Can take very good photos in sufficient light; compact; easy to use; decent performance
Photos display processing artefacts in shadow areas; above-average noise at ISO 200 and higher
The ultracompact Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W70 is a competent snapshooter, but its cheaper, lower-resolution siblings, the DSC-W30 and DSC-W50, are better values
6.8 Good
Reviewed by Lori Grunin
Aside from its 7-megapixel sensor, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W70 is physically and functionally identical to its series brethren, the 6-megapixel DSC-W50 and the 8-megapixel DSC-W100. And just like its siblings, the DSC-W70 delivers a pleasant snapshooting experience -- with the photos to match -- making it a good choice for many casual and holiday photographers. However, photo artefacts will disappoint pickier shooters, and the deft finger work needed to manipulate its tiny controls may frustrate others.
Design
Although it boasts a sleek, ultracompact design, the 156g Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W70's controls are just slightly too small and closely spaced for easy operation, the mode dial is too easy to turn accidentally, the buttons are too flush with the surface, and the four-way-plus-centre button lacks depth when clicked. The DSC-W70's 64mm (2.5-inch) LCD is bright and acceptably visible in direct sunlight -- you can make it a tad brighter -- but if necessary, the tiny, distorted optical viewfinder serves adequately.
Features
It's easy enough to access the top-level adjustments -- image quality, flash, exposure compensation, macro and self-timer -- plus the Cyber-shot DSC-W70's handful of scene modes. As is typical of its class, many of the more advanced (albeit useful) features reside in the menus, such as metering, continuous shooting and white balance. However, the camera lacks shutter- and aperture-priority modes altogether. One especially irritating trait of Sony's camera menus is that they don't wrap -- when you reach the end, you have to reverse your clicks to reach the beginning.
Image quality
Excellent colour reproduction counts as one of the Cyber-shot DSC-W70's strongest assets. At its best, the vivid colours pop without crossing over to glowing, exhibiting good white balance. The 38mm-to-114mm lens (35mm equivalent) renders crisp, sharp images with limited fringing, and when properly exposed, photos exhibit solid tonal range and contrast. Exposure itself can be a bit hit and miss, in part because the LCD doesn't accurately display the current image. We got the best results by switching to spot-metering mode and using the histogram rather than our eyes to judge -- that's not something we expect most casual photographers to do, however. When it misses, the Cyber-shot DSC-W70 tends to err on the side of overexposure but not by so much that it will ruin your priceless photo of Johnny on a camel.
Upon closer inspection, however -- in prints larger than 203x254mm (8x10 inches) and 100 per cent zoom onscreen -- areas of our photos displayed a variety of unpleasant artefacts. Even at ISO 100, noise in shadow areas combined with aggressive noise-reduction algorithms to produce that smeary oil-paint look we see so often. As long as you don't plan to crop in on details or print large, you'll be fine.
With the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W70, you can record good-looking VGA-resolution, 30fps MPEG-1 movies that play in Windows Media Player or QuickTime; they look better running at 320x240, however.
Performance
For the most part, the Cyber-shot DSC-W70 performs well relative to its classmates. From power on to first shot takes about 2.2 seconds, with about 1.4 seconds between shots thereafter. The flash recycles quickly, adding only 0.2 seconds to the shot-to-shot time. Though relatively fast to focus in good light -- shutter lag is a decent 0.5 seconds -- focus in dim light jumps to a not-so-good 1.9 seconds. Burst shooting at full resolution is limited to 4 frames at about 1.4fps despite its 58MB of built-in memory.
Although the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W70 is a decent enough camera, both the DSC-W30 and the DSC-W50 are probably better value than the DSC-W70. Because they're lower resolution, the photos are a bit softer, but they also produce significantly less noise than the DSC-W70. If you need the higher resolution, check out one of Canon or Fujifilm's competing ultracompacts.
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Typical shot-to-shot time |
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Time to first shot |
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Shutter lag (typical) |
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Typical continuous-shooting speed |
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