Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX50 16.2 MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom and 2.7-inch LCD (Black) (2012 Model)

I love this camera. When you are purchasing a point and shoot I think you need to be mindful of your expectations. Point and shoots aren't meant to be perfect cameras but a quality one should take nice pictures. This is my second Sony Cybershot with a Carl Zeiss lens. I absolutely recommend any Sony camera with this lens over any other! I have tried Olympus, Fujii, and other brands of cameras and I still go back to the Cybershot with Carl Zeiss. This specific camera is excellent in low light, bright light, action shots, and just about any other condition I have tried out. 95% of the time it autofocuses on the right part of the picture (which is great for the type of camera it is). The images are sharp, clear, and true to color. The intelligent auto setting works great. This camera is perfect for anyone who doesn't want to have to mess with settings. It easily uploads photos to your computer. There is a easy setting on the camera so you can have a very limited menu which I think is perfect for those who aren't tech savvy. And if you are tech savvy, you will be just as happy with this camera because there are many settings you can change if you'd like (though not necessary). Battery life: I have been using my camera just about every day now. I have taken thousands of photos with it. I am surprised by the battery life. I keep the camera on intelligent automatic, auto flash and my battery usually lasts about 2-3 days. If most of my pictures need a flash the battery does run out after about a day and a half Durability: Unfortunately I dropped my camera about 3 feet and it hit a metal chair then hit the floor. I was so mad at myself and it was only the first week of use! I turned on the camera and there were no issues! Everything works just as always. There isn't even a scratch to be found. I honestly haven't found any negatives about this camera. If my opinion changes over time I will update this review.

I bought this because I had a crappy $40 camera I bought from a drug store and wanted a nicer one for my semester abroad. It takes excellent pictures, even at night with the flash off. Sometimes it is a little confusing to use and there is a bit of learning curve. Just play with it a little and you will get the hang of it. There's a nifty feature where it takes a bunch of pictures in a row really quickly and it compiles them to give you the best image. Probably the best non-professional grade camera you will find for the price. It is really tiny and easy to fit in a purse or even a larger pocket. I advise you to put the wrist strap on it because its size makes it easy to drop. Pretty good battery life too.

Finally, a new camera to replace my old point and shoot that has been defective. For more than a year, my old Sony digital camera has failed to work. But with cellphones taking nearly as good pictures, I was too slow to buy a new standalone digital camera. I knew I wanted something beyond the built-in camera in my cellphone (my phone, a Sony Xperia, takes fairly good pictures). I wanted an actual digital camera for better pictures to take during special occasions such as vacation with my girlfriend or friend's parties I attended. This unit comes with 16.2 megapixels, making the pictures taken really clear. Think of it as HD television. The camera is small and can easily fit in a pocket, although I separately purchased a bag for it. This is a good unit for a family camera and for casual use. I didn't give it a five-star rating because to my surprise, there is a delay in each picture taken. The camera takes about three seconds to process every single picture you take, something I wasn't used to. I don't think all cameras have that type of delay. But it is a minor inconvenience to me as my phone can already take rapid succession, back to back pictures.

I bought this model to replace an older Sony point and shoot that I've used for a few years. I was very disappointed in the WX50. The photo quality was inconsistent--some dark, some blown out, some just right--and the videos were horrible. It shoots 1080p (yay!) at 60i (boo!). It's the "i" that disappointed me most, as any movement reveals that the video is interlaced. I saw no way to change the settings to 30p, so now I'm left to deinterlace my videos in iMovie. I returned it to Amazon and instead purchased a Canon 110 HS which has provided me with very consistent and predictable performance. Do yourself a favor and stay away from the Sony Cyber Shot WX50.

