Pixiq

Right, today it's Sony's turn to unveil its shiny new compact cameras on the world. Thankfully they've taken a restrained approach, so rather than nineteen compacts, twelve bridge cameras, six rugged cameras, and a partridge in a pear tree, there are four new compacts and a new bloggie, as well as handful of camcorders.

Compacts kick off with the W-series of Cybershots. At the top of the tree, with the most toys, is the W-630. It has a 5× optical zoom Carl Zeiss lens, a 16 megapixel sensor, and optical steady shot, which provides image stabilisation for both stills and HD video-making. It also has a few in-camera effects, too, so that you can toy camera-ify or pop-art-up your photos.

The W-620 also has the in-camera effects, but doesn't have the optical steady shot for when you're making HD video, just image stabilisation for stills. It has a slightly smaller sensor, at 14 megapixels, and a 5× optical zoom. Both the W-630 and W-620 have intelligent auto, with 33 different scene modes, too.

Not quite so full of toys is the W-610, with 14 megapixels of resolution and 4× optical zoom. But, it - and the other two - does come with 360 degree Sweep Panorama: depress the shutter button and move the camera smoothly in a circle. It'll take a burst of images and stitch them together to create a panorama.

We mustn't forget the S5000, either, which is being billed as a perfect first camera. Fun, easy to use, and powered by AA batteries.

The Bloggie Sport looks like a lot of fun when it comes to making video in slightly sticky or dusty or damp or cold situations. It offers full HD recording, a 4GB internal memory that can store up to two hours of footage, a dual-record feature so that you can capture stills whilst making video, and the camera itself can be dropped, dunked, or exposed to dust, too.

Fancy one? Available from March this year.

More recent news...

1. Olympus unveils seven new compacts at CES (10 January 2012)
2. Fujifilm's delicious fusion of retro and new tech in its X-Pro1 (9 January 2012)
3. Bring out the Canons (9 January 2012)
4. Potential law suits left, right, and centre at Olympus (9 January 2012)
5. The weekly round-up (6 January 2012)

© Daniela Bowker. This article has been licensed for use on Pixiq only. Please do not reproduce wholly or in part without a licence.