Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W90 April 26th, 2007 | by David Elrich
Full Review
Features and Design
Forget the sleek, stylish Sony T series when perusing the 8.1MP DSC-W90. It looks like just about every other point-and-shoot digicam on the market with its silver, mostly metal, Altoids-tin sized body. There are a few accents that give it a little bit of panache, but a design masterpiece it isn’t. If you want to be a little different, the camera is available in black. Still, your fashion-forward friends won’t chuckle when you take their photos. After all, it is a Sony, not some funky brand like Vivitar or Polaroid.
The DSC-W90 measures 3.6 x 2.3 x .87 (WHD, in inches) and weighs 5.2 ounces, including battery and Memory Stick Duo card. It’s easy to slip this one in your pocket, and as the old saying goes, your best camera is the one you have with you.
The front is brushed silver, and its key feature is an f/2.8 3x Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar optical zoom with the common point-and-shoot focal length (35 – 105mm in 35mm terms). The lens extends when you power up and safely retreats when you power down behind a built-in lens cover. You’ll also find the flash, AF Assist lamp, and a peep hole for the viewfinder. There are a couple of embossed logos, but nothing too obnoxious.
The top has the shutter, mic, and power button (another one that requires trimmed nails to make it work).
The rear is dominated by the 2.5-inch LCD screen, rated a so-so 115K pixels. If you’re wondering how Sony is able to sell an 8.1 MP camera with OIS for less than $300, this is a key reason, since it’s more expensive models feature Clear Photo LCD Plus screens with 230K pixels. Still, this LCD is better than competing models, with little lag or blur as you’re moving to a new scene or subject. If the screen gets hit with direct sunlight it wipes out, but you can use the tiny — and I mean tiny — optical viewfinder. At least it’s something to help bail you out.
The rest of the rear main controls are those you’ll find on the majority of point-and-shoot digicams. There’s a mode dial to set the camera’s main parameters such as Auto, ISO (up to 3200), Program, six common scene modes, and movie mode (rated 640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second). Sony has updated the onscreen menu systems, so they’re very easy to follow and offer brief descriptions of the setting you pick.
Other controls include a wide/tele toggle switch, playback, menu, home, and a four-way controller with set button. The controller lets you quickly move into macro and adjust the flash and self-timer as well as the display. Hit the last control and it brightens the LCD screen, clears icons from the screen, displays the histogram, or turns it off to save power while you try to peer through the viewfinder located on the top left. The right side has the compartment for the battery and Memory Stick Duo card.
On the bottom are a tripod mount and the connection for Sony’s hydra-headed controller that’s similar to the DSC-T100. As with that camera, I have to complain that although Sony touts the fact that the DSC–W90 lets you view HD-quality pictures on your TV, you need to purchase an optional cable or dock. This knocked a few fractions from the total rating of this camera as well. Bummer.
The DSC-W90 comes with the basics (sans memory card and HD cable). Although the camera has 31MB of internal memory, budget another $25 for a 512 MB card. You’ll get the camera, wrist strap, battery/charger, hydra-headed cable, and software CD-ROM in the box. We let the battery charge overnight (it’s rated 350 shots), waited around a week for the sun to come out, and started taking some photos. 
Image Courtesy of Sony
by Robert Lang on November 8, 2009:
“I am a Sony product believer. But the DSC-W90 camera has always taken blurred and blotchy pictures. I usually take several pictures until one would come out good. Recently I was at a graduation where the pictures were one shot. No pictures with motion...” More...