Image quality
The W90's photos generally look pretty good, save for a few quirks. On the review unit we acquired, the left third of the camera's photos appear distinctly softer and out-of-focus compared to the rest of the frame. It looks a lot like what happens when a lens is out of alignment, which isn't all that uncommon for budget cameras. It's likely you won't see an identical problem, though you may see something similar or your unit may have no such problem.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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Typical shot-to-shot time | |
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Time to first shot | |
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Shutter lag (typical) | |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Outside of the softened area, details appear clear and crisp at the camera's lowest ISO settings. Extremely subtle noise creeps in at ISO 200, but definitely won't show up in prints. At ISO 400, noise becomes more prominent, may show up in prints, and ever so slightly eats up some finer detail, such as hair or the texture of objects. At ISO 800, grain causes more damage to finer textures, but enough detail remains for respectable 152x102mm (6x4-inch) prints.
ISO 1,600 pictures get far too noisy for prints, though enough detail remains for emailing them or posting them to the Web. Photos taken at the camera's maximum sensitivity of ISO 3,200 are nearly unusable, becoming so covered in noise that they look like they were drawn on shag carpeting with spray paint.
Conclusion
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W90 adds a slight resolution bump to an already good snapshot camera. If you're looking for a simple, modestly priced pocket camera that shoots quickly and produces nice pictures, the W90 makes a nice choice. If you already have a Cyber-shot DSC-W80, you don't need to give the W90 much consideration; the minor increase in picture size doesn't justify getting an entirely new camera.
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday
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