Sony W290

Sony W290 is Sony's Small Sensor Compact camera first released on February of 2009. The camera comes with a 12MP, CCD 1/2.3" size sensor with a max resolution of 4000 x 3000.

The W290 is placed #168 out of 261 in Small Sensor Compact cameras & over-all #1095 out of 1465 for digital cameras in our list. You should try out our Smart camera filter to find camera rankings based on your personalized criteria.

The following is a diagram of multiple factors used in the rating system.

The Sony W290 is part of a family of products. You can read the complete list below.

You can look at the W290 from different angles in the gallery underneath.

Here is a collection of upsides and downsides of the Sony W290 based on aspects that are typically considered necessary in a camera.

The specification of the sensor in the Sony W290 is 6.17mm x 4.55mm (1/2.3"). The 28 mm² sensor can capture 4000 x 3000 pixels using aspect ratios of 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. The camera has Image Stabilization (Optical). Optical stabilization is more effective than digital stabilization as the latter might lead to cropping.

Photography Glossary

The CCD sensor has 12MP and gives a native ISO range of 80 - 3200. Sadly, RAW files are not saved which means that you have less margin for error.

The picture below illustrates the W290's sensor size compared to other common sizes. The W290 sensor has a crop factor of 5.8 and is pointed out in green.

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To get a sense of different aspect ratios, you can refer to the visual below.

Sony W290 weighs around 0.37 lb (167 gr / 5.89 oz) & the physical size of the camera is 98mm x 57mm x 23mm (3.9" x 2.2" x 0.9"). The weight of typical Small Sensor Compact camera is 174 gr so the Sony W290 is very much the same in comparison with its competitors.

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The following is a visual of the Sony W290 with a soda to help you to get a feel for its size.

The top view directly below will show you the button layout on the W290.

The W290 has got an inbuilt lens having a focal range of 28-140mm making it a 5.0 x zoom which is not huge but it is likely to be useful in certain situations.

At it's widest 28mm, the lens has an aperture of f3.3 which will be pretty sluggish and not the best for low light conditions and you will probably find it difficult to get a shallow depth of field. You will also need to increase your ISO giving you noisy pictures. On the long end, 140mm comes with f5.2 making it fairly sluggish and you would have to utilize slow shutter speeds.

The W290 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes
• HDMI Yes

Digital cameras which include NFC or Bluetooth support can be controlled wirelessly via smartphones. You are able to copy pictures and oftentimes adjust settings without connecting directly with the camera.

Several apps also provide a Liveview and hit the shutter in case you are not close to the camera. If the camera features a HDMI port, it can be hooked up to an external display. Many cameras will allow you to charge the battery pack with the USB socket.

The max video quality in the Sony W290 is 1280 x 720 and you can record in MPEG-4 format. 720p is awful for today's requirements. You should aim for at least FUll HD quality for video. The body does not have a microphone or headphone jack which means you have got absolutely no control over the sound. It is probably a better idea to find another camera if you want better sound for your video clips.

There is no environment proofing for the Sony W290 so you have to be careful in rainy or dusty conditions.

The Sony W290 comes with a 3 inch fixed screen having a resolution of 230 thousand dots.

Please be aware that the screen has no touch support.

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The ViewFinder specs for Sony W290 are below:

• ViewFinder None

Viewfinders are rather handy for bright outdoor conditions which will make the camera display washed out and hard to see.

Sony W290 can shoot continuously at 2.0 frames per second. The highest shutter speed is 1/1600 sec.

Sony W290 has just inbuilt flash with no external flash support.

Sony W290 has only Contrast Based Auto Focus & lacks Phase Detect Auto Focus. Phase Detection autofocusing is a lot quicker & exact as compared with Contrast Based autofocusing.

The AF system comes with 9 focus points to pick from. Sony W290 has the ability to use manual focusing if required for low light scenarios or you require more exact focusing control.

The usual Small Sensor Compact camera battery life is 241. Fujifilm X30 has got the maximum (470) battery life for this class of cameras.

Here is a list of Small Sensor Compact cameras which have the best battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Fujifilm X30
W290 vs Fujifilm X30470 yesnono

Casio EX-10
W290 vs EX-10455 yesnono

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Ricoh GR Digital IV
W290 vs GR Digital IV390 yesnono

Canon G12
W290 vs G12370 yesnono

Canon G16
W290 vs G16360 yesnono

The following illustration indicates a outline of the Sony W290 for specific types of photography. To view more, check out the specific section below.

The Sony W290 receives a score of 27 which is bad, and means the camera is simply not acceptable for portrait photography. Photographing portraits leans greatly towards sensor size, support for RAW photos in addition to the flexibility to utilize external flash.

Having a reasonable rating of 56, the Sony W290 is somewhat suited to use in street photography. A good street photography camera features a good balance of picture quality and portability.

A bad sports photography points tally of 25 suggests the Sony W290 is simply not acceptable for shooting sports. A camera really should have very good focusing and continuous shooting for sports photography.

Portability is really crucial in buying a camera for travel. Overall, the Sony W290 gets a modest 57 for a travel camera which makes it fairly suited to take with you on your trips.

For anyone looking to purchase a digital camera for landscape photography, the biggest factor will be image quality. The Sony W290 with it's bad rating of 41 for a landscape camera is simply not acceptable among it's competitors.

A camera for vlogging preferably should offer a articulating display, microphone input and if possible image stabilization. Considering every thing, the Sony W290 is simply not acceptable as a vlog camera as it gets a bad score of 28.

If you want replacements to the W290, below is a collection of the highest scored cameras which fall in to the class of Small Sensor Compact.

The line graph here provides you a summary of the W290 versus it's top ranked rivals suggested above.

These are some more cameras you might view as alternate options. To review a thorough comparison, simply click on the "compare" link.