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The 12 Megapixel Sony W200. I think I'll pass.
Well, the Sony DSC-W200 is now here. And they didn't bother doing
anything about the 16:9 limitation that I talked about earlier.
Here's what the new W200 has over the W100:
Total megapixels increased from 8 to 12.
Maximum ISO upped from 1250 to 3200.
Anti-noise reduction processing.
Image stabilization.
Slightly thinner in size from front to back.
The upgrade from 8 to 12 is meaningless unless you are a photographer
that prints in poster-board size prints. It remains to be seen how well
the anti-noise reduction works, but there's not one hell of a lot you can
do about the laws of physics and most likely the image quality of the W200
is just going to be noisier than the W100 and thus lower in overall quality.
This trend toward more megapixels and lower image quality is common to just
about all the camera manufacturers these days, not just Sony. And the real
loser is the consumer, who are paying more for less — whether they know it
or not.
The image stabilization is nice. That can really help a photographer in
those marginal photographic situations.
As far as the smaller thickness, as far as I'm concerned that only makes
what is already a very small camera a lot harder to hold steady.
I think Sony gave this W200 the wrong tag. It's really not so much a
successor to the W100 as it is an idiot's upgrade to the W50 and W90
models.
And for that they want $399 US.
The W100 is a very good camera. And if you happen to know something about
photography, it can even be a great camera. If they had kept the camera at
8 MP, added the image stabilization, and put on another option for a high
resolution 16:9 mode, I might have considered an upgrade.
But I have to pass on the W200. Maybe they'll get everything right with the
W300, who knows.
You´re absolutely right, methinks. Drop out of the megapxel race. It´s total bullshit. Concetrate on user-friendlyness and optics.
You betcha'.
By a finger's breadth, I am addicted to pursue the fashion in brainless.Thanks a million, you stop me!
Nisei writes:Why do so many people think more megapixels is only good for making larger prints? I want more because it enables me to crop pictures and still be able to make a high quality print. Also, having more megapixels and shooting at a lower resolution than the maximum available gives you the ability to use smart zoom thus making up for the limited 3x optical zoom. And even 12 megapixels still doesn't match the resolution of analog 35mm film.
@ Nises. You make a couple of good points there. As far as cropping, I find that 8 MP allows a pretty severe crop with good quality. But I suppose that in certain cases more megapixels might be better. Your comment on the Smart Zoom is certainly a good one.Thanks for dropping by, and for taking the time to post your comments.
Anonymous writes:What would you recommend for taking pictures of very small objects…like insects?
For things like insects, that's Macro photography, which is its own specialized area. I'm sure you can find a number of good sites on the internet about this. Most people that I've run across that do Macro photography have some sort of DSLR and a macro-type lens to snap on to it, plus some stuff in the way of lighting. That being said, there might be a few Point n' Shoots out there that are capable of that type of thing also and which won't run you an arm an a leg for all the equipment. What I can say with regard to my Sony W100 (and I suppose this holds for the W200 also) is that I found the Macro mode to be very hit-and-miss, with certain focus lock-in issues in Macro mode. So I certainly wouldn't recommend that one. As far as other Point n' Shoots, I really don't know. Best thing to do there is read the reviews on Steve's Digicams or DPReview and see if they mention testing the Macro mode for any particular camera you may be interested in. If it were me wanting to do that type of photograhpy and wanted to do it on the cheap, I'd buy a Nikon D50, the Nikkor AF 60 mm Micro lens, and a good tripod. All of that together would run you about $1000 US. Hope that help a little to setting you in the right direction. 🙂