Sony DSC-W100 Optics

Zoom
A typical 3x optical zoom range, with good performance.

The Sony DSC-W100 zooms over the equivalent of a 38-114mm range, an average zoom range for its class. Details are a hint soft at wide angle, with some slight coma distortion in the trees, as well as some corner softness. Still, results are pretty good overall. The 2x digital zoom takes it out to 6x total, and Sony's Precision Digital Zoom does a pretty good job of holding onto detail despite some loss of resolution.

Macro
A small macro area with good detail and high resolution, though slightly dim exposure. Flash coverage is uneven up close, partially blocked by the lens.

The Sony DSC-W100's macro setting performs well, capturing a small minimum area of 2.37 x 1.78 inches (60 x 45 millimeters). Detail and resolution are both good, though there's a fair amount of softening in the corners from the lens. (Most cameras have some softening in the corners in macro mode.) Exposure is a little dim, even with external lighting, with a significant shadow in the bottom of the frame. The flash almost throttles down enough, but coverage is uneven and there's a dark shadow at the bottom of the frame. (Plan on using external lighting for your closest macro shots with the DSC-W100.)

Distortion
High barrel distortion, though very low pincushion.

This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel--usually at wide angle) or inward (like a pincushion--usually at telephoto). The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W100's 0.9% barrel distortion at wide angle is a little high among the cameras I've tested, and fairly noticeable in its images. At the telephoto end, the DSC-W100's 0.01% pincushion is very low.

Chromatic aberration
High, especially on the left side, moderate effect on images at edges.

Chromatic aberration is rather high at wide angle, showing about 9+ pixels of bright coloration on either side of the target lines. The effect is lower at telephoto, however. I also noticed stronger distortion on the left side of the frame (about 16-17 pixels at wide angle), possibly due to some corner softness on that side. This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.

Corner Sharpness
Some softening in the left corners of the frame, strongest effect at telephoto.

The Sony DSC-W100 produced soft corners in a few shots, with the most visible effect in the left corners at both wide angle and telephoto. Results were the strongest at full telephoto however, in the lower left corner.

Coverage
A tight optical viewfinder, with very good accuracy from the LCD monitor.

The DSC-W100's optical viewfinder was quite tight, showing only about 81% frame accuracy at wide angle, and about 83% at telephoto. However, the LCD monitor showed close to about 100 percent frame accuracy, and was actually a little "loose" at wide angle, showing about 102% frame accuracy.