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Big Bang For Your Buck!
After my $300 Canon compact got stolen, I never thought I would be able to find an acceptable replacement at a reasonable price. The WX9 has proven me wrong! Below are a few good reasons to buy the WX9:
Good Low Light Stills
I absolutely love the quality you get in low light. Little to no noise or blurring occurs, even when shooting a dim light source in complete darkness. With just one light on, faces come out crisp and clear (albeit a bit orange). My friend's rival Canon 300 HS couldn't keep up at the restaurant. All his pictures were blurry and grainy. He couldn't believe how clear my photos were. Low light performance is the #1 best thing about this camera!
Fast, Accurate Focusing
The focusing on this camera is superb. Unlike older cameras that you needed to tap the shutter button to focus, the WX9 focuses its self (just like cell phones). You always have the option to tap too. In addition to this, it focuses on the right thing quickly. My old Canon IXY took great macro, but often times the focal point would be slightly off. This was a major annoyance that has been alleviated with the WX9.
Fast Shooting
This camera shoots as fast as my bulky SLR. No more black screen for two seconds, you see the image after less than a second. Combined with the accurate focusing and quick start-up, it is literally a shoot and go experience. This is very important for a pocket camera. My friend's 300HS did not fare as well. In dark places it took 5 seconds to process. Pretty dismal.
Depth
I'm not sure if you can count depth as a selling point, but photos shot with this camera (especially macro shots) look extremely rich. My old Canon tended to wash things out for the sake of accuracy, but contrast and color depth are boosted by the camera software, which makes for a much more pleasing photo.
Macro
I would argue that the macro on this camera is better than Canon compacts. Not only is it more accurate in adjusting it's focal point, it is also WAY more crisp. I will gladly give up 2mm to get the kind of detail you can get from this camera in macro mode.
Color and Clarity
Colors are bright and relatively accurate. I prefer it to the more color accurate Canons, especially since this is a point and shoot pocket camera, I expect the processor and the software to do all the work except composition. Photos are extremely clear and crisp (unless you are shooting a landscape) This camera packs in a lot of detail! It's a lot of fun just taking pictures of things and zooming in.
High Quality LCD
If you are thinking about cheaping out here, do yourself a favor and DON'T. This camera is the only compact I have seen so far that has an iPhone quality screen. It is truly worth it, especially since this camera does not have a viewfinder. Playback is truly dazzling and accurate.
Panorama
They FINALLY did it! Sweeping panoramas that work fluidly. Even in a low light situation like a supermarket just turn your body 90 degrees and you get a clear crisp panorama. No blurring, very few staggered points, no waiting for it to process, it's as fast as shooting normally! Shooting in this mode also somehow corrects most of the distortion you normally see in landscape stills. This feature makes AMAZING pictures when you are up high!
Here are some reasons NOT to buy this camera:
Poor Landscape Shots
Photos of landscapes, like parks or scenery were miserably blurred and distorted. This probably the worst thing about this camera. Unless you are taking a portrait or focusing on some object in the foreground, you images will be blurred around the edges 75% of the time. Had the camera been more expensive, I would have returned it for this fact alone. Luckily, I don't shoot much besides portraits or of things, so it's not as big a deal for me, but if you area nature photographer it could be a serious issue. My friend's 300HS had similar problems, but not nearly as extreme. Blurring of landscapes on the WX9 is clearly visible, even when the photo is shrunk down. Don't even think about printing landscape photos with this camera.
Complicated Menu
Operating program mode is a chore, as is selecting other special features like the smile shutter, the manual doesn't help much either, it took a couple of hours for me to figure everything out and I still get mixed up.
Few Editing Options
You cannot edit things like white balance outside of their pre-adjusted settings, nor can you mess with tone or color balance. I never used these features often on my old Canon IXY, but when I needed them they were extremely useful, and I will miss them.
Too Many Megapixels
Hey sony, guess what, I need to store these photos ya know?! Each image is 5-6 megabytes! My old camera was 10 megapixels that clocked in around 1.8-2.5 megabytes. it's manageable, but for a cheaper camera this many megapixels is completely unnecessary and inconvenient.
Conclusion
If you can deal with the landscape stills and don't need to many settings, the WX9 is a fantastic point and shoot anywhere camera! It is better than any other compact camera I tried including the Canon 300 HS. There are better small-ish cameras out there like the amazing Nikon 1 NJ1. But at this size and this price point, it is a true bargain camera that takes great shots. I am usually a solid Canon compact user, but this camera has made me a big supporter of the Sony Cyber-shot line.
December 3, 2011
Camera is a LEMON
I ordered a Sony DSC-WX9 on 2-8-2011, I recieved my camera sometime in April of 2011. In the two years that I have owned this camera it has been sent back to repaired three times. The first time was for the zoom failed to work. The second time was December 28th, 2011 for an internal part of the camera failed and everything I took a picture of would become whited out and the LCD screen failed. Now being the third time January 5th, 2013 the camera was sent in agian to have the LCD repaired once agian. The Laredo Repair Center has spent more time with my camera than I have had time to use it. The camera orignally came with a one year warranty and the previous repairs only had a 90 day warranty. Sony has offered me a 50% discount on this third repair. I believe that this camera is a lemon and I should be granted other options. I do not want this troublesome camera. Sony needs to stand behind the products that they produce.
January 14, 2013
I love my camera!
While I handle this camera with kid gloves (I'm clumsy, so it's not the camera's fault!) in fear of scratching the beautiful display screen, it has never faulted me! I have to remember to charge the battery before I have an event but that is merely planning ahead. I am sad that this product no longer exists, as it had options for every environment including a smart-shot for when I really don't know which one to choose or will be changing locations several times. The video is also high quality. Works great for taking shots of friends or preserving a memory of two at a concert.
September 26, 2012
Great picture quality, but breaks way too easily.
I bought 2 WX9 cameras in the span of less than a year, and both are now broken.
The first one I forgot in a cafe, and was thrilled to have it returned to me when I came back a few hours later. Unfortunately, once I turned it on I saw that the internal LCD screen was cracked. I didn't think much of it, figuring that the camera must have been dropped badly in my absence and that it's my own fault for having forgotten it. Since I was happy with the picture quality and only owned the camera for about 3 months at this point, I went back to the store and bought a second one.
Now fast forward 3 more months and I was in a lounge with some friends, and the camera fell out of my purse, which was placed on a LOW LOUNGE CHAIR, no more than a foot off the ground. It was really a very short distance to fall, and there was a carpet on the floor. I immediately picked it up and to my great surprise discovered that the internal LCD screen was cracked , rendering it unusable! This time I was there to witness the fall, and I have to tell you- having dropped multiple phones in the past and having owned the previous model of Sony Cyber Shot for over 4 years- that camera should not have been broken after that fall.
I am very disappointed. I was pleased with the picture quality, but I really don't expect my cameras to break quite as easily as that. So unless you expect to NEVER EVER DROP YOUR CAMERA, not even from a distance of a foot off the ground, don't buy this model. I think there must be some sort of a design flaw. My previous Sony camera (don't remember the model number, but it was also a Cyber Shot) lasted way over 4 years and I didn't experience any issues like that.
April 23, 2012
