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Home >> Photography >> Digital Equipment Sony
DSC-W1 The DSC-W1 has now been superceded by the DSC-W5.
The online reviews from the usual sources only confirmed that initial first impression that the DSC-W1 (henceforth the W1) is a very good compact digicam worthy of recommendation. So it was that whenever someone asked me about a good CAN $500 digicam, more often than not, the W1 was my recommendation. Even if the person’s budget was lower than $500, I still suggested reaching for the W1. The last time I saw the W1 in a store, it was priced at CAN $400, a few weeks before the W5 was officially announced. The DSC-W5’s primary difference with the W1 appears to be the inclusion of 32 MB of internal memory and more shots per battery charge. When my Coolpix 950 started wheezing and gasping, the W1 was naturally first in line to be the family’s general use digicam. I was a bit surprised that the Coolpix 950 should start going after relatively mild use. While it has nearly 4000 images notched on its belt, this is hardly a huge number because it’s been spread out over 3.5 years. There are people who shoot off double that number in a weekend (kids sports photographers covering tournaments), albeit with pro-level SLRs such as the Nikon D2H or Canon 1D Mk II.
Since I already had a digital SLR in the Nikon D100 and because the size of the CP950 often made it a bit cumbersome to carry and use, I wanted something fairly compact for the next camera. The extended family already had some Canon digicams available, S400 and S50, and while they’re competent cameras, I wasn’t very interested in Canon offerings. Digicams have inherent problems with noise at higher ISO settings due to the use of tiny digital sensors; so no matter which brand you buy you’ll face some noise issues at ISO 200 and ISO 400. However, generally speaking, I’ve seen higher noise levels in Canons than other cameras I’ve tried in the past. Keep in mind that my experience with digicams is very limited, but I wanted a camera that would give some cleaner high ISO images than what the consumer Canon cameras offered. As a Nikon user one would think that I would look at this company’s offerings, but I’ve not been interested in anything Nikon has produced for digicams until recently with their Coolpix 8800 and 8400 offerings. Unfortunately, these are larger and more expensive than I would like in a compact camera. The regular Coolpix line are “me too” type cameras that don’t offer much different than any other main brand selling digicams and as has been hinted at DPReview, most of the Coolpix line is actually sourced from Sanyo, one of the biggest manufacturers of digicams (who knew?)
Other Sony formats include Minidisc, which is finally enjoying some modest popularity many years after it was launched as a replacement for cassette tape, and then there is also ATRAC, Sony’s answer to MP3 compression for digital music files. Sony is also involved in the non-compression digital music wars with their SACD offering to eventually replace the regular CD format (with no indication of widespread consumer support despite the superior sound quality offered, if anything the opposite is happening with the mass popularity of MP3 compression). Memory Stick continues Sony’s “fine” tradition of forcing its users into using a format that really doesn’t do anything much better than other popular flash memory types, such as Compact Flash. I guess it’s just a brand name turf war because I noticed that my Toshiba P20 notebook has a dedicated SD memory card slot, but nothing else. As it turned out Toshiba is one of the originators of the SD flash memory format; however, SD is quite popular and is used in devices other than digital cameras. You’ll find SD as the prevalent choice for camcorders, Palm Pilots and Pocket PCs, and in a few MP3 players that offer flash memory expansion. The
ultra compact cameras also use SD format, although there is the
even smaller XD format available, but I can only think of Olympus
and
As much as I’ve groused about Sony’s foisting on us of the Memory Stick, as of this writing, Sony is the market leader in digicam sales. By virtue of their market share, Sony has gotten away with having Memory Stick recognized as a major flash memory format. Sony also supports the Memory Stick beyond camera usage by including card slots on their computers and even TVs.
Thus, as much as I think Memory Stick is an annoyance, being able to purchase a 512 MB Memory Stick for not too much more than a Compact Flash version was not too hard to take. Although I’d much rather be able to use my existing supply of Compact Flash cards instead. Interestingly, Sony offers a Compact Flash card slot in their top prosumer digicam, the F828. I guess they heard enough rumblings and/or saw how much more market share they might snag with a dual memory camera. As for me, I figured that the use of AA batteries in the W1 helped to make up for the Memory Stick purchase. At PMA 2005, Sony introduced a new half-sized variant of the Memory Stick Pro, which requires an adapter to be used with older cameras. Sony, when will the madness end? Most compact digicams use proprietary rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. The companies that actually think about their end users (Sony, hint, hint) try and use the same battery in more than one product instead of having a mish-mash of batteries that are only slightly different from each other. Canon shares digicam batteries with some of their camcorders and I think that was one of the selling points for one family member buying his S50, which I pointed out used the same battery as his camcorder. Canon’s best digicams also share the same battery as Canon’s consumer D-SLR cameras (D-Rebel, D30, D60, 10D, and 20D).
