Yesterday I bought Digicam, Its Sony DSC W5, Its cool one and following are some its best features.

User Level: Novice – Intermediate
Product Uses: Home / Travel
digital camera Design: Point and Shoot, some manual control
Picture Quality: 5.1-megapixel CCD
Some information I got from third party site

Similar in shape, size, and overall design to the DSC-W1, the new Sony DSC-W5 digital camera continues the more traditional digital camera styling that differentiated the original W1 from the rest of Sony's popular Cyber-shot line. The W5 is basically an updated version of the W1, offering the excellent resolution of a 5.1 megapixel CCD and 32 megabytes of internal memory, while maintaining similar dimensions and features, such as the large 2.5-inch color LCD monitor and useful range of preset exposure modes. Also new to the Sony W5 is an available Center-Weighted metering mode and a Snow preset Scene exposure mode, expanding the camera's exposure capabilities slightly.

Though the LCD monitor is quite large and dominates the rear panel, Sony managed to keep all the functions necessary close at hand and easy to operate. Grab the camera in your right hand and your middle and third finger naturally grab the aggressively raised and angled ridge on the front of the camera. Your thumb finds its home over the six raised bumps nestled between the monitor and menu buttons on the left and the soft but large ridge on the right. Above is the zoom control and below the Five-way navigator; all within easy reach, but the buttons are firm enough that they're not easily activated by accident. It is not impossible, though, so one should be careful, especially when shooting vertically, because your thumb can move and press a button unintentionally.

Pressing the Power button on top of the camera produces a fairly swift reaction. The LCD comes on, the camera chimes, and the lens assembly bursts out of its silo faster than those on most other cameras. When it comes to actually taking a picture, the experience quickly becomes all about that wonderful 2.5-inch LCD display. More like a frame in a gallery than an LCD viewfinder, you'll be able to acquire subjects quickly and frame your shots better than with most other digital cameras. The display, while not transflective, has a special anti-reflective coating that makes it surprisingly usable in very bright lighting, even direct sunlight. (Sony has told us that they generally only use the transflective screen on models without an optical viewfinder, like the T1.) Daylight visibility is often a severe limitation of rear-panel LCD digital camera displays, one that the Sony DSC-W5 avoids almost entirely. Reviewing images is also easier with the larger display, making the camera's 5x Playback zoom that much more meaningful.

A half-press on the shutter begins the focus operation. In low light, a very bright orange LED illuminates the scene when necessary, reaching impressively far. The fast Multi-point AF determines the closest object and focuses quickly, showing brackets around the areas that will be in focus. Everything about the camera feels quality and performs competently. The only possible exception to this is the battery and memory compartment door, which has a small recessed button that you have to press while simultaneously pushing the door open. I found it just a little difficult to push the tiny button and slide the door open, mainly because the way you have to hold the camera to perform this operation is awkward, and provides little traction for your fingers. Included with the camera are two Sony NiMH AA Stamina batteries, delivering 2100 mAh at 1.2V. They'll last about 190 minutes of on-time (with the LCD), capturing up to 380 full-resolution images. (Sony's official ratings, not mine.) With alkaline batteries, that number drops sharply to 35 minutes of battery life and around 70 images, but at least you can use them in a pinch. Sony includes a charger and two batteries. I suggest you buy at least two more, even though the battery life on this camera is pretty good. Read my NiMH battery shootout page to see which batteries currently on the market are the best.

The Sony DSC-W5 is an impressive offering, much like the highly popular W1 model that preceded it. It is handsomely constructed, with a feel of quality. It also has reasonable heft for better handholding of shots. Its big screen and quality lens should give most users a great experience capturing fine pictures they'll be proud to display. Read on for more details.

Basic Features

• 5.1-megapixel CCD.
• 3x zoom lens (equivalent to a 38-114mm lens on a 35mm camera).
• Variable digital Smart Zoom (at 3mp res and lower), plus 6x Precision Digital zoom.
• Real-image optical viewfinder.
• 2.5-inch color LCD monitor.
• Mostly automatic exposure control, but Manual mode is available.
• Built-in flash with five modes and an intensity adjustment.
• 32MB internal memory.
• Sony Memory Stick slot (no card included), compatible with original Memory Stick as well as the Memory Stick Pro format.
• USB 2.0 computer connection.
• 2 AA NiMH rechargeable batteries and charger included.
• Software for Mac and PC.

