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Sony DSC-W170 digital camera review :

The first quarter of a year tends to be the busiest period for most manufacturers, since many introductions are usually made at that specific time. In January, the first large consumer electronics show kicks off, the CES in Las Vegas; which generally forms the start of the first camera introductions. In 2008, the PMA was held right after the CES show, leading to a genuine flood of new compact and DSLR cameras. So did Sony, and the Sony Cybershot DSC-W170 belongs to the first series of this year. The Sony W170 is a model of the W-series; models that aim at a straightforward operation, yet, are equipped with the latest innovative techniques.

10 Megapixel resolution Sony CyberShot DSC-W170

The Sony Cybershot W170 is equipped with a 10 Megapixels CCD sensor, making it one of the highest resolution W-cameras, except for the W300 which features 13 Megapixels. This keeps Sony at pace with the rest of the manufacturers that have dived into the continuing Megapixel race. And yet there is hardly any noticeable advantage to these types of high resolution sensors. For those keen on figures; the following comparison with a 10 Megapixel Sony Alpha might be of interest to you. Pro ratio, there are approximately 35 million pixels on one square cm of the W170′s sensor, whereas the Sony Alpha 300 has 2.7 million pixels. Both cameras offer 10 Megapixels of image resolution.

Sony DSC W170 digital compact camera

This comparison clearly shows how the size of the pixel of a Cybershot W170 fits on the image sensor. It is obviously no match for that of an average DSLR sensor. The Sony Cybershot DSC-170 aims at a totally different target group; a target group less demanding and more attracted to the ease of a compact camera. The Sony DSC-W170 is a convenient compact camera, that you will carry around carefree in your inner or trouser pocket. It’s not as flat as the models of the T-series, but it will do fine.

Sony W170 review – Test in practise & Technical test

We had the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W170 in the office for a short period of time to put it through the test. In addition, the camera has been extensively tested in our DIWA Lab, managed by Kai Thon, Test manager of DIWA Awards. The technical tests carried out in the lab are standardized so that every measurement is made in exactly the same circumstances. The technical tests and our test in practice offer an exclusive full image of the Sony Cybershot W170. Our findings can be read in the following

Sony Cybershot DSC W170

review.

Sony Cybershot DSC W170 | Digital Camera Review | Camera

Sony memory and battery compartment

On top of the camera it is quiet, extremely quiet. There are just the on/off button and the shutter release button ready for operation. The bottom of the camera shows a USB interface and off-centre, a universal tripod mount. The compartment for the Li-Ion battery and the memory card is positioned right next to it, making it impossible to change either one of them when the camera is mounted on a tripod. Naturally, the Sony DSC-170 supports Memory Stick Duo memory cards.

Sony DSC-W170 offers a 2.7″ LCD monitor

The back of the camera looks a lot busier, compared to the other sides. The 2.7 inch sized monitor takes up nearly all the space, although sufficient room was left to place an optical viewfinder above the monitor. On the right of the monitor the zoom button is placed, along with the command dial, some four buttons and a multi-control button that operates the camera. The buttons around the multi-control button are rather small, and at times it is difficult to aim at the one you want to press. It did occur that I pressed the multi-control button while I really wanted to press on one of the other buttons. Precisely pressing it with a fingertip will prevent you from hitting the wrong button and getting the wrong settings.

Sony Cybershot DSC W170 | Digital Camera Review | Control

Intelligent software in the CyberShot W170

The Sony W170 is mainly a camera for shooting ease, no advanced setting possibilities are at hand. The intelligent software simply takes over complicated jobs and it looks like we haven’t seen the end of it yet. More such cameras will be equipped with handy knacks.

Sony Cybershot DSC W170 | Digital Camera Review | Adjustments

Sony CyberShot W170 dynamic range

One thing on which the Sony W170 scores well is the dynamic range. It is excellent for the sensitivities up to and including ISO 800. From ISO 800 it drops to a plain good result with 1600 and 3200 ISO as average to reasonable. An excellent result altogether, resulting in an excellent reproduction of dark areas with clear details without bleached out light areas for the aforementioned ISOs in practice.

