Sony Cybershot DSCW300 13.6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom with Super Steady Shot |  | Brand: Sony
Category: Photography
Buy New: $499.00
as of 9/10/2010 05:49 CDT details
New (2) Used (4) Refurbished (2) from $250.00
Seller: A4893888
Rating:  reviews
Color: Silver
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: Yes
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Optical Zoom: 3
Display Size: 2.7
Maximum Focal Length: 22.8
Minimum Focal Length: 7.6
Maximum Resolution: 13
Has Red Eye Reduction: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 3.7 x 0.7 x 2.3
MPN: DSC-W300
Model: DSC-W300
UPC: 027242728905
EAN: 0027242728905
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | 13.6-megapixel Super HAD CCD image sensor | | • | 3x optical zoom/6x digital zoom (35mm-105mm) lens | | • | BIONZ image processor delivers speed and precision | | • | Large, 2.7-inch Clear Photo LCD display | | • | Smile Shutter technology captures smiles |
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Product Description
Sony's DSC-W300 Digital Camera features an astounding 13.6 megapixels for supreme clarity and sharpness, an amazing feat for an easy-to-use point-and-shoot digital camera. With its advanced features and state-of-the-art technology, the DSC-W300 is the ultimate combination of cutting edge capability in a user-friendly package. Your ability to shoot crystal clear portraits, family events and vacation sunrises will increase thanks to the unique innovations Sony has pioneered in this revolutionary compact camera.
The DSC-W300 features a Carl Zeiss 3x optical zoom, a 2.7" LCD screen and a tough, titanium scratch-resistant body. As part of its advanced functionality, the DSC-W300 includes Smile Shutter Technology to capture smiles the moment they happen. With its Anti-Blur Solution and Super SteadyShot Dynamic Range Optimization, you are sure to get the clear images you want easily. What's more, with its Extra-High Sensitivity of ISO 3200 and its Sony BIONZ™ high-speed processing engine, you get maximum shooting capability in low-lighting conditions. The DSC-W300 also features automatic Red-Eye Fix, a 9-Point Auto Focus and an Easy-Shooting mode for beginners or those who prefer to keep things simple.
Features:
- 13.6 Megapixel Super HAD CCD
- Carl Zeiss 3X Optical Zoom Lens (35mm-105mm)
- 2.7”1 Clear Photo LCD Display
- Anti-scratch Premium Titanium body
- Face Detection Technology
- Smile Shutter Technology
- Sony Double Anti-Blur Solution Powered by the exclusive Sony BIONZ high-speed processing engine
- EXTRA High Sensitivity (ISO 3200) Mode
- Dynamic Range Optimization Standard & Plus
- Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization
- Intelligent Scene Recognition Mode
- Variable Noise Reduction
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| Customer Reviews:
 Techno Geeks Review. July 14, 2008
Chris M. Reibold
120 out of 123 found this review helpful
To start things off, please. Do not listen to the reviewers who said that the lens is poor. The lens on this camera, when compared to the lens on the Canon Sd790IS, Sd1100IS, and SD770IS, simply trumps them in every way - from middle to the extreme corners of the image. The canon, however, becomes very blury toward the edges giving a kind of "motion" feeling - not the sony.
Some say the canon shots look for colorful and eye-popping. To achieve shots like this, simply go into program mode, adjust the image sharpness to "+" and the color mode to "vivid" and the pictures are the same, if not better. The sony outdoes canon here by adding in a Dynamic range optimization in three steps: off, normal, or extra. With this, the camera can achieve a great range of colors in both the highlights and shadows of a shot.
Where as the sony doesn't have the "color-swap" wiz-bang functions, it does have more usefull settings like the Extra High Speed Burst setting, which can take 5 Frames per second! I tested this with my dog rolling around in the yard, and at each frame the camera had shot at such a high shutter speed my dog was stopped in time with out any blur. These pictures are only at 3MP, but are still very respectable for a camera that can fit in your shirt pocket. Also, the camera has program settings to bring out different colors in an image to achieve a certain look. Either Blue, Red, Green, or your can change the image to warmer or color depending on the shot you want to take. The green mode is very usefull for macro nature shots.
Also - 13.6 megapixels may be to big for some people (roughly 5-5.5 MB's per image), however when you turn the notch down to 8M, Bayer Interpolation goes away on the sensor, and the picture quality, in good light, starts to approach starter level SLR's, when the noise reduction is set right. Simple do a search on Flickr for "W300" to see what i mean.
