Recently, I got myself a Digital Camera from Sony. DSC-WX1. Extremely small and attractive, the Sony WX1 has a few tricks under its hat that you’d never guess by just looking at it. The new feature this year isn’t face detection or smile sensing — though those things can be found on the Sony WX1–the new feature is low-light capability, allowing you to get shots indoors and at night that you never could before without getting blur from subject movement and camera movement. The Sony WX1 uses both an enhanced sensor, and very fast processing to achieve these tricks, and the results are impressive.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1

Available in 3 colors : Full Black, Full Silver, Semi Black (+ Silver)

Along with the company’s TX1 model, the Sony WX1 is one of the first two Sony Cyber-shot digital still cameras to feature a back-illuminated ‘Exmor R’ CMOS image sensor. Most sensors are front-illuminated, meaning that light must pass through a metal wiring layer before reaching the light-sensitive pixels. Some of the light is blocked by this wiring layer, reducing the sensor’s ability to gather light. Back-illuminated sensors have the wiring layer below the pixels, so they collect more light. This improvement, says Sony, means a 200% increase in sensitivity over a traditional front-illuminated CMOS sensor.

The Sony Cybershot WX1 also includes the ability to stack multiple images shot at high sensitivity into a single exposure, resulting in reduced noise. It’s a feature we’ve seen in the company’s previous DSC-HX1 model, that Sony has refined in the WX1. The Sony WX1 is now able to detect subjects that have moved between shots, selecting only the frame in which they are most clear. The Sony WX1 also includes a Sweep Panorama function which automatically assembles panoramas from as many as 100 separate photos captured automatically, while you simply sweep your camera across the scene at the camera’s direction. The WX1 is capable of horizontal panoramas covering as much as 256 degrees, or vertical panoramas with up to 175 degree coverage.

You can also shoot a burst of shots at ten frames per second with the Sony WX1 thanks to its high-speed mechanical shutter that prevents the image distortion which can occur in cameras using an electronic shutter.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 is also capable of recording high-definition movies with sound at up to 1280 x 720 pixels (720p) resolution, with a rate of 30 frames per second. WX1 movies are saved with MPEG4 compression, and standard definition 640 x 480 pixel (VGA) movie recording is also possible.

You can get this camera in Malaysia ranging MYR1100 – MYR1400

Let’s take a look of some sample output, mainly used to capture food. That shows the macro function (automated in Intelligence Automatic – IA Mode) of the WX1 is superb.
(Note: Actual image may vary as the images below are scaled down for ease of viewing)