puddle_jumper on eBay

06 Sep, 2009

ok for newbies but not good for experts

PRO: big 3" LCD, smiles detection, easy to use CON: battery life, poor picture quality I got this one not too long ago because my old camera had quit working after about 3 years and more than 10,000 keeper pictures. I choose Sony based on past experience with them as they made long lasting, quality camera with long life rechargeable batteries. I've had the Cyber-shot line, started with a 1Mpix P30, then went to P70 briefly before I went to a nice P200. Both the P30 and P200 lasted more than 3 years before it started showing problems. Extended warranty? Pshaw these camera outlasts the expensive and useless extended warranties. The P70 I had was only for a year and I sold it to get the P200. I thought Sony would continue with the quality... Unfortunately the W230 I tried failed on some points. First, the zoom button are rather tiny compared to past Cyber-Shots I've had. Second, if you use 8Mpix or 12Mpix resolution for still pictures, there are obvious sign of focus issue. It looks like a classic barrel distortion. This is on auto setting, only the middle area (about 30% of whole picture) looked OK at normal size on computer screen, that left a good portion that looked blurry. This is noticeable from 10 feet and beyond. I did not find any focus issue when using Macro mode on object less than 18 inches away. I've gotten a bit less focus issue on manual setting but it takes time to get the picture perfect and I'd rather not spend 2 or 3 minutes trying to get perfect focus when the cameras is supposed to get it done in a few seconds at most. Also if there are any bright spots, I've noticed there are excessive amount of blue and red fringes around the spots. This kinds of ruin any bright outdoor shots. See http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/w230_problem.jpg for sample picture showing focus issue and red/blue tint. With smaller resolution setting for stills or movie mode, these problem do not show up as there are not much detail in smaller resolution, so the problem are merely hidden at lower resolution. Lastly, the battery seems mediocre compared to the last one I had (P200). The last one I was able to get around 300-400 pictures (about 50% with flash) before the battery runs out. With W230 and its G series battery, I get maybe 50 pictures with 50% flash before I get low battery warning. I have yet to reach 100 constructive pictures (without flash) on one battery. I have already exchanged the camera and battery based on the initial assumption the first W230 I got was faulty but the second one still showed the same poor quality pictures and anemic battery life. A $5 disposable film camera, a $5 film processing, and a cheap $30 scanner can get better looking pictures than this $150 digital camera. If you plan to take lots of outdoor pictures (picnics, traveling, families, sports, etc), skip this camera or use lower resolution.

4 of 6 found this helpful

06 Sep, 2009

ok for newbies but not good for experts

PRO: big 3" LCD, smiles detection, easy to use CON: battery life, poor picture quality I got this one not too long ago because my old camera had quit working after about 3 years and more than 10,000 keeper pictures. I choose Sony based on past experience with them as they made long lasting, quality camera with long life rechargeable batteries. I've had the Cyber-shot line, started with a 1Mpix P30, then went to P70 briefly before I went to a nice P200. Both the P30 and P200 lasted more than 3 years before it started showing problems. Extended warranty? Pshaw these camera outlasts the expensive and useless extended warranties. The P70 I had was only for a year and I sold it to get the P200. I thought Sony would continue with the quality... Unfortunately the W230 I tried failed on some points. First, the zoom button are rather tiny compared to past Cyber-Shots I've had. Second, if you use 8Mpix or 12Mpix resolution for still pictures, there are obvious sign of focus issue. It looks like a classic barrel distortion. This is on auto setting, only the middle area (about 30% of whole picture) looked OK at normal size on computer screen, that left a good portion that looked blurry. This is noticeable from 10 feet and beyond. I did not find any focus issue when using Macro mode on object less than 18 inches away. I've gotten a bit less focus issue on manual setting but it takes time to get the picture perfect and I'd rather not spend 2 or 3 minutes trying to get perfect focus when the cameras is supposed to get it done in a few seconds at most. Also if there are any bright spots, I've noticed there are excessive amount of blue and red fringes around the spots. This kinds of ruin any bright outdoor shots. See http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/w230_problem.jpg for sample picture showing focus issue and red/blue tint. With smaller resolution setting for stills or movie mode, these problem do not show up as there are not much detail in smaller resolution, so the problem are merely hidden at lower resolution. Lastly, the battery seems mediocre compared to the last one I had (P200). The last one I was able to get around 300-400 pictures (about 50% with flash) before the battery runs out. With W230 and its G series battery, I get maybe 50 pictures with 50% flash before I get low battery warning. I have yet to reach 100 constructive pictures (without flash) on one battery. I have already exchanged the camera and battery based on the initial assumption the first W230 I got was faulty but the second one still showed the same poor quality pictures and anemic battery life. A $5 disposable film camera, a $5 film processing, and a cheap $30 scanner can get better looking pictures than this $150 digital camera. If you plan to take lots of outdoor pictures (picnics, traveling, families, sports, etc), skip this camera or use lower resolution.

3 of 5 found this helpful

06 Sep, 2009

ok for newbies but not good for experts

PRO: big 3" LCD, smiles detection, easy to use CON: battery life, poor picture quality I got this one not too long ago because my old camera had quit working after about 3 years and more than 10,000 keeper pictures. I choose Sony based on past experience with them as they made long lasting, quality camera with long life rechargeable batteries. I've had the Cyber-shot line, started with a 1Mpix P30, then went to P70 briefly before I went to a nice P200. Both the P30 and P200 lasted more than 3 years before it started showing problems. Extended warranty? Pshaw these camera outlasts the expensive and useless extended warranties. The P70 I had was only for a year and I sold it to get the P200. I thought Sony would continue with the quality... Unfortunately the W230 I tried failed on some points. First, the zoom button are rather tiny compared to past Cyber-Shots I've had. Second, if you use 8Mpix or 12Mpix resolution for still pictures, there are obvious sign of focus issue. It looks like a classic barrel distortion. This is on auto setting, only the middle area (about 30% of whole picture) looked OK at normal size on computer screen, that left a good portion that looked blurry. This is noticeable from 10 feet and beyond. I did not find any focus issue when using Macro mode on object less than 18 inches away. I've gotten a bit less focus issue on manual setting but it takes time to get the picture perfect and I'd rather not spend 2 or 3 minutes trying to get perfect focus when the cameras is supposed to get it done in a few seconds at most. Also if there are any bright spots, I've noticed there are excessive amount of blue and red fringes around the spots. This kinds of ruin any bright outdoor shots. See http://personalpages.tds.net/~wilykat/w230_problem.jpg for sample picture showing focus issue and red/blue tint. With smaller resolution setting for stills or movie mode, these problem do not show up as there are not much detail in smaller resolution, so the problem are merely hidden at lower resolution. Lastly, the battery seems mediocre compared to the last one I had (P200). The last one I was able to get around 300-400 pictures (about 50% with flash) before the battery runs out. With W230 and its G series battery, I get maybe 50 pictures with 50% flash before I get low battery warning. I have yet to reach 100 constructive pictures (without flash) on one battery. I have already exchanged the camera and battery based on the initial assumption the first W230 I got was faulty but the second one still showed the same poor quality pictures and anemic battery life. A $5 disposable film camera, a $5 film processing, and a cheap $30 scanner can get better looking pictures than this $150 digital camera. If you plan to take lots of outdoor pictures (picnics, traveling, families, sports, etc), skip this camera or use lower resolution.

3 of 5 found this helpful

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