Sony wide angle zoom & telephoto range

The Sony Cybershot W170 is equipped with a 5x optical zoom lens with a focal length of 28-140mm. Good for Sony to equip the camera with a wide angle zoom. At maximum aperture of f/3.3 the edges and the centre offer a fine sharpness. The same result is obtained up to and including 55mm with sharpness preserved. In telephoto range, the performance of the small lens becomes a lot less. Slightly blurred in the centre and visible blur towards the edges, a pity. Distortion is only visible in wide angle, the other focal lengths hardly show visible distortion, if any at all.

Chromatic aberration of the Sony 170

The last Cybershot camera (T300) that was tested in the lab, had to own up to the chromatic aberration. We were very curious to see if the Sony W170 also suffers from this effect. From the technical tests, it unfortunately occurred to be the same. Although less significantly present, the Sony Cybershot W170 is far from blameless as for chromatic aberration. In particular around the central focal point, approximately at 55mm, and lessening towards 140mm, there is a fairly large amount of visible chromatic aberration. This amount disturbs in certain situations where the effect occurs and lessens the image quality significantly. As for vignetting, Sony clearly has this under control.

Technical DIWA Test lab

Again we would like to point out to you that technical measurements carried out in a lab, do not necessarily have to match with practice. In other words, although the Sony Cybershot W170 scores average as for chromatic aberration, in practice this does not have to lead to problems while the effect only occurs in certain situations. Something that is not excusable, however, is the effect of the amount of noise at a high resolution camera. It makes the Sony Cybershot W170 less all-round than it could be.

Sony Cybershot DSC W170 | Digital Camera Review | Storage and Energy

USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection

The Memory Stick Duo memory cards are available in various speeds. The advantage of a faster memory card is rapid data transfer providing the computer and the device reading the card are equipped with a fast USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection. Or you can choose to purchase a card reader. This handy device needs to be connected to the USB port and is capable of reading a card and writing to it rapidly. The computer will recognize the device as an external hard drive. Additionally you will also save energy.

Sony NP-BG1 Lithium Ion battery

The Sony Cybershot W170 uses an NP-BG1 Lithium Ion battery. The battery is charged by an external charger which takes approximately 2 hours. According to CIPA standard, we can make approximately 390 pictures with a fully loaded battery. In practice these numbers are always somewhat less, since CIPA measurements are not equal to use in practice. We were able to make some 300 pictures before having to charge the battery again. This is an excellent result.

Sony Cybershot DSC W170 | Digital Camera Review | Test-images

 

 

Sony W170

photo

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/4

Exposure time :

1/1600 sec

ISO :

200

Focal length :

10mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

 

Sony W170

photo

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/3.3

Exposure time :

1/80 sec

ISO :

100

Focal length :

5mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

 

Sony W170

photo

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/3.5

Exposure time :

1/100 sec

ISO :

100

Focal length :

8mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

 

 

Sony DSC-W170

picture

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/5.2

Exposure time :

1/50 sec

ISO :

400

Focal length :

25mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

 

Sony DSC-W170

picture

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/5.2

Exposure time :

1/200 sec

ISO :

800

Focal length :

25mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

 

Sony DSC-W170

picture

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/5.2

Exposure time :

1/50 sec

ISO :

400

Focal length :

25mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

Sony Cybershot DSC W170 | Digital Camera Review | Test-images

 

 

Sony W170

image

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/8

Exposure time :

1/125 sec

ISO :

100

Focal length :

5mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

 

Sony W170

image

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/4.5

Exposure time :

1/400 sec

ISO :

100

Focal length :

14mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

 

Sony W170

image

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/4.5

Exposure time :

1/320 sec

ISO :

100

Focal length :

25mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

 

 

Sony DSC-W170

photo

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/3.3

Exposure time :

