Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150 18.2 MP Exmor R CMOS Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom and 3.0-inch LCD (Silver) (2012 Model)

This camera is very small, but impressively powerful. I have had it for a few days now, and have found nothing that I do not like about it. All the features in the list by Sony, work as promised; the only one I have not tried and am not really interested in, is the 3D feature. But everything else is top notch. I have taken pictures at 18.1 MP and cropped them down to only 1/5 of original size and have still had sharp pictures. Impressive. That is a feature that comes in handy if you have kids or pets running around away from you and you want to catch them from a distance. The HD video is also impressive, and I have had fun taking pictures during video recording; the pictures are set at 13 MP and turn out nice and sharp. One of the features that makes this little powerhouse so easy to use, is the help feature built into the camera itself. Scroll down the letters of the alphabet and you find help for anything you need in simple easy to follow instructions. I have two tripods that I have not tried out with my new camera, but will do so over the weekend. With nice weather for the Northwest it should be a good time to go outside and experiment with the many features of this camera. And while it IS full of features, they are not difficult to find, nor are they difficult to learn how to use. Thus, if you are looking for a pocket sized point and shoot that can take top notch photos and video, this one is for you. :-) Edited March 3, 2013 I have used this camera since last fall, and have only good to say about it. I am using it with a one legged tripod, but am planning to get a smaller three legged one, like Joby GorillaPod Hybrid Gray. The pictures are impressive, but even more impressive are the video capabilities of this small camera. I am still not interested in the 3D, but that is the only feature of this little mega camera that I do not use. The zoom works best on a tripod or when holding the camera on something sturdy. The following is a video of my betta fish tank; I held the camera on a shelf, but I was standing on an angle from the camera, so the picture is not as centered as I would like it to be: [...]

If you're reading this review, chances are you're researching and shopping around for a camera. I did the same thing for over a year (no even kidding). I had my heart set on a Canon because every person at Best Buy pointed me in that direction. Here were my wants: Long zoom Light weight and small Cool color Easy to use - I wanted a point-and-shoot... I wanted to do exactly what it said in the title... point... and shoot. Not point, adjust, move, zoom, adjust, tweak, change color, move a few steps, and finally shoot. No thanks. I seriously had my heart set on a Canon until I walked into National Camera Exchange in Edina and the sales guy showed me the Canons, said they were great cameras but wait... have you checked out this Sony? Again, I was stubborn but decided to check it out. The guy literally spent a half hour with me trying to sway me away from the Canon and towards the Sony. I'm SO glad he did. Sony has a 10 times zoom - the Canon only had a 5 or 8, its much lighter and smaller, so much easier to use, really quick - I can point... oh and look at that - I can shoot! And it turns out awesome! Have you used panoramic before? It sold me! I just got back from Hawaii (the reason I bought the camera) and it took AMAZING pictures of ocean, beaches, rocks, ohhhh amazing. The picture looked better than it did in real life! I know the other reviews on here have given the camera a 5 star and I did too but coming from someone who: A. I'm cheap. Spending 250 bucks on anything is a lot to me. B: I used my iPod touch camera for a while... apparently my standards aren't that high. C. I'm stubborn and for a year thought I wanted a Canon. Turns out I didn't. D. I listened to the expert at the store - he wasn't a Sony rep, he wasn't on commission - he sold me the camera he thought fit me the best and gave me the best 'bang for my buck' as I told him I wanted. Well done, sir, well done. You won't regret the camera =)

We bought this camera to replace an 8 year old Sony 6mp point & shoot camera. The DSC-WX150 is cheaper than the old model and quite a lot less configurable. We've tried three or four cameras over the years and until now haven't been able to find an adequate replacement for it, not for 200 bucks anyway. This is a tiny camera, we have it set to 6:4 picture shape or postcard size as I always think this shape looks so much nicer when emailing or printing images. The default aspect is 4:3 the same shape as the cameras sensor so like an old fashioned TV screen. By setting aspect to 6:4 does mean a pair of small blank strips to the he top and bottom of the monitor screen. This also brings down the number of pixels in play from 18mp to a more manageable 13mp - so more space on the card and your PC for images. Who needs 18mp pics anyway? Okay about the camera, first the few niggles and quibbles I have with it. The camera does a lot of smart processing of images, there is no raw or less compression settings, so you're basically stuck with this whether you like it or not - Ideal for anyone who who's not into post-processing. The result of this process is revealed when you look at images at full size, white faces look pink and smoothed with artifacts evident. This appears to be caused by some over-zealous noise removal. The flip side of which is the camera performs well in quite dark situations without needing flash. As with most things your gain can have consequences elsewhere,in this case cropping and blowing up a portion of the image isn't very rewarding to say the least. I would also have liked the usual menu item giving, vivid/bright/natural saturation options. This is not much to ask in a camera at any price level. That's the not so good, hows about the good and very good and there's plenty of that! The 10x optical zoom is smooth and there appears to be little image degradation at either wide or telephoto. The zoom works in movie mode. Movie mode? why bother? This is an excellent movie camera. My wife has a dedicated Sony DCR-SX65 handycam and this baby knocks the socks of it and it's full HD as well. Pictures are sharp straight out of the camera with reasonable resolution, until you pixel peep, but we're looking at a $200 camera here and not a $1000 dSLR. We intend taking this camera which easily slips into a top pocket without bulging or weighing it down to Thailand and Cambodia next month, it looks exactly what we need. I agree with other feedbacks, grab yourself a replacement knockoff battery, they're as cheap as chips, we had one delivered to our home from China for $3.50. So for a few ommissions like the ability to choose some settings I can recommend this Sony for anyone looking for a cheap point and shoot which delivers sharp and decent resolution images in a very small case.

