Product Description

The DSC-W200 combines the amazing detail of 12.1 MP resolution with high sensitivity for shooting without a flash even in very low light. Super SteadyShot(R) image stabilization keeps blur to a minimum while advanced high-tech features like Face Detection & D-range optimization bring out the best in every shot you take for slow shooting or sharing on location. The large 2.5-inch LCD screen that makes viewing exceptionally easy and HD output lets you share memories in spectacular high definition clarity and detail on compatible HDTV screens. The Carl Zeiss 3x optical zoom lens helps you bring distant subjects closer and lets you frame shots quickly for better composition. You can even capture VGA (640 x 480) video with audio up to 30 frames per second. 31 MB internal Flash Memory Shutter Speed - 1/4-1/1600 seconds (Auto) & 1-1/1600 seconds (Program Auto) White Balance - Automatic, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent, and Flash Scene Modes - Beach, High Sensitivity (ISO3200), Extra High Sensitivity (ISO6400), Fireworks, Landscape, Snow, Soft Snap, Twilight, and Twilight Portrait Flash Modes - Auto, Forced On, Forced Off, Slow Synch Compatibility - Microsoft 2000 Professional, Me, XP Home and Professional, Macintosh OS 9.1/9.2/OS X (10.0-10.4) Dimensions - 3 5/8 x 2 3/8 x 7/8 inch (90.9 x 58.5 x 22.2 mm) Weight - 4.2 ounces (116 grams) Body only / 5.1 ounces (147 grams) including Battery and optional Memory Stick(R) Pro Duo Media

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7319 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Sony
• Model: DSCW200
• Released on: 2007-05-24
• Dimensions: 1.00" h x 2.50" w x 4.00" l, 1.00 pounds
• Memory: 31MB
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• Included Accessories - NP-BG1 rechargeable battery, BC-CSG battery charger, A/V and USB multi-connector cables, Wrist strap & Software CD-ROM
• 12.1 Megapixels, up to 640x480 VGA at 30 fps MPEG VX Fine with Audio - We recommend purchasing an optional 4GB Memory Stick(R) Pro Duo
• 2.5-inch (115K Pixels) TFT LCD Screen
• Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens, 3x Optical Zoom, 2.0 (Precision) Digital Zoom
• Lens Construction - 6 Elements in 5 Groups, 3 Aspheric Elements

Customer Reviews

Another Amazing Sony Camera
First off, I bought this camera directly from Sony Style, not Amazon. I've only been using this camera for the week so I can't rate its longevity, but so far it has impressed me. The size and weight are great, although a thinner camera would still be better. I have never seen photos so crisp! Although I won't normally use it at 12MP (which is about 3-4MB per photo), I've been testing it at that size and the photos really are amazing.

One of the coolest features is the ability to always take 12MP pictures, but set it at 3MP or 5MP file size and it will allow you to effectively zoom in further on the 12MP picture and then crop it without loosing quality. All of this is done seamlessly without the user having to do any adjustments -- just keep zooming in further and it will tell when you've crossed the optical zoom threshold and are zooming in on the larger image. Zoom purists are able to turn the feature off if they don't like it.

As ever, the menus and the display have improved greatly between the three Sony digital cameras I've owned. The menus are bright, intuitive, and incredibly descriptive since there's more screen space on the camera. The camera offers a number of easy to get to modes -- just rotate the dial on the exterior of the camera and you can have it in auto or fully manually modes, set it to do nighttime landscapes or nighttime portraits, as well as several other options.

The videos it takes are great, although I was disappointed that it lacks the ability to zoom in while filming and the fact that the resolution size isn't that big. The microphone on the camera is fantastic, though. My biggest disappointment, however, is the speed of the Memory Stick duo. Even with 5MP pictures, there is a 1.5-2 second write time lag). Even worse, is that the camera doesn't support high-speed transfer rates with the Memory Stick Pro Duo High-Speed cards (I tested it in the store). It takes about 3 seconds to write a 12MP file. However, writing to the internal memory (31MB) is almost instantaneous.

As I said, I've only been using the camera for the week, so I haven't run the battery out yet, but it seems like it will go a while. In fact, all the Sony cameras I've owned have had phenomenal battery life. The camera comes with a small battery charger that plugs straight into an outlet. The prongs on the charger fold into the charger so they are protected while traveling. I bought a small leather case for the camera that attaches to a belt. Because of its small size, I barely notice I'm carrying the camera with me. The case magnetically seals, which is great for quick and easy access, while still protecting the camera. I also bought a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo card with the camera, which holds about 816 12MP photos, 1225 8MP photos, 1559 5MP photos, and 2501 3MP photos. At the highest quality video (640 Fine), the card can hold about 50 minutes of video and three hours at 640 Standard. Dropping it to the lowest quality (320) yeilds 12 hours of video time.

