"Sunlit" Portrait:
(This is my new "Outdoor" Portrait test - read more about it here.)

High resolution and strong detail, though warm color balance. Contrast is high, with limited detail in the highlights, and dark midtones.

• Exposure compensation: +0.3 EV, less than average.
• Contrast/Tone: High, some highlight detail lost, despite dark midtones.
• White Balance: Auto is best, though slightly warm toned. Daylight is just slightly warmer.
• Color accuracy: Warm and slightly dark overall, though all the colors actually look quite accurate.
• Skin tones: A little on the warm side, but still pretty good.
• Resolution/sharpness: Excellent resolution, where the camera is focusing, but it appears to have focused on the bouquet, rather than Marti's face. Consequently, detail in the bouquet is excellent, but her face and hair is quite soft.
• Shadow detail: Very good, fairly low noise

To view the entire exposure series from zero to +1.0 EV, see files W7OUTAP0.HTM through W7OUTAP3.HTM on the thumbnail index page.

Excellent resolution and detail, but again, high contrast.

• Exposure compensation: +0.3 EV, a bit less than average.
• Exposure/Tone: High contrast results in somewhat harsh skin tones. Dark midtones and limited highlight and shadow detail.
• Detail: Excellent again, with strong detail, though some areas are slightly soft.
• Distortion: Good, 3x zoom lens avoids distortion close-up.

To view the entire exposure series from zero to +1.0 EV, see files W7OUTFACAP0.HTM through W7OUTFACAP3.HTM on the thumbnail index page.

Normal Flash High Intensity

Slow-Sync Flash High Intensity

Underexposure with the flash at the normal setting, but the flash exposure control worked pretty well. Noticeable warm color cast, though.

• Exposure: Very dark at Normal Intensity, but the High helped somewhat. Slow-Sync mode is slightly better, with more even lighting and a brighter exposure even at the Normal Intensity. (High setting is still best, Low somewhat dark.)
• Flash balance with room lighting?: Good - Flash appears to match color of room lighting quite well, there are no bluish highlights.
• Color: Somewhat dark and warm, with pink skin tones.
  

 Normal Flash Mode:

Normal Flash Mode
Low	Normal	High

Slow-Sync Flash Mode:

Slow-Sync Flash Mode
Low	Normal	High

Auto White Balance

Incandescent White Balance

Slightly warm color with the Incandescent white balance, about average exposure compensation required.

• Exposure: +1.0 EV adjustment needed, about average.
• White Balance: Incandescent best, but still somewhat reddish and warmer than I'd personally prefer. Auto setting rather warm.
• Color: Skin tones are pink, blue flowers very dark, reds somewhat magenta. Overall color is somewhat reddish and dark.

 To view the entire exposure series from zero to +1.3 EV, see files W7INTP0.HTM through W7INTP4.HTM on the thumbnail index page.

ISO Series:
Some noise was present in the Sony W7's images, even at ISO 100. It was fairly fine-grained, but the camera was also apparently trading away some of the more subtle subject detail to hold the noise in check. At ISOs 200 and 400, noise levels increased, and further softened details. ISO 400 shots printed at 8x10 inches looked soft and somewhat noisy, but prints at 5x7 were acceptable, ones at 4x6 were just fine.

Auto White Balance

Daylight White Balance

Accurate color, with high resolution and strong detail. A fair bit of blurring in the corners though.

• Sharpness/Detail: Strong detail and high resolution.
• Sharpness in Corners: Fairly severe softening in corners, but it doesn't extend too far into the frame.
• Color: Auto white balance good, though a hint cool, Daylight just slightly warm.
• Detail lost to anti-noise processing?: Noticeable in brick patterns, and in loss of fine detail in grass texture.
  

High resolution and strong detail, good dynamic range.

This image is shot at infinity to test far-field lens performance, and to present a near-infinite range of detail to the camera. NOTE that this image cannot be directly compared to the other "house" shot, which is a poster, shot in the studio.

• Sharpness/Detail: Good, a lot of fine detail (great definition in the cherry tree foliage on the right). Slight softness to the image, it benefits from strong/tight unsharp masking in Photoshop(tm).
• Sharpness in Corners: Slight softening in all four corners, but no more than average.
• Color: Very good.
• Dynamic Range: Good, fairly good detail in both highlights and shadows.
• Detail lost to anti-noise processing?: Only in the darkest shadows. (Most noticeable in the shadowed tree foliage on the right side of the frame.)
  
  

Resolution Series:

ISO Series:

Sharpness Series:
A good range of adjustment for the sharpness control. Low setting produces images that take unsharp masking in Photoshop very well.

Contrast Series:
The contrast adjustment on the W7 helps somewhat with harsh lighting like this, but I'd like to see more steps, extending further in the low-contrast direction.

Contrast Series
Low	Normal	High

Saturation Series:
A good range of adjustment on the saturation control.

Saturation Series
Low	Normal	High

Color Series:

Color Series
Normal	Black & White	Sepia

Lens Zoom Range

A typical 3x zoom range, biased slightly towards the telephoto end of the scale.