If you are a photo-purist, you will not like this camera. It does not take RAW images; there are no manual exposure controls (other than the ISO setting); and it lacks both a manual focus ring and the ability to switch-out $1,500 lenses. Add to this the fact that the camera applies a degree of in-camera processing to every shot taken and you pixel-peeping people will be outraged at the result when your images are blown-up to the football-field proportions that 18.2 megapixels affords. Maybe a D3 is the camera you need after all? Similarly, you geeky folks that wax lyrical of bells and whistles will be disappointed to learn that this camera does not do wi-fi, does not contain a GPS and, so far, I have not discovered any way to use it for sending text messages. If, on the other hand, like me, you accept up-front that the WX150 purports to be nothing more than a darn good 'point and shoot' camera, you will not be disappointed. The stats are there for all to see and, in the two weeks I have owned and used this camera, I have been more than happy with the performance. What is not there to see so obviously on amazon.com is that this camera feels sturdy and well-built, yet is small enough to fit into a cigarette packet. Battery life is excellent (250+ photos per charge, even with the $5.00 look-alike batteries); there is no (yes zero!) noticeable shutter-lag when not using the flash; and it is blazingly fast (getting from switch-on to 'ready' probably takes less than 2 seconds and when zooming/focusing it is almost instantaneous, rivaling DSLR's). Having switched off the battery-saving 'eco' option (which, in the default mode, annoyingly shuts-down the camera after one minute if no settings are changed) I have absolutely nothing negative to say about the WX150 at this stage. I will be back to update this review if I am subsequently disappointed by some as-yet-undiscovered weakness. July 25, 2012 - Update Looking at all the other reviews here, it seems I was wise to wait (as I did) several months for this camera to become available in the USA. I have now been using the WX150 for a further eight weeks and its performance as a truly 'pocket-sized' point and shoot continues to be hugely impressive. It could never compete with a mid/high-end DSLR, but I defy any DSLR user to find a better 'pocket alternative' at present. In addition to the 'core' camera features, I have recently been enjoying some new perspectives using the (pretty much 1-click) artistic settings. Initially, I thought I would have no use for these 'novelty' features, but the Watercolor and Line Drawing in-camera processing effects are producing some interesting and worthwhile shots. Neither did I anticipate using the video recording option, but I discovered that, (even at the lo-res MP4 setting), this camera takes high quality video indoors in ambient lighting conditions. The hi-res video consumes a lot of memory (of course), but the quality of both picture and audio are absolutely remarkable for a camera of this size ... now you'll have to buy a 55 inch TV from Amazon.com, just to see what I mean ;-) I would advise buyers to also get an external battery charger and an additional battery. The USB charging connection can be very convenient, but so too is being able to swap-out a battery and carry on shooting while the original recharges. The Wasabi batteries are working just fine for me. Wasabi Power Battery and Charger Kit for Sony NP-BN1 and Cyber-shot DSC-T99, DSC-T110, DSC-TX5, DSC-TX7, DSC-TX9, DSC-TX10, DSC-TX20, DSC-TX55, DSC-TX66, DSC-TX100V, DSC-TX200V, DSC-W310, DSC-W320, DSC-W330, DSC-W350, DSC-W360, DSC-W380, DSC-W390, DSC-W... I would also strongly recommend installing a 16GB/32GB Class 10 SDHC, or better, memory card (to get the high-end performance from this camera, you cannot shackle it with a low-end memory card). We can expect broken battery/utility doors, damaged connectors and the occasional 'lemon' failure on miniature cameras such as this - only time will tell us whether these and other reliability features are any better or worse for this camera than they are for its peers. So far, so good, it seems. A photographer friend asked me the other day, "What would be the one thing you would like to improve on the WX150". He forced me to answer. After a few moments thought I replied that the one thing that I would personally like would be for the camera to provide a menu option to capture a RAW image in addition to the processed image. Don't get me wrong ... the image processor in this camera is astonishingly intelligent, but on the odd shot (less than one percent of the total) I would like to try my luck with some manual post-processing. This, despite what I said above - I guess there's still some geek in me after all :-) Mostly though, I am just loving the convenience of my WX150. You can pull this little camera out and be clicking away confidently in a couple of seconds. It is a joy to use and the resulting photographs can be posted, printed (to at least 8x10), or displayed anywhere SOOC (straight out of the camera). November 20, 2012 - Update A couple of quick notes to add my latest experiences ... Some may find this useful. On the negative side - despite keeping my WX150 protected at all times when not in use, a fleck of dust somehow became apparent on one of my lens elements, causing a slight shadow in the corner of photos taken at the mid-zoom range. On the positive side (and quite different to my lens problem experiences with Canon and Olympus in recent years) - Sony respected the warranty. The repair center cleaned and returned my camera within two weeks without charge. We all hope we do not have to return stuff under warranty, but when we do we expect to be treated like a valued customer, so this was a BIG plus for me. Also, I've changed my mind about what I would wish for (If I could have Sony improve one thing on this camera). I would ask for a more scratch-resistant display screen. Because it stands slightly proud of the casing, protective adhesive covers are pretty much useless (they quickly peel at the corners), consequently the surface of my display is now covered with small scratches (from general use and from carrying a spare battery around). Although still fine in use, this degrades the appearance of the camera. I fail to understand why it should be so delicate - the 3 year-old screen on my Blackberry has received severe abuse (it's even been kicked, spinning across a concrete station platform), but it has barely a mark on it. Alright, the phone sucks, but the screen is robust. Come on Sony - you can do better - this weakness is causing me to question whether I might invest in a more expensive camera from Sony.

