Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W380 Review

March 26, 2010 | Mark Goldstein | Rating star Rating star Rating star

Introduction

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W380 is a new 14 megapixel compact camera with a wide-angle 5x zoom and 2.7 inch LCD screen. Featuring a metal body, the Sony W380 offers a high-quality 5x, 24-120mm equivalent Sony G lens with a fast maximum aperture of F/2.4 and Super SteadyShot optical image stabilisation. Face and smile detection technologies are joined by a self-portrait mode, and there's also intelligent scene recognition and an Easy mode for complete beginners. The Sony W380 also features a Sweep Panorama mode for extra-wide landscapes, ISO range of 80-3200 and and 1280x720 pixel 720p HD movie recording with stereo sound and HDMI output. Available in silver, black, red and gold, the Sony Cybershot W380 retails for around £220.

Ease of Use

The new Sony W380 is heavily based upon the existing WX1 model, so a lot of comments that we made about that camera apply equally to the W380. The Sony DSC-W380 has a conventional 5x extending optical lens with a fast maximum aperture of f/2.4 and 24mm wide-angle setting, instantly making it a serious proposition for more serious photographers. The W380's lens is a joy to use, with the combination of the f/2.4 aperture and maximum ISO speed of 3200 making this camera well suited to hand-held low-light photography. Also, having a 5x zoom in such a small package makes this camera more adaptable than you might first think, with everything from ultra-wide landscapes to candid head-and-shoulder portraits within reach of the W380.

The W380 is quite a minimalist and slender camera, measuring less than 2cms at its narrowest point and weighing less than 150g with the battery and memory card fitted, with a 2.7-inch 230k-dot resolution LCD screen at the rear. As you'd expect with a screen of that size on such a small compact, the W380 has no optical viewfinder to fall back on. Providing the only actual means of gripping the camera is the round mode dial on the rear of the camera which falls naturally under your right thumb - there is no handgrip at all on the front of the rather slippery metal casing. Also located on the front of the W380 is the lens, a small and narrow window for the flash and a porthole for the self-timer/AF illuminator.

Press the small round power button on the top plate and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W380 quickly readies itself for action in a just over a second. The adequately sized shutter-release button has a definite halfway point, determining focus and exposure with a bleep of affirmation, focus points highlighted in green on the LCD. Go on to take the shot and the JPEG images are committed to memory in a single second, the screen momentarily blanking out and then displaying the captured image before the user can go on to take a second shot. The W380's built-in microphone is also located on top of the camera, plus a small activity LED.

Sony CyberShot DSC-W380 Sony CyberShot DSC-W380
Front Rear

A fairly responsive and tactile thumb-operated rocker switch on the rear of the W380 operates the 5x zoom and alternates between wide-angle and telephoto. The action of the zoom itself is leisurely smooth rather than rapid, gliding unhindered through the focal range in a single, steady motion. Underneath the zoom switch is the shooting mode dial, which has a nice positive action and lets you quickly switch between the various shooting modes that the W380 offers.

In addition to the regular Program mode, Sony has included intelligent auto scene recognition in its line-up of shooting modes, accessed via this rear mode dial. This mode works in virtually identical fashion to the intelligent auto modes of Panasonic's and Canon's compact ranges. The user points the W380 at a scene or subject and the camera analyses it and automatically chooses one of 11 pre-optimised settings to best suit. For complete beginners, there's also the Easy shooting mode, which employs the same intelligent auto scene recognition system, reduces the number of features available to a few key ones and simplifies the display with bigger text and icons.

Adding to its snapshot simplicity, these features join enhanced face recognition and smile shutter functionality on board, the former mode biasing human faces in the frame and the latter mode firing the shutter when it detects a smiling subject. The enhanced Face Detection system automatically adjusts the focus, exposure and white balance for people in the frame, and can even be set to distinguish between children and adults. Smile Detection, which is toggled on and off by pressing left on the navigation pad, offers three self-explanatory options, Big, Normal and Slight. Used in conjunction, the Face and Smile Detection systems do result in more hits than misses, especially in contrasty lighting conditions, although all those smiling faces could ultimately freak you out a little! New for the W380 are the self-portrait options in the self-timer menu, which work by automatically taking the shot with a two second delay after either one or two people have entered the frame.

