Shooting Waterfalls with the Sony Cybershot DSCW120

The compactness of the Sony Cybershot DSCW120 together with a waterproof pouch is perfect for taking photos of  spelunking trips, the beach or waterfalls so that you won’t damage your digital camera’s electronic parts.

Sony Cybershot DSCW120 digital cameras have a 7.2 MP resolution.  This is a very affordable camera with power packed features including a 4x Optical zoom and 9 Auto Focus modes.  Eye strain will not be a problem with the 2.5 inch LCD screen at 115,000 dots.

Sony Cybershot DSCW120 has an internal memory of 15 MB.  This camera can also use up to a 16 GB Memory Stick Duo or Duo Pro.

Super Steady Photos

For those prone to blurry shots, the SuperSteady Shot Image Stabilization is a welcome relief. You will find this feature helpful when a tripod is inconvenient.

The Sony Cybershot DSCW120 has a 1/4000-1/6000 shutter speed which can capture more photos than the normal point and shoots out there. Perfect for those with itchy trigger fingers. This fast shutter speed is especially useful when you are taking photos of kiddie parties.

Capture Perfect Smiles

One of the most interesting features is the Smile Shutter Mode which can capture up to 8 smiles. You can set smiles for up to 8 people, kids can be preferred over adults or vice versa. When the shutter is pressed, the camera automatically takes a picture when the subject smiles up to 6 shots. Although it sets to a higher ISO like 400 which in film photography is used for sports and action.

Smile Shutter Mode makes an interesting series of shots especially perfect when you like taking portraits. Smile Shutter Mode is very useful for baby shots.  Capturing the smiles of kids is often very challenging since they don’t smile on command. You can just put the Sony Cybershot DSCW120 in a tripod and take pictures of your kids.

Normally in a group shot like weddings or family pictures, some of the members swivel or move around a lot especially the kids. With the smile shutter, this can minimize mistakes. Especially useful when you have a lot of kids squeezed inside the frame.

Just remember to buy an extra battery for vacation photos or even for at home. You do not want to miss taking photos of your loved ones.

Waterfalls are one of the most challenging subjects to capture. You can go with a wide angle majestic looking landscape from a vantage point or a close-up section of the waterfall itself with the 28-132mm lens of the Sony W120.

 


New From: $499.00 In Stock
Used from: $24.99 In Stock
Release date March 21, 2008.
Customer Reviews

220 of 229 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good all-around point and shoot, April 22, 2008
By 
E. Woodbury "twoody" (Washington D.C.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
My wife and I recently upgraded from our Sony DSC-P8 to a Sony DSC-W130. So far we are extremely happy. We shopped around quite a bit before settling on the new cybershot, and spent a good deal of time trying out other brands. In the end, the Smile Shutter brought us back to Sony. It sounds like there is no way it would work, but it really does. We have two young children that are remarkably hard to catch smiling. With the new Sony, all we have to do is turn on the smile shutter and the camera does the rest. So far, we haven't missed a smile with the 3 year (with teeth) and have caught a few of the 4 month old (no teeth). It makes a difference.

The other feature that has been great so far is the burst mode. With my old camera, the missing time between shot resulted in a lot of blurring. The new camera manages to focus each shot much better. We played around with some moving targets, and the pictures came out great. One major drawback of burst mode, however, is that you can't use flash. I took a bunch of pictures indoors and the quality was ok, but not great. The flash just turns off when you switch to burst mode.

The video recording is great on this camera. Obviously not camcorder quality or anything, but very good for what you'd expect from a point and shoot. The sound quality still isn't that great, but much much better from my older camera. It seems like it balances the audio in the first few seconds. If the first few seconds are loud, the whole video will be softer. If you start out soft, however, you bury the needle when it gets lounder leading to some distortion. You also can't zoom while in video mode - something they don't tell you.

The flash recharges after about 1-2 seconds, which is great. It also is pretty effective for long distances.

I like the menu configurations, especially now that I've had some time to play with them.

Picture quality is great, but I'm upgrading from a 2MP camera, so it probably wouldn't take too much to wow me. We took a ton of shots and were impressed at the level of detail when we zoomed in on our computer.

Overall, we are very happy with this camera. It has some limitations and problems, but for the money (and for being a point and shoot) it is great.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
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58 of 58 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Shopped around; would buy it again; but be aware of minor issues, June 14, 2008
By 
Garrett Cook (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Just bought this new from a local retailer. Did a lot of research online comparing this model to some of Canon's compact cameras. I'm not a photography buff so I wanted something that was small and not necessarily the "best" but would still take nice pictures. I really like the features that it includes. The 4x zoom is greater than most at this price point, and even some more expensive cameras. Seems to have a lot of neat features, like the Smart Zoom (digital zoom without pixelation), multiple auto focus points, and ability to shoot 640x480 video. The face detection is pretty cool and seems to work really well. I thought about getting the DSC-W130 with its 8MP resolution and editing features, but figured that 8MP was more than I needed and I'd rather do my photo editing on the computer.
One or two "bugs" I'm aware of:
1. If you shoot using burst mode, you'll find that you can't turn the flash back on in any mode but Easy mode. You have to reset the camera back to factory defaults to shoot using the flash again. Even knowing this I would still buy the camera, but I'm hoping that enough people would alert Sony to this error to release a firmware update to fix it. Otherwise I would have given it five stars.
2. When you plug in the camera with the USB cable and turn it on the lens will open and then close, so be sure not to leave it face down before transferring data.
3. This camera (unlike some) does not receive power through the USB cable so it needs to have a battery with charge in order to transfer pictures. Don't leave it on too long while it's plugged in or it'll drain the battery.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


