Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W70

By Lori Grunin, CNET.com
Sep 11, 2006

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 vacation photographers. However, photo artifacts 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 a bit 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-center button lacks depth when clicked. The DSC-W70's 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.

Performance
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 320 x 240, however.

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 second to the shot-to-shot time. Though relatively fast to focus in good light--shutter lag is a decent 0.5 second--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.

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