Sony CyberShot DSC-W380 Sony CyberShot DSC-W380
Front Front

The now standard Sweep Panorama mode lets you capture a panoramic image very easily without the use of a tripod. All you need to decide is whether you would like to start from left or right, top or bottom. Then press and hold down the shutter release while doing a "sweep" with the camera in hand. Exposure compensation is available before you start the sweep, but the exposure is fixed once you depress the shutter button. After you are done with the sweeping, the camera does all the processing required, and presents you with a finished panoramic image. The catch is that it's of relatively low resolution: the shorter side is invariably 1080 pixels, whereas the longer side is 4912 pixels for a 'standard' panorama, and 7152 pixels for a 'wide' one. Note also that if you do the sweeping too slowly, or you let go of the shutter release button too early, the panorama will be truncated.

Underneath the mode dial, you'll find a small button for playing back your images. Users have the ability to dip in and out of created folders of images or the calendar view, view thumbnails, select slideshows and choose transitional effects and accompanying music, or delete shots. Press the shutter button halfway and you're helpfully catapulted back into capture mode. And that's basically it. With a press of the Menu button in playback, users have access to a few in-camera retouching effects, including the ability to crop and sharpen an image and apply red-eye correction.

There's a traditional round navigation pad on the rear of the W380 which you can use to navigate through menus and options, in conjunction with the small button in the middle which activates whatever it is you've chosen. The four directions on the navigation pad also provide a quick way of setting the Display, Flash, Timer and Smile Shutter options. Finally, there are buttons for the camera's menu system and for deleting images underneath the navigation pad. The menu button accesses most of the camera's main functions - shooting mode, image size, burst settings, EV, ISO, white balance, Focus mode, Metering Mode, smile detection, face detection and Dynamic Range Optimiser - plus an icon at the bottom to open the four Settings menus. The latter includes the ability to deactivate the camera's 'bleep' that otherwise sounds at every button press.

Sony CyberShot DSC-W380 Sony CyberShot DSC-W380
Memory Card Slot Battery Compartment

Sony has fitted a dual image stabilisation mechanism in the shape of both optical SteadyShot and an ISO range that extends up to ISO 3200. If not quite class leading, it's better than you'll find on an average point-and-shoot - you can see some examples on the Image Quality page. Note that you can't actually turn off the SteadyShot function.

As with its recent predecessors, present and correct on the W380 is the increasingly ubiquitous ability to shoot High Definition video clips at a maximum 1280x720 pixels video at 30fps, here in PC friendly MPEG-4 format with full use of the optical zoom. The movie mode also has its very own underwater shooting mode, plus the ability to change the EV level, white balance, and metering options. There's also a direct HDMI output from the camera, useful for playing back the 60 minutes of footage that can be stored on a 4GB Memory Stick (Duo or Pro variety), although sadly there's no HDMI cable supplied in the box.

The bottom of the Sony W380 features a standard screw thread for attaching it to a tripod, which is rather inconveniently located in the corner. Alongside this is a narrow flap with a rather flimsy plastic lockable catch that protects the shared lithium-ion battery which provides a merely adequate life of 220 shots. The same compartment also houses the removable memory card, with Sony now supporting the SD / SDHC format rather than their own proprietary Memory Sticks that they have persisted with for so long. There's also a hardly worth it 11MB internal memory to fall back on.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 14 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

The Sony CyberShot DSC-W380 produced images of only average quality during the review period. Noise and a general lack of fine detail is the biggest problem, visible even at the slowest ISO settings of 80 and 100 and becoming progressively worse as you move up the ISO range, with 800-3200 not really worth using.

Chromatic aberrations were also apparent, with some purple fringing effects appearing in all high contrast situations. The 14 megapixel images were a little soft at the default sharpen setting and require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, as you can't change the in-camera sharpening level.

Macro performance is quite good, allowing you to focus as close as 5cms away from the subject. Commendably barrel distortion is well controlled even at the 24mm wide-angle focal length. The built-in flash worked well enough indoors, with no red-eye and adequate overall exposure.

Anti-shake is very useful when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The disappointing maximum shutter speed of 2 seconds doesn't allow the camera to capture enough light for most after-dark situations.