The W7's focal length range of 38-114mm equivalents is about typical of most point & shoot digital cameras, although it leans slightly more towards the telephoto end than do the 35-105mm lenses found on many digital cameras. This focal length range corresponds to a modest wide angle to a modest telephoto.

	Wide Angle
	3x Telephoto
	Digital Telephoto

Auto White Balance

Daylight White Balance

Pretty good color with the Auto white balance. High resolution and strong detail.

• White Balance: Daylight white balance was slightly warm, Auto looked most natural to my eyes.
• Color: Pretty good skin tones. Some purple tints on the blue robe and background, but overall color is very good.
• Sharpness/Detail: Very high, with strong detail. (Close to the limits of the poster though.)

Standard Macro Shot

Macro with Flash

A small macro area with great detail. Flash has trouble up close though.

• Minimum Macro Area: 2.42 x 1.82 inches (62 x 46 millimeters), about average.
• Softness in corners?: Fairly strong blurring. (Most cameras get fairly soft corners in macro mode, the W7 is a little on the high side, but not too far from average in this regard.)
• Flash performance in macro mode?: Too bright, due to the close shooting distance.
  

Auto White Balance

Daylight White Balance

Good overall exposure and color.

• White balance: Auto setting produced best results (though slightly warm), Daylight was a little yellowish.
• Color Accuracy: Bright reds and greens are somewhat oversaturated, but other colors are unusually accurate.
• Shadow detail and noise: Moderate detail in the briquettes, low noise.
  

The images series below duplicate examples of various camera controls we've already covered above. I include them here though, for our more analytically-minded readers, who'd like to see the effect of various camera controls with a well-known target like the MacBeth Color Checker (tm).

ISO Series:

Contrast Series
Low	Normal	High

Saturation Series:

Saturation Series
Low	Normal	High

Color Series:

Color Series
Normal	Black & White	Sepia

Low-Light Tests

Excellent low-light performance, good low-light focusing ability. The camera should do very well for typical shots under city night lighting.

• Exposure limit: 1/16 foot-candle at all three ISO settings. (About 1/16 as bright as typical city street lighting at night.)
• Autofocus Limit: About 1/4 foot-candle with AF assist light turned off, total darkness with it on.
• White Balance: Slightly pink in the darker exposures, but good overall.
• Noise Levels: Fairly low, higher at lower light levels.
• Detail loss to anti-noise processing?: Minimal at one foot-candle, but more visible at the 1/16 foot-candle light level.
• General Notes: The DSC-W7 is an excellent low-light shooter, with very good low-light focusing ability, excellent exposure capability, and good-looking images even at the lowest light levels we test for.
  
  

(Note: If you'd like to use a light meter to check light levels for subjects you might be interested in shooting, a light level of one foot-candle corresponds to a normal exposure of two seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 100.)

	1 fc 11 lux	1/2 fc 5.5 lux	1/4 fc 2.7 lux	1/8 fc 1.3 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux
ISO 100	2 sec f2.8	4 sec f2.8	10 sec f2.8	20 sec f2.8	30 sec f2.8
ISO 200	1 sec f2.8	2 sec f2.8	5 sec f2.8	10 sec f2.8	20 sec f2.8
ISO 400	1/2 sec f2.8	1 sec f2.8	2.5 sec f2.8	5 sec f2.8	10 sec f2.8

Flash Range Test

A weak flash, with dim results even at eight feet, when the lens is at its telephoto setting.

• Flash range at telephoto lens setting: Barely eight feet.

8 ft	9 ft	10 ft	11 ft	12 ft	13 ft	14 ft
1/50 sec f5.2 ISO 100	1/50 sec f5.2 ISO 100	1/50 sec f5.2 ISO 100	1/50 sec f5.2 ISO 100	1/50 sec f5.2 ISO 100	1/50 sec f5.2 ISO 100	1/50 sec f5.2 ISO 100

ISO-12233 (WG-18) Resolution Test

High resolution, 1,550 lines of "strong detail." Average barrel distortion at wide angle, almost no distortion at telephoto. Some chromatic aberration at wide angle, some blurring in the corners.

• Resolution: 1,550 lines both vertically and horizontally.
• Artifacts begin at: ~1,300 lines.
• Extinction point: ~1,800 lines.
  
  
• Barrel/Pincushion distortion: 0.8 percent barrel at wide angle, 0.07 percent pincushion at telephoto (about two pixels).
• Chromatic Aberration: Moderately high at wide angle, less at telephoto.
• Corner Sharpness: Slight softness at both wide and telephoto in the res chart, more in some of the other test shots though..

Resolution Series, medium focal length

Wide Angle	"Fine" JPEG	"Normal" JPEG
3,072 x 2,304	W7RES3072F	W7RES3072N
2,592 x 1,944	W7RES2592	-
2,048 x 1,536	W7RES2048	-
1,280 x 960	W7RES1280	-
640 x 480	W7RES0640	-

 Resolution Test, Zoom Series

Sharpness Series: