 VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE: Great Camera! "Attention Buyers and Owners"! |
| Review Date: September 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Nick Bibbo, Denver NY |
UPDATE: I just found out today that a White Balance setting might be the key to this camera for outdoor shots. When setting on "P" mode I found out that switching the White Balance from "Auto" or "Daylight" to "Flash" in improves outdoor photos color, tone, exposure and warmness. I was so amazed in the difference!! See my photos above!
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After 3 weeks of waiting for this camera to be released I now have it in my hands and taken over 500 pictures. Within those photos I have found out the best settings for the right scenes and conditions. With that, I will clear up problems previous owners have had.
First, I'm sure all of you want to know how good the new Exmor R sensor is. It's pretty good, WITH THE RIGHT SETTINGS. I will go into that later.
This camera really has some cool features, Like Sweep Panorama, Smile Shutter, Handheld Twilight and AntiMotion Blur Mode.
The key is setting the camera up for the right scenes, which means not keeping it set on Intelligent Scene Recognition (iSCN) Mode(AKA Auto everything). I find that iSNC mode and easy mode don't work well and as a result people are complaining about the the noise, the low light picture quality and outdoor picture quality.
I'm now going to go though the scenes and the right settings and modes to put the camera on for best results.
For Low Light shots(at widest zoom):
Again iSCN Doesn't work well at all in low light. You have to switch the camera to Handheld Twilight mode and adjust the Exposure Value(EV) from -0.3 to -1.7(this is a very important setting that needs to be set on order to remove the noisyness and grain from the photo, a setting people don't adjust and then complain about how bad the photo looks in low light). You might also want to try different White Balances,setting correctly results in really nice low light shots.
Outdoor shots:
This camera in iSCN mode seems to keep the lens all the way open(F2.4)and it adjusts the shutter speed(a big No No)resulting in washed out over exposed photos(yuck).
The solution: switch to "P" Mode which closes down the lens to around a nice F5.0 to F7.1(much better) and switch the White Balance to "Flash" . Also for better exposure you can again adjust the EV.
Panorama Shots: This one's tricky, from where you press the shutter to start the panorama it locks the exposure at that point. If you start in a dark scene and move across through a bright scene, It's going to be over exposed. Make sure you start in a modernity lit scene and if needed switch EV from -0.3 to -1.0.
Hopefully this information helps and clears up previous reviewers problems with this camera.
Other good things to add: This camera does quite nicely in bright sun light(see my test photos above, however amazon doesn't let you upload them in high quality but you'll get the idea). Takes really nice close up Marco photos. High Definition video is really nice and clear(just remember to adjust the EV in low light 1.0 to 2.0 to remove noise).
Over all a nice Sony camera great size, style and pictures.
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
I should be adding more to this review soon.
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From a Leica M2 to a Sony WX1
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| Review Date: October 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Quick Ben, SF, California |
I'm somewhat puzzled after reading several of the poor reviews for this camera. I've had this camera since the beginning of October, and I've taken a number of shots under various conditions, day and night. In some cases the results, day and night, were outstanding. In other cases they were less so. In no case have I had the problems described by those who have given the camera one, two or even three stars.
Now I suppose that it could simply be the case that my standards are lower than those writing strongly negative reviews. However, while not a "pixel peeper", I do care about the quality of the image. My first camera was a Leica M2 that my grandfather gave to me. What a great camera. I spent a lot of happy days taking pictures with that camera. The prints that I developed were, imho, better than anything I've seen come out of a less than ultra high end DSLR. The Leica M2 was followed by a series of Nikon and Olympus SLR's. I was still shooting film when the digital age rolled around. Until the WX1 my only concession to the digital shift was a FujiPix F30. It's a fun camera, but I wanted something smaller for casual shooting. When I can afford it, I'll get a DSLR to replace the SLR's.
All of this is to say that I have some experience with photography, although I would not in any way consider myself a "serious" photographer. Measured in terms of that experience, the WX1 is a very good camera for its purposes. I bought it as a pocket camera that could take quality pictures, day or night. So far, that expectation has been satisfied. I also bought it for the HD video which I haven't tried out yet.
