POSTED BY

Rob Beschizza

AT 5:37 AM
Friday August 21, 2009

Cameras

exmor • sony

Sony's WX1 shoots great in low-light

exmorelowlight.jpg

The New York Times' David Pogue reports that Sony's DSC-WX1 is the best bet if you want a point-and-shoot camera that shoots well in darkness.

Sony says that in its new Exmor R sensor, the circuitry layer has been moved to the bottom, so that less light is lost en route through the stack. Does any of this make any difference? It sure does. ... It's truly amazing; there hasn't been an advance in small cameras this important since image stabilization came along.

Of course, you still have to use Memory Sticks. DPReview has more analysis.

Photo: DigitalCamera.jp

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9 Comments

Skwid

#1 – 8:00 AM August 21, 2009

Of course, you still have to use Memory Sticks.
And as long as that's true, I'll continue to not own a Sony P&S. Canon is making similar claims about the dark-shooting ability of its new S90...I'll be keeping an eye on that one.

WalterBillington

#2 – 3:47 PM August 21, 2009

Ahhhh I've had a Sony for a couple years now and couldn't be happier. Frankly, the cards are cheap as chips now, and stay put in the camera. Amazon.co.uk lists the 4GB card at £10 including postage.

What turned me on to Sony was the speed of operation - I'd had a Lumix that was fortunately stolen by a magpie nannie (don't ask), and researched with the focus of ensuring superb picture quality and fast use. Didn't disappoint. And this from someone who won't go DSLR until the resolution can match Fuji Velvia emulsion - so sometime in 2051.

Anonymous Anonymous

#3 – 8:40 PM August 21, 2009

I'm sorry but the several year old Fuji F30 pooops all over the high iso performance of this camera. That ISO1600 is muddy as heck. I am 100% convinced that the F30 and its ilk were so good Fuji stopped making them on purpose. I still kick myself for buying an SD700is over the F30. I'm happy in daylight miserable at over iso 200. Tiny tiny sensors on 10+MP pocket cams that won't ever be used to print anything bigger than a 4x6 are NOT helping. Are you listening camera manus??!

Anonymous Anonymous

#4 – 10:21 PM August 21, 2009

MemoryStick prices have come down considerably. You can still get SD cards for cheaper, but at least the price difference isn't as big as it used to be.

I'm a current Panasonic LX3 owner. I'm ready to sell it, and replace it with the Canon S90. This Sony WX1 might be good for people that want a general purpose camera that shoots well in low lighting conditions. I'm sure Sony will extend this new sensor technology to the rest of the camera line-up.

Anonymous Anonymous

#5 – 12:51 AM August 22, 2009

About time someone paid attention (again) to low-light performance on a digital camera.

Ten years ago, my (then low end) 1.3mp Olympus D450 (which I still own and occasionally use) was outstanding at shooting in available light and (with a tripod) in very low light situations. Part of the reason was a pretty decent sensor, but surprisingly good optics helped too. (Its successor, an Oly C2040, was even better, thanks to an f1.8 zoom lens.)

But since then, very few low-priced and mid-priced digicams have made low-light performance a priority. The average point-and-shooter is OK with a flash destroying the detail in his pix, so the manufacturers don't seem to have worried much about it.

WalterBillington

#6 – 8:44 AM August 22, 2009

Talking of optics - Sony has switched out the Carl Zeiss lenses on this for "Sony" lenses. Ooops. Just raised a huge flag of caution. Someone persuade me this doesn't matter.

hohum

#7 – 1:01 PM August 22, 2009

So people didn't like Memory Stick just because of the price? I mean that was a kick in the face, I guess, but worse to me is that everone else (okay, screw you too Olympus) has been using SD for a long time now… And if not SD, then CompactFlash, for which you can get SD adaptors. I'm practically swimming in a sea of SD cards - my camera, Wii, DS, car stereo, etc… And I like that I only need to stick to one format…

peter42y

#8 – 7:45 PM August 30, 2009

I think its to early to declare this sony camera the best in low light.
How does the camera behave when shooting moving objects in low light ?
How it does compare with the canon s90 and the Fuji f200 EXR , another low light camera ?
I believe its too early to say.

Eddy

#9 – 8:56 PM September 11, 2009

Hmmm, I'm now trying to decide between this and the Canon IXUS 200 IS to replace my old IXUS 800 IS that I've just broken the screen on... still not sure about changing from Canon though, and I can't find any shops that have the WX1 yet for me to try it out.

About the Memory Stick issue though... that doesn't really bother me too much, because most of the SD cards I use now are actually microSD in an adaptor (as that way I can also use them in my phone), and I've already managed to get hold of a microSD(HC) to MemoryStick Pro Duo adapter... which seems like it should work perfectly with this :)

The adapter I've got is a PhotoFast CR-5300... it was the only one I could find that worked with SDHC cards and not just standard SD, at least at the time when I got it.

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