I don't know much about cameras, I know I wanted a compact camera, I couldn't afford a DSLR and frankly theyre too big, so I spent days reading and searching before buying this and I can see I've made a great choice. The camera is really small, really thin, and really light. The camera came with the battery, battery charger, mini USB cable. NOTE: I bought the camera with a 32 GB SD card. Because the package did not include an SD card. The 32 GBs allow you to take up 5000+ pictures. So if you're going on a vacation. This should be perfect because you won't have to plug it on your laptop everytime to transfer the pictures. The 32 GBs is enough. I recommend you buy a case as well. Maybe a screen protector, none of those came with the package. WHAT I LIKE: + The panorama feature. Excellent! You have to put it on a steady surface and do it somewhat quickly for the picture to come out right cause when I did it really slowly, I couldn't get it right but if you have a tripod, you don't have to worry about that . + The partial color effect. My friend has a DSLR and she has to load the pictures on the PC in order to do the partial color effect. But with the WX150, you can just set it and shoot. I put up two images on Amazon that you can see, partial color red (The car) and partial color green (the plant). HOWEVER, it does sometime leave out parts of that particular color, but it is understandable, every color has different shades . + Quick shots. You can take quick clear shots in less than 1 second, as opposed to waiting 2 seconds until the target if your pictures has moved and the moment is gone. But of course its not the same as take your time with the camera so it can get a crispy clear shot. But its great nonetheless + Its really easy to use. Theres scene selection which I enjoy but if youre not the type to pick what sort of setting you want for your picture, you can just put it on easy mode and it'll do that for you. However, setting it yourself might be better sometimes. + 3D feature. Although I'll probably never use it . It's still nice to mention this to people, that makes them understand how advanced this camera is. WHAT I DISLIKE: - Some pictures lack detail, I expected it to be more detailed than that and I expected them to last when you zoom in on your picture, but theyre clear nonetheless - No Bluetooth or WiFi. This may be a good thing or bad. Depends on you, it'd take a lot of your battery life that's for sure. But when youre travelling it's nice to just upload it to whatever you want, but if you have the SD slot on your laptop, that makes it eaiser as well, you don't have to plug the laptop to the camera everytime just take the SD card out and put it on the laptop - NO HDMI CABLE, NO CASE, NO SD CARD with the package. ALSO, BUY AN EXTRA BATTERY!!! One won't last you a full day esp if you're travelling I love the camera, I recommend it to anyone who wants a compact camera close to an DSLR that's light and small. WHAT I DISLIKE