I've been wondering whether my relative lack of familiarity with recent model digital cameras may explain the difference between my experience with the WX1 and the experience of others. When my grandfather gave me his camera, he emphasized that among the things that I needed to know in order to take good pictures was how the camera worked. I spent a lot of time familiarizing myself with the workings of the Leica. This made a big difference in the quality of the pictures that I took. Accordingly, before using the WX1, I downloaded and read the manuals in their entirety, trying to familiarize myself with the camera's resources (of which there are quite a few and limits (of which there are also quite a few). I still haven't figured out how best to use the WX1, but I learned for, example, that turning the DRO on or off made a substantial difference in IQ, as did learning the idiosyncracies of the white balance and the various settings that were automatically set in the various camera modes. I would say, and this may be a mark against it for many people, that the WX1 is not a "point and shoot" camera unless one is familiar with its workings, but when I read the negative comments I wonder if some of the issues complained of could be addressed through a better understanding of the camera. I been following several threads on the WX1 at an online camera forum. The complaints were loud and long about the picture quality of the WX1 daytime shots. Photos were posted that looked really bad. Photos were posted that looked really good. Most were the work of apparently accomplished photographers. Finally someone complained that the camera wouldn't shoot over 800 in the handheld nighttime setting. Someone else said that they had no problem shooting at higher speeds in that setting. It turned out that the the problem was that in one case (the no greater than 800 case), the DRO was on. It also turned out that with the DRO turned off, many of the problems with the IQ of daytime shots were addressed. This doesn't mean that someone with all the knowledge in the world of the camera's capabilities and all the skill in the world at taking photographs might not conclude that they found shots taken with the WX1 were unacceptable. "De gustibus non est disputandum". It also may be the case that someone might feel that taking a lot of time to figure out the workings of a camera is a waste of time. Still, this camera seems to me to have a lot of functionality that makes it worth the time learning how to use it properly. |
Former DSLR owner
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| Review Date: February 20, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Bryce Hale, Inverness FL USA |
As a former owner of a Sony A700 with 16-80mm Carl z lenses, plus a whole bag of long range lenses. Dealing with toting all that stuff around, cleaning lenses, I finally got sick of it and sold everything on eBay and bought this camera, sure the image quality will never touch the A700 DSLR but I find the joy of photography is having a camera always with you. The 24mm f2.4 lens is it's best feature, don't let anyone else fool you. Wide angle is the best feature of any camera, I find you can always walk closer but that wide angle comes in so handy in real estate photos (makes the room look bigger), group photos, cramped spaces, The burst mode is handy (10fps is amazing in such a small camera), the panorama pictures are truly amazing, no more stitching photos together in Photoshop.
I have owned digital cameras all the way back to the 1999 sony mavica (floppy disk memory) and progressed up to the DSLR. I dont think I will get back into DSLR due to the bulky, expensive, complex (think dust on your sensor from lens changing).
The price of $259 is mind blowing too given all these features. I hoped I helped you in some way. |
DSC-WX1
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| Review Date: January 31, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Mike P., |
| An amateur photographer, I enjoy having this camera where my SLR can't or shouldn't go (say a packed bar). It's still no SLR, but it's night shooting capabilities without flash along with it's small portable size were more than worth it for me. You'd expect excellent quality with normal lighting, but it's more like above average for the price range and lens. I got it from the Amazon warehouse, so the used price helped make it more palatable plus it's arrival in 2 days thanks to Prime! |
I love this little camera...and I mean little
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| Review Date: May 2, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Martin, IRVINE, CA, United States |
I've had many many many cameras over the past few year and this little wonder isn't going any place soon.
I've DSLRs which were too big and bulky to carry around so I'd miss a shot. Or the low light capabilities on pocket cameras are horrible, so you miss the shot. The Sony DSC-WX1 solves both of these issues.
And the panorama sweep feature is really cool. |
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