01.01
| 16.20 Megapixels | 5.00x zoom | 3.0 inch LCD |
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Pros: 25-125mm zoom range; iSweep Panorama; 3D capture modes; Full HD movie modes; Fast autofocus.
Cons: Slow operation in certain modes; Poor print quality; Soft corners; Lens is blurry all across the bottom of the frame.
Price and Availability: The Sony WX9 digital camera began shipping in the US market from March 2011. Initially priced at US$219.99, Sony has since dropped the price to US$199.99. Available body colors include black, silver, and red.
Sony Cyber-shot WX9 Overview
by Alex Burack, Zig Weidelich, Shawn Barnett, and Stephanie BoozerReview Posted: 09/16/2011
Sony has long made small, attractive point-and-shoot cameras. The Cyber-shot line has produced a number of high-performance models, though their often high pricetags have put them out of contention for bargain hunters. The WX9 seems to pack value into its $200 price point, integrating the line's impressive snapshot features, a dense 16.2-megapixel sensor, full HD 1080/60i video, and large 3.0-inch LCD screen.
Sony Cyber-shot WX9 User Report
Look and feel. Aesthetics have always been an asset of the Cyber-shot line, and the Sony WX9 is no exception. The slight frame weighs in at under five ounces and is offered in multiple colors: Black, Silver, and Red. The strawberry-red WX9 is the most attractive option, while the brushed black frame assumes a sleeker, more covert presence.
Extending just 3.72 x 2.22 x 0.78 inches (94.6 x 56.3 x 19.8mm), the Cyber-shot WX9 is essentially a thin rectangle with rounded corners. The camera is tall enough to sport a large 3.0-inch LCD screen, but slim enough to easily slide into a pocket.
There are minimal buttons on the Sony WX9's exterior, with the majority of controls grouped into a vertical cluster along the right portion of the back of the camera, accessible by your thumb in shooting position.
Above the rear dial are the Mode switch and Movie Record button. Below the dial are buttons for Menu, Help/Delete, and Playback.
LCD. Like most contemporary point-and-shoot digital cameras, the Sony WX9 opts for a larger LCD screen and omits an optical viewfinder. The 3.0-inch screen has a whopping 921,600-dots, rare for a low-priced pocket camera, and is viewable from a wide angle. There is also a five-step control to brighten or dim the screen to accommodate glare or difficult viewing conditions.
In use, the Sony WX9's screen supplies adequate contrast and a wide view. The LCD's color reproduction is a bit oversaturated – particularly warmer colors – making both the viewfinder and captured image appear more saturated than the actual captured file, particularly anything with a hint of red or brown will become vibrantly red.
The screen resolution is one of the more impressive elements of the Sony WX9, though the level of detail the monitor displays shows some of the image quality flaws (for better or worse). Softness in the corner of the images is a major drawback to the WX9's recorded images, a defect that is noticeable in Playback if you zoom in on image details near the edges of the frame. This allows you to check and determine how soft particular objects may appear in the printed image; however, there is no correction for it.
The design of the Sony WX9's lens is better than the results it produces. The collapsing 5x zoom is effectively stabilized by Sony's proprietary Optical SteadyShot image stabilization system, and is a bit faster (brighter) than most lenses on point-and-shoot cameras at full wide angle, opening up to a large max aperture of f/2.6. The large aperture helps to produce images with less visual noise in low light conditions when shooting at full wide angle.
Lens speed, however, slows significantly across the 5x zoom range, closing to a max aperture of f/6.3 in full telephoto. This means it's likely that low-light images shot at full zoom will be noisier and less defined than photos captured at wide angle.
Ultimately, the configuration of the Sony WX9's Zeiss lens holds promise, though its output falls significantly far short of expectations.
"Bokeh." The Sony WX9 automatically replicates shallow depth-of-field when set to its Background Defocus setting.
Little manual control is given to the user over specific exposure settings, but there are many special modes for different subjects, and helper modes designed to achieve specific goals. For instance, Sony includes a background defocus setting that blurs the background, mimicking a shot with a large aperture. Since there are no aperture blades on the Sony WX9 (nor on many pocket cameras), the camera uses a unique trick, focusing on the foreground and background, then capturing and combining two images, one in-focus, the other out, and the camera makes an educated guess which is the foreground object and which the background, essentially cutting out the foreground and laying in the blurred background image for that "SLR-like" effect. The effect is not always that perfect, especially with unusual objects like the teapot. The bottom half of the teapot's handle at left is blurry, as are parts of the desk, while other nearby elements are still sharp.
