Customer Reviews
Outstanding camera 
2008-09-18
This Sony camera is a winner. Small, but powerful, we've used it in a variety of settings and it has never let us down. I'd recommend it highly. Sony Cybershot DSCW150/R 8.1MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom with Super Steady Shot (Red)
Great point and shoot camera 
2008-09-09
this is a great overall point-and-shoot camera. has tons of cool features. it's quick at firing shots. great zoom. the auto focus isn't always perfect, but usually on target. haven't used all the functions yet to comment on all it's capabilities. for night shots and long exposures, definitely need a tripod just like any other camera on long exposures. but overall a solid compact camera.
Mostly good. 2008-09-06
I bought this for my girlfriend who had been using an older Canon SD200, and she had a lot of trouble adjusting to it. This camera is capable of very good image quality, but the menus and controls are not so easy to navigate. Make sure you turn off the Auto-ISO function or else you will get noisy pics. And from what I can tell, you can not turn off Auto-ISO in the "Easy" or "Auto" modes, which makes them useless...maybe I just haven't figured it out yet. SteadyShot works well. I like that you can zoom to 100% in the playback function, so you can really see if the picture you just took was sharp or not.
Good Camera 2008-08-31
Pros:
Generally speaking, this camera is easy to use. The quantity is enough for most non-professional users. The launch time(from pressing power button and ready to take photos) is very short, only 0.8s. The quantity deserves its pixels.
Cons:
Bad battery time and limited functions.
Summary:
I recommend to buy a camera in this price. Maybe it is not the best value/price ratio in the range. But you would not regret buying this camera.
Good camera (but not great) 
2008-08-28
I'm a Canon fan. Our last 3 cameras were Canons... but my wife and I decided that we'd give Sony a try. We liked the bright, crisp screen, the compactness of the camera, the quick startup time, the long zoom range (5x optical), the convenient settings dial, the layout of all the buttons, the ease of use of the menu options and basic camera functions, slideshow playback (with music), and let's be honest here, it's nice to have a camera in the color you like (rather than the boring silver/black). Everything seemed fine from what we could tell on our visits to Best Buy.
But after we got the camera, we started to see some things that we couldn't tell from our trips to the store.
- Poor image quality. Pictures look fine when resized to fit your computer monitor, but when you zoom in to the actual size of the picture, you'll notice that the quality is not that sharp.
- Shutter delay. I know that all cameras have some shutter delay, but it was quite noticeable and annoying on this camera. It takes longer than it should to focus, especially in medium- to low-light. (It was fine at the store, but then again, the store is pretty bright.) The delay is even worse with the flash.
- Slow flash. You can't set the flash to red-eye or no red-eye. You can only turn the flash on and off. That means that the camera will sometimes do the red-eye flash if you don't want it to... so by the time it actually snaps the picture (after the focus delay, of course), you've already lost your photo moment. This is especially true for taking pics of our baby. There's no way around it.
- Smile feature. We actually LOVED this feature, especially when you give smile-priority to your child -- so that when your child finally smiles, it snaps the picture. The bad thing is that you have to be literally smiling ear-to-ear (which looks very unnatural) for it to take your pic. Same for the child/baby. Nice idea Sony, but bad execution. It'd be nice if you could set the smile threshhold/meter to a lower setting, so that you don't have to smile as big.
- Few manual settings. I generally like to mess around with some basic settings -- like flash, no-flash, no-red-eye-flash, white balance, exposure, etc. These are pretty basic functions, but these are difficult to change on this camera because you just can't change these things easily or at all. I feel constricted to only do what the camera 'allows' me to do, which is very little. It's fine for people who are brand new to digital cameras, but not ideal for anyone else.
- Video quality/size. By default, I believe the video size is set to 320. The quality is absolutely *horrendous* at this setting. But if you increase the size to 640, the video is very nice -- but the file size is absolutely *huge* (compared to Canons, where the size is much smaller for a 640 video). On the positive side, there's no time limit on the video, so you can shoot as long as you want. But be warned, it will eat up space on your computer very quickly!!
