Cyber-Sexy (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W55/S)

Name: stayleyvegas

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Product:	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W55/S
Date:	18.06.07 (393 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: sleek, great photos, light & simple to use

Disadvantages: internal memory is too small

I was laid down a challenge by my wife for her birthday present. She wanted a digital camera on the basis our existing one (Nikon Coolpix 775) is nearly five years old and ancient by today’s standards.

She had no idea what but I was given a number of guidelines like “It needs to be light/fit in my hand bag/easy to use” – well there’s loads of choice then and I can hardly go wrong with those rules can I?

My research has opened my eyes in that our Nikon is now something out of the dark ages. We must have taken 1000’s on photos with it and have always been delighted with its performance and totally oblivious as to how technology has moved on.

With the rules laid down it is a veritable minefield of options and the hardest thing is to decide where to start. Luckily a flyer came through our door from Jessops which gave me a start point. This then started an online game of snakes & ladders where through various links you increase the options then 2 hours later (by this time I had a list of about 20 cameras and other than some minor differences they were all, in essence, very similar) find yourself directed back to the original site and first camera looked at!

I therefore took this as a sign because it ticked all the boxes of my mission.

***Techie Stuff***

• Product Description: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W55 - digital camera
• Product Type: Digital camera - point and shoot
• Weight: 116 g
• Dimensions (WxDxH): 8.9 cm x 2.3 cm x 5.7 cm
• Colour: Sleek silver
• Supported Flash Memory: Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo
• Integrated Memory: 56 MB
• Sensor Resolution: 7.2 Megapixel
• Shooting Modes: Frame movie mode
• Lens Aperture: F/2.8-5.2
• Focus Adjustment: Automatic
• Min Focus Range: 50 cm
• Focal Length: 6.3 mm - 18.9 mm
• Optical Zoom: 3 x
• Digital Zoom: 6 x
• Camera Flash: Built-in flash
• Red Eye Reduction: Built-in
• Viewfinder: Optical - real-image zoom
• Display: LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2.5" - colour
• Supported Battery: 1 x Li-ion rechargeable battery

***Opinion***

This is a great, sleek little camera which is packed with everything an amateur enthusiast will want. It weighs only 116 grams (without accessories) and on more than one occasion I have checked my pocket to see if it’s still there!

Unfortunately, it does not come with a case although I bought one on Ebay for £7 (£17 with Amazon) which it fits snugly into and is ideal.

It is a simple, point & shoot camera and the vast majority of the time you will simply leave it on auto as that will cover most photo scenarios. However, there are other options namely: landscape, twilight portrait, soft snap, twilight mode, beach, snow, high sensitivity and these can be shot in black & white, sepia, neutral & vivid.

Whilst it’s not a professional photographer’s camera it’s not supposed to be and the pictures are crystal clear, vibrant, detailed and sharp and the difference between the 7.2 MPix compared to my old 2.0 Mpix is huge. The user menus are very clear and easy to navigate round and use of the 3X optical zoom is simply a matter of clicking left or right on a button. The 6X digital zoom is also very easy to use once you remember what menu it’s on!!

The camera is great to look at, made of brushed aluminium, with a 2.5cm LCD screen which is more than ample albeit the screen resolutions looks worse than my old camera but that is probably due to it being much bigger and the size compensates for it. The large LCD enables easy photo framing & viewing.

It has a 56MB internal memory (totally insufficient) which can be expanded via purchase of an optional Memory Stick Duo (1GB £24.99 http://www.currys.co.uk or much cheaper on Ebay ie 4GB for around £25) or Memory Stick PRO Duo flash media card. I have not as yet purchased additional memory but will need to do so as the internal memory is insufficient for a holiday or trip away.

The instruction manual that comes with it is very easy to understand (although is detailed and takes some time reading page to page if you are so inclined). The software is easy to load and pictures can easily be downloaded to PC via USB 2.0.

The DSC-W55 lets you capture VGA (640 x 480) audio/video clips at high frame rate (up to 30 frames per second), with length limited only by the capacity.

The NP-BG1 lithium ion, rechargeable battery enables you to take up to 380 pictures before it needs recharging and so should be more than adequate for a day out between chargings.

The Sony name and quality as well as the high class Carl Zeiss lens means this is a top class product at a very reasonable price.

Most people will buy this camera looking for something simple, with no technical awareness and simply wanting to take great photos. In that case this is highly recommended as it does exactly what it says on the tin.


***Where to Buy***

This camera is available at all good online stores (and no doubt some bad ones as well) but I narrowed my decision down to the following:

Jessops £159.99 http://www.jessops.com
Amazon £135.88 http://www.amazon.co.uk/
Ebay £139.94 http://www.ebay.co.uk
Misco £138.94 http://www.misco.co.uk
Dabs £140.99 http://www.dabs.com

I ultimately decided to buy via Amazon as it was £129.99 and free postage but closer inspection showed the delivery dates being 3/4 business dates beyond first class deliveries whatever that means and as we wanted it earlier paid for postage (but still cheaper than anywhere else). Order was done on a Saturday and it arrived Tuesday which is good. I could have got it marginally cheaper from elsewhere but have used Amazon lots of times and found their service very good and trust them.

Summary: If the idea of a small, compact camera at a reasonable price appeals then this is worth a look

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