The W1 offers none of those benefits because it doesn’t use lithium-ion to power it. A pair of the ubiquitous AA cell is used and Sony claims a few hundred shots can be had from a freshly charged set of rechargeable cells. The W1 comes with two rechargeable cells and surprisingly, an external charger. A nice touch, since most compact digicams require the camera to be plugged in to a wall via an AC adapter to charge the lithium-ion cell. Another pair or two rechargeable cells is a must in order to be able to keep shooting, especially if you use the movie mode, take a lot of flash photos, or take long timed exposures, all of which are high drain activities for the batteries. The Sony AA cells take about six-hours to charge in their charger. I happen to have a large supply of Energizer AA cells built up over the years for powering my film cameras and flash units. I started with 1700 mAh, moved onto 1850 and 2100 mAh cells, and currently, I’m using 2300 mAh cells for the F100s and SB28 and SB800 flashes. A spare set of unused 2300 cells was available due to my SB800 using an odd number of cells (5 versus 4). With another 60 or cells available, I think I’m set for power J Lucky Break As much as I wanted the W1 to replace the CP950 and as much as I tried to justify it to my wife, the chief financial officer of CameraHobby Corp. wasn’t keen on me buying “another” camera. What, nine or ten cameras too much, and I’m not even a collector J Besides which, I would still only have two usable digital cameras because the CP950 would be retired. I had to play the children card to get her more open to the purchase, “dear think of all those shots we’ll miss because we didn’t have a camera with us, because you know, we can’t always carry the big D100 with us.” Or, “and the W1 has that movie mode, so we can finally do some videos of the kids.” I thought I was on track to getting the CFO to release some funds, but one Friday night, the CFO came back from her 2004 staff Xmas party and handed me a box and said, Merry Christmas. Turns out her company was quite generous and every staff member who attended the party received a very nice gift. Knowing that I was hankering for a new digicam, the CFO thoughtfully chose the only digicam being offered amongst the camcorders, PDAs and portable DVD players. A quick glance at the box indicated that it was a Casio product, so I knew it was electronic in nature. A closer read indicated a compact 5 MP digicam. Hmm, fascinating, as Mr. Spock would say. It wasn’t a Sony W1, but hey, it’s the right size and resolution, so why not give it a chance. Not knowing anything about Casio cameras, I had to go on the ‘net and read some reviews. I went to Steve’s Digicams, that had posted reviews on the Casio and the Sony and while the Casio garnered a ‘good’ kind of rating, the Sony was more like ‘excellent dude’ (obviously, I’m taking some liberties here with the quotes). Without having tried it out, I packed up the Casio and the CFO used the included gift enclosure to exchange it straight for the Sony W1, which happened to be the same price. As an additional bonus, we got an Epson CX4600 printer free after all the rebates are applied for and received back due to the technical “purchase” of the Sony, which was one of the qualified cameras for the Epson. It was a good day being so lucky, but Epson sure as hell takes a long time to process those rebates (as of this writing, not received yet). W1 Basics Sony promised that the W1 would be a fast handling camera and I was impressed at how quickly the camera powered on with the lens zooming out like a speed demon. It’s ready to take a photo a couple of seconds after powering up, which subjectively seems at least twice as fast as my CP950. The 2.5-inch LCD screen is very impressive. Everyone remarked on how big the LCD is, which is no surprise given the use of tiny little LCDs on most other digicams. Comparing my workplace’s Canon A70 and goodness, the W1 has a screen almost four times as big! The W1 LCD is even bigger than most digital SLRs with only the most recent pro-level cameras from Nikon matching, but not exceeding the W1. Other digicam makers are also beginning to use the 2.5 LCD for their cameras, as I recall that Panasonic was using it for their very compact model too.
With a 512 MB Memory Stick, the W1 indicates that I can take as many as 194 JPEGs, but that would just be a minimum based on the maximum file size that a 5 MP JPEG would be. As JPEG file sizes are determined by the subject matter and with W1 file sizes ranging from just under 2 to just under 3 MB, I can capture well over 200 JPEGs per 512 MB stick. I recall one file dump to the computer in which I had about 60 images to copy over and yet the camera still indicated that I could capture over 160 photos. 200 images per card is plenty for most uses of the W1, which I will pigeon-hole as the family snapshot and travel camera when I don’t want to haul my D100 kit around. My D100 kit at minimum, normally consists of the 18-35 and 70-200 lens, so it requires a fair sized bag or case along with attendant accessories that I may wish to carry along to supplement my photo taking. Conversely, the W1 can fit in a coat pocket.
