I purchased this camera as soon as it was made available April 28, 2008.

I think this camera is perfect. It takes great pictures all on its own. There is no need for you to know about the aperture, focal length, lighting, ISO settings, etc. Simply put the camera in easy or auto mode and shoot to your heart's content. The picture colors are amazingly accurate and vibrant.

The smile shutter feature is pretty cool also. Simply put the camera in smile mode pushed down the shutter once and wait for your subject to smile. You'll be able to take six smile shots without having to press the shutter button.

Another cool feature is the in camera editing. Say a subject did not smile as big as you had hoped, you are able to go into the editing feature in the camera and make the smile more evident. To me, that's cool! You are also able to remove redeye, sharpen the picture and crop the picture all by using the camera. You no longer have to upload them to the computer to do these fixes.

The battery life is very good and you don't even need a memory stick to shoot up to 10 pictures because of the installed 15 MB of memory. It's not a whole lot, but it helps if you are in a pinch for a shot and a memory card is not handy.

The screen is very clear and very large. The colors are accurate and very bright. The camera is lightweight yet not flimsy. It feels like a solidly built camera.

I really haven't seen anything to complain about. I think everything this camera offers for the price is well worth it. I am very happy with the black color as well. I think Black goes with everything and that's why I didn't choose a different color.

If you are on the fence about this camera, I can just say that my experience has been very positive and I think yours will be as well.

Before I decided to buy the Sony Cybershot DSC W150, I really looked into many cameras and models. The big factors I was looking for: compact in size, optical or electronic viewfinder, 5x or more optical zoom, adjustable LCD display (LCD screen that folds out and can be adjusted to be viewed from different angles or closed towards the camera to protect it).
This camera is comparable in size to the Canon elph series, which is great for factor 1.
A basic optical viewfinder is present on the camera which although doesn't have any special features (it's not an EVF and is on the small side) is great to have for shooting in bright sunlight and saving battery power. I can't stand cameras that don't have a viewfinder and absolutely refuse to buy a camera without one, which unfortunately ruled out many compacts currently on the market. Factor 2 good enough to me.
Camera has a 5x Optical zoom which as of this review is starting to get more popular with the compacts for many companies. There is a 2x Digital zoom also, which I felt would have been better as a 4x or higher Digital zoom but not too big of a deal since the Optical zoom is what really matters. Factor 3, check for the Cybershot.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a compact that had an adjustable LCD display, which is disappointing because I've gotten so used to having one on my Canon Powershot A95. The only thing that might be sacrificed with an adjustable LCD display is the screen size, which unfortunately so many camera makers seem to be focusing on having huge energy draining screens. So I compromised on this factor and went with the Cybershot DSC W150 with it's non adjustable 2.7" screen.
As for shooting modes, they're not too different (if at all) than other typical point and shoot cameras on the market, and more or less function the same. The in-camera editing features are pretty cool and can add some style and effects to your pics.
As usual, there are many accessories that don't come included such as a telephoto lens (VCL-D2046), a wide angle lens (VCL-D0746), the adaptor ring for these lenses (VAD-WE), a silicon camera jacket (LCJ-WA) and even more such as a better not included battery and battery charger, adapter and camera protective cases. I think they really should have included the silicon camera jacket with the camera instead of selling it for around $25-30 each, it is just a protective case of silicon, after all...
Overall, I'm satisfied with this camera and enjoy using it, but I still think there is a lot of room for improvement within the compact point and shoot camera line for all companies, and hope that not all companies will continue to go the path of bigger LCD screens and getting rid of traditional camera features such as a viewfinder.

Purchased the DSCW150 at a big box reseller based upon research and reviews. Looking for a nice compact point and shoot for my wife. Ease of use and picture quality were top of the wish list and the Sony went 1 of 2. Ease of use is very good on this model but the kicker was picture quality. The camera I had was extremely inconsistent on picture quality. Outdoor shots looked great but indoor shots (with and without flash) were very poor. The problem ranged from out of focus (at any zoom level) to washed out colors and pixelated prints. The inexpensive Samsung L73 I purchased for my father takes much better pics at half the price. The picture quality is the primary reason for the low rating. Exchanged this for an Olympus FE-340 and will hope for a better result.