Noise

There are 7 ISO settings available on the Sony CyberShot DSC-W380. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.

ISO 80 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

 
 

Focal Range

The Sony CyberShot DSC-W380's 4x zoom lens offers a fairly versatile focal range, as illustrated by these examples:

24mm

120mm

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are just a little soft and ideally benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can't change the in-camera sharpening level.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

   

Chromatic Aberrations

The Sony CyberShot DSC-W380 handled chromatic aberrations fairly wellduring the review, with some purple fringing present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.

Example 1 (100% Crop)

Example 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Sony CyberShot DSC-W380 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 5cms away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot

100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Sony CyberShot DSC-W380 are Auto, Forced Flash, Slow Syncro, No Flash, with a Red-eye Reduction option in the Main menu. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Suppressed Flash - Wide Angle (24mm)

Forced Flash - Wide Angle (24mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Suppressed Flash - Telephoto (120mm)

Forced Flash - Telephoto (120mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Forced Flash setting or the Red-Eye Correction option caused any red-eye.

Forced Flash

Forced Flash (100% Crop)
   

Red-eye Reduction

Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night Shot

The Sony CyberShot DSC-W380's maximum shutter speed is 2 seconds, which is not good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 1/8th second at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot

Night Shot (100% Crop)

Dynamic Range Optimizer

DRO is Sony's solution for improving shadow detail in photos taken in contrasty light. The selectable settings are Off, Standard and Plus. The examples show the effect of the different settings.

Off

Standard

   

Plus

 
 

Sweep Panorama Mode

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W380 allows you to take panoramic images very easily, by 'sweeping' with the camera while keeping the shutter release depressed. The camera does all the processing and stitching. The catch is that the resulting image is of fairly low resolution, and moving subjects tend to be replicated. Check out some examples below.

 

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W380 camera, which were all taken using the 14 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

This is a sample video from the Sony CyberShot DSC-W380 camera at the highest quality setting of 1280x720 pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 15 second movie is 17Mb in size.

Product Images

Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Front of the Camera

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Front of the Camera / Lens Extended

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Isometric View

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Isometric View

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Rear of the Camera

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Rear of the Camera / Settings Menu

 

Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Top of the Camera

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Bottom of the Camera

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Side of the Camera

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Side of the Camera

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Front of the Camera

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Front of the Camera

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Memory Card Slot

 
Sony CyberShot DSC-W380

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W380 is a doppelganger of last year's WX1 camera that we liked so much, with a few less features and cheaper price tag, but it's unfortunately ruined by the 14 megapixel sensor and the resulting noisy, smudgy images.

Starting with the positives, the 24mm wide-angle lens is a great performer, with not too much barrel distortion despite the extreme angle of view, a very versatile 5x focal range that allows you to get close-up and personal, and the winning combination of effective anti-shake system and a fast maximum aperture that makes it easier to take sharp pictures in low-light. The multitude of different shooting modes and options targeted at less experienced users also make the Sony W380 a good candidate for those looking to dip their toe into the digital photography pool. High definition movie recording and the always-fun Sweep Panorama mode are the icing on the cake.

Unfortunately the W380's image quality leaves a rather more bitter taste in the mouth. The 14 megapixel sensor produces images with too much noise and smearing of fine detail, even at the base ISO sensitivity of 80, especially if the picture is shot in anything less than near-perfect lighting. This isn't really a problem if you're only making small prints or using the images for the web, but printing at larger sizes or severely cropping the images really shows up the problems of cramming too many megapixels onto too small a sensor. Add in unwanted purple fringing in any high-contrast situation, soft pictures with no in-camera option to increase the sharpening level, and a limited shutter speed of 2 seconds that prohibits most night photos, and it's fair to say that image quality isn't the W380's strong suit.

An aggressive price of £220 partially makes up for the W380's deficiencies, but ultimately we can't recommend a camera that simply takes poor pictures. If you like the form factor and features offered by the W380, the virtually identical WX1 model with its significantly better 10 megapixel backlit sensor is a much more attractive proposition.