We
dropped the kids off and I spent about five-minutes taking a few
quick shots. Nothing major and nothing special, but if I had brought
along the D100, it would have taken probably 30 minutes to take
the same shots because I’d be tripod mounted and futzing around
with angles and placement etc. All of which would have bored the
tears out of my brother-in-law and likely make him impatient with
me. Having the W1 is also less risk for walking and shopping around
that part of
For
the annual trip to
Now, thanks to the number of photos that can be taken on my Memory Stick, the use of rechargeable AA cells, and its compact size, I’m good to go for any little trip that I might go on, whether it be to the local supermarket for a quart of milk, or a non-photographic trip out of town.
Wide-angle and telephoto lens attachments are available for the W1, so I’m not SOL if I really want wide-angle coverage. However, I’m loathed to blow more money than I need to on the W1, a camera that I don’t intend to be a “serious” picture-taking device. Even so, I’d still like built-in wide-angle coverage, because when you need wide, you need w-i-d-e. The metal casing adds a reassuring touch to the W1, but my old CP950 had an even tougher magnesium alloy build and yet it still crapped out on me despite the less than harsh usage, so metal build is not a real indicator of a camera’s longevity. It’s just nicer subjectively. There are slight index finger and thumb guides on the right side to provide a proper handholding position for the right hand and to keep the digits out of the way of the focus assist beam and rear controls. Since I had used my cousin’s Sony P10 for a week or so, I didn’t need the manual to operate the W1 and adjust my settings right away. Yah, I know, it’s a bad habit, and not one I should be passing onto readers of the site, but it’s just human nature. As it turned out, I did have to pull out the manual to figure out how the full manual operation of the W1 worked.
Sony included an optical viewfinder to go along with the massive LCD, but it’s as small and uncomfortable to use any other nearly useless digicam optical viewfinder. It may use up more juice to use the LCD all the time, but then why bother buying a W1 if not to use one of its big selling points. The tripod mount at bottom is metal, which, trust me on this, is a very good thing for those of us who tend to torque the quick release plate a bit too tight for our own good. The lens has the typical diagonal curtain to protect it when the camera is off or in playback mode. The flash tube is directly above the lens axis and as is typical of compact digicams, is small, generally underpowered, and will cause red-eyes if your subject’s pupils are closed a bit. I’m not one for using red-eye reduction mode on any camera, as the camera is slow enough when using the flash and waiting for it to recycle for the next shot. An amber-colored focus light emanates from a small bulb found near the top right of the lens. It’s less annoying than a white light and not as eerie as a red or green one. You definitely need to use this light in order to lock focus in dim light. I do the usual focus lock shuffle with the W1, which is to lock focus on the subject first by pressing halfway on the shutter release, recomposing the shot, and then pressing fully to capture the image. The W1 includes Sony’s VX movie mode that allows for a continuous movie to be recorded with only the Memory Stick capacity restricting you. Resolution can be as high as 640x480 at 29 frames per second, which equates to just over 22 minutes of recording on a 512 MB stick. Limitations of movie mode are a grainy pixilated view depending on how the movie is played back. No zooming is available once you’ve begun recording and the W1 has no stabilization available, so avoid those grande lattes from Starbucks if you’re going to be using the movie mode. Because the W1 is a camera first and a motion capture device second, in movie mode, the camera’s exposure meter continues to be active and if your subject moves from good light to bad, the camera’s meter tries to compensate, but there’s a bit of a lag and it cannot compensate fast enough. Same for the focusing on the subject that’s moving. But then you didn’t expect a $400 camera to be a real replacement for a dedicated camcorder, did you? Usage
There is a debate that flares up now and then about JPEG capture versus RAW. While the general consensus is that RAW rules for absolute image quality, there are enough contrarians on the ‘net that some new digital photographers are muddled by which format to use. JPEG works for certain types of photographer where speed of processing is of the essence for getting the image to the client as quickly as possible. Where there is no time and possible minimal computing power available to convert a slew of RAW files into something usable by the end client user. Think news and sports photography, or for events where there is a massive volume of photos taken, such as sports tournaments or weddings. One
of my favorite Nikon reviewers, Michael Weber of