This camera is great compared to many many many similarly priced cameras I tried out. It takes pictures really fast and is ready for the next one very quickly too. These were big considerations when I was shopping around and this one is the fastest. The camera takes great pictures with the automatic settings compared to others that didn't seem to know when flash or other adjustments should have been necessary/unnecessary. The smile shutter is cool but I don't think I'll use it often. The 5x zoom is great. The in camera image alteration is neat too, especially the feature to make people appear smiling. Good for a lot of laughs. The rechargeable battery seems to be holding up well. I love the deep red but the sheen makes it appear pink in some lights. It looks bigger than other cameras but really is at most only 2-3 mm wider than the canon elph sd1100/750.

First day using this it made some kind of grinding noise and the lens wouldn't retract when I turned it off. So I popped out the battery, put it back in, and it retracted. I turned it back off and the lens wouldn't come out and the screen said to turn the camera off and basically try again. Kept doing that so I returned it for refund. I knew I should have stuck with Canon.

Let me start with stating that most point and shoot cameras are compromise on various basic performance parameters. I bought this camera for my wife for whom any feature beyond the basic auto mode is unnecessary. For a point and shoot it has lots of very advanced features typically available in dslr or prosumer cameras. I am talking about things like bracketing( takes pictures at different exposure level), dynamic range optimizer and my favorite live histogram. Let me summarize its positives and negatives:
- Wide angle lens 30mm to 150mm (5x zoom)
- Image stabilizer is very good, I have taken very good pictures at 1/4sec & iso 100. Basically it will let you take good pictures at low iso(to avoid noise), where you can not use flash.
-DRO (dynamic range optimizer): Autmatically adjusts for a balance between highlight & shadows, two different levels of DRO available
- Live histogram: I have this feature in my nikon 8400 (prosumer camera)and is very useful for adjusting exposure in extreme lighting conditions e.g. daylight scenery in Yosemite, Bryce. Metering systems of most cameras can not keep up with such extreme lighting conditions.
- Three levels for flash. Soft flash for closeups, standard, flash+ for far away objects.
- Colors: It has very bright and saturated colors even in basic color mode. If you are mainly going to use it take pictures of kids, you may like prints from it. I am used to subdued colors of Nikon.

Now the negatives, some of which could be a problem for someone.
- In auto mode, it pushes up the iso to 400 therefore producing grainy pictures.
- Flash is underpowered, stated range is 4.3m. I would stick to half that distance for decent pictures.
- You can restrict the iso to below 200 to keep noise low. I have found that even at iso of 100 the detail in pictures is not that good. My theory is that it has a very strong noise reduction algorithm at all iso's. If you are mainly going to take 4x6 pictures this might not be an issue for you.

I hope this review is useful in your decision making.

I just got my camera yesterday, It's an awesome poduct. I specially like the possibility of taking interior pictures with no flash, or even taking them with flash and knowing that the whole pictures will be well illuminated. the camera measures very well the available light and it also makes very good corrections adapting to the kind of light. The lens is very good, going from wide angle ot tele. It's a good thing to have a nice little piece of engineering that has a very convenient size. Another feature tha I'm very pleased with is all the detail in the shadows. The face detector feature is very usefull, it can also focus accurately with very low light, something that is very usefull in parties. I would definitely recommend this product.

What shall I say? I LOVE IT! I've had a Sony Cyber-shot for years with 3.2 megapixels, I felt it was time to upgrade. I shopped around and for the price and features I knew I coudln't go wrong in buying a Sony again. The best feature is the Smile Shutter. You don't have to pay attention to what youa re shooting. If you have this feature on and the person you are shooting smiles it takes the picture for you. How can you go wrong with that one. I highly recommend this camera.

I had a Sony W90 and got it stolen. Then waited for this one to be available on the market and Sony seems to keep impressing and improving their line of point and shoot cameras.

