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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W120 (Silver)

Manufacturer: Sony Part number: DSC-W120SLV

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$129.97 - $215.99 at 17 online stores

CNET Editor rating:
3.5 stars Very good
Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 7 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Product series; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: It's not as feature-laden as higher-end models, but the Cyber-shot W120 offers plenty of style and substance for the price.
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CNET editors' review

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W120 (Silver)

price range: $129.97 - $215.99

Reviewed by: Will Greenwald
Reviewed on: 03/07/2008

The good: Good picture quality; quick performance; broad feature set.

The bad: Small buttons; misses many on-board editing options other models have.

The bottom line: It's not as feature-laden as higher-end models, but the Cyber-shot W120 offers plenty of style and substance for the price.

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Sony packs a surprising number of features and color choices in its Cyber-shot DSC-W120, a 7-megapixel shooter that teeters on the fence between budget and fashion. It lacks some of the features of the Cyber-shot T- and higher-end W-series cameras, but offers much more than Sony's budget Cyber-shot S-series. It's a middle-ground camera that stands on its own without catering strictly to budget-minded shoppers or stylish gadget-hounds.

The attractive, metal W120 is available in black, silver, blue, and pink versions. Curiously, the step-up W130 only comes in silver, black, and pink. The inch-thick camera weighs just 5.4 ounces with battery and Memory Stick Duo card, and slips easily into most pockets. On the backside of the camera, a 2.5-inch LCD leaves room for a small optical viewfinder, a mode dial, and a handful of buttons. While the small, flat controls feel more comfortable than the last generation W90's buttons, they still seem a bit small for larger thumbs.

The 7-megapixel shooter includes a 32-128mm-equivalent, f/2.8-5.8 lens with Sony's Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization. The lens offers a slightly longer than usual 4x optical zoom, though slight barrel distortion is present at its widest angle. A 9-point autofocus system helps the camera lock onto subjects, and face detection can automatically adjust focus and exposure to suit the faces in your pictures. Adult and Child Priority face detection modes can differentiate between and focus primarily on children or adults in group photos, and Smile Shutter mode automatically captures photos when subjects smile. Sony's Photo Music, an in-camera slide show program, lets users show off their photos either on the camera's 2.5-inch screen or, with an optional video connector, on an HDTV. The slide shows can use a variety of transition effects, and users can upload their own soundtracks to the camera.

Despite its broad feature set, the W120 leaves out many of the onboard retouching and picture editing tools found on most other W- and T-series cameras. Its brother, the W130, comes with several photo filters, such as radial blur, fish-eye lens, and unsharp masking. The W120 can only rotate and resize pictures in the camera. A lot of these in-camera editing features are more flashy than functional, but it would have been nice to include at least a digital red eye removal.

In our lab tests, the W120 performed on par with or slightly worse than the 8-megapixel W130. After a 1.8-second wait from power-on to capturing its first JPEG, the camera could capture a new photo once every 1.3 seconds with the onboard flash turned off. With the flash turned on, that wait more than doubled to 2.7 seconds. The shutter felt quick, lagging just a hair longer than the W130 with our high-contrast target; the W120's shutter lag measured half a second compared to the W130's lagged 0.45 second. With our low-contrast target both cameras performed admirably, each lagging just one second. Unfortunately, the W120 didn't fare well in burst mode, capturing 12 7-megapixel photos in 12 seconds for a rate of one frame per second. The W130 scored double that rate, recording 15 8-megapixel shots in 7.5 seconds.

The W120's photos look crisp, and colors appear neutral and accurate. Close inspection reveals some image artifacts, but they're within an acceptable range for a camera of this class. Noise stays low up to ISO 400, and then noticeable grain begins to develop and starts to obscure finer details, such as small text and the textures of objects. Shots taken at ISO 800 look fuzzy but remain quite usable for both online use and small prints. From ISO 1600 to the camera's maximum sensitivity of ISO 3200, noise obscures or destroys most fine details and the majority of shadow detail is obliterated. While they don't make good prints, these high-sensitivity shots still might be useful for e-mailing or uploading to the Web under the right circumstances.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W120 is a fine compact camera. Its quick performance, good picture quality, and surprisingly robust feature set make it a solid choice in the budget category. However, the Cyber-shot DSC-W130 dwarfs it in nearly every way. For about $30 more, you can get a camera with a higher resolution, quicker performance, and many onboard editing tools. If you're committed to a $200 price tag or just really want a blue camera, the W120 serves its purpose well. If you can spend the extra few dollars, though, make the upgrade to the W130.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (typical)

Canon PowerShot SD1100

2.1

0.4

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W130

1.4

1.8

0.4

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W120

1.3

1.8

0.5

Fujifilm FinePix F40fd

2.5

1.1

0.5

Nikon Coolpix S51c

3.4

4.2

0.9

Typical continuous-shooting speed (in frames per second)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W130

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W120

Nikon Coolpix S51c

0.9

Canon PowerShot SD1100

0.8

Fujifilm FinePix F40fd

0.5

Find out more about how we test digital cameras.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 7 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 7 out of 7

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6 stars

Good with some annoying quirks

by jslee4845 on March 24, 2008

Pros: Good pictures, compact, 4xzoom

Cons: Poor battery life, flash locks up after using burst.

Summary: The pictures seem good quality with much better inside / dark pics than my DSC-T1!

I've only had for a few days but have found the battery life to be

...

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Summary: The pictures seem good quality with much better inside / dark pics than my DSC-T1!

I've only had for a few days but have found the battery life to be poor.

After using the burst feature the flash is locked off and cannot be turned on again. You have to go to main menu and initilize then reset time and date to reset flash.

