The Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 is available right now in India at a value of Rs. 34,990, which doesn’t appear so dangerous contemplating the options you get. We had been wanting to see how this digicam performs, and now that we lastly bought our fingers on a retail unit, it’s time to see if the Cybershot DSC-WX800 is the right digicam on your subsequent trip.
Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 design and ergonomics
The Cybershot DSC-WX800 weighs round 233g and is roughly the identical dimension as Sony’s DSC-HX90V and RX100 IV compact cameras. Sony has primarily used the identical physique because the predecessor to this mannequin — the Cybershot DSC-WX500 — and has merely upgraded a few of its options. The digicam feels nicely put collectively, and all of the plastic and metallic elements meet properly, with out leaving any ugly gaps. When switched off, the lens doesn’t protrude a lot so this digicam may be simply slipped into your pants pocket.
There isn’t a lot of a handgrip on the suitable facet, aside from a small patch of rubber on the again for the place your thumb rests. We did discover this to be a difficulty at occasions, particularly when taking pictures with one hand, as there’s not lots of floor space to grip. The entrance metallic plate has a easy texture that appears good, however some rubber padding right here would have been useful. It’s not a giant criticism, however a little bit element that Sony appears to have missed.
On the highest of the digicam, there’s a swap to pop open the flash, in addition to energy and shutter buttons and the mode dial. The shutter button has a little bit of play once you attempt to half-press it to lock focus, so this might have been designed higher. The mode dial is tiny however pretty stiff, so we by no means had unintended modifications when taking pictures. The Cybershot DSC-WX800 lacks an digital viewfinder (EVF), which implies all framing must be carried out via the LCD display screen on the rear.
Talking of which, the 3-inch TFT show is a touchscreen with a 921K dot decision. It has respectable brightness but it surely does wash out slightly below brilliant daylight. Having an EVF would have been helpful right here. The display screen additionally flips up 180 levels, making it simpler to shoot selfies. A 3-second timer is activated by default once you flip the display screen over, so you might have time to hit the shutter and pose on your selfie.
The button structure on the again is almost an identical to that of the older mannequin. You may have a rotating dial that additionally doubles up as a four-way navigation pad together with buttons for video recording, menu, playback, a operate button and a customisable ‘C’ button.
There’s a Micro-USB port on the suitable, which is used for charging and connecting the digicam to a PC. The Micro-HDMI port is positioned on the backside. There’s additionally a flap on the backside for the battery and storage. The Cybershot DSC-WX800 accepts both a microSD card or a Reminiscence Stick Micro card. It’s a little bit unusual that Sony didn’t use a full-sized SD card slot, contemplating that the earlier mannequin had one and the size of this digicam are roughly an identical.
Contemplating how low cost microSD playing cards have change into, this isn’t an issue however you’ll have to recollect to hold an adapter round if you wish to copy information over to a laptop computer once you’re travelling. The Cybershot DSC-WX800 is just out there in a single color, which is black. Within the field you get a wall charger, a Micro-USB cable, and a wrist strap.
Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 specs and options
The Cybershot DSC-WX800 packs in an 18.2-megapixel, 1/2.3-inch Exmor R CMOS sensor with a BIONZ X picture processor. It has distinction detection autofocus, an aperture vary of f/3.5 to f/6.4, a zoom vary of 24-720mm (35mm equal), and SteadyShot optical stabilisation for stills and films.
The digicam has a local ISO vary of 80-3,200, which is expandable to ISO 6,400. The digicam solely shoots JPEGs and there’s no RAW file assist. It has a steady burst taking pictures pace of 10fps (inSpd Precedence mode). 4K video may be recorded at 30fps, whereas 1080p recording can go as much as 120fps. Eye autofocus can be supported.
The digicam has a characteristic referred to as Zoom Help, which helps you to zoom out quickly so you possibly can re-frame your topic, after which return to the precise the zoom place you had been at. It’s helpful at excessive zoom ranges, as you don’t need to preserve adjusting the zoom swap backwards and forwards. The Zoom Help operate may be assigned to a few of the buttons behind the digicam. Even a few of the labeled buttons may be reassigned to completely different features, so that you get a good stage of customisation to adapt to your taking pictures model.
The Cybershot DSC-WX800 has Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.1, and NFC, and syncs together with your smartphone utilizing the Sony PlayMemories Cellular app. You possibly can management the digicam remotely or use your cellphone to flick thru photographs and replica them over, both on the authentic dimension or at a decrease decision.
Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 efficiency and battery life
Given the worth level and the dimensions of the sensor on this digicam, we weren’t anticipating miracles in our ISO take a look at. Nonetheless, it’s attention-grabbing to see how this little digicam fares at increased ISO ranges. We start with ISO 100, and at a 100% crop, you possibly can see that issues aren’t off to an incredible begin. There’s some delicate distortion within the shadows, and it turns into extra obvious as soon as we go as much as ISO 400. Discover that the small print additionally start to degrade a bit, and we’re but to get to the upper ISO ranges. At ISO 800 to 1600, particulars get progressively mushier.
Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 ISO take a look at
On the highest native ISO stage, the picture is is barely usable. The expanded ISO stage of 6400 needs to be averted as images merely change into grainy messes. For low-light taking pictures, we discovered it finest to depart the digicam in Auto mode.
The Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 can benefit from multi-frame taking pictures, which implies it captures a collection of frames and combines the output to cut back noise. This may be pressured in any of the ‘Program’ modes too, by deciding on “ISO Multi-frame NR”. It really works nicely however it might probably additionally backfire at occasions, particularly in very low mild. We discovered that it may mess up the publicity and hues in some pictures.
Beneath good mild, the Cybershot DSC-WX800 captures brilliant and vivid photographs, with good sharpness and element. Reds and greens do seem a little bit exaggerated at occasions, which could not all the time be probably the most correct illustration of the scene you’re taking pictures, but it surely may attraction to causal customers who’re the goal marketplace for such a digicam within the first place. Macros are dealt with nicely too, though at increased zoom ranges and underneath harsh lighting, the digicam struggles a bit to get the suitable publicity.
Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 digicam pattern (resized for net): ISO 80, f/4.5, 1/800s, 56mm (35mm equal) Faucet to see full-sized picture
Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 digicam pattern (resized for net): ISO 100, f/5, 1/1000s, 75mm (35mm equal) Faucet to see full-sized picture
Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 digicam pattern (resized for net): ISO 200, f/6.4, 1/250s, 720mm (35mm equal) Faucet to see full-sized picture
Sony claims that the digicam can lock focus in 0.09 seconds, however that is solely on the widest focal size. We discovered focusing to be pretty fast, even with transferring topics, but it surely slows down as you zoom in. On the highest zoom stage, the digicam can take a second or two to lock focus, relying on the lighting and the dimensions of your topic. Eye autofocus works nicely, and we favored the Lock-on AF characteristic, which tracks your topic for nonetheless pictures and in sure video modes.
We had been capable of seize some fairly good motion pictures utilizing the burst mode, even from a transferring boat. This bodes nicely for the digicam’s optical stabilisation. The zoom vary is kind of spectacular, and images retain good sharpness and element even on the highest zoom stage. You possibly can allow digital zoom too, however the picture high quality takes successful so we don’t advocate it.
Low-light efficiency is strictly common although. Even with multi-frame taking pictures, there’s no escaping a little bit of noise within the shadows and particulars aren’t as sharp as we’d have favored it to be. Sony makes use of this related approach on its higher-end RX100 collection too however there, the digicam shoots at the next burst charge, which ends up in cleaner and sharper footage, in comparison with the Cybershot DSC-WX800, which solely appears to shoot about 3-4fps.
Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 digicam pattern (resized for net): ISO 3,200, f/3.5, 1/5s, 24mm (35mm equal) Faucet to see full-sized picture
Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 digicam pattern (resized for net): ISO 3,200, f/4, 1/5s, 40mm (35mm equal) Faucet to see full-sized picture
4K movies are restricted to five minutes per clip however we discovered the standard to be above common in good mild. This is because of the truth that the Cybershot DSC-WX800 makes use of a full sensor read-out, with none pixel binning which implies it shoots on the full 18.2-megapixel decision after which oversamples it to 4K. Picture high quality will get a little bit noisy in low mild and we did observe a bit extra focus searching, in comparison with when taking pictures in daylight. At full zoom, the digicam’s autofocus is a bit sluggish at locking focus, and in case your topic strikes rather a lot, it’s not very fast at shifting focus.
The digicam is rated to ship round 370 pictures per cost, or round 460 pictures for those who set the display screen to day out after 2 seconds. We had been simply capable of match these claims, and at occasions, we managed to get round 450 to 500 pictures earlier than the battery stage dipped to a single bar. We had the digicam in Airplane mode throughout most of our subject testing, which might be one of many causes for the above-average battery life. The battery may be charged through a powerbank, which is handy and you too can use the powerbank to provide energy so you possibly can proceed utilizing the digicam.
Verdict
The Sony Cybershot DSC-WX800 presents good options and an excellent zoom vary, and is priced nicely at Rs. 34,990. If picture high quality is what you’re after, then entry-level DSLRs such because the Nikon D3400 or the Canon EOS 1500D would serve you higher at round this value, however they’re additionally rather a lot bulkier. Panasonic has a direct competitor to the Cybershot DSC-WX800, referred to as the Lumix DMC-ZS60S, which prices roughly the identical however presents an EVF together with a touchscreen, 30x zoom vary, and 4K video recording.
The Cybershot DSC-WX800 would have been higher if it had a greater handgrip, faster autofocus at increased zoom ranges, and an EVF. Low-light efficiency is kind of common, however that’s par for the course on this phase so it’s not an enormous criticism. Nevertheless, this little digicam it does have many issues going for it together with its massive, flippable contact show, good zoom vary, 4K video assist, respectable battery life, and good options. All in all, which means it’s value contemplating at this value.
Value (MRP): Rs. 34,990
Execs
- Pocketable
- Good zoom vary
- Shoots respectable JPEGs in good mild
- Flippable touchscreen
- Good battery life
- Respectable 4K video
Cons
- Common low-light efficiency
- Gradual autofocus at excessive zoom ranges
- No EVF
Rankings (out of 5)
- Construct/ design: 4
- Picture high quality: 3.5
- Video high quality: 3.5
- Efficiency: 3.5
- Worth for cash: 4
- General: 3.5