I had my old camera for 1 year, and I take pictures quite often. This camera focus very nice and takes sharp pictures on all occacions. Extra zoom (I used to have W90 and P200 just with 3X) is great. Controls are easy to use, easy to understand and it comes packed with lots of pictures, including "smile detection" tech. I tried it and it works just fine.

I can keep going and going but it would be easier to read the specs, I can resume this review with: "BUY IT" you won't regret it, it is a great camera with a great price, I've had it for about 3 weeks already and taken hundreds of pictures, if not thousands.

We own two-a silver and a red cybershot, so that my wife and I will be able to take the photos we want particularly on an upcoming Galapagos cruise. The large LCD screen is bright in near-direct to direct sunlight, something that is completely lacking in my 2-year old Pentax Optio 6mp and one reason for buying this camera. Continuous shutter speed is fast for moving objects-again something totally lacking in the Pentax which has very slow shutter speed and produces nothing but blurs for moving objects. The large optical zoom is another plus. So far, nice pictures are produced in low light with and without flash and the Smile feature is interesting and works. It has 2 menus. The "Home Menu", which is not the easiest to navigate, provides options like varying iso, smile, continuous shutter, etc. The hard copy operating manual that comes with the camera provides the basics; the software CD manual provides sufficient detail tho it would have been nice to have that in its 130-page hard copy version. Battery takes about 4-5 hours to recharge which is about the same as my for my Pentax but the charger is more compact and plugs in the wall rather than requiring a bulkier cord attachment. Cost downsides are the proprietary memory stick-duo--a 2gb which my camera onscreen indicates will be good for 800+ pics at the third or mid-range pixel setting good for 4X6 and larger, typically runs $20-25 and proprietary battery which in its o.e.m. version can be bought for about $15--about the same cost as aftermarket lithium batteries for my Pentax and more costly than the AA batteries used in a 1-year old Casio ExLim7mp that stopped working for no discernible reason and was not worth repairing. A U.K. camera review for the Sony says that this sony will take more than 2x the pics of an equivalent Canon elph before the battery has too be recharged-we'll see. I went with an extra proprietary battery becuase an aftermarket battery,costing a few dollars less, produced a "no signal" message" on both cameras despite its being advertised as compatible with this model.

I own multiple Sony digital cameras and was searching for one that was compact. On the positive side, it has great features which is what attracted me to it. It also has a quality feel when held in the hand. However, it fails where it counts and that is in image quality. I am by no means a novice and this camera produces inconsistent images. Indoor, the weak flash raises the ISO level so that the result is a grainy photo. Some face shots are acceptable and some are washed out. Image quality outdoor is also inconsistent. This is a camera that should have been a winner for Sony but it appears that someone failed to test it under all shooting conditions. I still like Sony and thus, will wait for the next generation of this camera and hopefully, the bugs will have been corrected.

I was looking for a quick point and shoot, that took a good picture and would fit in my pocket. After spending a week at Walt Disney World, over 300 shots and videos, photos taken in all situations, this camera performed excellent. Easy to operate, the menu on the camera is simple to operate, camera turns on quickly and can shoot fast. I never read the instructions supplied with the camera. I spent weeks quite frankly reviewing cameras and I just became more and more confused what to buy until a friend recommended the Sony.
Don't hesitate.

I am returning this camera. My outdoor pictures come out great, but indoors, their is consistently a yellowish quality to the photos. This is with and without flash. I took pictures of the same things inside using my other camera and this camera, every single time, the pictures from this camera had an odd yellowish quality. Very, very, disappointing.

Takes great pictures. The size of the camera is great if you want something small to carry in a purse or pocket.

I got this for my daughter as a grad gift. It takes really good pictures. Made me wonder why I use my big expensive Canon 30D. It has really cool features that my daughter and her friends find fun to use.

This is my second Cybershot. I bought my first one over 5 years ago and it still takes great pictures, however I wanted a new camera because technology has changed so much. Since I really liked my old camera I wanted another Cybershot. My new model Cybershot takes great pictures and has many features yet it's still easy to use. I highly recommend this camera.

I got this item two days after I ordered it and since then its been my new buddy.

