For the photography novice it is so easy to use! (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W210)

Member Name: bkecky

Product:	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W210
Date:	16/09/09 (249 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Just so easy! Oh and the smile editor!

Disadvantages: Need that duo adaptor

So when I had to manually open the shutter on my old Sony and the battery slide had dropped off so I had to hold the memory card in I thought it was time to buy a new camera. I bought this on my recent cruise and so I paid $179 for it which was actually a very good price for this camera. I mean it doesn't do backflips but for my usage it is perfectly acceptable and very easy to use. I'm afraid I am not too great on the technology side of things so this review will mainly be on the features and the ease of use because I can't really comment on the tech bit as i don't quite understand it. But I imagine the general consumer is pretty much in the same boat so I think the review will still be useful.

The camera may not be as slim as some of the cameras on sale these days but I am quite happy about that being clumsy and also having a rather large handbag for it to get lost in! I was quite impressed with the quality of the photos compared with my old camera (although it really had seen it's day!).

There are various modes on the little dial on the camera:
Auto-adjustment - Great for people like me who really don't know the first thing about photography except to point and shoot. It adjusts everything to the best of it's ability and 9 times of of 10 it comes out alright. The only issue is night time where if you are taking a close up of people or objects it is fine but landscapes go a bit blurry.

Easy Shooting - I rarely use this but it tells me that it uses a simplified display. If that means anything to anyone!

Smile Shutter - One of my favourite settings to capture smiles.

High Sensitivity - Particularly useful for photos at night where the lighting is a bit dodgy or there is dim lighting.

Soft Snap - For taking photos with a soft background.

Landscape - For taking photos of landscapes.

Twilight portrait - For taking close up photos at night.

Twilight - For taking night pictures from afar.

Movie Mode - Does what it says, used to record movies.

Programme auto - Auto exposure with adjustable settings.

There is also a button to take the display information off, turn the flash off, self timer and to focus on close up objects. To be honest I rarely adjust the settings unless I am taking photos at night and although some may criticise and say I am not making the most of my camera. If they come out clear and I can see what is going on I am happy.

You can also change the image size, shoot priority on adult or children's smiles, increase or decrease smile sensitivity, adjust the brightness, use steady shot and add music. I like the retouching options that allow you to crop images, correct red eye, sharpen pictures around a chosen point, blur the periphery of a chosen point, surround a point in monochrome, use a fish eye effect, add a starburst effect, apply a radial blur, blur and dim the periphery and modify people's faces to appear as if they are smiling. This fascinates me! I play with this a lot and you can change it on five levels. Great for editing grumpy people! Although you have to be careful if other people are smiling in the photo because they can end up looking a bit clownish!

The play mode is very easy to use, just press the button and use the arrows on the button pad to navigate through them. I really think anyone could use this camera. To upload them is easy with the cable too. One point is that mine didn't actually have a duo adaptor, which is slightly annoying as I have to use the cable to print off or to upload them to my computer. However this may be a foreign product thing. Due to the memory card for Sony being smaller you need one of these for ease of use really. Also the charger was American but my old Sony camera had an English charger so i just put the battery in that and it works fine.

Overall if you are a bit of a technophobe or not exactly sure what you are doing with photography I would recommend it because it is so easy to use and within minutes I was set up and running with it. I would have liked a black and white/sepia mode and a beach mode but I suppose we can't have everything in life for this price!

Summary: Really happy with it!

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