Introduction

Ease of Use

Sony are a company that has ambition. They're extremely determined to get to the top spot in every field they work in. But it wasn't until they took over operations of digital imaging from Konica Minolta that they really started to fly in the digital camera markets. They'd been producing decent cameras before then, but when workers from Konica Minolta moved over to Sony, the electronics company started migrating the technology too. What resulted was a strong line-up of DSLRs, beautifully crafted prosumer compacts and digital compacts stuffed with tech and high end glass.

Take a look at the new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300. It's a classically styled compact with sharp edges, scrolling ends and a huge flush screen on the back. Stuck on the front is a 20x optical zoom which is created from Sony G glass. The origins of this lens comes from Minolta. The Minolta G lenses had a reputation for excellent optics. The top plate features two microphones for stereo sound, a small power button that doesn't stick up out of the body so that it doesn't get mixed up with the shutter release that's located next to it. On the shoulder is a small dial for selecting programs and modes.

From the command dial on the top of the camera, to the jog wheel on the back and the command buttons that accompany it, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 has a raw simplicity in its design that's reminiscent of more niche cameras, such as Leica or Ricoh. It's like a message to say “we're not interested in how it looks, we're interested in how it performs”.

Front	Rear

It seems that they may have taken that statement seriously when you consider some of the technology they've stuffed into it. We've already mentioned the quality of the lens on the front of the camera. While you're taking the picture, it's burning onto the sensor which is an 18 megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor. After that, it's through the BIONZ processor and onto the memory card. So the key points of image transfer from the first lens element use the best tech that Sony have available to them. That bodes well for the performance test.

The more we look into the features of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300, it seems to be more of a picture taking machine than a toy. To use a comparison, it's like comparing a Peugeot to a BMW. The Peugeot will come fitted with lots of features to thrill you, such as automatic wipers and automatic lights  whereas a similarly priced BMW won't have these but will be much better built. It's designed to be driven. The WX300 is therefore comparably bereft of features. It does sport some interesting features such as wi-fi.

Wi-fi options are all over the place. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 has three menus available and there's a wi-fi option in each one. You can set up the camera to accept wi-fi signals by going into the Main menu and selecting the tab indicated by the globe icon. In the quick menu, you can use wi-fi to link to your smart phone which can then take pictures instead of touching the camera. It's good news for Instagrammers as it will obviate camera shake and those horrid arm length pictures.

Front	Top

Start up time from cold is great at just over two seconds. That's around half a second faster than the average digital compact camera. Great news for those impromptu golden photo moments. The advantage of using a dedicated processor is that it can handle more information and in the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 one thing it does is increase frame rate.

The WX300 doesn't have a continuous shooting mode, it has a burst mode. Select the multiple frame option after pressing left on the wheel and watch as it rattles off ten shots. Sony say is works at 10fps (frames per second) but we took those ten in just over a second. We even gave the camera free reign over being as fast as it wanted to be by using Program mode with auto ISO etc. Focusing seems fast enough although it's only marginally faster than other cameras when used in the real world.

The menu works in a two-tier stage. Pressing the button initially brings up a type of Quick menu that brings fast access to well used modes, such as resolution, ISO and white-balance. There's also an in-camera guide towards the bottom for if you get stuck on anything. The Main menu is located below the in-camera help and has an icon of a tool box.

Memory Card Slot	Battery Compartment

The Main menu is a lot more comprehensive than the Shoot menu that you have to go through to get here. It's split into five tabs for Shooting, Camera (Main), Network, Memory Card and Clock settings. You can either use the tabs to the left of the screen to flick through each section or simply scrolling down will enter each section as you get to it. It's easy enough to navigate around once you're in there with the only confusing area being the wi-fi settings page (Network) if you're unfamiliar with it all. The orangey yellow highlighter on the black background compliments nicely and doesn't offend the white font either.

Playback can be accessed regardless of whether the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 is on or off. Simply press the arrow button and the images you've taken will come onto the screen, with the most recent first. You can change the display details on show by pressing the up button (just like when shooting). The menu button will bring up a different quick menu, similar in appearance to the Shooting menu with the exception that it has options associated with playing back the pictures. For example, more wi-fi options are available to you here. You can send images to a smart phone and even view them on the phone before selecting which ones to transmit. You can also send to a tv or computer. Theoretically, you should be able to do this to any computer in the World, but there's nothing to say whether or not it's possible. Data is data, but it's a lot of data with a high resolution image. You can also edit pictures, but given that editing is usually done to excess, it would be best to save it for the computer.

In the box, you'll find an AC adapter for charging the lithium ion battery that's also included. A USB cable will attach the camera to a computer to download any pictures, and it's also the secondary cable to the AC adapter that plugs into the camera when charging. There's a full manual and a wrist strap to keep the camera safe when not shooting.

Image Quality

All pictures were taken at full resolution because there's no way of reducing the compression rating on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300. Images record at around 5Mb but can range from as low as 3.5Mb to as high as 7Mb, depending on the conditions.

Noise

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 has a sensitivity range of ISO 80 to ISO 12,800. That's a huge range and a really high setting for such a tiny sensor. The good news is that the it's a BSI sensor which will help with letting more light in. Sony are also pretty good at noise reduction, too so we may see something decent. With digital compact cameras, we never expect too much in terms of reducing noise, but with the WX300 going to such a high setting, it needs to be kept in mind just how small the sensor is when evaluating the results.

