Sony DSC W130 Review

The Sony DSC W130 is a simple, pocket sized digital camera. It has 8 megapixels and a 4x optical zoom lens.

Some of the more sleek and elegant digital cameras come with a hefty price tag. The DSC W130 fits into a pocket, but is available for a more reasonable price. The camera also scores highly for ease of use.

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Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
I like the colours in this first outdoor shot. The camera also handles any glare from the sun. This leads to plenty of detail being captured in the photo.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
This is a bright photo with plenty of colour, especially in the sky. Focusing is o.k., but tends to soften towards the edges of the photo.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
With the lens zoomed into its full capacity I think the DSC W130 does not produce photos that are as sharp as those produced by a lot of the other cameras I have tested recently.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
With all the brickwork in this shot it gives us a big clue as to the quality of the lens when it comes to focusing. I am a bit disappointed. Although there is not likely to be too much difference between this camera and others on small prints, once you start to blow up the photos and make larger prints the loss of sharpness towards the edges will become more apparent.

Outdoor Portrait
This is a pleasant photo. I like the colours in the shot and this Sony digital camera finds it easier to focus with the subject a lot nearer to it.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
Compared with other cameras using a flash this shot sits somewhere in the middle rank. Focusing is again better with the subject closer, but a bit more brightness would have helped.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
The definition in this photo is good, but it is a bit darker than many I have taken with other cameras. My overall feeling is that the DSC W130 needs bright daylight conditions to perform at its best.

Colours
Colours are accurate in most situations, although the background in my indoor portrait shots has a greenish tinge and is not quite right. Colours work well for the outdoor scenic type shots.

Macro
This is a decent macro shot for a small, compact digital camera. The definition levels are good. There is a touch of purple fringing around the edges of the watch face where the lighting reflects back into the camera lens.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
At ISO 400 picture quality is still acceptable, although a lot of cameras manage to do a bit better. At ISO 1600 picture quality is poor. Luckily you are unlikely to use this setting or the even higher ISO 3200 very often.

Overall
Looking through all my test shots they are quite run of the mill. The one area where I think this part of the Sony digital cameras range could improve is with focusing. For the scenic shots it slides away more than I would like to see as you move towards the edges of the shot.

The DSC W130 is not quite as lightening fast as some other Sony digital cameras. Even so it still posts decent times. 0.24 seconds for one photo and 8.15 seconds for five photos. After turning the flash on times increased to 0.42 seconds for one photo and 16.12 seconds for five.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

The DSC W130 looks like a regulation digital camera. It is a simple and fairly plain rectangular box shape. It is available in two colours, black and silver.

88.2 x 57.2 x 22.9mm

123g

A rechargeable lithium ion battery is required to run the camera. Sony supplies both a battery (NP-BG1) and charger as standard. They estimate you should be able to take up to 420 shots in between charges.

Sony has built 15mb of storage into the DSC W130. This is enough for roughly 5 photos. The camera is also compatible with Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo cards.

Click here to save money on Memory Stick's.

This is a straightforward digital camera. Ease of use is helped by a control dial on the back of the camera. This helps to place some of the key controls at your fingertips.

Ease of use - price tag - viewfinder

Sharpness of distant subjects

If your budget will stretch a bit further you will find the Canon IXUS 85 IS offers some extra quality, especially when it comes to picture sharpness.

It's not easy to sum up the Sony DSC W130. This really is quite a typical camera. There is nothing about it that screams don't buy me, but at the same time it is difficult to come up with reasons why you really should buy this camera over a lot of the other models in the shops.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menu

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Sony DSC W130