Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W530 14.1 MP Digital Still Camera with Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 4x Wide-Angle Optical Zoom Lens and 2.7-inch LCD (Silver) (OLD MODEL)

I haven't bought a new camera for myself in years, so I did a lot of research before buying this one. Actually, I did too much research and wound up confused. I finally just broke down and ordered this one because it seemed like a good deal. I'm really glad I bought it. It takes great pictures and it's easy to use. I don't like to spend a lot of time figuring out technology, and the menu on this camera makes things really easy to figure out. I haven't even looked at the owner's manual since I got the camera. The panoramic feature is awesome: just set it on panoramic, hold the button down, and scan the scene from left to right. The only thing I wish this camera had was a lower MP setting. It takes pictures in four settings: VGA, 5 MP, 10 MP, and 14 MP. The 10 and 14 are very detailed and ideal for blowing up into large prints. Even the 5 MP looks good in a large size. The VGA setting is pretty poor quality, not even worthy of viewing on your computer or sending to someone via email. The solution to this is the 5 MP setting, which produces a great quality picture but is also a very large-sized file, so you can't send many pics at once. It would be great if this camera had a 2 or 3 MP setting. Not a huge deal, though. UPDATE 3/31/13: This camera still works great. The battery still holds a charge just fine (knock on wood.) I have no regrets about this purchase.

I just love this camera. I bought a really great Sony Cybershot in 2009 but it was stolen in February 2011. I wanted to replace it for a trip to Ireland over the summer, but I did not want to a buy the same top of the line model. I went with this one and I am so glad I did. First of all, the price is really unbeatable. The number of megapixels you can get for just over $100 is incredible. I took this camera with me to Ireland for three months. It was fantastic because the battery life would last for an entire weekend filled with hiking and loads of picture taking. There is no bulky dock either, I like that I only needed a USB cord. This camera does require that battery charging be done on a wall unit. This is not ideal for a trip to Europe, but I experienced no problems when using a voltage converter, it never got too hot or lessened the battery life. If you are looking for something that won't break the bank but is really quality, I think this is a great option. I like the blue because I thought the black one looked dated. It is pretty bright, if you are conservative go with silver or black. It is really really blue. Update: About a year later, this product is still a great value. Of course, I don't think a new generation has been released, but it is gratifying that I can walk into a Target and not see a camera by the same make that is twice as good for the same price. Image quality is good for the price and with a little editing some of my photos from Ireland are print and frame quality. I also like that the item comes with a cord instead of a dock + cord like some of the other Cybershots. This is ideal for traveling, it packs up much lighter and you can import photos without a hard, flat surface (say from your bed in a hostel). The dock on my old Cybershot was unnecessary.

I wanted a portable camera for travel and this one does it's job. The camera quality is good unless you want to zoom in or take a video. Pictures are good in low light with flash.

I don't normally write reviews. This camera is horrible! I had another Sony cyber-shot and loved it, and although a few other people complained of blurry pics, many people seemed to love this camera so I gave it a shot. At first I did love it, took great pictures. After 2 months of use my husband and I can't get it to work. Of course this is a couple weeks before we are about to have our baby, and right before Christmas so we can't take descent pics of our 5 yr old on Christmas or of our new baby!! What is even more infuriating is that it stopped working right after Amazon would replace it. Now they say I can return it for 50% of what I paid!!! Unbelievable. This is NOT a good purchase.

You can't beat the quality for the price! I have another camera that I paid the same amount of money for and it doesn't compare. The quality is crisp and clear! The camera is light and easy to carry around. Ok, I am now updating my review. The camera held up great for about 3 years. I really liked the quality of the pictures, I only had a problem with taking pictures in dark settings at times, or in places where lights were flashing. I took thousands and thousands of photos and a few videos, and took this little camera with me on many trips, including plenty of trips to beaches, in places with extremely hot weather as well as very frigid weather. I got sand all over this camera plenty of times, and someone even broke the bottom part where you insert the battery. I still used it that way and it worked fine for a while. You do have to get the hang of it as far being able to let the camera focus in order to take a clear picture. When other people took pictures, they usually came out blurry because the camera does take a second or two to focus sometimes. I am now shopping for a new camera, because this one gave out on me, but I am not upset, I am surprised it lasted as long as it did after all I put the camera through! It started to switch settings on me, going to panoramic mode whenever I wanted to snap a quick picture. Overall I am very pleased with the camera.