3D stills. Using a sweeping motion, you can capture 3D stills with the WX9. The above shot is obviously not 3D, but with a 3D television, you can load this MPO file and presumably see a 3D image on your 3D TV.
Backlight Correction HDR – Shooting dark subjects in front of a bright background is one of the most difficult shooting situations for photographers. Typically, you would attempt to solve this issue in the field by switching to “Spot” metering and exposing for the foreground subject. This tactic will ensure that your subject is properly exposed, however, it nonetheless comes at the expense of the background (which is typically washed-out). Sony takes an advanced approach to this within the WX9, instantly snapping three consecutive images at bracketed exposures and combining them into a single file. The camera takes the highlights, shadows, and mid-tones from each frame and fuses them into a single, tone-optimized image. The result is a proper exposure for both the subject and background.
iSweep Panorama – Shooting panoramic images with current Cyber-shot cameras is effortless. You merely have to switch into the iSweep Panorama shooting mode, hold down the shutter button and pan the camera horizontally. The integration and interface are smooth and astonishingly effective.
In Wide mode, iSweep Panorama grabs a decent 180-degree picture: the roads left and right are a straight line.
The panoramic setting is easily one of the WX9's best features, and in my opinion, the interface should become the standard for in-camera panoramas across all digicams. The iSweep Panorama mode differs from Sony's Sweep Panorama modes, in that the camera detects moving objects and tries to prevent clipping of these objects in a scene, as often happens in the less sophisticated version. 
The same scene captured with iSweep in vertical mode, which captures more of the buildings and foreground.
Though the WX9 doesn't offer a High Resolution sweep mode, it does offer 3D Sweep Panorama and 3D Sweep Multi Angle. Multi-angle is particularly unique, creating a 3D image that you can view on the back of the camera by tilting the camera horizontally as you look at the LCD.
Finally the 3D panorama is only truly viewable on a 3D TV. Download the MPO file: YDSC00336.MPO
It should be noted, however, that the very process of merging exposures in this fashion decreases the total contrast in the image and may not appear to have quite the same visual “pop” of images shot with the camera's native tonal range.10fps shooting – Consistent with other models in Sony's Cyber-shot line, the WX9 includes a remarkably fast, 10 frames per second (fps) shooting mode. You can capture up to 10 full-resolution images in a single burst sequence, a feat that also had been previously relegated to DSLR shooting. Viewing high-speed burst sequences in the camera's Playback mode, you can review the photos as single, high-resolution files, or you can hit the selection button and view the 10 shots as an active composite which you can move through by tilting the camera left and right, as you do to view a 3D Multi-angle image.
The real value of the feature is being able to capture a 10-shot sequence in full resolution. Previously, point-and-shoot cameras were basically useless for action shots due to the slow shot-to-shot speed and drawn-out shutter lag. The WX9's burst mode and its mechanics overcome these issues and make high-speed shooting possible in a pocket camera.
The slim camera is powered by a 3.6v lithium-ion battery (model NP-BN1), which purportedly captures 210 shots per charge. In my experience with the camera, I found it easily endured for over 200 images or so, though it still falls short of what I would expect. The battery charges inside the Sony WX9 via the included USB charging cable. An AC to USB power adapter brick is included.
Connectivity. A USB 2.0 port is provided via Sony's propriety multi-use terminal (Type 3b) at the bottom of the camera. A/V and Component HD video is available with an optional cable. The WX9 includes a mini HDMI port and works with CEC, which allows control of the camera via a television remote control.
Shooting with the Sony WX9
Autofocus speed is impressive for a point-and-shoot, though it's not as accurate as we'd like to see. It shoots consecutive images every 1.93 seconds, which is fairly pedestrian, and the full display takes about two seconds to become available on power-up.
Buttons are a little small, particularly the Menu, Playback, and Movie Record buttons. The Menu button is a little too close to the rear dial, making it difficult to press without activating the Self-timer mode instead (the bottom button on the rear dial).
As we mentioned, shooting in Superior Auto for just a few minutes was enough to make us turn it off and switch back to Program mode. Thank goodness that's there, or the Sony WX9 would be more too cumbersome to use. It's a pity, because the Superior Auto mode offers automated access to some of the WX9's more useful modes, like Anti-Motion Blur and Handheld Twilight. It can be a little surprising when you go to take one shot and the camera fires off three times, but the improved results are hard to dismiss. Perhaps Sony should have reserved this mode for a camera with a little more processing horsepower.