1/640 sec

ISO :

125

Focal length :

5mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

 

Sony DSC-W170

photo

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/5

Exposure time :

1/250 sec

ISO :

100

Focal length :

22mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

 

Sony DSC-W170

photo

Resolution :

3648 x 2736 pixels

Aperture :

f/8

Exposure time :

1/80 sec

ISO :

100

Focal length :

5mm

Metering :

Pattern

Compensation :

0 step

Sony Cybershot DSC W170 | Digital Camera Review | Camera

DIWA Labs

and

download

the technical PDFs for the conclusions from the analysis that provides more than 1 million figures for each camera, addressing quality issues and exact location within the various test images.

DxO Analyzer software :

The DxO Analyzer is the most reliable and comprehensive software for testing and characterizing any digital camera, from professional DSLR’s to camera phones. DxO Analyzer performs objective, unbiased measurements of all key optical and imaging characteristics, such as distortion, lateral and longitudinal chromatic aberrations, vignetting, noise, defective pixels, dark signal, ISO sensitivity, perceived blur, spatial frequency response, resolution, effective focal length, dynamic range, tonal range, white balance, color sensitivity, and color fidelity.

Analysing DxO technical test data

Sony Cybershot DSC W170 | Digital Camera Review | Conclusion

Sony CyberShot DSC-W170 digital camera review

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-170 is a handy and compactly built camera with a straightforward operation. The convenient automatic functions demonstrate the ongoing substantial automation. The camera is becoming more and more intelligent, and is able to recognize situations and act accordingly. One person will hate it, and will want to be in control, while another person will love it. If you really want to shoot in a creative way, you will have to look for the more advanced models of the Cyber-shot series. For snapshots, the Sony W170 is the designated model.

Intelligent software & High resolution

The more intelligent software offers user’s ease, and you would probably conclude that this should improve the quality of the pictures as incorrect exposure is prevented this way. Still, it doesn’t work like that, unfortunately. To be clear; this is not only the case with the W170 but does in fact apply to every high resolution compact camera. And it is in fact so obvious that it is rather weird a conclusion has not been drawn yet unanimously. At the cost of many innovative solutions, aimed at user’s ease and to improve the overall quality at the same time, an unscrupulous process is carried out. This process, increasing the amount of megapixels, increasing the ISO and pushing the specification list to unknown heights with it, is cause of many annoying side effects.

Signal / noise ratio of the Sony DSC-W170

One of the effects is the signal/noise ratio. From the technical tests, it becomes clear time and time again that an increase of resolution on a small image sensor equals a diminishing of performance and in particular at high ISO values. For the Sony W170 this applies clearly from ISO 400, however, below 400 ISO is not that rosy either. The performance at 200 ISO and lower is reasonable to good. Still, it is obvious that this should and can improve drastically. Furthermore, the lens suffers from chromatic aberration in a way we would call a Carl Zeiss lens unworthy.

Image quality of the Sony CyberShot W170

The image quality of the pictures is fine and colour reproduction shows beautiful and quite accurate colours. The ease of use with the various innovative image solutions make you enjoy shooting with the Sony W170 without having to worry about settings. The beautiful quality housing lies solidly in your hand and combined with the effective optical image stabilizer, you can use the 5x optical zoom lens without thinking twice about it.

Sony W170 offers an average performance

The Sony Cybershot W170 is a pleasant camera to work with. It’s a pity that the image quality did not appear clearly from a technical point of view in a number of situations. This is not a camera for the evening or in difficult light circumstances; it is a good-weather model. It may sound patronizing; however, if you want to make optimal use of the possibilities and obtain the best result, you have to stay away from those aforementioned situations. We hope that the next generation Cyber shot cameras will be so strong-willed, that it will defy the strong demands of the marketing and profile in pure quality whilst leaving the Megapixel race to others. This is what forces us to conclude that the Sony Cybershot DSC-W170 performance is average. Sad, since it seems capable of more.

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