Sony DSCWX220/N 18.2 MP Digital Camera with 2.7-Inch LCD (Gold)

I bought this camera to replace my previous Sony camera of the same lineage, after the previous camera was dropped on its open lens and would no longer close its lens.I did not buy this camera to use in place of a higher end DSLR, and I do not expect to use it in this manner. I know the camera has limitations, but I also use it for what I believe it is for: A pocket point and shoot camera with higher quality pictures for travel and as a daily, casual camera.For this purpose, I believe this camera takes great pictures. I am still working out some of the features of the camera to adjust pictures taken at night, but I am really happy with the picture quality so far. It has a deeper zoom than my previous camera, so I can actually take closer pictures than my previous Sony camera.I also have no issues regarding the Sony software as I typically take my SD card out and stick it in a card reader. I did test out the wired cable, and while it did install drivers, I actually just accessed my pictures as if it were a USB drive.The camera itself is a little on the gentle side, but I generally keep my camera in a padded leather travel case when not in use, as I have owned higher end cameras and I am well aware of fragility of all cameras and the hardware inside.Updates from the previous model: Most of the features have been combined into the selection dial, which is also a button. The screen is a little bigger. It has a wider zoom. Some of the digital enhancement features offer better stabilization.Regarding some of the issues with night pictures - it seems the camera takes better pictures and uses its own digital aperture sensor to balance the surrounding light in the area to take a better picture. While I haven't had a chance to really play with night pictures, I was able to take some decent pictures of buildings with neon signs, and I only had issues with two of my night time pictures.I have uploaded some pictures with this review - the day light pictures were taken through a window. The evening pictures were taken after 10:00 pm, and the lighting involved is neon, sulfur street lights, and other business lighting. Please note I took the pictures to exclusively test the camera out of the box.Alright, having had some more time to fiddle with the camera, they have completely updated the digital apertures into a user friendly picture menu located under the "SCN" menu and a few more night shot options are otherwise in the rest of the aperture menu. I was actually able to take some pretty nice night and low light shots, though this camera is intended to be a simple point-n-shoot. I did not need an additional manual, and the aperture menu was easy to navigate, just push the button in the dial and move the dial up or down to find what one needs to use.

Extremely compact with MANY features. Has 4 different aspect ratios, 3-to-5 different image sizes (depending on aspect ratio), 2 fineness settings. zoom and wide angle. Has MANY pages of menu settings (using Menu button) ... plus easy to change color temp, brightness, vividness and special effects, plus flash and timer settings (with wheel). Shoots 170-180 degree panoramas. The slower you pan the higher the quality, but 170-180 degrees remains fixed. Video is MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, so I convert on my older computer to MPEG-2 before viewing. Comes with a 630 ma/H battery, which is chargeable in the camera using the compact plug-in charger (supplied) through the 20" long USB-2 picture download cable (same cable is used for charging and picture download). I ordered two higher capacity batteries and an external charger for about $20. You can do wireless picture downloads, though I haven't tried this. Needs a memory card to work (there's no internal memory, and it doesn't come with any). You can use standard or micro SD cards (SD XC Class 4) with the supplied adapter (I've already tried both). It will also use Memory Stick PRO Duo or Memory Stick Micro. Also has an HDMI plug. So far I really like this camera a lot. Takes nice photos and compresses them very efficiently. Would recommend, though I've only used for a few days now.

I got myself this camera and so far, so good (I will revise later if needed) I've had it only a few days, but charging was fast and easy, getting the battery and memory card in was easy, and while I haven't had any pictures printed yet, it seems to take clear, crisp photos from what I can tell on my computer screen.The downsides are that the flash seems to cause over-exposing often, and I don't think the menu's are necessarily intuitive... and some of them seem downright silly. I mean, there is a portrait setting... and a sport setting... and a pet setting... wait. WHAT? Yes... a pet setting... for taking pictures of your pet.It comes with minimal literature to tell you how to use the camera, and I don't know what a lot of the symbols mean that pop up on the screen.... (But I do know that cat head means I'm in pet mode...) and I don't know what some of the settings mean, either. I mean, there is Auto... then there is Auto Plus... and Intelligent Auto. There are brief descriptions on the screen for each that really do little to help a user differentiate between them, and using each of the settings for the same subject seem to produce the same results, so I'm still trying to figure that one out.When transferring photos to my computer via USB, I noticed the little door on the camera where the mini usb plugs in seems a bit flimsy, so it's worth being careful there...As I use it more and figure it out more, I will adjust this review-- but after 2 days of heavy, heavy use, this is what I've come up with so far. It seems to be a decent camera, it feels sort of light and chintzy, but it's small and will be easy to carry around, which is what I needed it for.Overall I'm happy, I just didn't expect such a learning curve with this thing. (and expected more assistance from Sony in figuring it out!)