I've been very happy with this purchase and after all the years of waiting on the technology to catch up, I finally have a relatively inexpensive pocket-size camera that I can always take with me, that has a decent zoom (if you're using the precision crop-style zoom), and can take really high-quality photos. Sony has already started releasing 5x optical zooms on their pocket-size cameras now, so I expect the next incarnation of the W line of Sony cameras will be quite perfect.

Seems to be good for Under Water use
I've had this camera about 3 weeks and I've taken a number of photos with it. Initially I was disappointed in that the on line liturature (including from Sony) all says Macro down to 2 CM, when its actually down to 5 CM (2 inches) and that (5 CM) is stated in the book that comes with it. I use macro a lot in underwater photography and some on land. My previous Sony camera (and yes I flooded it, hence the new one) did go down to 2 CM but the fact is I seldom got that close because (a) it tends to scare the daylights out of any creatures that can move and (b) the depth of field becomes almost 2 deminsional - that's just optics and photography. So I usually get further away to increase the depth of field and crop to what I want. So while that was a disappointment the fact is it's of little actual consequence.

I've taken quite a few photos with it primarily getting the feel of it and learning to use this particular one. My previous camera was a Sony F707 so the small size of this one is a pleasant change. The menus are intuitive and easy to use. Key functions like macro and flash are not menu driven but button driven so changes can be made quickly. It takes good photos. The colors are good and the detail is good. The more I use it the more I like it. The battery life is very good as was my old F707. I like the ability to delete one, selected photos or everything on the memory stick (or internal memory). For macro (and other modes) the focus mode can easily be changed, via menu, to a spot focus (it has to be in the P setting though to get to that option) and that is a good feature. Other features such as photo size and exposure mode are similarly easily set. The screen is large and can be turned off to save battery life. The optical view finder is small and would suffer from offset if used close up. The difference in battery life when using the screen isn't that much. The view finder is most useful when bright light makes the screen hard to see - pretty much true for all of them.

Lag time, while not that of digital SLR's is OK, not outstanding but good. Start up time is very good and it has about a 3 minute time out period so it's not off everytime you get ready to take a photo (very important U/W) and if it is off it comes on very quickly.

The camera comes with a summary booklet which covers the basics. The full booklet is a .pdf file. The book is OK to good, not great. The info is there just not alwasy that easy to find.

I also bought the marine pack underwater housing to go with it. It's good down to 40 meters and is very compact. Every feature on the camera can be accessed while it's in the housing. I'm a scuba instructor and this past weekend I took it to an old quarry that we use as a training facility for diving. The visibility ws OK, not great by any means, somewhat green - the usual freshwater stuff. I got there early and got in with the camera and housing before the students had a chance to kick it up worse and took some underwater photos - not expecting much considering the visibility and light balance. I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the photos. Other shops pros commented on the photo quality considering where they were taken. The shop owner asked for copies to put on the shop web gallery. I'll be taking it down to Cayman Brac the first of next month so I'm certainly looking forward to using it there. Incidently the housing is very useful for photography when it's raining or any chance to get wet such as boats, rafting and the like. They're even used in industrial environments because the housing removes any small possibility of the camera being an ignition sourse.

And as was previously mentioned, even the battery charger is compact. The battery is charged outside the camera, good so you have a battery charging back in the room while you're using the other one. It is a propritary battery so a spare is a good idea.

I'm happy with the camera. The more I use it the more I like it. It's very small, it's very easy to use and takes very good photos.

1/3/08 I've used this camera in the underwater housing for dive trips to Cayman Brac and Panama City Beach, FL. I have not got the color balance underwater to be quite as good as I would like. In all fairness I have not gotten a good strobe for this camera so my experience is using available light or the on board flash. There are times I would like a bit more sharpness for macro shots. I think I was spoiled to the huge lens on the old Sony 707 this replaced. It did great on the above water shots.

Best Camera I ever Owned
Best camera, I have every owned. I had unlimited funds to buy camera and I choose this one. Met all of my expectations. I needed a quality camera that was compact enough to do the following:
- Snap quality pictures of white board during meeting
- Take Quick snap shots and movies during kid activities and vacations
- Take decent pictures during twilight hours
- Take quick snap shots without waiting for picture to write to memory.
Quality of pictures is excellent
Speed from shot to shot (At least with high speed Sony card which I bought)
User Interface is easy to use and well thought out
Battery life is very good. I have had a number of long events with family and I have not used up my battery after hundreds of shots and movies. Great delete feature that allows me to delete multiple pictures quickly. I bought this camera directly from Sony and was able to get a 4 year warranty that covers normal failure and accidents for $99 which I thought was pretty good.
Sony Cybershot DSC-W200 12.1 MP Digital Camera + 1 GB Accessory Kit