Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150 18.2 MP Exmor R CMOS Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom and 3.0-inch LCD (Black) (2012 Model)

If you're reading this review, chances are you're researching and shopping around for a camera. I did the same thing for over a year (no even kidding). I had my heart set on a Canon because every person at Best Buy pointed me in that direction. Here were my wants: Long zoom Light weight and small Cool color Easy to use - I wanted a point-and-shoot... I wanted to do exactly what it said in the title... point... and shoot. Not point, adjust, move, zoom, adjust, tweak, change color, move a few steps, and finally shoot. No thanks. I seriously had my heart set on a Canon until I walked into National Camera Exchange in Edina and the sales guy showed me the Canons, said they were great cameras but wait... have you checked out this Sony? Again, I was stubborn but decided to check it out. The guy literally spent a half hour with me trying to sway me away from the Canon and towards the Sony. I'm SO glad he did. Sony has a 10 times zoom - the Canon only had a 5 or 8, its much lighter and smaller, so much easier to use, really quick - I can point... oh and look at that - I can shoot! And it turns out awesome! Have you used panoramic before? It sold me! I just got back from Hawaii (the reason I bought the camera) and it took AMAZING pictures of ocean, beaches, rocks, ohhhh amazing. The picture looked better than it did in real life! I know the other reviews on here have given the camera a 5 star and I did too but coming from someone who: A. I'm cheap. Spending 250 bucks on anything is a lot to me. B: I used my iPod touch camera for a while... apparently my standards aren't that high. C. I'm stubborn and for a year thought I wanted a Canon. Turns out I didn't. D. I listened to the expert at the store - he wasn't a Sony rep, he wasn't on commission - he sold me the camera he thought fit me the best and gave me the best 'bang for my buck' as I told him I wanted. Well done, sir, well done. You won't regret the camera =)

This camera is very small, but impressively powerful. I have had it for a few days now, and have found nothing that I do not like about it. All the features in the list by Sony, work as promised; the only one I have not tried and am not really interested in, is the 3D feature. But everything else is top notch. I have taken pictures at 18.1 MP and cropped them down to only 1/5 of original size and have still had sharp pictures. Impressive. That is a feature that comes in handy if you have kids or pets running around away from you and you want to catch them from a distance. The HD video is also impressive, and I have had fun taking pictures during video recording; the pictures are set at 13 MP and turn out nice and sharp. One of the features that makes this little powerhouse so easy to use, is the help feature built into the camera itself. Scroll down the letters of the alphabet and you find help for anything you need in simple easy to follow instructions. I have two tripods that I have not tried out with my new camera, but will do so over the weekend. With nice weather for the Northwest it should be a good time to go outside and experiment with the many features of this camera. And while it IS full of features, they are not difficult to find, nor are they difficult to learn how to use. Thus, if you are looking for a pocket sized point and shoot that can take top notch photos and video, this one is for you. :-) Edited March 3, 2013 I have used this camera since last fall, and have only good to say about it. I am using it with a one legged tripod, but am planning to get a smaller three legged one, like Joby GorillaPod Hybrid Gray. The pictures are impressive, but even more impressive are the video capabilities of this small camera. I am still not interested in the 3D, but that is the only feature of this little mega camera that I do not use. The zoom works best on a tripod or when holding the camera on something sturdy. The following is a video of my betta fish tank; I held the camera on a shelf, but I was standing on an angle from the camera, so the picture is not as centered as I would like it to be: [...]