For other types of photography where the final image quality is paramount and where volume is relatively low, RAW is the better approach. Most times, the RAW format can provide a sharper and more detailed image file to edit with than if shot in JPEG mode. But, in the end, it’s the individual photographer that has to decide which file type to shoot with, so use the capture file type to suit the photography you’re doing, not because I or some other flamboyant ‘net personality says JPEG or RAW is best. With the W1, you don’t have to worry about RAW or JPEG because you can only capture in JPEG mode. I recommend always shooting at the highest resolution and lowest compression for maximum quality. It’s easy enough to toss away the extra file size and resolution post capture, but impossible to add in real data and file size when starting with a compressed, low-resolution file. If you find yourself short of memory space then buy more memory sticks, otherwise, why buy a 5 MP camera if all you ever do is send out images by e-mail? Thanks to the availability of a small real time histogram display in the W1’s LCD, there’s no reason why you can’t take a fairly well exposed JPEG image. There’s also the ability to compensate the exposure by plus or minus 2 stops. While the W1 offers a capable auto exposure mode, it also provides a modest amount of manual control for greater flexibility in fine-tuning the exposure for the subject. Set the mode dial to M and then push the center button for the thumb pad to be able to set manual shutter speeds from 30 seconds to 1/1000. You can also set the aperture manually too, but you only get a choice of two apertures for a given focal length. At the wider angles you can get a larger aperture and at the telephoto range, you get smaller apertures with f5.2 being your maximum aperture when fully zoomed out. Macro focusing mode is also available, but the Sony cameras do not get as close as Nikon digicams can. The CP950 could focus to within an inch of the subject, but the W1 is more like several inches.
The 2.5-inch screen is fantastic. In auto mode, it provides a nice clear view of the subject scene and in manual mode, it accurately shows you how the exposure will change as you adjust the settings. I found this to be quite useful when I was taking some sample shots for the Leica M3 review. I was taking photos of the Leica set on top of a power amplifier that had a black cover. The W1 in auto mode was seeing too much black and was overexposing the Leica, so I switched to manual mode and adjusted the shutter speed until I got a good looking exposure via the LCD. The W1 has the ability to do continuous shooting, but you can't be using the flash for this mode because the flash has to recharge. Assuming that your ambient light conditions allow for an appropriately fast shutter speed, you should be able to rattle off 9 full resolution frames at about 1 frame per second. After which, it takes the W1 less than 10 seconds to flush the buffer and allow you to shoot again. Sony cameras have usually offered better burst mode and buffer flushing capabilities than comparable Canon cameras. Image Quality
For family snapshots, I’m satisfied with what the W1 can provide. The prints look just fine. While the ISO 400 photos look more like ISO 1200 shots from the D100, they’re not too bad from a compact digicam and going by memory (with some subjective impressions thrown in to muddy it more) they look better than what Canon digicams offer at the same high ISO setting. On page two of this review, you’ll find some comparison shots between the W1 and the D100 for noise and detail. No, the W1 does not match the larger camera for detail extracted or handling noise, but I don’t think it embarrasses itself either. It’s a fine little snapshot camera and used on a tripod with some care to getting a good exposure, the W1 (and its successor W5) might just surprise at how well it can do. There is some obvious lens distortions, so it won’t be an architect’s delight, but there are SLR lenses that have similar distortions too. In certain high contrast conditions, some purple fringing is also seen, but compared to my Coolpix 950, the W1's lens is far better controlled. And yes, the lens is a Carl Zeiss, or rather it has the Carl Zeiss name on it, but I think this is about accurate and useful as "Leica" on Panasonic cameras, i.e., more marketing than any basis as an indicator of lens quality. Conclusion
Certainly I would have like a little change here and there in terms of accessing manual controls and the video quality could be better, but geez, we are talking about a CAN $400 camera. Another minor beef is the somewhat optimistic battery life Sony purports the W1 being capable of. Maybe if you only ever did ambient light photos in bright light and never used the LCD you might be able to squeak out the 300 or so image captures per fresh battery charge, but in everyday practical use in good light, low light, flash and rare movie mode use, it’s more like 100 or so images per charge. Also remember that rechargeable Ni-MH cells lose about 10% of their power for every day that they aren’t being used, which is another contributor to my low image capture per charge figure. Going forward, I see no reason not to continue recommending this little Sony (or rather the W5) for those interested in a compact camera that can be taken just about anywhere and offers some good image quality. Don’t forget to utilize its real time histogram and exposure compensation to fine tune your exposures. While I don’t expect the W1 to take over from the D100 for more serious photography, it has taken over as the family photo camera and I have also enjoyed its smaller size for doing quick product sample shots to go with the most recent articles and reviews posted at this website. Part 2 for sample images at various ISO settings and compared to the Nikon D100 |
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Correspondence & About this website Copyright © 1998-2008 Edwin Leong |
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I
first came across the Sony DSC-W1 in a big newspaper advertisement
during the summer of 2004. Anything dealing with photography in
a newspaper catches my eye, so I read the information and was intrigued
by the claims of very fast operation, huge 2.5-inch LCD screen,
and the use of AA sized batteries for power. The compact size was
also a plus along with the 5 MP of resolution. Without even seeing,
handling, or reading any reviews, the Sony DSC-W1 became a favorite
of mine.
