Sony DSC-W50 Review


Record Mode Screens & Menus
Here is the Auto mode screen display. Minimal information is displayed and
only a few parameters such as image size or recording mode can be changed. Upper
left is the zoom lens gauge which is displayed momentarily whenever you change the
focal length. The image size is
"6M"egapixels, the image folder is 101, there's space for 317 shots, a graphical
icon of the Memory Stick's available space, in the center are the Auto Focus area
target marks and the S AF on the bottom indicates Single-AF focus mode.
This is a "P"rogram AE screen. Top left shows the battery level (full). You can see
icons for the ISO speed which is set to 80 and we have enabled the realtime histogram.
Program mode allows for a wide variety of parameters to be set, see the record menu
below.
When you half-press the shutter release the AF marks will turn green indicating
the area of focus, it will also show the selected shutter speed and aperture.
The new 16:9 Wide mode allows you to make pictures that are sized to fit on modern
HDTV display screens.
When you rotate the mode dial a "virtual mode dial" is displayed.
Select from: AUTO, Program AE,
High Sensitivity, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Snow, Beach,
Landscape, Soft Snap or Movie.
Record options for Program mode:
Color Mode - Natural, Rich, Sepia, Black & White Focus - Multi AF, Center AF, 0.5m, 1.0m, 3.0m, 7.0m or Infinity Metering - Multi-pattern (default), Center or Spot White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Flash ISO - Auto or fixed at 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000 Picture Quality - Fine or Standard Mode - Normal, Burst or Multi Burst Multi Burst - 1/7.5, 1/15 or 1/30 (option appears only when mode is Multi Burst) Flash Level - High, Normal or Low Saturation - Default is 0 but may be + or - Contrast - Default is 0 but may be + or - Sharpness - Default is 0 but may be + or -
The W50 has an excellent macro focus mode that works as close as 2cm (0.74 inches)
from the lens. Use of a tripod is strongly recommended!
The screen in the 640 Fine Movie mode. Fine mode is VGA resolution 640 x 480 full screen @ 30fps with audio and the length is limited only by the space available on the memory card.
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Movie menu options:
Focus - Multi AF, Center AF, 0.5m, 1.0m, 3.0m, 7.0m or Infinity Metering - Multi-pattern (default), Center or Spot White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent or Incandescent |
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