Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W380 review

Sony promises good things in small packages

Sony has always produced smart-looking cameras, and the new addition to the Cyber-shot range doesn’t disappoint. The W380 has a compact, curved body that’s finished in four stylish colours with subtle metallic finishes.  This model is not too dissimilar from its predecessor, the W350, with the main changes being to the lens and zoom. The camera body, although slightly larger than the W350, is still very small compared to most compacts on the market.

The body feels solid and sturdy for the size, but the zoom lens leaves it vulnerable to damage. It will fit into almost any pocket and sits nicely in the palm of your hand. Sony has done a good job of making all the controls on the back of the camera simple and accessible. It’s also managed to squeeze on a decent-sized LCD display. Flash, self-timer, smile detection and display settings are all available at the touch of a button from the d-pad. The only frustrating part is trying to use the Menu dial quickly.

All of the camera’s shooting modes are accessible through the Menu dial. The Easy mode is simple to use, with basic options and clear information. For the more intermediate photographer the scene mode offers 11 common shooting scenarios.

Intelligent Auto offers a fully automatic shooting mode that is constantly focusing to work out the best shot settings. It will work out subject distances and lighting conditions to give the best shot available. This is a little slow compared to others, restricted further by a short battery life.

Program mode opens up all the additional controls for the more advanced users. Having such a wide range of user menus makes it the perfect camera to improve a photography skill set.  

Camera start up is responsive if a little noisy and the focusing is fast and effective. In most situations, as soon as you depress the shutter you have a clear picture almost instantly. However, oversensitivity from the shutter can often leave you missing shots and dropping out of the Playback mode by mistake.

Overall image quality is good with the camera set up correctly. Low-light photos are impressive thanks to the improved lens aperture, although ISO 3200 is not really worth having with the results it produces.

5x optical zoom is reasonable for its size, but is only really useful for composing shots. It doesn’t zoom far enough for shooting objects in the distance further than a few metres away. Steps on the zoom are very steep and often you will just find yourself moving closer to compensate.

5cm macro is suitable for picking up most close-range shots and is automatically accessible in the Intelligent Auto setting. The 5x optical zoom is at times a big price to pay to lose the 1cm super macro found in the earlier Cyber-shots.

There are some useful landscape and portrait features available. Panorama mode is perfect for wide landscapes and interior shots. The Self-portrait setting can be set for two people and Smile shutter settings can also be tweaked, so people don’t have to smile so hard to use it.

Battery life is poor in comparison to the majority of its peers, offering only 220 shots per charge, less with video and playback use. HD video is a nice feature though, and captures roughly the same video quality as Sony’s bloggie alternative.

Overall, this is a well-rounded compact with a really intuitive control system and some good features. However, a short battery life and slightly high price point do hold it back somewhat.