The lower settings are bound to be good and they are. ISO 80 has no sign of noise at all. Colours are precise and edge definition is sharp. ISO 100 is only around a third of a stop brighter, so doesn't make a difference to the performance of the noise, however, it will mean you can select ever so slightly higher shutter speeds.

The good news is that picture quality doesn't become undesirable until around ISO 3200 when viewed at a normal viewing distance. However, viewing at full magnification, we can see that image quality starts to drop at around ISO 400. That's where edge definition begins to get a bit hazy and colour noise can be seen in darker areas. ISO 800 sees a boost in image quality and if they all came out like this, we'd happily shoot at this setting. That's not always the case, though. ISO 3200 sees a severe drop in image quality with colour noise invading the mid tones, edges break down and artefacts litter the scene.

Primary colours get desaturated at ISO 6400 in a bid to reduce colour noise but image quality is far too low to retain a decent result. ISO 12,800 has succeeded in the way that it's produced an image and not a frame of noise. Writing is practically intelligible as edges break down and detail disintegrates. Still, for a small sensor, we expected a lot worse.

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)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The 20x optical zoom makes the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 the World's smallest digital compact camera with that size zoom. In 35mm terms, it stretches from a wide 25mm to a dizzying 500mm.

25mm	500mm

Sharpening

We found that if the pictures have any noise in at all, you're going to increase the appearance of it by adding any sharpening in post production.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

Chroma seems to have been compensated for very well. The quality of lens will be a strong factor to it, but it's likely there's also some correction software at work too. We thought we found some on the side of a tree, but we're unsure as it's a direct reflection of the background colour and could be just colour bleed. That in itself isn't a good thing, though.

Chromatic Aberrations 1 (100% Crop)	Chromatic Aberrations 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

The 5cm macro mode on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 is sufficient enough to get close in to subjects without getting barrel distortion. However, there's a distinct lack of image quality at the edges, especially noticeable at the bottom of the frame.

Macro	Macro (100% Crop)

Flash

There's no issue with vignetting with or without flash. The flash unit on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 is intelligent in the way that it complements and stabilises the ambient light. Red-eye also isn't a problem for the Sony.

Suppressed Flash - Wide Angle (25mm)	Forced Flash - Wide Angle (25mm)
Suppressed Flash - Telephoto (500mm)	Forced Flash - Telephoto (500mm)

And here are some portrait shots.

Forced Flash	Forced Flash (100% Crop)
Red-eye Reduction	Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

When shooting at night on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300, you can choose between hand-held or stabilised photography. Choosing hand-held will select a lower ISO to get a better picture quality and while it's smoother, the image is slightly under exposed. Using auto ISO, the Program mode selected ISO 800 as it has to assume you're holding the camera unaided.

Night Program	Night Program (100% Crop)
Night Scene	Night Scene (100% Crop)

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 camera, which were all taken using the 18 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

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Product Images

Front of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300

Front of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300 / Lens Extended

Side of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300

Side of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300

Rear of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300

Rear of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300 / Image Displayed

Rear of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300 / Turned On

Rear of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300 / Main Menu

Rear of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300 / Wi-fi Menu

Rear of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300 / Shooting Settings

Rear of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300 / Main Settings

Rear of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300 / Network Settings

Rear of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300

Rear of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300 / Clock Settings

Rear of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300 / In-Camera Guide

Top of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300

Bottom of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300

Side of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300

Side of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300

Front of the Sony CyberShot DSC-WX300

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 is a lovely camera to look at. It's slightly reminiscent of the new RX series that they've released and maybe that's what they set out to do. The build quality that's gone into the WX300 is great, such as the G lens, metal casing, lockable battery door, back-illuminated sensor and 20x optical zoom. The only thing its missing is a metal tripod bush and it's a real shame that they've not put one on. It would've been great to see one on there and really set the camera apart.

Image quality is very good in terms of sharpness, colour reproduction, low ISO performance and chroma. However, we're unsettled by the loss of quality at wide-angle. It would be nice in this case for the manufacturers to use common sense and fit a less wide lens to the camera. They know it needs to be done, as do you. But the wider public don't and it's them that Sony are trying to appeal to with the wider lens, because it matches other models in the same price range or more expensive.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 is a lovely camera to use. The user interface is intelligently laid out and the screen is nice and bright. Arguably, Sony could do with splitting the quick menu and the Main menu so it doesn't look like a sub-menu, but while it's awkward at first, you soon get used to it. However, it is a bit too extensive for a point and shooter.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 is a simple picture taking machine. We mentioned this earlier and we still hold strong to the belief. The lack of quirky (gimmicky?) picture effects and Instagram style filters show that Sony think much more of this camera than something to snare a trendy market. This is a camera for keen amateurs who want a slim, good looking compact with great features where it counts. Except the tripod bush. If you like taking photography seriously, but you don't want the hassle of deciding your shutter speed and aperture when you're on a day out, then the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 isn't a bad little camera.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4
Ease-of-use	3.5
Image quality	4
Value for money	4

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300.

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX300 from around the web.

Specifications

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