Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W5

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W5, an update to the DSC-W1, is a 5.1 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom, 32MB of onboard flash memory, a 2.5-inch LCD screen, and will retail for $350. The DSC-W5, which for some reason reminds us of an old Canon Powershot, uses Memory Stick or Memory Stick Pro media, can capture up to 9 shots in a burst mode at 1.6 frames per second, and will record video at 640 x 480 VGA resolution at 30 frames per second.

[Jnetty @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

I was ready to buy the Sony W1 model now i'm going to have to check this one out. Is the camera out yet?

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

Shouldn't the flash and viewfinder be swapped? The flash is too close to the lens, and the viewfinder is going to have some serious parallax. Good price, though. I do wish more of Sony's cameras would support standard flash memory, not MS.

[Jnetty @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

The camera is no longer on Sonystyle.com i went to look for it and sony i guess removed it from the website.

could it have been a early mistake? reading about the camera on dpreview and digital camera resource page, it sounds like the 32meg built memory is the only difference between the W1 and W5, also they are saying a weaker lcd screen on the W5, what gives!

[Bart @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

I have the W1 and it's the best camera i've owned. Takes great pictures and fits right in the pocket.

[dave @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

to comment #1:

get the W1. the only changes seem to be a lower resolution LCD and an added 32 megabytes built in. the W1 just comes with a 32 meg memory stick, along with the presumably higher resolution screen.

[Marcos @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

I own the DSC-W1, it is incredible with a 512 MB Memory Stick Pro. Only thing I wish it could have extra is night mode(through infrared), and syncing with an extremely powerful flash, like 40 ft would be sweet. The flash accessory that sony has for the camera has about 16 ft range, still kinda nice, but the more, the better the far pics. Now that I think about it, how sweet would it be if the wirelessly synced flash had an lcd that could adjust how many feet away you want the flash to extend. Even nicer would be if that had a laser on it to determine the range, say if there was a wall.

[Altus @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

hi! i own a w1 and its a great camera ! i say go for the w1! its by far the best! go home canon!

south africa rules!

[neoardi @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

http://www.hereshow.ca/index.php?cmd=contests
try to checkout this site, it's really unbelievable that it's a photography contests which the prize is the DSC-W7 a W5's version of 7mp. I don't see sony announce this dcam yet.

[Mike @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

The W5 is back on the Sony site and they are taking pre-orders. One notable change from the W1 to the W5 is the reduction from a 123K to 115K LCD Monitor. Anyone care to speculate the reduction in resolution? I'm guessing it has to do with battery life. We will see if 8K is a noticable change.