Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W170 review

Playback mode can then filter your saved images to display only those that feature faces, only those that feature children or adults or just those that feature smiling faces. We were sceptical, but for the most part these work, even tracking and filtering faces in profile or at awkward angles.

This crop from a shot taken in automatic mode shows that noise is under control at ISO 400, although there is some loss of fine detail

In program mode there are plenty of adjustments to be made. It's possible to tweak the intensity of the flash to half intensity and another clever flash option is a white balance preset specifically for when the flash is enabled. SteadyShot optical image stabilisation can be kept on continuously or just when the shutter is pressed. It's hard to see much difference in everyday snapping, but we generally prefer the shutter option.

Performance
Images are crisp. Portraits are warm and detailed. The wealth of easily tweakable options in program mode gave us some excellent results, even in low light. Even the limited options of the automatic mode gave us some good results at the default settings with the occasional exposure compensation tweak all that was necessary for decent results. The easy mode isn't quite as capable and while it's nice to have, we promise you'll be rewarded if you take the plunge into tweaking this surprisingly adaptable camera.

The burst mode in automatic will snap 100 shots in 1 minute before stopping. That kind of staying power is still frustratingly rare in compacts. The first 10 seconds are at 2.5 frames per second, which isn't bad at all, before slowing to a still creditable 2fps or so for the remainder of the minute.

Noise performance is pretty good, thanks to the limiting of ISO speed in program mode to ISO 400. There's some smearing from noise reduction, but it isn't too obtrusive. Even the high ISO mode is less overzealous than many other compacts; it's nice to see a camera that knows its limitations. Purple fringing is barely in evidence and all told, we were pleased with the quality of the W170's images.

Conclusion
We really weren't expecting much from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W170 because of its unprepossessing looks, cluttered controls and the usual proprietary memory bugbear. But the graphical user interface is a joy and pictures aren't bad either. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX500 and the Casio Exilim EX-Z200 edge it on features and looks, but the W170 is still extremely adaptable.

Edited by Shannon Doubleday