Sony DSC-W215

THIS IS THE WORST CAMERA, FOR EASY OF USE, AS EVERY TIME IT IS ASKING TO REINSERT THE MEMORY STICK, AFTER SWITCHING ON THE CAMERA, SAME PROBLEM I AM FACING CONTINUOUSLY...

This is a fantastic little camera which produces cystal clear, very sharp and crisp images with bright colors. I reallyy love it. havent tested this is full sun but I am sure it will do a great job..so far all the snaps I took came out very well..Impressed.

This is a superb digital-camera, 12.1mp gives you excellent image quality,c the large screen makes it easy to view your pictures, and they're easy to edit (eg) - cropping. Its has a metal case, which makes it very robust, the 30mm carl-zeiss lens is fantastic. Battery life is good averages about 200 images with my experience. Also a carry case was included in the box, i couldn't recommend it enough!! and for only £149 which included a 4GB memory stick!!

hi just to let you all know i found the sony review- www.sony.lv/product/dsc-w-series/dsc-w215#pageType=ProductBenefits. i see alot of people are going for the w210 just because they cant find reviews. the only difference between the 2 cameras is the w215 is the w215 because it is black. all other aspects of the camera are identicle. i love this camera, and was very happy to find it on offer at curries for £99. takes brilliant photos and videos, even in the dark. hope tihs is of some help to you lot.

kim xx

I suspect this camera is a "Comet only" special offer as it appears to be non-existent as far as any other online retailer is concerned. The most worrying thing is the Sony website does not recognise this camera as one of its models. I would rather have a camera that they have sold thousands of, than a one off that is not even worthy of inclusion on the manufacturers website.

No industry reviews are available so I suspect this is the same as the W210, but without any information on shutter lag mine is going back to Comet so I can get one with a trusted review. It cost me £99 which is a great price, but the W210 is £99 in lots of different stores. So without a review the W215 is worth less to me than the W210.

I had to include all the star ratings to post the review but I did not open the box or use this camera.

The Sony DSC-W215 is a great little camera, compact and so easy to use, it is fantastic for the amateur user, but also contains features which the not-so-amateur may appreciate. With 12.1 MP, and a 4X zoom (and Carl Zeiss lense), it is a quality item. I was surprised at how easy to use it was, it is quite literally a case of click and go! We bought ours from Comet for £129 in August this year specifically for a holiday and we are so pleased with the results. The colour quality really is exceptional. The camera came with a black case and grey wrist strap and a very small amount of memory. It's great because it comes with a charger so you never need to buy batteries for this camera! It also came with a lead to connect the camera to a computer and a television. The assistant in Comet tried to sell us a Sony branded memory card but these were very expensive. We found a much cheaper one online.

The Sony DSC-W215 is a very good camera for the money now you can get it for about half its original price. I was looking at cameras around the £100 mark, this was around £125 and went for it due to Sony quality and its 12Mega pixel resolution (and Zeiss lense). It is hard to compare to the competition unless you use them every day, this camera was to replace an ageing Fuji (ageing being 2 years old in the digital world).

The smile feature was a bonus (shame it doesn't detect when eyes are open at the same time). Picture quality very good and video also much better than my old camera.

One reviewer gave this camera very low score due to a percieved driver problem...I can quite categorically tell you there is not a problem at all. Vista detected the camera and I was able to download all pictures straight away (no need to put in the supplied CD or download from a website). I can only suggest to that reviewer to turn the camera on when it is connected to the PC.

It's not to say I dont have issues with the camera, but in reality it is with Sony's ways of using its own propreitory "standards". In this I mean:

(1) the cable supplied is USB one end and pure Sony the other, so hope I never lose the cable.

(2) I am so used to standard batteries in cameras and this camera doesnt. Naturally the battery is beeter than standard for longevity, but I would also prefer just to plug the phone in to charge like you do with a phone.

(3) The Sony pro duo cards is okay, got one in my phone, but if you are at a holiday resort and need more memory I am sure you could find SD cards in the hotel shop but maybe not the Pro Duo card.

Having written my reservations, i am very, very pleased with this camera. Miles better than the Fuji I had before. Quality is typcial Sony. Is it worth an addtional £25 over the current £99 batch of phones...I think so. You can't upgrade the quality of photos in lower mega pixelled cameras so I went for one which should last a bit longer than 2 years this time.

It is hard to compare Sony DSC-W215 to other cameras unless you actually use the competitive offerings every day. I have used friends cameras and this replaces an ageing Fuji (ageing in the digital world being 2 years old!!).

Value for money was very good as I find the features better than £99 cameras out there and this was on sale for £125 (half the original price).

Only issues, minor gripes, are (all propreitory standard issues):

(1) the non-standard battery (which is better for battery life but not if you lose it!)

(2) the propreitory cable (I'd rather a USB interface at the camera end too - again it is a question of not losing it).

(3) Sony's Pro Duo card rather than a SD (again the SD are more prevalent than Sony's own Pro Duo)

Gave the camera a good hard first time out and passed with flying colours. The smile recognition is quite a handy feature to have (shame it didn't detect when eyes were also open at the same time).

Very, very pleased with the purchase. Would have receieved higher marks but for the propreitory issues above (which isn't too much of a bother...well it might be if I lose the connector, run out of memory at a resort or the battery goes duff).

SONY Cyber-shot DSC-W215 review

The picture quality is amazing and the video clarity is second only to that of the professional cameras the BBC and ITV use! The batteries lasts for ages and, apart from the initial charge straight after you've bought it, it takes no time at all to charge up! A downer for this camera would be that the battery is Lithium-Ion and if you are out and about you can't put in new batteries unless you are carrying a spare charged Li-Ion battery! Unfortunately as with all Sony devices the boffins in the Sony lab have decided to give it there own connectors and the HDMI output is a unusual 'Type2' connector. This camera has several great picture modes including Twilight, Beach, Snow, Gourmet, Fireworks and Underwater to capture a vast array of scenes! Switching between the modes is easy as 1, 2, 3 however on video you can't zoom in and out while filming. Generally a great camera, go out and buy one today!

Sony DSC-W215 is a great little camera ideal for the pocket. Easy to use with excellent features. Smile mode is great for capturing those elusive smiles. Picture quality it excellent.