I purchased this product from Focus Camera (great seller, by the way), which was fulfilled by Amazon. I love all the features this camera has, and did experiment with them when the camera first arrived. I have a Canon T2i as my primary camera, but as a mom on-the-go, I wanted a small point-and-shoot to carry in my purse at all times to have handy for any and all photo moments. Overall I really like the camera. Its size is unbelievably small and compact. The picture quality is decent for a point-and-shoot. As I mentioned, has many extra "fru-fru" functions (different camera effects) but very little manual control, which was fine for me for my purposes with this camera, but if you're looking for a camera that you can change up ISO, f-stop, shutter speed, etc., this is not the camera. My two major complaints are: 1. The battery/memory card slot door is VERY flimsy. For as much as I open and close that thing, I'm not sure how it will hold up over time. Additionally, the door does not close tightly. I don't know if that's an issue with just mine, or if that's across the board on this camera. I feel like I should loop a rubber band around the camera a few times so it's securely closed. 2. At least 50% of the time when I turn the camera on, it tells me that there's no memory card in the camera when there is. Also, I will sometimes have to press the power button several times in order to get it to turn on or off. As I said, overall it's a good camera. Not sure if the issues I'm having are exclusive to mine alone or if other owners of the camera have similar issues.

Frustrating. 1. don't count on using the background defocus. It's fickle. It worked maybe 5% of the time and even then, it focused on the wrong image. 2. If you have a Mac, have fun. You can't upload videos to iPhoto. You have to use iMovie or upload to your computer, purchase special software from Apple's site to convert files to view them in Quicktime. 3. The battery drains so fast. It's astonishing. 4. The battery takes FOR...EVER... to charge. 5. Do you like auto focus when you take video and want to zoom in? Well it doesn't do that well either. Once you zoom in so far, it stops focusing and everything is blurry. 6. The icing? The manual OR should I say "manual" it comes with is not a manual. If you call customer support (which you probably will, it's 800-222-7669) they will offer to email you the FULL manual. Really??? Why wouldn't I want the full manual from the start? I've owned Lumix, Cannon, Panasonic and other Sony digital cameras. I've never had so many problems with one camera before. This one's going back. OCT. 1st. 2012 UPDATE! I just bought the Panasonic DMC-ZS19. I've been playing with it all day. NO problems. I love it. LOVE IT! The zoom with auto focus is amazing compared to the Sony. It has all the great features & bells & whistles as the SOny minus the background defocus, but I was told by a sales associate that it was just a Sony gimmick anyway. It wasn't intended to work well and it is the only point & shoot with the feature but in the future there will be more and they will work better. LOVE my Lumix!

I've been looking for a small camera that takes really nice pictures. Something I can keep in my coat or bag to have at all times. Bought several others and returned them. This is the keeper. The image quality is DECIDEDLY superior to anything else I've tried in the sub-$200 price range. Also superior to a few more expensive models I've looked at in store. In full daylight, the pictures are sharp as tacks. In a poorly lit room, the quality does go down a touch, but nothing like any of the other cameras I've tried recently. With this camera, I usually manage to avoid using the flash when shooting indoors. Even a reasonably bright room gets excellent sharpness. On the practical side, it's ridiculously small and portable. Fits in the breast pocket of my windbreaker, would even fit in a pretty small purse I'd imagine too. Battery life has been excellent as well. I was shooting pictures of my daughter most of the day today, as well as a few videos (which are GREAT quality, by the way), and barely dented the battery life. This camera is definitely not for someone who wants easy options for manual focus and exposure control. It's not a dSLR, but that's OK. A dSLR is not the best choice for every situation. Sure, they take great photos, but they're bulky and heavy. They're also HUGE theft targets. If you want to take pictures of daily life, or when hiking maybe, you don't want big. What's the point of superior image quality if you always leave it at home or in the car? I've been pretty into manual photography, but lately, I don't really find myself wanting to take the time to do that. The camera makes most shooting decisions for you, and it does them pretty darned well. 80% of the time the Intelligent mode is fine. When I have to switch to a scene mode, usually those modes do a great job delivering what they claim to offer. That's more than many can say. The handheld twilight mode delivers the best no-flash handheld night shots I've ever seen. Anti-motion blur really stops most motion blur. Oh, and the digital zoom? Always been of the impression they are useless. Not this one. Combining the 10X optical and 10X digital has produced some excellent shots, and surprisingly sharp at that. Sure, you could zoom in afterwards in Photoshop, but if you zoom in right then, the camera makes shutter, focus, and aperture decisions for the scene you actually mean to capture. That may not be true if you go wide and zoom in using Photoshop. Seriously, try the digital zoom! Overall, best digital camera I've ever owned!