Well-just opened and set the camera up. I have at least 8 cameras and this is really amazing. I guess the slr's are better, but this is pretty close for a small compact. I mean small! You could lose this in a suit pocket! Anyway I shot it in many functions -it is allot like the Sony NEX 3 I have, menu wise. Pretty intuitive. It also shoots great macro shots-also very close to my 60d Canon with a 1.8 50mm on it-also amazing. The new technology Sony is developing is so far out there just in 1 year. Low light it's good set at 800iso. Did some pixel peeking and the shots were very good-you need to push the camera and explore the settings.I shoot without flash whenever possible, and the colors are quite true. This will be with me quite a bit-probably in my carry bag all the time. Put a light wrist cord on it as it's that small to hold. Less than 100.00 and it beats cameras up to 500.00. I checked them out by doing the wx50vsother cameras in google. There are not many that beat it for sharpness and overall performance. It is a well kept secret. Wish you could see the shots-I'll put some on flicker-Jeff Bissell-take a look. Was bought on Amazon-they are good at any returns within 30 days.

I bought this Camera two years back and I am still finding pretty good. I would recommend this camera if you are looking for following features, Size vs Zoom : I was looking for a small cam which can fit into my pocket but it should have a descent zoom. This one had both the options. There were few others, which had higher zoom than this one but other features made it winner for me. Easy to operate : I gifted this camera to my parents and I wanted something which has all the cool feature but not very complex for them to use. It has intelligent photo mode and auto focus, which provides you very good picture quality. Screen size and type: This one has pretty descent screen size. At one time I was more interested in touch screen but then later I realized that touch screen in not easy to use always. It makes it difficult to operate in sun light and kids cant handle it either. Extra feature: This was the first camera with sweet panorama, which I found very useful. Its low light mode is very effective and picture quality is one of the best in class (don't compare it with high end DSLR). I have compared its picture with many other cams and found it very impressive. So if you are looking for a small camera, which isn't very complex to operate but still has lots of features then this is the best option.

For one, this camera takes excellent pictures and works well in low-light conditions. Video is very good, just shy of excellent for a point-and-shoot. This was my wife's "new baby" present for when our second son was born this past April. As other reviewers have mentioned the camera seems unstable. Will not power on at times, lens will not retract at times. I contacted Sony Support. Due to the conversation I had with Sony I will not be keeping this camera, which is unfortunate because it's feature-set is great. This chat occured with Sony Support on 7/19/2012 You are chatting with Jess - ( C467 ).Sony Electronics 7:47 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Hi. Welcome to Sony Online Support. I'm Jess. 7:47 AM Jess - ( C467 ): I understand that the camera is not turning ON. Is that correct ? ------------------------------------- 7:48 AM Customer: For the past week our camera would not power on, and the lens has been stuck out and open. ------------------------------------- 7:48 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Okay. 7:48 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Are you using completely charged batteries with the camera ? ------------------------------------- 7:48 AM Customer: I'd tried with different USB cords to charge it... on computer and via wall-jack adapter. 7:49 AM Customer: Just this morning, after more than 5 days of not being able to use it, the camera started responding while plugged into to USB-to-computer power. ------------------------------------- 7:49 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Okay. 7:50 AM Jess - ( C467 ): What was the message appearig on the camera ? ------------------------------------- 7:50 AM Customer: Now that it's powered on the message is "Writing to Memory card was incomplete" ------------------------------------- 7:51 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Okay. 7:51 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Try power resetting the camera by removing the camera battery for a minute. ------------------------------------- 7:51 AM Customer: While plugged into power or not plugged in? ------------------------------------- 7:52 AM Jess - ( C467 ): While the camera is unplugged from the power source. ------------------------------------- 7:53 AM Customer: Ok, I've pulled the battery and unplugged. ------------------------------------- 7:53 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Alright, kindly wait for a minute. ------------------------------------- 7:54 AM Customer: No problem... while we're waiting, do you know if a firmware upgrade is available on this model. From Amazon reviews it appears a number of customers experience instability in this model. ------------------------------------- 7:55 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Unfortunately, there are no updates mentioned for this model. 7:55 AM Jess - ( C467 ): There are no product issue alerts mentioned for this model of the camera. 7:56 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Insert the battery into the camera now 7:57 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Try turning ON the camera. ------------------------------------- 7:57 AM Customer: I'm not sure of your escalation channels, but I would strongly recommend having Sony look at the Amazon reviews to encourage a firmware upgrade or something. While the camera is working now, this has happened a couple times to us already in the months of owning it. 7:57 AM Customer: It's powered on showing the same "Writing to memory card was not completed correctly. Recover data?" ------------------------------------- 7:58 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Unfortunately, we are not authorized to comment on the third party websites. However I thank you for the suggestion. 7:58 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Okay. 7:59 AM Jess - ( C467 ): Can you access the menu items of the camera ? ------------------------------------- 8:01 AM Customer: Yes, now that the camera is powered on it appears to work okay. To clarify my suggestion, is not to comment on third party sites... but to review the sites to see what customers are experiencing (few customers actually take the time to seek support). I'll be returning this camera to Amazon for a Canon due to this exchange we've had... b/c Sony should be aware of these issues. This is the first Sony product I've been unhappy with the quality of. ------------------------------------- 8:02 AM Jess - ( C467 ): I can understand you concern. 8:02 AM Jess - ( C467 ): However, if any issues are persisting kindly bring it to our notice, we will be glad to provide the information to resolve the issue ------------------------------------- 8:04 AM Customer: Thank you Jess, for the record I think you've done your job well here. As stated however, Sony dropped-the-ball in seeking out customer's experience with this model. ------------------------------------- 8:04 AM Jess - ( C467 ): I can understand your frustration.