I bought this camera to replace an aging Kodak Z730. I wanted a compact camera that would take great pictures with a decent optical zoom (this one has 5X) and an eyepiece viewer. This camera (the DSC-W150) seemed to have everything I was looking for. On the large Sony LCD my pictures look spectacular (clear, sharp, etc.), but when I connect the camera to my computer or bring the memory card to a store to print pictures, the quality of my pictures changes dramatically for the worse. The pictures from the Sony camera come out unclear, blurry, etc. My old Kodak camera takes much better pictures than this Sony one does.
All I can say is buyer beware on this camera.

I bought this camera as a birthday present for my son, and he tells me that it takes great pictures. I cannot give a better review because I am not using it myself, but he's happy with it, and the pictures that he emailed me look great. I might consider buying another one for my other son.

I bought this to replace my lost Canon A510. This camera takes pictures fast. The images are clean and crisp outdoors. But again indoor shots will always get screwed under low lighting with all the point and shoots. The LCD is bright and sharp (thanks to the big, high resolution display).

Pros:
1. Clean and crisp outdoor images.
2. Very fast auto focus.
3. Decent image quality indoors in good lighting.
4. Menu and settings organization is good.
5. Lots of retouch options.
6. DRO works awesome.
7. Macro mode is too good for a point and shoot.

Cons:
1. Need to press too much buttons for a simple task.
2. Playback is slow and starts up very slowly too.
3. Purple streaks in the LCD when viewed against a bright light source. They don't appear in the pictures, but still viewable in video.
4. Noisy indoor images under average/ low lighting.
5. Buttons are tiny and mode dial looks cheap.
6. Proprietary USB connector.
7. White balance is not effective.

I'm very pleased with the camera after taking more than 200 shots in a little amount of time. The Auto mode is really useful but where the camera really shines is in the program area. Great photo results with just little tweaks.

Oh, and the Smile Shutter is more useful than it seems, specially when taking those pesky baby smile pictures.

Very nice camera, no problems. Lots of cool features. Pics a little grainy in low light conditions, no zoom on video. Still a great camera.

I got this camera yesterday....and I am hooked, just cant put it down!!! It takes great pictures at day and at night!! It makes small presentations with sound of all the pictures you take. There is a feature that i love ...the smile detecting feature...camera wont shoot if the person doesnt smile...and it shoots automatically by itself when he-she does...I am not a professional photographer ...but i think i got more than i expected for my bucks...i dont know all the features yet...it has a lot...I am very satisfied...and i recomend it to anyone!!!I got the red one! great color. You will need to buy a 1-2 G memory (2 G has capacity for more than 600 pictures) and a little case made specially for that line of sony cameras to protect it.

I purchased the Sony Cybershot DSC-W150 in silver and like it very much.

This camera is small, but feels and looks well built. It is about the size of a deck of cards so it fits easily into a jacket pocket or a purse. As it is small, one needs to be careful with finger placement so as not to obstruct the flash or the AF lamp.

The LCD is bright and clear. It is easy to view indoors even under poor lighting. It works well outdoors, but washes out when bright sunlight shines directly on the screen. This is when one appreciates having an optical viewfinder even if it is small. As the LCD picks up fingerprints easily, one does well to keep a cleaning cloth [such as an eyeglass cleaning cloth] close by.

I have taken just over 200 pictures. I am delighted with the photo quality. The pictures are crisp. The colors are true. It captures details wonderfully. It performs well with both indoor and outdoor shots. Even photos snapped without the flash in poor lighting generally turn out well producing nice, clear 4x6 and 5x7 inch prints. [Perhaps even larger prints but I have not tried.]

The modes I have used most are:

* Program Mode: has automatic settings but also allows the user to adjust some settings such as ISO, EV, Metering Mode, and Flash Strength

* Smile Mode: sets the camera to take pictures only when the person smiles

* High Sensitivity [ISO] Mode: automatically turns off the flash and boosts the ISO for low light situations

I have not experimented with the movie mode so cannot comment on how well it works.