Wide and Tele. Ranging from 25-125mm eq., the WX9's lens covers a good range for basic snapshooting; unfortunately, the images are softer than they should be.
Optical performance from the WX9's 25-125mm zoom lens, particularly at wide angle, is unspectacular. Corners are soft at 25mm, with considerable blurring on the right edges of the frame. Print quality shows inconsistent focus and blurring along the bottom and edges of the frame. In telephoto images, the center of the composition also gets somewhat softer than at wide angle.
Movies. Recording movies with the Sony WX9 is pretty easy, and there are many modes to choose from. AVCHD recording is the default format, and several recording qualities are available. FX records AVCHD 1080i at 24Mbps, FH records at 17Mbps, and HQ records at 9Mbps. In MP4 mode, you can 1080p at 12Mbps, 720p at 6Mbps, and VGA at 3Mbps.
Movies. You can shoot in AVCHD or MP4 modes, and zoom while you do. Unfortunately, the zoom makes a little squeaky noise as it starts. Click on the image for a 17.3MB 1080p30 MP4 file, or click here for a 31.5MB 1080i60 AVCHD file.
The Sony WX9's image quality falls significantly short of expectation, even when compared to other models in the Cyber-shot line. The substandard picture quality delivered by the WX9 dramatically offsets the value created by its pleasing design, feature set, and price. We think it would serve the casual snapshooter fairly well nonetheless, but we'd recommend something else for the discerning shooter.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9 Lens Quality
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| Wide: Sharp at center | Wide: Quite soft at upper left | Tele: Soft at center | Tele: Very soft, upper right |
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| Wide: Moderate barrel distortion; noticeable but slight |
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| Tele: A tiny amount of pincushion distortion, barely visible |
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| Wide: Bright | Tele: Low |
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| Macro | Macro with Flash |
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9 Viewfinder Accuracy
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| Wide: LCD Monitor | Tele: LCD Monitor |
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9 Image Quality
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| Auto WB: Red cast | Incandescent WB: Too warm |
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| Manual WB: Very good, but a hint cool | |
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| Horizontal: 2,100 lines | Vertical: 2,000 lines |
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| Wide: Inconclusive | Tele: Dim |
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| Auto Flash |
Auto flash produced almost overly bright results in our indoor portrait scene, retaining a small amount of the ambient light by using a slower shutter speed of 1/40 second, and raising ISO to 500. At this shutter speed, subject motion blur could be an issue, but the WX9's image stabilization should help avoid blur due to camera motion. Shot taken at ~5 feet (~1.5m) on a stable tripod.
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| 100 | 200 | 400 | 800 | 1,600 | 3,200 |
Print Quality: Print quality is where a lot of cameras with questionable onscreen image quality are vindicated; unfortunately, that's not the case with the Sony WX9, whose optical quality steps in to do a little extra damage.
ISO 100 images have enough detail that they would be usable at 13x19, but the entire bottom of the image is out of focus due to a problem with the lens. This doesn't become acceptable until 8x10 and 5x7. The overall image looks better at 11x14. (We requested a second unit from the company, and the result was the same.)
ISO 200 images are usable at 11x14, but better at 8x10, though the bottom still looks pretty blurry.
ISO 400 looks good at 8x10.
ISO 800 looks good at 8x10.
ISO 1,600 usable at 8x10, but better at 5x7.
ISO 3,200 usable at 5x7, strong blurring in solid colors.
The printed results show that without the lens problem, the Sony WX9 would be a decent pocket digital camera for the price; however, the lens problem itself will render the bottom of horizontal images quite soft most of the time.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9 Performance
Startup Time: The Sony WX9 takes about 2.2 seconds to power on and take a shot. That's not bad for its class.
Shutter Lag: Full autofocus shutter lag is very good, at 0.25 second at wide angle and 0.39 second at full telephoto. Prefocused shutter lag is 0.014 second, incredibly fast.
Cycle Time: Cycle time is on the slower side, capturing a frame every 1.93 seconds in single-shot mode. However, High-Speed Burst mode captures up to 10 frames at 10 frames per second, which is much faster than average.
Flash Recycle: The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9's flash recycles in about 7.6 seconds after a full-power discharge, on the slow side of average.
Low Light AF: The camera's AF system was only able to focus down to the 1/4 foot-candle light level without AF assist enabled, though the camera was able to focus in complete darkness with the AF assist lamp enabled.
USB Transfer Speed: Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9's download speeds are moderately fast. We measured 6,528 KBytes/sec.
source: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/WX9/WX9A.HTM
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