Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9: Conclusions

CONCLUSIONS
The Sony Cyber-shot WX9 is a very attractive small camera and is a good choice for beginners, thanks to its clear, colorful menu system and dedicated controls for movies and playback. It has many points in its favor - it takes sharp, colorful pictures and excellent HD videos with stereo sound, its large LCD screen has excellent sharpness and clarity, performance is quick and dependable, the lens is of high quality and produces little distortion and its low light ability is quite good for such a reasonably priced camera.

There are a few things about the WX9 I didn't care for. Some of the camera's controls are quite small and I found them hard to use. While I appreciated the camera's strong colors, reds were a little too strong, detracting from image definition. I was surprised that the camera lacks the ability to adjust color saturation, sharpness and contrast and does not have certain creative filters, features that are found in most small cameras. On the other hand the WX9 has some features rarely found in other cameras, such as a Sweep Panorama mode, Superior Auto and Background Defocus.

All told, the Cyber-shot WX9 is a camera that I can strongly recommend to those who are looking for a small, high quality digital camera at a reasonable price, especially to those who may be intimidated by the complicated menu systems of most digital cameras.

Pros:

• Attractive, lightweight body
• Good image quality, even in low light
• Excellent HD video
• Quick performance

Cons:

• Some buttons and dials are small and hard to use
• Cannot adjust aspects of images
• No filters
• Reds a bit too saturated

Individual Ratings: *

Image/Video Quality 
Features 
Design/Ease of Use 
Performance 
* Ratings averaged to produce final score