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Sony has added a new model to its Cyber-shot W-series of pocket cameras. The 13.6-megapixel DSC-W300 offers an f/2.8-5.5, 35mm-105mm (35mm equivalent) 3x Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar zoom lens; optical image stabilization; and a 230,000-dot, 2.7-inch LCD. The camera also incorporates an optical viewfinder, and has an ultra-hard titanium coating that Sony says is highly resistant to scratches and fingerprints. The W300 supports Sony's Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo media, which offer fast transfer rates and capacities up to 16GB.
Like other W-series cameras, the W300 is designed mainly for automatic photography, but it offers a manual exposure mode in addition to its 15 automatic shooting modes. No priority modes are available. The camera has a top light-sensitivity setting of ISO 3200 (or ISO 6400 at 3-megapixel resolution) and a shutter-speed range of 1/2000 to 30 seconds. The W300's noise reduction level is user-selectable, so that the photographer can choose low, high, or standard reduction for high-ISO shots.
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Other notable controls include autobracketing, spot and center-weighted metering modes, selectable flash output levels, and a semi-manual focus mode that lets the photographer select the approximate distance to the subject then uses autofocus to finish the job. White-balance options include three underwater settings, and there's an underwater shooting mode as well. The W300 supplements Sony's standard D-Range Optimizer with a Plus mode for retaining more detail in backlit and other high-contrast shots. In continuous-shooting mode, the camera can capture a series of up to 100 shots at 1.9fps or 5fps at a reduced 3-megapixel resolution. It records smooth VGA video with sound in movie mode.
Among the new advanced automatic features the W300 shares with other models in the 2008 W series are face detection that can now be set to find only children or only adults; a new version of Sony's Smile Shutter, which automatically takes a shot when someone smiles and can now be set for child or adult priority; and an Intelligent Scene Recognition mode that automatically adjusts the camera settings and takes a second shot when you release the shutter if it thinks you should have used a different shooting mode than you did. In review mode, the W300 offers improved slide-show-creation tools, with more music available and an effect that zooms in on faces. The camera also adds face and smile detection information to the metadata of photographs so that they can be searched and organized by faces and smiles, in addition to dates and designated favorites.
The W300 will be available in May 2008 for about $350. It is compatible with Sony's VMC-HD1 high-definition component cable for 1080i photo output to an HDTV.
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