3 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 4
Features 3.5
Ease-of-use 4
Image quality 2.5
Value for money 4

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W380 from around the web.

pcadvisor.co.uk »

The Sony Cybershot DSC-W380 has a simple compact design and a solid metal body. The matte-dark finish of the body ensures that the camera can withstand scratches and smudges. The camera might not be as slim as its stylish Cybershot T brothers, but the DSC-W380 is still quite compact.
Read the full review »

reviews.cnet.co.uk »

Technology will only take a camera so far. It also has to look, feel and handle right, and it's in those areas that the Cyber-shot DSC-W380 really shows its quality. Other cameras might give you more to talk about, but not many offer this kind of straightforward operation and physical satisfaction when it comes to actually using them.
Read the full review »

Specifications

Lens

Optical Zoom

5x

Precision Digital Zoom

Approx. 10x(Total)

Smart Zoom

up to 33x (with VGA)

F

2.4-5.9

Focal Length (f= mm)

4.25-21.3

Focal Length (f=35mm conversion)

24-120

Macro (cm)

iAuto(W:Approx.5cm(0.16") to Infinity, T:Approx.50cm(1.64") to Infinity)

Filter Diameter (mm)

NO

Conversion Lens compatibility

NO

NightShot

NO

NightFraming

NO

Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens

NO

Sony G

YES

Image Sensory

CCD Type

Super HAD CCD

Size (Inches)

1/2.3 type(7.76mm)

Camera

Effective Pixels (Mega Pixels)

Approx. 14.1

Bionz Processor

YES

Face Detection

YES

Smile Shutter

YES

ClearRAW NR

YES

Auto Focus Method (Single)

NO

Auto Focus Method (Monitoring)

NO

Auto Focus Method (Intelligent)

NO

Auto Focus Method (Continuous)

NO

Auto Focus Area (Multi Point)

9 points (Under Face Undetected)

Auto Focus Area (Centre weighted)

YES

Auto Focus Area (Spot)

YES

Auto Focus Area (Flexible Spot)

NO

Manual Focus

NO

Focus Preset

NO

Focus Preset (m)

NO

Aperture Auto Mode

YES

Aperture Priority Mode

NO

ApertureManual Mode

NO

Shutter Speed Auto Mode (sec)

iAuto(2" - 1/1.600) / Program Auto(1" - 1/1.600)

NR Slow Shutter

YES

Hand Shake Alert

YES

Exposure Control

+/- 2.0EV, 1/ 3 EV step

White Balance

Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent1, Fluorescent2, Fluorescent3, Incandescent, Flash, One Push, One Push Set

Automatic White Balance

YES

Light Metering (Multi Pattern)

YES

Light Metering (Centre weighted)

YES

Light Metering (Spot)

YES

Sharpness Setting

NO

Saturation Setting

NO

Contrast Setting

NO

ISO Sensitivity (REI)

YES (Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200)

Scene Selection

8 modes (Twilight / Twilight Portrait / Twilight using a tripod / Backlight / Backlight Portrait / Landscape / Macro / Portrait)

AF Illuminator

YES

Flash Mode

Auto / Flash On / Slow Syncro / Flash Off

Distance limitations using Flash (m)

ISO Auto: Approx.0.2-Approx.4.8m(Approx.0.66'-Approx.15.8')(W) / Approx.0.5-Approx.2.0m(Approx.1.64'-Approx.6.56')(T), ISO3200: up to Approx.9.6m(Approx.31.5')(W) / Approx.3.9m(Approx.12.8')(T)

Pre-flash

YES

Red-eye Reduction

YES

Auto Daylight Synchronized Flash

YES

Super SteadyShot

Super SteadyShot capability

NO

SteadyShot capability

NO

Optical SteadyShot capability

YES

Auto Focus System

AF Illuminator

YES

Built-In-Flash

Flash Mode

Auto / Flash On / Slow Syncro / Flash Off

Red-Eye Reduction

YES

Auto Daylight Synchronized Flash

YES

LCD/ Viewfinder

LCD Screen Size (inches)

6.7cm / 2.7"

LCD Total Dots Number

230.400

LCD Monitor Type

TFT

Auto Bright Monitoring

YES

Optical Viewfinder

NO

Electrical Viewfinder

NO

Recording

Recording Media

Memory Stick™ Duo(still only), Memory Stick PRO Duo™(Mark2 only for movie). Memory Stick PRO Duo™ High Speed (Still only and no Speed Advantage), Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™ (No Speed Advantage),

