Sony Cybershot W530
Initial reaction? I’m ecstatic!
Fist Quick Shots
First things first: I loved the stripped simplicity of my phone camera for the exceptionally good auto mode: when it comes to travel photos, fine-tuning your settings before taking a shot will often result in a lost momentum. Well, W530 has an intelligent auto function that brings the quality of spontaneous shots to a whole new level. It’s light years ahead of all other “autos” out there.
Check it out: all these photos (below) have been taken with available light (suppressed flash), handheld, without as much as spitting in the direction of the menu. No ISO was set, no “shooting mode” selected, no white balance messed with – the camera has evaluated lighting conditions and came up with the optimum settings. I think it’s pretty awesome!
Body
The camera is light, sleek and super-pocket friendly. It is easy on the eyes too. I got the green one, even though I’m usually a strong believer in colorless gadgets. I don’t know what happened this time: perhaps the fact that I have a nail polish of identical color was the tipping point…
Zoom
I have to say that I don’t believe in zooms on point-and-shoot cameras. There’s no way that these tiny little lenses can pull it off – and there’s no reason why they should. Bird-watchers or Safari photographers are already equipped with gigantic tele-zooms that can be potentially used as murder weapons, but backpackers trying to capture daily experiences in foreign countries have no business with elaborate framing and attempts at “art”. There are enough stunning subjects around without pulling “details” out of one’s ass. Predictably, the zoom (4x optical – or so it wants to think of itself) is W530′s weakest point: even slightly zoomed in, images lose sharpness and acquire significant noise.
User Friendliness
My newborn Cybershot is as intuitive a point-and-shoot, as iPod is an mp3 player. It’s simple, logical, and well organized. Getting used to it takes between 5 and 30 seconds. True story.
Overall
Zeiss lens didn’t fail to deliver colorful, crisp images – even during my first test in nearly complete darkness. I’m looking forward to checking how the camera will respond to landscape, portrait and macro subjects and will be posting respective images and additional comments about its performance. So far, it looks like the beginning of a lasting (as long as I don’t trust its fate to rented “water proof” bags) and happy relationship.
See few more notes and sample pictures here.
Available light (dim street lamp), intelligent auto mode
Available light (dimly lit cafe), hand held, intelligent auto
Colors in the dark. Another dimly lit cafe, handheld, auto.
Hi, I want to purchase W530, kindly give me the information related to movie recording, is zooming in and zooming out facilities given during movies recording, in this camera. kindly reply me
Hi! No, you can’t zoom in during the movie unfortunately.
hi thanks for reply
suggest me can i purchase this camera, what is your overall opinion
Overall, I think that it’s awesome! Good colors, sharp images, great light sensitivity – I’m in love with this camera. I’m about to post a new blog entry with quite a few pictures – check them out and see for yourself.
Hi there,
You’re right there are no reviews for this model. But I feel lucky to have found your site and useful info from your experience with the camera. Thanks
Hi.. Im also planning to buy this camera (Sony W530).. How is the Sweep Panorama feature in this camera… Is it worth buying this model?? Or does anyone have a better suggestion in the same class…
I have purchased a sony w510 camera. But my freind told me that i should go for the w530 as it has carl zeiss lens, which is better than sony lens. Is this actually true ?
I would say that a zeiss lens make a huge difference… At least I bought this particular camera specifically because of the lens – I have no loyalty to Sony as a camera brand. I think Lumix with Leica is even a better (but much more expensive) choice…
Here’s a little picture summary: with W530 around South East Asia! http://tinybackpacker.com/2011/04/my-favorite-travel-pix/
(all images are taken in intelligent auto mode, handheld).
Hi Lena,
I have gone through the images you have uploaded, it looks wonderful. As you said, W530 supports Panorama mode. Could you please upload couple of images clicked with Panorama mode , just in case you have taken some?
Hey Amit, thanks! I hoped you’d like my new point-and-shoot friend. Yes, W530 supports a Panorama mode that is quite easy in terms of use, but somehow not very impressive in terms of final result. The images are not nearly as crisp and the colors are a bit dull. I’ll upload a few reference pictures in the coming posts, but zoom and panorama aren’t the strongest points of this camera. Still, I find it absolutely amazing, given its intelligent auto mode performance. Well, that and the price.
Hello! I just wanted to give some info on my experience with this camera! I had purchased it about three weeks ago, and four days ago it had started to malfunction. The camera kept turning off once I turned it on, the screen would go black and shut down after I took a picture, and also when it shut itself off it kept the lens out and i wasn’t able to put it back in without trying to turn the camera off and on several times. After much frustration I brought it back to the store I had purchased it from. They had confirmed that it was malfunctioning, and suggested that it was a problem without he battery compartment. I really did like the camera, but they told me that they had sold out, and as I live in Hawaii I chad called around to all the other super centers on my island and could not locate one. Needless to say I am very frustrated with my experience. All in all I just wanted to share that although this camera does have some great features beware that it can easily malfunction, even though the model was only released a few months ago! Best of luck if you are purchasing this camera!
Thanks for your input, Elizabeth! I’m happy to say that my camera works perfectly until this day. Best of luck with your replacement!
Hello Ms. Tinybackpacker! Thaks much for the review. after the blasted 5 hours of ‘review’ trawling I too went rogue in a Kozlova’esque way and bought me exactly this model but once amazon said my order is being processed and can’t be changed or cancelled, I thought about now finding out the dark side of the w530. Thankfully, if at all, its mostly gray, nothing too dark. However, I am particularly interested in its ability to capture details in macro mode since I click lots of creepy crawlies etc. I’d really appreciate if you could try to bring up any unhappy childhood memory and use it to bully some insect into a corner, then totally violate it by shoving the lens in its face; or just click the ‘heads’ side of the smallest coin you can find. Once you have what you want, please please share the results.
Happy & Safe Tripping!!
Thanks for the review! I just purchased this camera for my mom after setting out to buy a similar model (different brand) for 30 dollars more and opted for this one instead, assuming I would research it when I got home. Alas, few reviews existed, but yours certainly helped, and just wanted to offer my appreciation. Hopefully my mom will love the camera as much as you did! Thanks again!
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Hello… I have just bought this camera – does it shoot in black and white? I can’t seem to find the setting for this?