One small gripe though - you cannot zoom while recording video. You CAN zoom before starting the video, but once the camera starts recording you cannot zoom in or out any further.
I also purchased Soft Carrying Case (Genuine Leather) LCS-TWB for DSC-T100,T75 T70,T25,T20, W90,W85,W80,W55,W35 black with this camera, and although the case doesn't even mention this camera in the compatibility list (I believe this camera came out AFTER this case) the case works wonderfully with the camera, and makes the already exuding quality of this product feel even more classy.
P.S. -> Nikon Is going to use the Sony developed sensor in this camera on their upcoming "P6000" flagship advanced P&S, adding to the credibility of this camera.
Spend more time learning about your cameras... July 5, 2008
T. Duong (Dallas, TX USA)
52 out of 54 found this review helpful
To those that are blaming the lack of sharpness on lens quality... I think the lens is phenomenal considering the size of the sensor.
I myself personally own a canon 700 IS, and this camera as well. I have spent ample time framing the same shot with both cameras and changing settings on both cameras.
In my opinion the sony IS capable of creating very sharp pictures superior in both color saturation and exposure then the canon series. It just isn't as obvious to do it as the canon as the canons don't offer near the amount of manual options that the sony offers. They pretty much lock the consumer into making good pictures and the consumers think they're the greatest.
That said, even a digital SLR can take very poor/soft pictures if you don't focus correctly. Spot, scene, average focusing can cause lots of problems with sharpness.
To make the sony perform as a Canon series camera would, place the camera into the auto mode, enable the iSCN option (not iSCN+). No muss no fuss sharp pictures just like Canons with in my opinion more vivid pictures and realistic colors. At least compared to my canon 700IS.
Either way, both cameras are great, both cameras have their shortcomings as they are compact cameras, but every digital camera is capable of taking great pictures. Just have to spend more time learning about it and trying to get the best performance out of them.
Fit For The Job. September 15, 2008
Mr. H. C. Orr (England)
37 out of 39 found this review helpful
I must start by saying that this camera (DSC-W300) is the first digital camera I have purchased. I have some experience with 35mm SLRs, but I wanted a versatile piece of kit that would enable me to upload pictures to the internet, print directly from the camera, and add images to my PlayStation 3 console.
The first thing I should note, and as indicated by the above comments, is that I think compact cameras are fundamentally utility devices. There are many people on the internet who criticise this model's unsuitability for longer-distance and wide-angle photography, and the lack of many video modes. On the first point, I would say this: compact cameras are designed for high quality close-up images (family and friends groups, primarily) and are not designed for vary-focal images (e.g., someone standing 300 yards in front of Mount Fuji and expecting both to be in focus perfectly). On the second point: movie modes on a still camera are a lovely bonus for a camera but are an add-on that should not be counted towards any final evaluation of the product. Sorry to sound snotty, but those are the basics.
So, does the W300 add up for the basics? Clearly, the Carl Zeiss lens is going to deliver on the bread and butter family snaps that is always going to be the brief for compacts. The 13.9 megapixel rating is useful, although the 8MP setting offers fantastic quality images that can be converted to 16:9 1080p for viewing on televisions. It is true that the .9 of a MP seems to have been lost in the implementation of actually taking photos, as the highest setting is the flat 13MP!
There are the usual ISO presets, automatic and night settings, as well as smile detection technology. Again, the brief of a compact camera has been observed well by Sony, weighing easy-of-use against range of use. This is again apparent in the neat Movie Mode: the 640 "fine" and "standard" image settings are perfectly acceptable for on-the-fly movies showing the drunken antics and practical jokes that are the stock-in-trade of the light-hearted situations that the W300 predominantly deals with. The MPEG-1 video format is also compatible with Windows Media Player and the PS3, among others.
The software that comes with the W300 enables the user to add their photos to a calendar on their PC, and even add location details for each picture via internet maps. The standard easy-to-use image manipulation features are there, again underlining the pick-up-and-play nature of compacts. Videos can be converted to WMV, too.
On the downside, the zoom is only x3, meaning for the occasions when it is needed it is not as versatile as, say, some of the Panasonic models. Secondly, the battery life is not quite what I expected (quoted in the manual at 150 minutes -with LCD panel switched on- for taking pictures alone), and the charge time for a full battery is a whopping 330 minutes. These are the only significant drawbacks to the camera that I have found thus far.