Recording Media II

SD/SDHC Memory Card(Class4 or Higher for movie), Internal memory (45MB)

Recording Format

JPEG

Memory Stick™ Pro Interface

Parallel

DCF (Design rule for Camera File System)

YES

DPOF (Digital Print Order Format)

YES

Burst Mode (shots)

Approx.1.5 fps(4 shots****)

Burst Interval (approximately sec)

0.69 sec.(4 shots****)

Still Image size (14 Mega 4320 x 3240)

YES

Still Image size (13 Mega 4224 x 3168)

NO

Still Image size (12 Mega 4000 x 3000)

NO

Still Image size (10 Mega 3648 x 2736)

YES

Still Image size (9.0 Mega, 3456 x 2592)

NO

Still Image size (8.0 Mega, 3264 x 2448)

NO

Still Image size (7.2 Mega 3072 x 2304)

NO

Still Image size (5.0 Mega, 2592 x 1944)

YES

Still Image size (3.1 Mega, 2048 x 1536)

NO

Still Image size (VGA, 640 x 480)

YES

Still Image size (16:9 mode, 1920 x 1080)

YES

Still Image size (16:9 mode, 4320 x 2432)

YES

Still Image size (3:2 mode, 4000 x 2672)

NO

Still Image size (3:2 mode 3648 x 2432)

NO

Still Image size (3:2 mode 3456 x 2304)

NO

Panorama

7.152 x 1.080(260deg) / 4.912 x 1.080(179deg) / 4.912 x 1.920(179deg) / 3.424 x 1.920(125deg)

Moving Image Size (1280x720 30fps Fine Approx.9Mbps)

YES

Moving Image Size (1280x720 30fps Standard Approx.6Mbps)

YES

Moving Image Size (640x480 30fps Approx.3Mbps)

YES

Moving Image Size (320x240 30fps)

NO

Moving Image Size (AVCHD 1920 x 1080(50i, Interlace) Approx.17Mbps(Averagebit-rate))

NO

Moving Image Size (AVCHD 1440 x 1080(50i, Interlace) Approx.9Mbps(Averagebit-rate))

NO

Moving Image Size (MP4/AVI 1440 x 1080 Approx.25fps Progressive) Approx.12Mbps(Averagebit-rate))

NO

Moving Image Size (MP4/AVI 1280 x 720 Approx.25fps Progressive) Approx.6Mbps(Averagebit-rate))

NO

Moving Image Size (MP4/AVI 640 x 480 Approx.25fps Progressive) Approx.3Mbps(Averagebit-rate))

NO

Playback/ Edit

HD (High Definition) Playback

YES

Slideshow Playback

YES

Slideshow with Music

YES

Trimming

YES

Resize

NO

Playback Zoom

YES

Divide (MPEG)

NO

Cue & Review (MPEG)

YES

Index Playback

YES

Image Rotation

YES

Auto Image Rotation

YES

General

Battery Remaining Indicator

YES

Histogram Indicator

NO

Exposure Warning Indicator

YES

Disk / Memory Stick remaining indicator

YES

PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol)

YES

Print Image Matching

YES

PictBridge

YES

Shop Front Mode

YES

Start up time (approximately sec)

1.7

Menu Language

English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Greek, Croatian, Romanian, Bulgarian

Jacks

Multi use Terminal with HD

YES

Multi use Terminal

YES

AV Out

YES

Digital I/O (USB)

NO

USB 2.0 Hi-Speed

YES

Power/ Others

Battery System

Lithium N

Supplied Battery

NP-BN1

Stamina (battery life) with the supplied battery(s) in normal shooting condition

220 shots, 110 min (CIPA standard with LCD screen on)

Battery for Clock

Manganese-Lithium (MS614)

Weight (g)

Approx. 108g (3.8oz.)

Weight with Accessories (g)

Approx. 124g (4.4oz.)

SuppliedSoftware

Picture Motion Browser Ver.5.0(Windows only)

Supplied Accessories

Rechargeable Battery Pack(NP-BN1), Battery Charger, Multi Connector Cable, Power Cord, Wrist Strap, CD-ROM

Dimensions

Width (mm)

91.7

Height (mm)

51.9

Depth (mm)

19.7

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