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General discussion

sony w1 digicam

Jul 24, 2004 4:17AM PDT

I would like some expert information on the compact sony w1 digicam. On another websight there were mixed reviews on this camera. The only flaw was it had soft focusing on the photos when taking pictures of people. I had a trial test with this camera and found that to be true. After changing the default setting to sharp+ & focus center the pictures came out fine.Yet on this other website with this tried some people considered it still soft. Can you help me on this?

Discussion is locked

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Re: sony w1 digicam
Jul 24, 2004 5:01AM PDT

It's this simple. Such can be the result of the reviewer comparing the camera to something better.

So far, there are no standards for such a review. It's very subjective.

Bob

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Re: sony w1 digicam
Jul 24, 2004 5:31AM PDT

They are still debating this subject.

Adjusting the sharpness setting can help some.

Some people state that the camera noise-reduction ability is set too high. What this does, is blend pixels together to remove noise. If overdone, it will remove some of the very fine details.

On one forum, a person had taken similar photos with three different cameras. The most noticeable was a photo of a surface that had a very fine texture. With the W1 camera, the surface was noticeably smoother and showed the texture less.

With real world photos, this will show up often in photos of tree leaves and grass, taken at a distance.
The leaves and grass blades will be blurred and will not have sharp edges.

Some people state that this effect causes the photo to look flat.

The camera does not have any control that will allow the customer to change this noise-reduction setting.

The argument continues.

Some have contacted Sony about this perceived problem and no one has reported that Sony acknowledged a problem.

So......just wait and see, I guess.

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Re: sony w1 digicam
Nov 30, 2004 4:15AM PST

I bought it a week ago and it's not good at all. I compared it to my old Olympus c750 (4mbp) and the pictures seem out of focus, wrong colors, edges are not sharp, background is whiteish without the depth. So, I am giving it back and still searching for better than Olympus 750.

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Re: sony w1 digicam
Nov 30, 2004 9:16AM PST

The Sony W1 takes sharp photos in daylight.

Under low light conditions and flash settings the firmware in the camera will select a slow shutter speed when in automatic mode.

Then it becomes a matter of how well you prevent camera movement. And that seems to be troublesome with that small camera.

One solution is to use a tripod for low light and flash pictures, but that is not too desirable.

Another solution is the use the manual mode that the W1 has. Set the shutter speed to a faster setting (say 1/100 of a second).

Another solution is to use the viewfinder instead of the LCD under low light and flash conditions. Use your head as a tripod, your head is steadier that two outstretched arms.

Sony could fix this with a revised firmware but they have not done that.

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