If you're paying the full price tag for this camera then you're not getting a good deal. Let's just put it that way. Wait for it to go on sale since it should drop at least a hundred bucks below the MSRP. With that out of the way, on to my review. I had a chance to preview this camera at my local Costco and compared it to other similar products. I wound up going with this camera mainly because I liked how fast the shutter was taking pictures and the price point at which I bought it outdid the competition. I purchased this for a trip to southeast Asia, where it is summer over there this time of year and VERY sunny. I won't lie - this camera takes some getting used to with the different modes. For instance, the all inclusive "intelligent mode" is different than the "superior mode" and learning the quirks of each takes a bit of time and practice to see what works best in your particular scenario given we do not have the option to choose ISO settings with these cheap digital cameras. My overall impressions: the video this camera takes is awesome. I mean it's as good as or better than a camcorder. The button wheel to select your picture mode is kind of annoying compared to a canon or nikon, where everything is painted on the top of the wheel and you can just move it to the desired location. So yea, it takes an extra couple seconds to rotate the wheel on the Sony DSC to get to the correct picture mode you're looking for. Picture quality: Overall the colors come out very nice, again depending if you choose the proper picture mode to fit the situation. Case in point, in low light during a sunrise with a little cloud cover.. the "intelligent mode" will make the background appear brighter than it really is vs. the superior mode which will more accurately reflect the color tone, however it may be too dark for your taste. Some experimentation is required for those who want the best quality photos. It will take good pictures regardless, but experimentation with the different modes can turn a good picture into a great picture. I'll try to post some of my photos with this camera for you to view and make your own decision. One point of warning: this camera sometimes cannot accurately record dark reds very well. A lot of times, I found certain red colors like a red rose would turn out more tomato colored red than deep red. Those are really my only downsides to this camera: red tone can be off and you may need to experiment with the settings wheel to get the best pictures possible out of this camera.

Just received this camera today from Amazon. This camera is replacing a Sony DSC-WX9 which is really last years version of the WX-150. Sadly, the WX9 did not survive a mountain biking accident last weekend and I need to replace it before vacation next week. Enter the WX150. Took about 100 pictures around the house tonight. This camera has a few more bells and whistles than the WX9 so I wanted to try them out. Some of the new scene modes are really fun to play with although you could probably do most of those things with a good photo editing program. I really like the background defocus feature, great for portraits. I'm no photo pro just need an easy point and shoot and this camera fits the bill. Turns on really quick, quicker I think than my WX9 and is ready to shoot. Way better in low light conditions than the old unit. Most shots around the house were with out flash taken at dusk and they turned out excellent! The 10x zoom is an extra bonus and works really well. Video is top notch full HD 1080i and looks great when burned to blu ray. I bought this because the old WX9 was an excellent camera and always took great pics. Never had any problems with it and I already had extra batterys ect. One thing that always bugged me with Sony cameras was you had to use their proprietary charging cords. Not so with the WX150. Sony finally got their act together and this new camera uses a standard micro usb charger. Sucks, because now my old charging cable from the WX9 wont work with the WX150, but we have a dozen or so micro usb chargers laying around so you dont have to worry about losing or forgetting your charging cable. Kudos to Sony! All in all a great camera and I would highly recommend it! Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150 18.2 MP Exmor R CMOS Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom and 3.0-inch LCD (Black) (2012 Model)

I've been always happy with Sony's camera and I only had Sony's camera since my very first one. Not that I did not try other brands, they just have never been appealing to me. My last camera (Sony) was bought in 2006, it was dropped so many times and really beat-up but never stop working. Just an amazing little robust camera. I guess Sony does not make much money out of me for keeping this camera more than 6 years. Early this year, I was bored while waiting my flight at airport in Tokyo, then I saw the new Sony camera that were so cool (comparing my old 6-year old camera). This is the seed sony planted in for me, I started doing research on camera and eventually decided to buy this one. Long story short, I am very happy with this camera so far. It makes beautiful photo and very intelligent control by selecting right scheme for me. Its compact and light weighted that fit perfectly in my pocket. The memory interface is compatible with my old SD card and I could even use the same battery charger from my old camera. I highly recommend this camera for people who enjoy small/compact camera with good photo quality and rely on auto-mode frequently.