When using USB the lense comes out for a few seconds so you have to make sure camera is facing the correct way up.

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3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
7 stars

Good camera ..worth the money ...

by iammanusharma on May 22, 2008

Pros: Nice picture, Smile detector works great!! , 4x optical zoom bit more than usual 3x

Cons: Buttons are small ,we need to show our teeth for smile detector to take picture.

Summary: To tell in a brief .. this is a camera which has nice features and worth the money..
With usual compact camera offering 3x optical zoom , this camera gives 4x which
...

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Summary: To tell in a brief .. this is a camera which has nice features and worth the money..
With usual compact camera offering 3x optical zoom , this camera gives 4x which is just a bit better than 3x.
Picture quality is good. Pictures taken without flash are a bit dark.
Smile detector works amazing only problem is we need to show our teeth so as to make camera take automatic picture.

Overall its a good camera.. i have used it for 2 months and have not faced any problem..

Regards,
Manu Sharma

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
7 stars

light weight,moderate price

by tarek khedr on May 21, 2008

Pros: steady shots, clear, good iso rate

Cons: so few shooting modes, display options,no zoom in videoes

Summary: photos also the iso rate is very good,the smile shutter is very funny but not needed,the musical slide show also is very good. the main disadvantages are : no ...

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Summary: photos also the iso rate is very good,the smile shutter is very funny but not needed,the musical slide show also is very good. the main disadvantages are : no zooming during video recording also videos doesn't play in slide show that Ihave to play them one by one.and also shooting modes are only four modes(beach,fireworks,snow&cloudy),during display the only available change to photos is rotation only that in case you want to make any changes it must be done by computer not by camera
generaly the camera is good light weight ,moderate price buti dont advice for who needs video recording. I advice canon X100 or sony w130 for sony lovers. thanks

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2 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 stars

Unbelievable features, performance for unbeatable price

by naveed04 on August 31, 2008

Pros: Great pictures, easy shooting mode for people who don't want any editing options, steady shot truly helps to reduce blur, price range very affordable. Also available in 4 great colors. Nice 2.5 inch LCD. Smile Shutter and face detection are great!

Cons: LCD resolution a bit low although it doesn't matter while seeing pictures but dots are visible in menus. Connector port on side would be a bit better.

Summary: Being on a tight budget I did not think I would get anything more than a basic point and shoot for everyday pictures for $200. But looking at the features ...

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Summary: Being on a tight budget I did not think I would get anything more than a basic point and shoot for everyday pictures for $200. But looking at the features of this camera, i felt as if i was buying a very expensive camera. First of all its brushed Alluminium design is very sturdy and pleasant at the same time. I bought it in black and this is the color I would recommend you to buy because the lens is also black and it does not suit on silver or pink. You can still have it in blue. But that is up to you. One of the most amazing features I found on it was the smile shutter. It certainly helps me to take shots of individuals. Its p[icture quality was brilliant. In bright sunlight you could use all 7.2MP that this camera has to offer because pics are really clear. Super Steady shot really helps to reduce blur. The easy shooting mode is great for people who dont want any fuss. My parents only use it in that mode! Macro shots were also great. My friends got really tricked when i bought this camera and told them it ran me out for $350. It really has got great expensive looks only besides a bit cheap looking zoom rocker. Its buttons were on par too. In VGA mode its zoom can go up to 17x and the pics still are usable. The screen does not pick up a very large number of finger prints. Its battery lasts me for more than 3 days and I take over 200 pics on a full charge. The optical viewfinder is great and it also zooms unlike my old Sony DSC-P31. All in all its an unbeleivable camera and anybody wanting a cheap camera for the job should get it. Its photo quality is actually alot better than my friends 10MP Panasonic DMC-FX36. So it also proved to me that more MPs dont mean a better picture.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
3 stars

Lens has too many issues, gets stuck

by Jennifah978 on September 16, 2008

Pros: I loved all the features of this camera, it's a sweet little camera that takes great pictures almost anywhere. Incredibly portable, price is reasonable.

Cons: The fact is, the Sony lens is AWFUL. After a month of frequent but careful use, the lens would get stuck. Wouldn't work. After awhile(read a day or two) the lens would work again, but I'd like a camera that works consistently. Pass over this one

Summary: While the features and pictures are great, this seems to be a common Sony camera problem, with the stuck lenses. I have had three friends with different Sony models with ...

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Summary: While the features and pictures are great, this seems to be a common Sony camera problem, with the stuck lenses. I have had three friends with different Sony models with my exact problem with the lens. I should have known then, and now, after 3 months of owning my camera, well, I'm researching a new one. Buyer beware!

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9 stars

Nice camera, worth for money

by edoovel on September 12, 2008

Pros: Light weight
Stylish
Long battery life (400 pictures with flash on! - amazing!)
Nice picture
Face and smile detection is really cool
The charge of flash is fast - 2 seconds - is quite good

Cons: SuperSteady Shot is not significant - W110 is more worthy
First time startup is very slow
Super Burst takes photos slowly (1s one) - the images produced are blurry

Summary: A worthy camera for the price. Don't mind giving a try, it is a great camera I will always recommend for.

Summary: A worthy camera for the price. Don't mind giving a try, it is a great camera I will always recommend for.
8 stars

Fantastic performer in a compact, pocketable size.

by krazyfrog87 on June 2, 2008

Pros: Compact, pocketable design, great picture quality, good zoom, great features.

Cons: Small buttons, display is a fingerprint magnet.

Summary: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W120 is an excellent digital camera packing great performance and features in a small and compact body that can be easily be slipped in to your pocket.

The

...

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Summary: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W120 is an excellent digital camera packing great perform

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W120 (Silver)

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