Build quality is excellent, as expected from a Japanese-made product. The LCD screen is more durable than I had expected, and its 2.7" size is more than large enough for viewing back and editing any images.
My first impressions of this product are very positive. As a compact camera the DSC-W300 is a very capable camera, with many of the intelligent design features expected from Sony. However, for those wanting a decent amount of zoom or other quasi-SLR features, it may be best to go for another model, or just take the plunge and go for an SLR instead.
Big MP, Little Noise, Well-rounded Features October 6, 2008
E. Souza
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
Given the list of criteria that matter most to me for a point and shoot digital camera, I seem to keep coming back to a Sony model as much as I try to explore the field when I'm in the market for a new camera. This time around as I was preparing to update from the Sony dsc-p200 I've had for 3-4 yrs, I wanted a more pocketable formfactor, optical image stabilization, closer macro focus, higher MP rating while maintaining at least the level of image quality I get from my current P&S, continued access to manual control of shutter and aperture and, finally, a wider angle + longer telephoto range.
Tall order it seems in the P&S category. At first I rejected the w300 because of its pedestrian 35-105 mm focal length, though it had everything else I was looking for, but subsequent investigation didn't turn up many other options that didn't offer some other tradeoff. When it came to evaluating the relative merits of the various tradeoffs I determined that the focal length wasn't my greatest concern, based on my photography habits. And where there are not remedies for the shortcomings of the other cameras I considered, Sony does offer the option of wider angle and telephoto lenses for the w300.
So the w300 it is and what a camera it turned out to be. Nearly doubling the the maximum resolution of my current P&S camera while not introducing any more noise to the picture, the image quality is superb. Fine details come through in lower light conditions where other 10+ MP cameras I tested would lose those details in aggressive noise. Color temperature is perhaps a little warm by default but easily manageable while framing the picture or in post-processing and isn't generally displeasing by any means. I wouldn't claim a trained eye for objective image quality but I know what I like and this represents the single most important factor in a camera purchase for me and the w300 puts a lot of others to shame in this regard. I've seen others mention that the w300 experiences some noticeable color fringing but I haven't seen it in the shots I've taken so far (600+).
I make heavy use of the burst function on my P&S cameras, so it's nice to have the expanded options the w300 has over the p200 - not that the newer options are out of the ordinary now in newer P&S cameras. In particular, the infinite burst shoot mode is fun although, besides needing to drop resolution to 3 MP for each shot, it also seems to degrade image quality. The burst modes generally perform well but occasionally stutter and seem a little less reliable than the burst mode on the p200 in that regard. Of course, this may have something to do with a higher volume of data overall while writing to the standard MS pro duo card I currently have (as opposed to one of the "Extreme" cards with higher transfer rate).
I also use the Macro focus capability of my camera heavily and I appreciate the ability to now focus as close as 5 cm. That would seem to be as close as I'll need to get to most subjects and any further cropping around the image subject in postprocessing will retain a picture with enough resolution to still make the picture suitable for larger printed shots, thanks to that 13 MP sensor.
I can't speak to the stuff like facial recognition and smile shutter as they aren't of primary interest to me and I haven't really used them other than in an in-store demo for my wife. It certainly handled a transition from a feigned grimace to a slight smile in smile shutter mode but that's all I can offer here.
I prefer the minimalist menu UI of my p200 and the other Sony cameras of the time, but the w300 is not alone among new Sony models or among other camera brands in bringing more flash and better than 8-bit iconography to the menu navigation system. There's simply going to be some adjustment required, so not a knock against the camera, since everything seems to be organized logically enough.
As much as I tried to make a break from Sony's digital cameras this time around, it still ended up being a Sony model that had the best combination of features that appealed to my photography tastes. I think the w300 more than holds its own among the top competitors in this class. This also seems like a respectably future-proof P&S camera unless something remarkable happens in optics in the next few years.
Good little camera July 4, 2008
J. Redden (Texas)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
It's a good little pocket camera and meets my needs for an easy-to-carry camera with lots of features. I mainly bought it based on reviews from Amazon and have been satisfied so far. However, the usual description of "What's in the Box" was not there, so I unnecessarily ordered a charger for $44 just to be sure. There is one included with the camera. Maybe I can use the extra one when I leave the first one in a motel room somewhere.
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