Easy to use, excellent results

This was a present from my husband, and my first"serious" digital camera - and I love it!

Menu is very easy to use, very good results in the iA mode, but I also like playing about with the Scenes - using them more than I first thought I would to excellent effect.

Highly recommended

Battery life not a problem - get hi-power rechargeables

Battery life is not a problem. Get hi-power rechargeables. Sony do branded ones (even available in larger branches of Tesco!!). I personally use Energizer Advanced rechargeables with a rated capacity of 2500 mAh. They last about 100 shots per pair. I recharge them with an Energizer 15 minute recharger (actually takes about 20 minutes! - and the batteries come out HOT - so I leave another minute or too before putting back in the camera). I suggest other reviewers are using cheap, low-capacity batteries or mediocre disposables. I took three sets of batteries (one pair in the camera, + 4 in the little packet you buy them in (suitable re-taped to hold it together) on my recent trip to Russia - I had no problems with battery life at all!!

Brilliant camera!

After submitting a pretty bad review about the Sony 730 regarding terrible battery life i decided to give Sony another go and purchased the W110. Absolutely love it. Very easy to use, light and no battery problem as this uses rechargable Li-ion battery. Have taken about 100 practice shots and battery shill going strong. Had a play with the smile feature as didn't think it would work - but it does! Internal memory only holds about 5 photos but not a problem as 2GB card holds over 500. Not had chance to play around with all the features but am impressed with what i've seen so far

Fit For The Job.

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.

Best budge camera

Image quality is best. Easy to use and good Ni battery. Very light weight and small in size (almost as big as Nokia N95 and similar weight). Need to buy separate memory stick.

Amazing Camera

There are lots of reviews on this so I'll be quick and specific; my wife had an Ixus 40 before this and it wasn't great in low light, she often got blurred shots and the battery life was poor, though she did love the small camera size and pics in good light did come out well. I got her this by way of an upgrade and WOW!

It's great in lower light (higher ISO), the Image Stabilisation means she gets fewer blurred shots and the battery life is WAY better. The face detection is also really good as you can now give the camera to Granny and not get a shot with blurred people and the wall behind perfectly sharp. The screen is also bigger than older models so Gran now stands a chance of seeing it, too.

I use an DSLR myself and I'm still amazed by the picture quality that comes from this little marvel, it is amazing for such a small bit of kit. From an upgrade perspective the old spare battery, case and memory cards from the Ixus 40 all fit.

Downsides? The wide end of the lens range (38mm equiv) isn't that wide but it does suffice. Other than that it's tough fault at this price, size etc. Previous Ixus XX users - it's time to upgrade!

Delivery very quik

I ordered it Monday 03/11 and Amazon estimated dispatching it 06/11 (I used the free delivery option). It was dispatched 05/11 and got it 06/11, very quick.

It is much smaller than I expected, looks very nice and it is much nicer in white than in black.

Will feed back again after trying it for a few weeks.

Perfect point and click camera

Bought as a carry in your pocket point and shoot and very happy with it. Good battery life, Good auto focus/exposure control. Produces good results on the go. So easy to use even my 3 year old managed some good shots with it.

Incredible zoom

Having been thinking about buying a new camera to replace my ageing 5mp point-and-shoot for a few months, I was tied between the Lumix TZ5 and this camera. Having played with them on the high street there was absolutely no competition.

I took this camera away with me to Turkey a couple of weeks ago. Knowing very little about photography I kept the camera on automatic most of the time, though the sunset and sports modes are very good, the sunset scene mode really brings out the reds and oranges in sunsets. Using a tripod you can get some really amazing night shots. In the right hands you could get some brilliant shots with this toy, that's not to say that an amateur can't achieve similar results.

I'm very pleased that I invested in a 2gb Sandisk extreme card before leaving. There is a noticeable difference between saving pictures to this card and saving to a standard Sandisk card - sometimes of a few seconds. My 2gb SD card will store just over 400 photos at full resolution, I really should get another.

What really sets this camera apart is the zoom function. 18x optical zoom means that you can happily play paparazzi, getting some brilliant shots from far away with no degredation in quality. The camera allows you to disable the digital zoom completely - meaning that you don't accidentally start taking degraded photos.

The best example of the zoom is some of the photos I took whilst away. Taking a photo from the top of a hill of the view down over the harbour you can see a small black object in the sea. Zooming in on this you can clearly see two people sat in an inflatable boat eating sandwiches! Rest assured that you will really be amazed.

The colours of the pictures are incredible, on a recent trip to Scotland I took numerous photos of landscapes and sunsets, all of which have come out clear and crisp with extremely vibrant colours.

Having looked into the lowepro cases I couldn't find a case that could happily hold the camera without being absolutely massive. Popping into Jessops I found one of their own brand cases that fits the camera snugly, without being a really tight fit. Best of all it only cost me £6.00

All in all I am thrilled with this camera. Having played with numerous cameras over the past few weeks, this fills a niche between simple point-and-shoot cameras and full blown DSLR cameras. Whilst incredibly simple for an amateur to use, I'm sure any professional will be more than at home with some of the more complicated functionality.

