DSC-W5 Opinions

[Windplume]

Since these forums are full of Canon fanboys, I'm not sure I'll get a decent answer, but I'll ask this anyway.

Does anyone know of any reviews on the W5, or have one and have any opinions? I'm particularly curious about the LCD in low light, low light focus, and the manual controls.

[NDS2K]

I was a Canon fan myself but then Just Got My first W5 thing have changed lolz

For the LCD in low light it doesn't really have any Problem it pretty clear , u can chose from dark , normal and Bright for the clearaty of the LCD. but u can't see it clearly in Bright Sunny day that the only Inconvenient about the LCD

I didn't experience any problem in low Light light focus , everything was easy to control and photo was Great and sharp Even in total Darkness , not that Much Red Eye at 2m and u can Add more Flash power too with the Fonction

Manual control hmm well u can get it all From

Sharpness
Saturation
Contrast
Iso "still good at 400"
OEV "getting more light "
Focus from 0.5m till 7.0m and infiniti , centerAF , Multi AF
Metering mode Spot , Center or Multi
White bal " find the color u want " there 6 different setting
Mode " taking photo none stop "
Flash " less strong or Stronger
Effect " Black&White" Sepia "kinda brown"

In Global this is it... it's a Great Camera for the Price , Image quality and feature , Canon compact DG-CAM are Over Price for me , Sony produce thing at lower Cost that are better quality or equal.

IF u have more question feel free to ask.

[Rex914]

Let's go through all the features.

Dial Modes




Auto record - point-and-shoot, most menu items locked up
Program mode - still point-and-shoot but with full menu access
Manual mode - you set both the aperture and shutter speed; aperture range is limited -- you only have two choices: at wide-angle they are F2.8/F5.6 and at telephoto they are F5.2/F10 (there are other options in the middle of the zoom range); the shutter speed range is 30 - 1/1000 sec
A few scenes
Comments - Decent for an ultracompact, but definitely not all the manual controls you'd ideally want. Are you snapshooting or do you want to put a little more thought and care into every photo? Figure out where you are on the scale.

Manual Options

Exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV, 1/3EV increments)
Focus (Multi AF, center AF, spot AF, 0.5/1.0/3.0/7.0 m, infinity) - more below
Metering mode (Multi, spot)
White balance (Auto, sunlight, cloudy, fluorescent, tungsten, flash) - no manual white balance to be found
ISO (Auto, 100, 200, 400)
Photo Quality (Fine, standard)
Rec Mode

Normal - regular shooting
Burst - takes up to 9 shots in a row at the highest quality setting, at a rate of around 1.2 frames/second
Multi burst - takes 16 shots in a row (at interval selected in menu) and compiles them into one 1 Megapixel image (like a collage)

Multi-burst interval (1/30, 1/15, 1/7.5 sec) - for the multi-burst feature described above
Flash Level (Low, normal, high)
Photo Effects (Off, black & white, sepia)
Saturation (Low, normal, high)
Contrast (Low, normal, high)
Sharpness (Low, normal, high)
Comments - Standard stuff. Nothing out of the ordinary for a camera of this class. It works for general everyday use, but if you get into any non-ideal situation, you'll be in a bind (I'm in a bind all the time with my Kodak which lacks good manual controls).

Low light? It has an AF assist lamp, so it can take pictures in low light situations, but you'll have a hard time viewing the LCD in low light. Solution? If you are locked on Sony, try the P-200. Same stuff except the low light focusing is better, and the LCD fares a bit better. Hope this helps.

p.s. By the way. Don't call us "fanboys." We're here to give you honest advice. If the camera is good, why should we not recommend it? If you choose not to take a good product, it's your choice. <end rant>

[Windplume]

Sorry, that was a compltely baseless and silly thing to say. I'm actually quite grateful for the opinions I've been getting. I'm just getting a little annoyed because I've been trying to decide for 3 weeks, and I just can't find that one piece of info that will push me over the edge and make me buy something.

[Rex914]

Hmm, could you quickly go over exactly what you want again?