As for negatives, photo playback is slow to load. Not a major thing as the camera may be set to photo review which displays the photo taken for 2 seconds.

For those who are in search of a point and shoot camera which takes great pictures with little effort on the user's part, I would recommend placing this camera on your short list.

I am very pleased with my purchase and think you will be too.

The Sony Cybershot has many features that are simple to learn (and that you'll actually use!), is small and light, and takes amazing pictures. From closeups to distant panoramas, you'll be very pleased with this camera. I got it for my 16 yr old daughter before her trip to Europe and she loved it, bring back hundreds of awesome shots.

it is a great camera, I am very fan of sony and let me tell you that this is the best camera that I ever had.

I bought this camera right before a recent month long vacation. It took great pictures and unexpectedly was able to capture things in unusual light I didn't think it would handle. However, I had several problems. I attempted to take several pictures of camouflaged critters, and the camera just couldn't focus. I tried multiple settings, but the lizards and bugs were not patient enough for me to work until I could find a setting that would focus in close up conditions on a hard to distinguish subject. I still haven't figured out how to get this to happen and the companion instruction book offered no help that I could find for this kind of thing. The other problem I had is that the camera seemed to occasionally lose its little mind. I would turn on the review function and start paging back through my pictures, and the camera would turn itself on and drop out of review mode. Sometimes no matter what I tried to do it would not allow me to review my pictures. This issue would clear up if I left the camera off for a few hours. Then sometimes I would have it on a setting on the dial and be taking pictures and the menu describing the dial settings would appear on screen and rotate through settings without me touching the setting dial. At times it would do this rapidly. To get it to stop I turned off the camera. When I turned it back on, this problem would mysteriously have resolved itself. But despite these weird behaviors I was happy with the pictures I captured, and if there were not the what looks like an onboard software problem, I could wholeheartedly recommend the camera.

We had no idea of what kind of digital camera to get only a few suggestions from family and friends. Again, we went to Amason for product and information and again were not disappointed and were able to make a decision. After using and experimenting with our Sony Cybershot we are so satisfied. The pictures also print out like professional on my computer.
Thanks for the #1 Products.... with information the possibilities are endless. What fun memories we are capable of capturing now!!!!!

I've only had the camera for 2 days and I think it is great I never went and tested it in a store, I choose it merely from all the features and comparisons, I will write a longer review later. the only downside I have found so far which I didn't come across while shopping is NO ZOOM IN VIDEO MODE!! not real happy about this, but the video quality is fantastic. wanted anyone shopping now to know this. otherwise it is a fantastic camera it feels great in the hand, easy to use and even more stylish than i thought

I'm a Canon fan. Our last 3 cameras were Canons... but my wife and I decided that we'd give Sony a try. We liked the bright, crisp screen, the compactness of the camera, the quick startup time, the long zoom range (5x optical), the convenient settings dial, the layout of all the buttons, the ease of use of the menu options and basic camera functions, slideshow playback (with music), and let's be honest here, it's nice to have a camera in the color you like (rather than the boring silver/black). Everything seemed fine from what we could tell on our visits to Best Buy.

But after we got the camera, we started to see some things that we couldn't tell from our trips to the store.

- Poor image quality. Pictures look fine when resized to fit your computer monitor, but when you zoom in to the actual size of the picture, you'll notice that the quality is not that sharp.
- Shutter delay. I know that all cameras have some shutter delay, but it was quite noticeable and annoying on this camera. It takes longer than it should to focus, especially in medium- to low-light. (It was fine at the store, but then again, the store is pretty bright.) The delay is even worse with the flash.
- Slow flash. You can't set the flash to red-eye or no red-eye. You can only turn the flash on and off. That means that the camera will sometimes do the red-eye flash if you don't want it to... so by the time it actually snaps the picture (after the focus delay, of course), you've already lost your photo moment. This is especially true for taking pics of our baby. There's no way around it.
- Smile feature. We actually LOVED this feature, especially when you give smile-priority to your child -- so that when your child finally smiles, it snaps the picture. The bad thing is that you have to be literally smiling ear-to-ear (which looks very unnatural) for it to take your pic. Same for the child/baby. Nice idea Sony, but bad execution. It'd be nice if you could set the smile threshhold/meter to a lower setting, so that you don't have to smile as big.
- Few manual settings. I generally like to mess around with some basic settings -- like flash, no-flash, no-red-eye-flash, white balance, exposure, etc. These are pretty basic functions, but these are difficult to change on this camera because you just can't change these things easily or at all. I feel constricted to only do what the camera 'allows' me to do, which is very little. It's fine for people who are brand new to digital cameras, but not ideal for anyone else.
- Video quality/size. By default, I believe the video size is set to 320. The quality is absolutely *horrendous* at this setting. But if you increase the size to 640, the video is very nice -- but the file size is absolutely *huge* (compared to Canons, where the size is much smaller for a 640 video). On the positive side, there's no time limit on the video, so you can shoot as long as you want. But be warned, it will eat up space on your computer very quickly!!