Fantastic - exceeded expectations

This is a really good camera. I bought it recently and I am so pleased I did. The Shake Control is really good - as good as that on a camera 4x the price. The red eye reduction and face detection work equally well. It's simple to set up, and the software installed very quickly. The only drawbac was that it is from the USA, so I need an adaptor to be able to charge it, but I picked one up for £5. Overall, this is perfect if you want a quality, stylish, tech - packed camera.

Super Camera!

Toss up between this & the Canon Ixus 75. Decided to go for this as I wanted a bit more than point & click. I used to have a Canon Powershot A95 & this completely walks all over it. The colours are miles better. Heartily recommended to anyone who wants a lot in a small package.

Compact camera with useful zoom and wide angle

A good-sized compact camera that is small enough to put in a shirt pocket but has large enough controls to manipulate easily. The camera feels solid and the Zeiss lens seems very sharp, with the 2.5 inch screen being of a reasonable size. The 4x zoom is easy to operate and the quick zoom button is also quite useful. The wide-angle (30mm) capability was the feature that most attracted me to this camera and it works well, both for landscapes and for interior photography. With a capacity of 10 megapixels the camera should be able to cope with most projects and this resolution can be reduced for day-to-day snap taking. Menus are fairly intuitive and are quick and easy to negotiate and there appears to be a good selection of useful modes including face detection etc. The camera use SD cards but also has an internal memory so you can carry on taking pictures when the card is full. The instruction book is fairly comprehensive and, if not exactly well written, it can be followed with care and a bit of re-reading.

I bought the camera because I wanted a small camera I could pop in a pocket rather than lugging my digital SLR around, this camera gives me that option and it is the same resolution as my much bulkier SLR! At this price I think it represents a good compromise between a small, basic point and shoot camera and something a bit more sophisticated, and it has useful zoom and wide-angle functions that can still be used without fuss on automatic.

Very Disappointing

I thought these cameras would be quite standard in terms of quality / performance etc. I had a Nikon which was great, but got broken. I bought this and couldn't believe how bad it was. Poor pictures, very slow to save to memory, hopeless flash. I have thrown it out and bought a Sony, which is fantastic!

Fantastic camera for snorkeling

<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R36O5TUZKHDLOE">Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R36O5TUZKHDLOE</a> Video footage taken in Sharm El Sheikh using the Olympus 1030 SW camera and an M+ XD picture card which lets you take videos for more than 10 seconds in VGA mode. The 2GB card I have allowed 18mins of continuous video. I was diving around 7 meters with no problems, the camera claims to go as deep as 10. The underwater photos the camera takes are also superb. There is no commentary on the video, let the footage speak for itself.

Ixus 85IS

Recieved this camera as a present. Beautiful tiny size. A delight to put in ones pocket before a day out. Beats carrying my Fuji 6500fd in a large case. Nice big screen so you can compose the image. I've had the Canon A80 and A95 in the past and for user friendly-ness the Ixus is as good. Have put a 4gb SDHC card in and its telling me on the highest resolution I could get 894 photos on the card. Battery life is superb. The biggest drawback of this camera, and it is a huge drawback for me, is the quality of the photos. They are not as sharp as my old A80 4MP, A95 5MP or my Fuji 6500fd (sharpest camera I've ever owned). The Ixus is 10mp so you would think that it would be the best of the lot.... wrong. The problem possibly lies with the lens, although quite sharp in the middle, towards the edges of the frame, expecially corners, I would say that the image quality is terrible, slushy and blurred. Nice camera let down by poor optics/CCD.

All that you need in a take it every where ultra compact P&S.

Build Quality is excellent: metal body, firm tactile buttons, no creaks in the casing and battery compartment is extremely secure.

Looks: Bearing the Sony Cyber-Shot name across the front against the brushed allumium is absolutely stunning with the dark metallic trim matching the body of the lens.

Battery life: It is quite good I haven't experienced it dying out in the middle of a day trip or occasion where lots of snaps get taken.

Images: Are as good as you can get in a Point and Shoot of this size. Extremely sharp n clear in daylight & darkness and the 4x optical zoom is great. Auto-focus and smile detection are useful for snapping the kids.

Ease of Use: Takes a bit of getting use to as I'm more used to big cameras, this is a solid compact camera with smaller buttons (easily fits in your jeans ((who's Jean? lol)) front pocket or a lady's purse) and the zoom is a tiny toggle button on the back instead of on top. Menus are easy to get round though....

Other accessories to buy are the Lowepro Rezo 15 case, screen protectors (helps reduce glare in high sunlight), at least 2GB produo memory cards and micromate MSPD card reader for convenience of avoiding cables. All available cheaply on Amazon.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Great little camera for the money

Bought this specifically to take in the sea on holiday, took some great pictures, works great in or out of the water, however if you use the flash, it reflects somewhat on the waterproof case, if it is fitted. In the bright Greek sunshine though, the flash wasn't needed, and the underwater pics came out very well. Haven't used the video mode, but I only really bought it for underwater still pics. Highly recommended, I bought it from ecom cameras for a little over £50 including express delivery, and I think it is excellent value for money.