68 of 71 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Great camera, April 28, 2008
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
It's just about perfect, for me. Of course, I'd like the quality and control of an SLR in a tiny package, but for something this portable it does a fine job. The onscreen descriptions of the settings are just fantastic, the ISO (low light) mode has to be seen to be believed...very little noise, even without flash. Pictures are mostly sharp, though without flash you still have to maintain a steady hand, as with any camera. Very balanced and realistic color. It's a very intuitive camera that lets you concentrate on your composition and not worry too much about exposure, which I think is what a small point and shoot should give you. I also love the 16x9 modes for stills, haven't done any video with it. I'd recommend getting a clear shield to stick on the screen, like I did...seems very scratchable otherwise. If I lost it I'd probably get the same camera again. I'm pretty conservative with my reviews, I'm sure many people would give this an unabashed 5 stars, and I almost did, but you still get the occasional surprise when you shoot something that should have turned out fine but didn't for some reason....I think it's just where the tech is at right now, but this camera rocks, no doubt.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


Share your thoughts with other customers:
 See all 227 customer reviews...
Customer Reviews

220 of 229 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good all-around point and shoot, April 22, 2008
By 
E. Woodbury "twoody" (Washington D.C.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
My wife and I recently upgraded from our Sony DSC-P8 to a Sony DSC-W130. So far we are extremely happy. We shopped around quite a bit before settling on the new cybershot, and spent a good deal of time trying out other brands. In the end, the Smile Shutter brought us back to Sony. It sounds like there is no way it would work, but it really does. We have two young children that are remarkably hard to catch smiling. With the new Sony, all we have to do is turn on the smile shutter and the camera does the rest. So far, we haven't missed a smile with the 3 year (with teeth) and have caught a few of the 4 month old (no teeth). It makes a difference.

The other feature that has been great so far is the burst mode. With my old camera, the missing time between shot resulted in a lot of blurring. The new camera manages to focus each shot much better. We played around with some moving targets, and the pictures came out great. One major drawback of burst mode, however, is that you can't use flash. I took a bunch of pictures indoors and the quality was ok, but not great. The flash just turns off when you switch to burst mode.

The video recording is great on this camera. Obviously not camcorder quality or anything, but very good for what you'd expect from a point and shoot. The sound quality still isn't that great, but much much better from my older camera. It seems like it balances the audio in the first few seconds. If the first few seconds are loud, the whole video will be softer. If you start out soft, however, you bury the needle when it gets lounder leading to some distortion. You also can't zoom while in video mode - something they don't tell you.

The flash recharges after about 1-2 seconds, which is great. It also is pretty effective for long distances.

I like the menu configurations, especially now that I've had some time to play with them.

Picture quality is great, but I'm upgrading from a 2MP camera, so it probably wouldn't take too much to wow me. We took a ton of shots and were impressed at the level of detail when we zoomed in on our computer.

Overall, we are very happy with this camera. It has some limitations and problems, but for the money (and for being a point and shoot) it is great.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


58 of 58 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Shopped around; would buy it again; but be aware of minor issues, June 14, 2008
By 
Garrett Cook (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Just bought this new from a local retailer. Did a lot of research online comparing this model to some of Canon's compact cameras. I'm not a photography buff so I wanted something that was small and not necessarily the "best" but would still take nice pictures. I really like the features that it includes. The 4x zoom is greater than most at this price point, and even some more expensive cameras. Seems to have a lot of neat features, like the Smart Zoom (digital zoom without pixelation), multiple auto focus points, and ability to shoot 640x480 video. The face detection is pretty cool and seems to work really well. I thought about getting the DSC-W130 with its 8MP resolution and editing features, but figured that 8MP was more than I needed and I'd rather do my photo editing on the computer.
One or two "bugs" I'm aware of:
1. If you shoot using burst mode, you'll find that you can't turn the flash back on in any mode but Easy mode. You have to reset the camera back to factory defaults to shoot using the flash again. Even knowing this I would still buy the camera, but I'm hoping that enough people would alert Sony to this error to release a firmware update to fix it. Otherwise I would have given it five stars.
2. When you plug in the camera with the USB cable and turn it on the lens will open and then close, so be sure not to leave it face down before transferring data.
3. This camera (unlike some) does not receive power through the USB cable so it needs to have a battery with charge in order to transfer pictures. Don't leave it on too long while it's plugged in or it'll drain the battery.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


68 of 71 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Great camera, April 28, 2008
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
It's just about perfect, for me. Of course, I'd like the quality and control of an SLR in a tiny package, but for something this portable it does a fine job. The onscreen descriptions of the settings are just fantastic, the ISO (low light) mode has to be seen to be believed...very little noise, even without flash. Pictures are mostly sharp, though without flash you still have to maintain a steady hand, as with any camera. Very balanced and realistic color. It's a very intuitive camera that lets you concentrate on your composition and not worry too much about exposure, which I think is what a small point and shoot should give you. I also love the 16x9 modes for stills, haven't done any video with it. I'd recommend getting a clear shield to stick on the screen, like I did...seems very scratchable otherwise. If I lost it I'd probably get the same camera again. I'm pretty conservative with my reviews, I'm sure many people would give this an unabashed 5 stars, and I almost did, but you still get the occasional surprise when you shoot something that should have turned out fine but didn't for some reason....I think it's just where the tech is at right now, but this camera rocks, no doubt.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


Share your thoughts with other customers:
 See all 227 customer reviews...

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Sony Cybershot DSCW120 Digital Camera Review