These nuisances made us fed up within a week. We've traded in our Sony for a trusty Canon. Sorry Sony, we gave you a chance... but you just didn't impress us.

Pros:
Generally speaking, this camera is easy to use. The quantity is enough for most non-professional users. The launch time(from pressing power button and ready to take photos) is very short, only 0.8s. The quantity deserves its pixels.

Cons:
Bad battery time and limited functions.

Summary:
I recommend to buy a camera in this price. Maybe it is not the best value/price ratio in the range. But you would not regret buying this camera.

I bought this for my girlfriend who had been using an older Canon SD200, and she had a lot of trouble adjusting to it. This camera is capable of very good image quality, but the menus and controls are not so easy to navigate. Make sure you turn off the Auto-ISO function or else you will get noisy pics. And from what I can tell, you can not turn off Auto-ISO in the "Easy" or "Auto" modes, which makes them useless...maybe I just haven't figured it out yet. SteadyShot works well. I like that you can zoom to 100% in the playback function, so you can really see if the picture you just took was sharp or not.

this is a great overall point-and-shoot camera. has tons of cool features. it's quick at firing shots. great zoom. the auto focus isn't always perfect, but usually on target. haven't used all the functions yet to comment on all it's capabilities. for night shots and long exposures, definitely need a tripod just like any other camera on long exposures. but overall a solid compact camera.

This Sony camera is a winner. Small, but powerful, we've used it in a variety of settings and it has never let us down. I'd recommend it highly. Sony Cybershot DSCW150/R 8.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom with Super Steady Shot (Red)

It's a very good camera for those wich are not professional photographers, but do work with a camera and need good quality and definition.
I use it to record my fitness and dancing classes , so then I could show them or see them to correct some mystakes. I also use it for personal picturs with friends at night easy to carry in any bag or pocket.
It is really a very good product equation COST-BENEFIT

It's my first digital camera and I really like it.
You can take amazing pictures with it and you can enjoy of a lot of extras too.

We are really enjoying this camara. We went to a concert this wekend and got great pictures. I love the smile detection. We have two small children under 3 so it comes in handy. I also love the slide show options. We have been very pleased and even the battery lasted us the whole weekend.

amazing camera form sony. delivered on time at the best price from amazon. love it.bought my flat screen from amazon too!

Had been doing research for several months and finally selected the Sony. Made the right deceision, everything I expected.

LOVE MY NEW SONY CAMERA.....THE PICTURES ARE SHARP, THE SLIDESHOW WITH MUSIC IS SUCH AN ADDED BONUS....AND THE EASE OF WHICH TO TAKE A PICTURE, WOW!!!!

Bought this camera to replace our Fugi S3000 3.2 Mpix Digi Camera. It had great reviews and everything works as advertised (the smile shutter is very cool) expect the most important thing, the PICTURE! The picture really stinks. It is VERY hard to take crisp pictures with this camera. The pictures are all very soft and almost out of focus. Unfortuneately we kept the camera beyond the return period or I would definately return it. The 4 yr old Fuji takes MUCH better pictures. I would NOT recommend this camera as I have seen similar review issues (NOW...) on many other sites. Buy something else.

