Sample photos: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W220

The W220's photo quality is good, particularly at ISO 200 and below. Viewed at their full 12-megapixel resolution, there's some noise at all ISOs, but it's least noticeable at lower ISOs. Photos are still good at ISO 400, but soften a bit from noise reduction. Sharpness and detail decrease rapidly above ISO 400, but color remains fairly consistent. ISO 800 is usable for small prints, but everything above that is noisy and smeary.

Center sharpness on the W220 is very good. However, it drops off to the sides making edges of photos look soft.

The lens of the W220 displays modest amounts of pincushion distortion at the camera's longest position (top) and barrel distortion at its widest (bottom).

A certain amount of purple fringing is to be expected, but the W220 was above average to the point where its clearly visible in prints above 4x6 inches.

To help pull out shadow details in your photos, Sony includes its Dynamic Range Optimizer Standard and Plus technology on the W220. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do much on this series of shots. However, I have used it on other Sonys and it does work, so maybe the camera or I was having a bad day.

While they're not quite accurate, the colors produced by the W220 are nice and natural looking.