PROS: Small size, low light capability, special features CONS: Lens wobble during video zooming, image noise above ISO 200 I've been searching for a point-and-shoot camera that can rival my six year-old Fuji F30. The F30 set the standard for low noise, low-light photo quality in small-sensor cameras and its performance has been difficult to beat --and I've tried, and purchased, several cameras since the Fuji. The Sony Exmor R sensor appears to be the low-light performer I've been looking for and so I purchased and tested both the Sony WX50 and the Sony WX150 for comparison. The specs for the Sony WX50 and WX150 are virtually identical except for the optical zoom range (5X Carl Zeiss lens vs 10X Sony G lens) and sensor size (16MP vs 18MP). I fully expected the WX50 with its 5X lens and 16MP sensor to have a slight edge in image quality due to simpler optics and fewer megapixels in the Exmor R sensor. What I discovered was exactly the opposite. I took several photos of the same low-light scene using each camera set to ISO 200, 400, 800, and 1600 in the widest angle setting (no zoom). When reviewed at 1:1, the WX50 photos showed considerable noise at ISO 400 and above (800 and 1600 were nearly unacceptable) whereas the WX150 was extremely noise-free even at 800 (with 1600 being quite impressive). The WX150's images were even slightly better than my trusty Fuji F30 --finally! There was no comparison --the WX150 lens/sensor combination provides noticeably clearer, lower-noise images at high ISO than the WX50. The WX150 has better shadow detail and clarity despite its longer zoom range (usually a compromise) and higher MP (higher MP sensors are usually noisier). However, I was most disappointed in the WX50's video results when using the optical zoom. When zooming during video recording, the WX50 lens is very "loose" and wobbles side-to-side during zooming in and out. The result is that the video image jitters left and right when you're watching any video sequence with zooming. The WX150, on the other hand, is rock-stable during zooming (which should be more difficult with the longer 10X zoom) and indicates that the WX150 has a more robust lens mechanism than the smaller 5X zoom in the WX50. Just to be sure I didn't have a sample defect, I purchased and tested a second WX50 camera and it had exactly the same lens wobble. Very disappointing! Overall, the Sony WX50 is a good performer compared to similar cameras from Canon and Panasonic. The Sony Exmor R sensor is an excellent low-light performer as advertised and finally gives me a reason to retire my trusty Fuji F30. Whereas the WX50 takes very good photos and video, I have to rate the WX150 performance as excellent in comparison. If you desire the lowest image noise at high ISO settings along with a stable lens during video zooming, then the big brother Sony WX150 is the way to go. Yes, the WX150 is more expensive but to me the performance difference, including a longer optical zoom, is well worth it since we're still talking about cameras under $200 (edit 1/5/13: at the time of this review, the WX50 was selling for $119 and the WX150 was $169 on Amazon. It looks like the WX150 price has recently gone as high as $228 due to demand).