Sony Cyber-shot W70
Like the rest of the Sony Cyber-Shot range, the DSC W70 is a very impressive digital camera - both from a technical and an ease of use point of view. It is likely to appeal to someone who is looking for a good quality camera but at a relatively low price. Image quality is excellent due to combination of the 7.2 megapixel count with the superb Carl Zeiss lens. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC W70 is a stylish camera that offers all round versatility.
The Sony Cyber-shot W70 is outstanding in every respect, combining up to 7.2 effective Megapixels and High Sensitivity, with built-in viewfinders, and packaged in sleek metal aluminium body. The DSC W70 combines a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 3x Optical Zoom lens with ‘Anti-Blur’ High Sensitivity ISO 1000. This camera is ideal for sharper shots when shooting moving subjects, indoor shooting or for more natural shots without the need of a flash. The two newly developed Sony Super HAD CCDs at the heart of the camera results in sharp and vibrant pictures every time. The Cyber-shot W70 offers a 1/2.5” size 7.2 effective Megapixel CCD. The camera also features a 6x Precision Digital Zoom and a 14x VGA Smart Zoom - to help you view subjects near and far. You’ll never miss a shot with up to 360 shot* STAMINA battery life using the supplied LITHIUM-ION rechargeable battery, and thanks to the energy efficient Sony Real Imaging Processor. The processor also enhances the shooting experience, keeping pictures sharp, colours real, and ensuring an extremely rapid camera operation.
Thanks to the Cyber-shot W70’s High Sensitivity ‘Anti-Blur’ technology you can shoot in difficult conditions, such as low light, reducing the risk of hand shake blurring your pictures. It also allows you to capture moving objects with less blur, likewise you can be moving (such as in a car) shooting a stationary object - an option that is not possible if you’re just using a camera with an optical image stabiliser. High Sensitivity even allows you to shoot with out the flash, resulting in pictures that are as sharp as when using a flash but far more naturally lit. Traditionally, High Sensitivity would lead to an increase in noise, however utilising the Sony developed Clear RAW NR feature, the signal to noise ratio is greatly improved. The Sony Clear RAW NR original algorithm system reduces colour and luminance noise, enabling shooting with significantly higher sensitivity (up to ISO1000). This ensures images with less noise and finer detail. This is especially beneficial when shooting in low-light conditions. Using the new 2-second self-timer mode is a further aid to reducing camera shake associated with pressing the shutter button. You can relax in the knowledge that your photo opportunities will be never limited, and the results stunning every time.
Packaged in a sophisticated and slim all aluminium metal body – the DSC W70 oozes quality and style. There is a large 2.5-inch (6.2cm) LCD screen with 100% LCD screen field of view – allowing you to clearly frame, view and review images with ease. The new direct display brightness adjustment option prevents the need to access the menu to make adjustments to the screen’s brightness. In addition to sharing your favourite pictures on the large LCD screen, images can be viewed on a connected TV screen. With the 16:9 shooting mode you can even shoot wide-screen images for playback on a wide-screen TV. Of course, images are also stored on optional Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick PRO Duo for you to save on a PC or print out. The camera also features a worry-free 58MB internal memory, so you can be safe in the knowledge that you will never miss a great photo opportunity again. They both also features high speed USB 2.0 and PictBridge, the standard for printing directly to compatible PictBridge photo printers, such as the Sony DPP-FP50. The new Cyber-shot Viewer software that is supplied with both cameras offers a fast and easy to use solution for importing pictures to your PC, browsing and sharing your pictures using a new and unique calendar function, or even making simple edits such as resizing or trimming.
In addition to the existing Standard, Monochrome and Sepia colour modes, both cameras offer the additional creative choice of Natural and Vivid colour modes. The Natural mode is ideal for situation with subtle colour, and the Vivid mode emphasises primary colours with more detail, vividness and colour depth. Other great features include convenient Scene Selection shooting modes to capture the mood of every moment. For Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Landscape, Soft Snap, Beach, High Sensitivity and Snow, just point and shoot while the automatic settings do all the hard work and produce excellent quality images. If you’re not sure which is best for your shooting situation, then don’t worry, as the function guide will display an accompanying explanation of the Scene Selection mode. If you wish to be more creative with your photography then several different Light Metering options, a Histogram display, special Flash specific and Multi-burst shooting modes are also available.
Shutter lag is the time it takes to take each picture. With digital cameras there can be a delay between clicking the shutter button and the photo being captured which can lead to shots being missed. Shutter lag on the DSC W70 is around 0.3 seconds which is about average although it's much quicker when using the continous shooting mode.
The 3x optical zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 38-114mm in 35mm format. There is also a 6x digital zoom and a smart zoom offering up to 14x zoom. For composing pictures you can choose between a viewfinder and a large 2.5" LCD screen which gives the best of both worlds. The screen is made up of around 115,000 pixels. As well as lining up shots the screen is used to access the menu system. It also displays useful information such as memory stick space remaining, battery levels, an exposure warning, a hand shake alert and a histogram.
The built in flash unit has a maximum range of 3.7m. This reduces to nearer 2.1m when the zoom lens is fully extended. When using an ISO setting of 1000 the range of the flash unit increases to 6.5m. The flash modes available to use are Auto, Forced Flash, Slow Synchro and No Flash. Red eye reduction is also available. This is set on and off through the camera's setup menu. If you plan to produce 6x4" prints you will be pleased to know there is a special 3:2 ratio setting. By using this setting none of the photo needs to be trimmed to fit the paper during the printing process. When you would like to appear in a picture there is a self timer. The delay time can be set to either two or ten seconds. After a picture has been taken you can create smaller copies or trim the original photo. The smaller copies are suitable for use on the Internet or to send by email.
There are a number of advanced features you can use to control how a photo will look. These include ISO sensitivity settings (Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000), three types of light metering (Multi Pattern, Centre weighted, Spot), white balance (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, flash) and exposure compensation (+/-2.0 EV, 1/3 EV steps). You can also adjust levels of sharpness and contrast. Shutter speeds and aperture size are set automatically by the camera. Shutter speeds operate within a range between 1 - 1/2000 seconds.
TV quality movies can be recorded. These have a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. The top recording speed is thirty frames per second. Movies can be recorded up to the capacity of the memory card. Sound can be recorded, but there is no zoom available. Sony supplies all the necessary cables and software to connect the DSC W70 to a PictBridge compatible printer, computer and television set.
*The measurement method is based on the CIPA standard (CIPA: Camera & Imaging Products Association).
See the official Press Release from Sony Europe for the Sony Cyber-shot DSC W70 Digital Camera
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