Actually, this camera takes fabulous pictures. If you can point and shoot without shaking excessively, this is the camera for you. The picture quality comes out amazing, and the auto-detecting features of the camera are very helpful as well. Things might show up a little grainy on the LCD screen in less-than-optimal lighting but once you get it onto the computer that's where you see just how great the picture quality of this camera is. I was taking pictures with my cousin the other day and he even compared it to SLR quality pictures! Some may think that 14.1 MP is a little excessive - it is. Correct me if I'm wrong, because I heard this from a friend, but theoretically the human eye can only see the difference up to 12 MP for regular sized photos. Higher MP also takes up more space on your memory card, so if you're the type of person who never deletes pictures make sure to get a bigger SDHC card. I personally prefer the best quality pictures, whether or not my eyes can detect the difference, so I went for the highest MP on the market. It is a lot smaller than I imagined it to be. It's totally pocket-sized and very easy to carry around. Unfortunately, aside from fantastic pictures, cool features, and the cute size, this camera is lacking everywhere else. When I first picked it up I was surprised at the cheap quality of the plastic that covered it. Of course, this makes it very light and also adds to the portability of this little camera. But I'm also very afraid of dropping this thing because I'd expect it to break into pieces in its first fall. If you know you are prone to dropping things, this might not be the camera for you. Of course, this problem can be fixed by using the wrist strap provided in the packaging, and/or spending an additional $5-$10 on a camera case. But I still have to reiterate that this camera's exterior is really not made very well. The door for the AV cord (the cord that connects the camera to the computer via USB) wiggles like a loose tooth and I wouldn't be surprised if it broke off altogether within the next year. I wouldn't recommend this camera for children under 13. I agree with the other reviewers that the shutter speed for this camera is indeed, horrifyingly slow. I don't think this is the type of cameras to take to sports games or other places where there is a lot of movement and fidgeting involved. This may be the first camera I can call my own, but I know for a fact that compared to other cameras, this one very nearly crosses the line for being unreasonably slow. For my own purposes though, as a female college student who's not very interested in sports and doesn't have kids running around, I can look past this slight negative aspect. I haven't had the chance to use this camera all that much for an event or anything. So far I've only used it to test the quality of pictures, so as of now I can't really say anything about the battery life. But I don't think its that bad, really. Battery life is always something that everything can improve on. Overall, for the price of only a little over $100, you have to admit: this camera takes wonderful pictures. And I think the outstanding quality of photos this camera produces makes up for all its flaws. I am very happy about this purchase, but honestly, if something were to happen to this camera and I needed to replace it, I would go for a different model.

This camera is a good item for you to carry to parties, trips and to take some casual pictures. Of course, you cant compare it with a professional digital camera. But, I must say that the quality of the pictures that it takes, is great. Now, it doesnt has lots of features, but that ones that it has are excellent. The face detection is very accurate. It detects faces quickly and the other features related to this one, are triggered very well. The smile detection is excelent, you can set it and it actually takes shots only if people smile. You can take your own pic with this feature, its pretty comfortable to take self-portraits with this, the same thing goes for the timer activated with the face detection. Something that I like a lot is that you can take pictures while moving or with the subject moving, and the picture will not get blury. And it also selects automatically the best scene to take the picture. In dark scenes, this camera performes very very well. You can take pictures with low light, and still get a very nice quality of picture. Now, one thing that is really nice, is that its very easy to use. These automatic features let you grab the camera and take shots without worrying about anything else. The battery life, at least for me, is pretty good. You can take lots of pics and record videos without worrying about yur battery life. Of course, dont expect to charge it only once a week. But you can be sure that it will last for the whole night or day or trip if you give it the proper charge. And well its very small and the color is very beatiful. It actually fits inside my pants pockets. Well, this camera is a good item to have. If you want a camera for having fun like me, take pictures in parties, trips or funny moments this is a really good choice. I hope this review helps you.

Bought this camera for my husband for Christmas. He is a point-and-shoot kinda guy and this camera is perfect for his type of use. It is light and easy to use. Small enough to carry (found a great beltloop carrying case) and the large viewing screen is perfect for those of us who wear bifocals and can't squint or get too close to the screen to see. My husband especially likes the way the camera locks in on subjects in the photo so they are captured clearly. The price was excellent - who needs those high dollar cameras for just preserving day to day life?!