewhere switched the camera to "Soft Focus" mode & a few pictures lacked detail.
My conclusion is that the camera must be kept at a certain power ratio with the battery. Once the pictures become blurry, change or recharge the battery. Remember I was in Eastern Europe & our battery transformer pins didn't fit the wall sockets so there was no way to recharge the battery each day. I went all the way down in battery power before changing to another battery. Not the best way to go. If at night, change the camera mode to "Twilight" or "High Sensitivity" or put the camera on a tri-pod. Also check the "Soft Focus" switch, it may have been turn on by mistake.
Digital camera Review: A Good point 'n Shoot under Bright Light
Summary: 3 Stars
This Digicam is good under bright lights, but when shot in indoor, the image looks dull & grainy. Sony Cybershot DSCW80 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot (Pink)Digital camera Review: A good all-round camera!
Summary: 5 Stars
This camera has a metal body and is well-constructed and solid. It is very easy to use and it can be used in all lighting conditions even if some of the stills in low light are blurry - that's to be expected. The video quality is not the best, but the sound with the video is very good, so it does well for simple video capture. The battery does drain quickly with video use, however that may be typical of all cameras. The video works well enough to capture performances on stage in low lights with stage lighting and the sound quality is more than acceptable.
You can probably get about 1 hour or a little longer on a full battery charge.
Having used Sony lithium batteries for a few years now and sampled AA battery cameras, I could NEVER use any other type of battery system. I LOVE the long length of battery use. This camera captures images quickly, but I do see some recovery time is needed - so there is some lag time. The facial recognition technology works well.
I will add more to this review, but overall this camera has been a very good buy, and after repeated use, still works flawlessly.
This camera and the wonderful free program Picasa 3 from Google are all you need to get started. Next on my list is a longer zoom camera, but this will do for now.
We also have the Sony DSC-W120 with 4x optical zoom and Smile Detection Technology.
Both cameras are fairly comparable with the exception of the zoom length and smile detection.
Digital camera Review: Amazing Capabilities in a Tiny Package!
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't say enough good things about the Sony DSCW80, but I'll mention 10 features that I've been particularly pleased with:
1. In "fine" mode you can snap images that will print with great detail up to 13" x 19".
2. With a 4GB ProDuo card you can shoot almost an hour of very decent video, with sound.
3. The image stabilizer works great.
4. Shutter response is very fast and works particularly well in continuous shooting mode.
5. Auto Exposure Bracketing (which allows you to shoot the same images at three different exposure settings) is a wonderful feature that is usually available only in much more expensive cameras.
6. Battery life is excellent and charging time is reasonable.
7. The mode selector provides brief on-screen explanations as each mode is selected.
8. The camera has a view finder (which is invaluable when the sun is shining on the LCD screen).
9. The camera includes shutter-click and other useful sound effects.
10. The flash is well-synchronized and it can be manually calibrated to provide higher or lower flash intensity - a great feature!
I could be describing a camera that costs $1,000 and weighs 2 pounds, but the DSCW80 offers so much in such a tiny, low-cost package - it's just amazing!
Digital camera Review: An outstanding pocket camera
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Sony DSC-W80 on clearance from Compusa 9 months ago. I had went in hoping to score a Canon SD-1000, but the DSC-W80 was on of the alternates I was considering and the price was right. Right after I bought, I found out my sister in law went into labor and my niece was going to be born that evening. Needless to say the camera got a work out right then. First off, in low light situations, especially without the flash, the images will get really grainy. My understanding is that this is because to make these cameras so small, the photosensor is very small as well, which means it won't work as well in a low light environment, if this concerns you, step up to a slightly large point and shoot digital camera, it won't be pocket sized, but you'll get better low light images.
I was able to get great photo's and videos of my nieces birth with a 1gb memory stick installed, but I did notice the low light issue, again, that's the trade off for a camera this small, so I can live with it. Since then, I carry this camera with me all of the time, and it works great, I can usually get by with charging the battery once a week, and downloading the photos off at the same time. The thing takes outstanding photo's, I use it at the highest resolution for photo's and they are very sharp. When I'm shooting movies, I use standard quality, and get a decent balance between image quality and file size, the built in mike does a remarkable job picking up audio while shooting videos.
Considering this camera was my second choice it has been a welcome surprise that has done a remarkably good job as a constant carry camera. Now I just need a DSLR....