A small — very small — digital camera from one of the best camera manufacturers. In fact if you are well built you may find some of the controls a little fiddly this is as a direct relation to the small — even by modern standards The WX7 is a small but highly-specified compact, with a competent performance matched with decent image quality. It's only its noise and processing issues which mar its overall score - otherwise it's a winner. Next: Specifications Jump to All in all, though, the camera's low-grade The sensor is generally good, which surprised us for a camera with high megapixel count and a tiny sensor, but Even though it's got a few too many megapixels for its own good, the Cyber-shot WX7 is a nifty little compact camera with an excellent set of features and a good Designed primarily for snapshooters, it's the first to be available for review and also claims status as the first compact digicam with a 3D This technique came about because digital compact camera sensors are very small and so have a wide depth of field.
Therefore the need to cheat is necessary. The WX7 harbours one of the best sensors available today. The Sony Exmor R sensor is one of the first back illuminated types released on the market. It works by removing the circuitry that normally surrounds each pixel and places it on the back of the sensor. The circuitry can sometimes block light getting onto the sensor which means the light signal is weaker.
To boost the signal, the camera will adjust ISO which also introduces noise. The removal of the circuits obviates the issue and allows for lower ISO to be used in low light which gives smoother pictures. If that's not enough, the new Sony superior auto system betters intelligent auto by producing what Sony call DSLR quality images.
It works by taking a series of pictures in a row of the subject at different settings. It then selects the bits of each picture that have the best focusing and exposure before merging them all together into one perfectly focused and perfectly exposed image. The metal casing ensures durability while there are no bits sticking out that can get caught and snapped off. There are one or two areas we'd like to see changed. The battery door, although not bendy at all looks like it's made from a bit of weak plastic.
The bit that infuriated us most was the mode dial. It's worth noting that this only annoyed us because of the way we operated it and we understand that anyone using it the opposite way shouldn't have this. To go to a mode that was above the one we were on, we moved the dial up placing our thumb on the left side of the dial and turning it clockwise but this brought the mode up from below the one we were on, so we had to rotate it the other way.
Placing our thumb on the right side of the dial would correct this because to move to the option above would move the dial anti-clockwise and bring it the right way. We think that it's because the display is on the screen and we think that if the modes were physically on the dial, it wouldn't be an issue. To us, it was an optical illusion: To move up, we moved our thumb up where we had to move it down.
Should you decide not to use the mode dial, you can still access the main options by going into the main menu. There's also an easy mode for simplifying everything if it all gets a bit too much.
One thing we find interesting is the lack of a macro mode. The camera has a macro focusing of 5cm at wide angle but there's no way to enable it. That's because it's integrated into the camera anyway.
We've thought for a while that the macro mode is simply redundant because the picture quality doesn't change regardless of the mode so why not just have the lens focusing from macro to infinity and that's what Sony have started to do.
Instead of separating the quick access functions and main menu with two different buttons, Sony have placed an option to enter the main menu in the function menu. This is a clever little idea that makes space and reduces clutter on the camera. The main menu accesses the more core areas such as what video format to use, the red-eye and blink alert values as well as colour, noise and language settings.
When the camera is first turned on, you can set the colours. There's a choice of three: Orange and black, orange and white or hot pink and light pink. You can change this in the display colour setting if you want to. The delete button is situated next to playback button and when you're not looking at the pictures you've taken, it works as a help guide to aid your picture taking skills.
Changing the display in the playback mode will bring up all the information about the picture such as ISO, white-balance, aperture and shutter speed as well as the file name and histogram. In the menu there's viewing modes, retouching options and delete options too. Hardware that comes with the camera includes a mains plug for the charging unit. Although it's not a stand alone type. The charging unit has a USB port that then goes straight into the camera. This means that the camera can be plugged straight into a computer to charge and is great for if you're travelling.
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 16 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.
After getting the opportunity to look all round the Sony Cyber-shot DSC WX7 and see its functions and modes in all their glory, we were really looking forward to taking it out and seeing if it could match up to its potential. The first question we asked was: What's with all the noise? We're dismayed to see that the WX7 suffers so badly from noise that reduction software is used quite strongly in anything but the really brightest of light.
Not bad when you're abroad or if you're lucky enough to live in a hot country, but for the rest of us Britain simply doesn't have that much really bright light.
However, we're testing the camera in the summer so we should get something, right? Judging by some of the results, we're not holding our breath. It struck us when we viewed the pictures on a computer what was going on: the screen on the back of the camera is so good, it makes even mediocre pictures look amazing.
Now this is all very well and good but all it means is that you're going to be disappointed when you get home and by then it's too late to reshoot. One other thing we found was that even if the picture is out of focus, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC WX7 will still take a picture without much of a warning.
It doesn't have any red lights flashing or anything else either. All there is to give you a warning is a small green circle in the bottom left of the screen that flashes when focus isn't attained. In other areas, the sensor records colour very well. Bright colours are just that with primaries being recorded realistically. Difficult colours such as purple are treated well as are subtle hues. There's no bleeding of colour if they clash and we also found that skin tones are rendered brilliantly.
As we've already said, we were disappointed to see the amount of noise present in the pictures at low ISO. While the pictures were sharp and detailed, blobs of green colour are visible in dark areas and the pictures have a painted look thanks to the noise reduction system. As we move up through the stages, definition begins to become gradually softer and that colour starts to invade the mid tones by around ISO Noise reduction really kicks in at ISO because the colour noise normally seen on the mid tones at this stage have disappeared.
Apart from the salt and pepper noise, ISO gives an admirable result. So it's a problematic start for Sony with the ISOrange but then the noise reduction system starts which seems to kick the problem into touch.
Pictures from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC WX7 are sharp enough straight out of the camera but should you decide to, they do benefit from a little standard sharpening in Adobe Photoshop. We did find chromatic aberration present in some of the pictures.
Interestingly, it's usually found when high contrasting lines meet and all the colours don't focus on the sensor.
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