Unfortunately,
over those 3.5 years, I’ve stripped the plastic tripod mount, which
was replaced by warranty coverage, but the battery cover latch became
defective one day, and the power/mode dial started losing contact
with its settings. The Coolpix 950 had never been dropped and never
handled roughly and though my memory is dim, I don’t recall using
it in any major inclement weather. But, trying to use one of the
manual modes on the CP950 would result in intermittent success and
sometimes the camera thought I was trying review photos stored on
the card, which is the mode 
The
Sony W1 seemed like everything I wanted in a new digicam except
for one thing, the memory stick. I don’t know what it is about Sony,
but this company seems to have a propensity for marketing standards
or features that run contrary to the market. My parent’s first VCR
was a Betamax, remember those? Granted that Betamax is still used
as a broadcast standard and that
It
use to be that Memory Stick was quite expensive relative to other
flash memory types, but the global price crash on flash memory has
also brought down Memory Stick prices too. Additionally, major flash
memory manufacturers such as Lexar and Sandisk, are also producing
Memory Stick cards to give Sony competition. In fact, my 512 MB
Memory Stick is a Sandisk one, but alas, my Sony TV doesn’t like
it and won’t recognize it to show off some JPEGs. However, I’m not
willing to pay more money for a Sony brand Memory Stick over the
Sandisk or Lexar versions.
The
benefits of lithium-ion are well known; compact and relatively long-lived
per charge with no memory effect. Lithium-ion also allows a fairly
accurate gauge to be displayed on a camera’s LCD. My cousin’s Sony
P10 will count down exactly how many minutes of life 
Size
wise the W1 is about average in the compact class of digicams. It
fits in between the top end class of cameras such as the Nikon 8400
and Canon G6 versus the ultra compacts such as the Pentax S50.
The
compact size of the camera, which is about the size of a pack of
poker cards doubled up, makes for no excuses in not being able to
bring a camera with me all the time. During a recent snowfall in
The
W1 offers a 3X zoom of 7.9 to 23.7mm that equates to 38-114mm, which
is pretty standard fare for a compact digicam. If I had my druthers
I’d trade off a significant amount of the telephoto range for a
wider lens, such as 28-85mm. Even better would be a 24-85mm equivalent
as available in the Nikon Coolpix 8400, but I’m under no illusions
about adding such complexity to a camera built to a specific price
point. However, the digicam market seems fixated on adding huge
telephoto capabilities than true wide-angle coverage. I helped a
coworker purchase a Nikon Coolpix 8800 and one of the big selling
points for him was the 35-350mm lens with Vibration Reduction. 
What
the buttons and dials do on the W1 is amply described by those on
the ‘net more capable than I, so no repetition here. I will say
that the W1 is not cluttered and that most of the controls are pretty
self-explanatory.
As
a JPEG only capture device, you need to be more critical of your
exposure with the W1 than if you were shooting a RAW mode capable
camera. JPEGs from a digital camera are processed in-camera and
offer less flexibility than RAW for correcting exposure deficiencies
post capture. I generally shoot with Auto White Balance because
I’m lazy and for fleeting family snapshots, you don’t have time
to set the correct white balance for the scene. Since a lot of family
snapshots are taken with flash, there isn’t that much one can do
with such photos except warm them up.
In
these types of situations, as long as the photographer has done
his or her job to get the exposure and white balance as accurate
as possible, JPEGs can and do work very well. Moose Peterson, the
noted wildlife photographer, is another who has advised of this
exact approach to digital photography when he was shooting with
the Nikon D1 and D1H. Now that he shoots with the D2H that can capture
RAW and JPEG at the same time, I’m not certain if his workflow has
changed, but Moose is another high volume photographer.
The newest member of the extended family, my niece Rachel, taken
at ISO 400 and a bit of flash >> 
What
more can I say? I think the W1 is a fine little camera and while
it has now been superceded by the DSC-W5, it appears the changes
are not dramatic and the basics of the W1 have been carried forward.
