DSC W1 VS. DSC W5 red-eye

[fugufish]

Greetings all,

I recently bought a DSC-W1 on clearance for $219 to replace my DSC-P72.
The P72 drove me crazy with its slow operation and blurry pictures.
So far I'm liking the W1 except for one thing: Red-eye.
It's much worse that the P72 was. I have red-eye reduction turned on but still get red pupils in all of my pictures. Very bad on the blue eyed members of my family but it even causes red-eye on my daughter's dark brown eyes.

I did the usual and hit various forums looking for information. I found some complaints about the red-eye.I still have about 10 days to trade the camera up to a W5 (and pay the additional $130.00) if the W5 is better at reducing red-eye. Photo editing is not an option as I want to keep it simple and don't have the time to touch up all my pictures.

Would the W5 be better? Wifey is not happy with the W1.

Thanks in advance.

[poikkeus]

It seems that the W5 and W1 both have a certain amount of red-eye, but that users have found the W5 to be sightly better. If red-eye is a huge issue...well, that's your call.

There are a few good solutions to red-eye that you should try before dumping your W1, however.

1. If you haven't already, turn your camera on. Turn the top dial to "SET UP." Scroll to "RED EYE" and activate it. While this may reduce the problem, it will not get rid of red-eye in all circumstances.

2. Red-eye thrives in environments with very little ambient light. By having additional light available, you make red-eye less of a possibility. (The more light there is, the smaller your subjects pupils will be.)

3. Here's a nifty trick: Frame your flash photo, press the exposure button down half way -- then tilt the camera down slightly. This helps to keep the flash from reflecting against eyes.

4. Another nifty trick: Make your W1 do a "pre-flash" into the eyes of your subject, causing their pupils to contract. Look on page 30 of your users manual to get the details.

Try a bunch of nighttime flash shots under the worst conditions possible to see if these suggestions work. I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised.

:)

[fugufish]

Thanks for the reply. I have the red-eye reduction turned on. It makes a difference but all my subjects still have fiery red pupils. I used the manual mode and turned the flash down to minimum and still have the red-eye.

I did read through the manual. Even brown-eyed people in high ambient light get red-eye.

My DSC-P72 did not suffer from this problem.

The camera is going back today. I will try the W5 or maybe even the P200.

[gary_hendricks]

Good choice. I think the W5 will serve you better.

[Robert]

The only way to COMPLETELY eliminate redeye when taking flash photos is to use an external flash, not an option with the DCS- W series cameras as they do not have provisions for ext. sync. You can probably still score a DSC-V1 (discontinued but still available for around $300) or if care to take the plunge, it's replacement the DSC-V3, you'll be on the way to decent flash photos. Of course you'll need an external flash. Sony has a real beauty for around $150 or less but for around $70 you can get a SunPak or Vivitar that will also yield excellent results.

[fugufish]

CircuitCity.com had the P200 on sale for $359.99 so I bit. It got great reviews all around. I'm picking it up after work. I'll post back with results.

[fugufish]

I bought the DSC-P200 and am really happy with it. No more red-eye and focus problems. So far all of my pictures have come out sharp. It's a tad small for my big mitts, though.

[gary_hendricks]

Fugufish,

I think Sony did a great job on this camera. It is perfect for those who are tech savvy but really appreciates technology when it is used to make something better without making it cumbersome to use.

The Sony DSC-P200 is first and foremost a point and shoot camera designed to capture every-day life images and the occasional video. To best serve that purpose, it is compact, easy to use, and have an exceptionally quick turn-on time.