I purchased this product from Focus Camera (great seller, by the way), which was fulfilled by Amazon. I love all the features this camera has, and did experiment with them when the camera first arrived. I have a Canon T2i as my primary camera, but as a mom on-the-go, I wanted a small point-and-shoot to carry in my purse at all times to have handy for any and all photo moments. Overall I really like the camera. Its size is unbelievably small and compact. The picture quality is decent for a point-and-shoot. As I mentioned, has many extra "fru-fru" functions (different camera effects) but very little manual control, which was fine for me for my purposes with this camera, but if you're looking for a camera that you can change up ISO, f-stop, shutter speed, etc., this is not the camera. My two major complaints are: 1. The battery/memory card slot door is VERY flimsy. For as much as I open and close that thing, I'm not sure how it will hold up over time. Additionally, the door does not close tightly. I don't know if that's an issue with just mine, or if that's across the board on this camera. I feel like I should loop a rubber band around the camera a few times so it's securely closed. 2. At least 50% of the time when I turn the camera on, it tells me that there's no memory card in the camera when there is. Also, I will sometimes have to press the power button several times in order to get it to turn on or off. As I said, overall it's a good camera. Not sure if the issues I'm having are exclusive to mine alone or if other owners of the camera have similar issues.

Am I the only one who is not impressed with the low-light pictures? The flash on this camera is so bright that the main subject looks pale and washed out. After reading all the positive reviews, I am very disappointed with this. Yes, you can manually turn down the flash, but this takes time and the camera seems to re-set itself the next time it is used. Additionally, I don't feel I should HAVE to always turn down the flash level on an automatic camera. The daylight pictures are fine; however, I think some of the example pictures were placed on Amazon by Sony employees, because I find them rather incredible, especially the light-house zoom picture. If anyone has any advice for me, I'd be happy to receive it. I was very excited about this purchase and this is such a disappointment; considering returning it. Update: I finally had enough with this camera, so I contacted Sony to see what could be done. The flash continued to be problematic, causing subjects to be very washed-out and pale looking. The colors on all pictures are not true, either. Sony stated it was too late to replace the camera, but stated I could send it in for repair. I did so, and included examples of pictures I printed out that were taken with the Sony and also comparison pictures from my i-phone (which really should NOT be better pictures). Sony's findings? They sent the camera back to me stating "no problems found." At this point, I wrote a scathing email to Sony and I will never purchase another Sony product. The camera is listed for sale and I will be purchasing a Canon, which I should have done in the first place. I don't know what is wrong with all you people that rave about this camera; perhaps you have lower standards than me. The camera sucks.