Special Features

• Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Candle, Snow, Beach, Landscape, and Soft Snap modes.
• Movie recording mode (with sound).
• Multi-Burst slow motion mode and Burst continuous shooting mode.
• Email (VGA) modes.
• Shutter speeds from 1/1,000 to 1/8 sec in auto mode; 1/1000 to two seconds in twilight mode; and 1/1000 to 30 seconds in manual mode (with automatic Noise Reduction below 1/6 second).
• Aperture range from f/2.8 to f/10.
• Creative Picture Effects menu (black and white and sepia).
• Image Sharpness, Saturation, and Contrast adjustments.
• Self-timer for delayed shutter release.
• Macro (close-up) lens adjustment.
• Spot, Center-Weighted, and Multi-Metering modes.
• Adjustable AF area and three AF modes.
• Auto ISO setting or 100, 200, and 400 ISO equivalents.
• White balance (color) adjustment with six options.
• DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) and PictBridge printing compatibility.

User Recommendation
Beginning through intermediate users will be right at home with the W5, and advanced users will enjoy its excellent portability and new manual exposure control option. Although the W5 is technically a high-end point-and-shoot digital camera, it has a lot of creative options and enough image adjustments to handle a wide variety of shooting situations. So, while it's designed to relieve you from complicated exposure decisions, advanced amateurs and business users will appreciate it for its quality, portability, and varied shooting options. It appears well-built and its lens mechanism is impressively fast. Accessory lenses make it more versatile for wide or telephoto use. Overall, an excellent "all around" camera, with impressive speed and resolution.

Design

The Sony DSC-W5 is compact, stylish, and ready to go anywhere, with a boxy body style similar to other rangefinder digital cameras on the market. Its silvery metal body is about as wide as a typical business card, and about a quarter inch taller, top to bottom. Measuring just 3.62 x 2.37 x 1.5 inches (91 x 60 x 37 millimeters) and weighing 9.1 ounces (258 grams) with the batteries installed, the Sony W5 fits easily into small pockets or purses. When not in use, the telescoping zoom lens retracts neatly inside the body, and a small plastic leaf shutter automatically closes over the lens to protect it. Outfitted with the accompanying wrist strap, it's quick on the draw and easy to hold.

Despite its small size, the Sony W5 has just enough room for a good grip up front and one small spot for your thumb on the back. The 3x, 7.9-23.7mm zoom lens (equivalent to a 38-114mm zoom on a 35mm camera) is just left of center (when viewed from the back), with a small and very bright orange lamp on the upper right of it, to help with focusing in low-light conditions. (This lamp also blinks less brightly when the self-timer is in use, flashing faster to let you know when the camera is about to snap the picture.) Four holes for the mic are above that, and the flash is to the right. A slightly larger window for the optical viewfinder is upper left of the lens.

The right side of the camera (as viewed from the rear) has a small plastic door that opens to reveal a small opening into the battery compartment, which accommodates the AC adapter cord.

The left side has a large, soft plastic door that flips upward and reveals the A/V and USB jacks.

The camera's top panel includes the Shutter button surrounded by the Mode dial. To the left is the small Power button; between the two is a green power LED.

The Sony W5's rear panel holds the remaining camera controls and function buttons, along with a big 2.5-inch color LCD monitor for previewing and playing back images, and the optical viewfinder window. The big LCD is surprisingly readable in bright light, even direct sunlight, though it's not transflective like the display on the Sony T1. Instead, they use an anti-reflective coating on the outermost panel to improve contrast, color accuracy, and viewing angle. The result is impressive.

The LCD display reports a variety of camera and exposure settings, including the aperture and shutter speed settings (a nice bonus for those interested in how the camera will expose the image) and a three-stage battery gauge. The optical viewfinder is located above to the left of the LCD monitor, and has two LED lamps along the left edge of the window, each of which reports the current status of various camera functions. The optical viewfinder has no dioptric adjustment, but eyeglass wearers will be pleased with the high "eyepoint," allowing plenty of room for an eyeglass lens between the camera body and your eye. The camera's Zoom control is in the upper right corner, conveniently located right above six raised bumps for better thumb traction when holding the camera. Lower right of the LCD is a Five-way Arrow pad, with small arrows pointing in four directions (Up, Down, Left, and Right) and a set button in the middle. Each serves multiple functions, navigating onscreen menus scrolling between captured images in playback mode, or activating different camera functions (Flash, Self-Timer, Quick Review, and Macro).