These nuisances made us fed up within a week. We've traded in our Sony for a trusty Canon. Sorry Sony, we gave you a chance... but you just didn't impress us.
had the camera two days, love it 2008-08-23
Take stunning shots in a variety of conditions. The Sony DSC-W150 Cyber-shot(R) 8.1-Megapixel Digital Camera features an Intelligent Scene mode, which automatically selects the right settings for your environment. Smile Shutter technology lets you instantly capture smiles the moment they happen. A Carl Zeiss 5x optical zoom lens and Sony's Double Anti-Blur solution provide crisp, clear images. Because an off-center subject can make your shot more interesting, a 9-point auto-focus measures the focus at 9 precision points instead of 5 for a greater creative freedom to compose your image. A large, bright 2.7" Clear Photo LCD display includes an anti-reflective coating that provides for excellent visibility to help you compose, view, and share photos with superb clarity and color reproduction, even in bright sunlight. Face Detection technology automatically controls focus, exposure, color, and flash to help reveal faces in shadows, make skin tones look more natural, reduce red-eye, and eliminate harsh facial glare, so your photos bring out every expression on every face in every shot. A built-in optical viewfinder lets you compose your photos in traditional rangefinder camera style and helps save battery power by turning off your LCD display. Shutter Speed - Auto (1/4 - 1/1,600) / Program Auto (1 - 1/1,600) ISO - Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 Flash Modes - Auto, Flash On, Slow Syncro, and Flash Off Scene Modes - Auto, Easy Shooting, Program Auto, Movie, High Sensitivity, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Soft Snap, Landscape, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, Smile Shutter, and Underwater Movie Modes - MPEG VX Fine with Audio (640x480 at 30fps), MPEG VX Standard with Audio (640x480 at 16fps), 320 (QVGA, 320 x 240, Approx.8.3fps) Operating System - Microsoft 2000 Professional, Me, XP Home and Professional, Macintosh OS 9.1, 9.2, and OS X (10.0-10.4)
Good pictures - but maybe an onboard software issue 2008-08-19
I bought this camera right before a recent month long vacation. It took great pictures and unexpectedly was able to capture things in unusual light I didn't think it would handle. However, I had several problems. I attempted to take several pictures of camouflaged critters, and the camera just couldn't focus. I tried multiple settings, but the lizards and bugs were not patient enough for me to work until I could find a setting that would focus in close up conditions on a hard to distinguish subject. I still haven't figured out how to get this to happen and the companion instruction book offered no help that I could find for this kind of thing. The other problem I had is that the camera seemed to occasionally lose its little mind. I would turn on the review function and start paging back through my pictures, and the camera would turn itself on and drop out of review mode. Sometimes no matter what I tried to do it would not allow me to review my pictures. This issue would clear up if I left the camera off for a few hours. Then sometimes I would have it on a setting on the dial and be taking pictures and the menu describing the dial settings would appear on screen and rotate through settings without me touching the setting dial. At times it would do this rapidly. To get it to stop I turned off the camera. When I turned it back on, this problem would mysteriously have resolved itself. But despite these weird behaviors I was happy with the pictures I captured, and if there were not the what looks like an onboard software problem, I could wholeheartedly recommend the camera.
GREAT!!!! 2008-08-18
We had no idea of what kind of digital camera to get only a few suggestions from family and friends. Again, we went to Amason for product and information and again were not disappointed and were able to make a decision. After using and experimenting with our Sony Cybershot we are so satisfied. The pictures also print out like professional on my computer.
Thanks for the #1 Products.... with information the possibilities are endless. What fun memories we are capable of capturing now!!!!!
DSC-W150 cybershot 2008-08-12
it is a great camera, I am very fan of sony and let me tell you that this is the best camera that I ever had.
Great Lil' Gem 2008-08-05
I purchased the Sony Cybershot DSC-W150 in silver and like it very much.
This camera is small, but feels and looks well built. It is about the size of a deck of cards so it fits easily into a jacket pocket or a purse. As it is small, one needs to be careful with finger placement so as not to obstruct the flash or the AF lamp.
The LCD is bright and clear. It is easy to view indoors even under poor lighting. It works well outdoors, but washes out when bright sunlight shines directly on the screen. This is when one appreciates having an optical viewfinder even if it is small. As the LCD picks up fingerprints easily, one does well to keep a cleaning cloth [such as an eyeglass cleaning cloth] close by.
I have taken just over 200 pictures. I am delighted with the photo quality. The pictures are crisp. The colors are true. It captures details wonderfully. It performs well with both indoor and outdoor shots. Even photos snapped without the flash in poor lighting generally turn out well producing nice, clear 4x6 and 5x7 inch prints. [Perhaps even larger prints but I have not tried.]
The modes I have used most are:
* Program Mode: has automatic settings but also allows the user to adjust some settings such as ISO, EV, Metering Mode, and Flash Strength
* Smile Mode: sets the camera to take pictures only when the person smiles
* High Sensitivity [ISO] Mode: automatically turns off the flash and boosts the ISO for low light situations
I have not experimented with the movie mode so cannot comment on how well it works.
As for negatives, photo playback is slow to load. Not a major thing as the camera may be set to photo review which displays the photo taken for 2 seconds.
For those who are in search of a point and shoot camera which takes great pictures with little effort on the user's part, I would recommend placing this camera on your short list.
I am very pleased with my purchase and think you will be too.