I went for the WX-150 after trying a Panasonic ZS-20 (which I also reviewed) and have to say that I am much happier with the WX-150. It is definitely slightly pricy for the features offered, but I think you're paying for the premium lens and processor/sensor package. The photo quality definitely justifies the price. It's the same Exmor-R sensor offered in the Sony HX200V which goes for over $400. The photos are the best I've seen in a point and shoot in this price neighborhood and I spent hours upon hours researching cameras, reviews and comparison photos (thanks digitalcamerainfo). Considering I paid $200 for my Kodak C875 five years ago I would say this camera is very fairly priced. Okay, so I'll cut to the chase. All of the features mentioned on the Amazon item description for this camera are great and exceeded my expectations. So, I'll skip re-describing them here (as much as possible) and mention the things I would have liked to know before buying this camera. I'll start out saying it is tiny. Like almost spy-camera tiny. At first that seemed very strange to me, but it's like anything else, once you get used to it it seems normal. The WX-150 was weird to hold at first and I was afraid it would easily slip out of my fingers. That's what the provided wrist-strap is for, I suppose. Now picking up my old camera makes me feel like I'm picking up a clunky plastic brick. The next thing to mention is that the camera seems a little slow. Taking burst pictures takes about 3-5 seconds to record after doing the burst and that is a lifetime if you jumped the gun on trying to capture that perfect action shot you were trying to catch. However, it is amazing when you do capture a cottontail rabbit in mid-hop or a bird taking off into the air with wings outstretched. The burst photos aren't perfect but about half of your ten-shot series will be beautiful. The burst mode shuts off the flash so you better have good lighting (preferably outside) if you want to capture action. I have to agree with the reviewer who said they wished Sony would have offered a 2-per second burst mode for up to 50 shots like Panasonic. That would almost guarantee capturing any action shot you were trying to catch. I guess that's what video is for, though. Taking regular photos is also a bit slow - especially if you have the flash on. The camera waits until the capacitor is recharged for the flash before it will let you take another photo with flash on. My conspiratorial side thinks that Sony detuned this camera's speed so it would take less business from their more expensive models. The speed definitely isn't a deal-breaker - this camera is like greased lightning compared to my old camera, but it does seem a bit slower than the ZS-20 I tried for a week. Now the zoom, while the zoom is only 10x I found cropping (or using the digital zoom at 20x) provided better quality photos than the Panasonic at 20x optical zoom. Sony has a beautiful thing going when it comes to picture quality. For a non-DSLR this camera takes great photos and that's the most important feature for a camera to have. The user interface takes a little learning, but you should have it down pat after the first 200-300 photos. There is an onboard user manual which is very nice and answers most of your questions. It even describes what all the little icons mean for the current configuration you have the camera set to - so it's pretty easy to know what is going on. The buttons on the back are tiny and I have bumped the spin-dial a couple of times while taking photos which can screw up your shot because the spin dial changes the camera mode and the camera will take the photo in the accidentally selected mode. The on/off button takes only a touch to turn the camera on so that may cause the camera to accidentally turn on in your pocket. Hopefully Sony was smart enough to put some sort of limiter on the lens so if it does turn on in your pocket it won't try to force the lens to come out and cause damage. I'd test it to find out, but I'd rather not break it two weeks after getting it. The camera has onboard red-eye correction software that will do a good job of removing red-eye after the photo is taken if you go through the steps. I've needed to do that a few times. It also offers "smile-detection" software which works okay. I've noticed that the kids need to really be smiling big and for more than a second or two to make it work. Kids who don't smile very big or very long won't work very well with this feature. The camera does not allow aperture or shutter control so don't buy it thinking you'll be able to get that cool nighttime freeway shot where the car lights are streaking down the road - or capture a bolt of lightning during an electrical storm, unless you're extremely lucky. The camera does provide what 99% of camera buyers want - a camera you can turn on, take a great picture, and move on with enjoying what you're doing. The pictures turn out very nicely in "intelligent auto". It does a great job of taking any thought out of taking a great picture and makes pointing and shooting easy-breezy. I've noticed, however you need to have the flash on with motion/action photos even with moderate light or you end up with blurry pictures. That goes for all modes, not just "intelligent auto". Also, the intelligent auto changes scene modes automatically - though not always completely accurately. Oddly, when running in "intelligent auto" mode I did have "infant" come up while taking a photo of my one-year old so the camera can do it, but it isn't an option if you try to select it manually by switching to scene mode. A lot of times the intelligent auto mode sets to "flower" mode when taking pictures of the kids. The scene modes seem a little limited in options. There is no infant or kid mode (though they do offer "pet" and "food"). The camera has artistic modes that do things like cut out all but red, green, blue, or yellow and makes everything else back and white. That makes for some cool pictures especially if you're at a flower garden. It also has a cartoon feature that makes whatever you take a picture of look like a cartoon drawing. It's kind of neat and fun to play with. A couple of last minor things. The cord attaches to the bottom of the camera so you can't have it sitting upright while charging or hooked to your computer. I suppose it doesn't matter because it's so skinny that it would be susceptible to tipping over anyway. Also, it would have been nice if they had provided a rubber grip on the front to aid in one-handed holding of the camera. It's so light that it isn't a big issue, but a rubber grip would have been appreciated. It wouldn't have had to be much - just a small protrusion of rubber sticking out no farther than the lens. So, to summarize, the camera is very nice for people who want to take great pictures without a lot of hassle all while being able to put the camera in your pocket without it being very noticeable to you or anyone else. The photos are great for a non-DSLR and the features are plentiful enough to keep you from wishing too much that you'd spent another $100 for only a few more features. Definitely a camera for point-and-shooters who want a few more features like panorama, HD video, and burst shooting and a lot better photo quality.