Upper left of the Arrow pad is the LCD Display On / Off button; beneath that is the Menu button; and further down is the Image Resolution / Erase button.

Finally, the W5's flat bottom holds the threaded (metal) tripod screw mount, a speaker for audio playback, and the shared Memory Stick / battery compartment. While most users of the W5 probably won't care, it is impossible to change the batteries while the camera is mounted on a tripod.

Camera Operation

Operating the Sony DSC-W5 in any of its automatic modes is very straightforward, with only two additional controls when you enter Manual mode. The Mode dial on top of the camera controls the main operating modes, with options for Auto, Program, Manual, Twilight, Twilight portrait, Candle, Snow, Beach, Landscape, Soft snap, Setup, Movie, and Playback modes. In all image capture modes, the DSC-W5 provides an onscreen LCD menu (activated by the Menu button), with a variety of options for adjusting image quality or adding special effects. The four arrows of the Five-way arrow pad are used to scroll through menu options, while the button in the center of the pad functions as the OK button to confirm selections. In Manual mode, pressing the OK (center) button on the Five-way arrow pad switches the arrows from adjusting flash, macro, and self-timer, and quick review modes to adjusting aperture (left and right) and shutter speeds (up and down). When in Manual mode, information on the LCD to the right of these values tells you by how many EV units it thinks your exposure is off, up to plus or minus 2EV.

The four arrow buttons also serve as external controls when the camera's menus are turned off, or they can be used to scroll through captured images in Playback mode. Starting with the Up arrow and going clockwise, the functions they control include Flash, Macro, Self-Timer, and Quick Review modes. An Image Resolution button calls up the available resolution settings, removing this item from the main menu system, thereby making it much quicker to access when needed. The Zoom control in the top right corner of the back panel adjusts both optical and digital zoom (when the latter is activated through the Setup menu). Overall, I was impressed by Sony's judicious use of space, especially with the large number of external controls provided, the extremely large LCD, and the relatively short learning curve the W5's user interface entails. Along with Sony's other recent cameras, the W5 has one of the cleanest user interfaces I've seen, and will present few challenges to even the most novice user.

Record-Mode Display

In record mode, the LCD monitor displays the subject with a fair amount of overlaid information, indicating approximate battery life remaining (graphically), flash mode, focus mode (macro or normal), autofocus mode setting, any currently-selected exposure compensation setting, ISO setting, the current size/quality setting, and number of images that can be stored on the remaining Memory Stick space at the current size/quality. Half-pressing the Shutter button causes the camera to display the shutter speed and aperture setting it has chosen for the current lighting conditions. Pressing the Display button beside the LCD once adds a small "live" histogram display to the information, pressing it again removes the information overlay, and pressing it a third time turns the LCD off entirely. Pressing it a fourth time restores the default display. In Manual exposure mode, pressing the center button of the 5-way controller switches the four arrow keys to controlling the shutter speed and aperture settings, highlighting those settings in yellow on the LCD display, and placing small arrows above them. Pressing the center button again reverts the arrow keys to their normal functions.
Playback-Mode Display

In playback mode, the default image display shows the most recently captured image, with a modest information overlay present. Pressing the display button once adds the exposure information and a small histogram to the overlay, pressing it again removes the information overlay entirely, and pressing it a third time turns the LCD off altogether. Pressing the wide-angle side of the zoom lever takes you to a display showing images on the Memory Stick in groups of nine small thumbnails, while a second press pulls up a 16-image index. (You can navigate a yellow outline cursor over these thumbnails by using the four arrow keys. Pressing the telephoto side of the zoom lever will bring the currently-selected image up full-screen.) Pressing the telephoto side of the zoom lever when viewing an image full-size on the LCD screen will zoom in on the image, in 17 variable-sized increments up to a maximum magnification of 5x.