I've owned this camera for several months now. It's mainly my wife's camera. She carries it in her purse most days.

I'll start with the negatives and then get to the positives:

The charger requires you to remove the battery to charge it. You cannot operate the camera from any power supply in the meantime. Rarely did I ever do this with my old Sony, but I did do it a few times. This gives you no option other than buying more accessories from Sony, which is where they always get you.

The charger is unreliable. If you put the battery in and you walk away, there's probably a 30% chance that it won't charge. Rather the light will blink identifying some problem. I jiggle the battery in and out, and it starts working again. This has left us with a dead battery on more than one occasion.

The lens cover that automatically closes to protect it - very flimsy. Ours broke after a short time of my wife carrying this in her purse. I'm sure it had makeup and stuff bouncing off of it, but the old Sony stood the test of time for 3 years of the same abuse. In fact, that camera still works if you're careful to make sure the shots are in focus (remember I mentioned half the shots are bad these days - thats if you don't concentrate)

We asked someone to take a picture of us and they dug their fingernail tip into the button. The silver covered plastic is now permanently dented. Again, I know this isn't regular usage, but the old Sony has had dozens of random people snap our picture without fail.

The size of the camera - for a really compact camera, this is not very compact. It's actually larger than our older Sony (which had almost all the same features). I expected in three years of development that they'd miniaturize more of it, or at least reduce its weight. It's actually heavier, too. This need for more space may have led to the off-board charger.

Classic Sony accessories game - The Memory Stick required for this always costs more than the comparable SD cards used in many other brands. If it wasn't for the overall quality and features of Sony stuff, I'd avoid it due to the ridiculous accessory prices.

And now what I actually like about this camera:

5x Optical Zoom! Wow, that's a lot in the world of compact cameras. I never turn on digital zoom (as that's just a waste of pixels) so this 5x was a major selling point for me. It is noticeably different than 4x.

It takes great pictures most of the time. With my last camera, I started getting bad shots about every other pic.. so we upgraded and that problem is gone.

The features are easy to handle. Any moron could operate this camera in Easy Mode. Even the same person could handle the auto modes with a little light reading. This camera is easy to use.

Looks - It looks really good. A lot of people have complimented us for having a cool looking camera. (I believe the black helps that) I realize the point is not the looks, but these colors sure seem to influence sales.


Summary: This is a nice camera. Take care of it, and it should serve you well for a while. I will have to send mine in for repair, and then it will be treated as a fragile item for the rest of its service life. I can't assume that this camera will be nearly as tough as the old Sony I had. In this age of Chinese produced crap, this camera is a shining example of lack of durability. You're working backwards, Sony.

Well let me tell you where I come from first so that you guys know that I am not just trying to criticize this. I have owned 3 sony cybershot cameras before and let me tell you, this is the worst one of them all. The last camera I purchased was DSC-P150 from over two years ago, and pictures looked fantastic!! With or without the flash. Colors were always crisp, sharpness was excellent very very sharp! So I figured I needed another pocket camera, I mean after two years, sony has probably made better models. Well when I got DSC-W150 and took a first picture which looked very fine on it's nice big display, I then transfered it to PC and was horrified! The picture looked very very grainy, bluish, purplish, grayish spots are around most of the objects in the pictures. Sharpness is no good, objects blur around the edges..OMG!! I couldn't believe it, even after playing around and tweaking all kind of settings it's just HORRIBLE. Sony wants $200 for this? You guys lost you mind. Fix it! Bring back DSC-P150. By the way, I recommend any of DSC-P100, P150, or P-200. You can still find them on ebay used, as they been discountinued. But trust me this is just a waste of your money...
Boris

I got this for my husband and for work. We needed a wide angle lens and this one was the biggest I could find in a camera this size. It's working great and we're totally pleased. You will definately need a memory card for taking lots of pictures, but that's with any camera. The only thing to be aware of - the "Red" camera was a little cheaper, so I went for that - but my husband and everyone says it looks like a dark pink. Luckily my husband is secure! So, if you're getting it for a man, be aware that the red is pink.