So many reasons not to buy the WX300...

[efg40]

Minimal controls and customization.

No RAW.

So small and gripless it's hard to hold on to and shoot with.

Lots of longer zooms going on out there.

Noisy, smeary pics, especially at the long end but also often at the shot end and in the middle.

Not very wide at the wide end.

Darned near impossible to see the screen in bright sunlight.

No viewfinder.



But darnit I bought the thing anyway. On purpose.

It's the rendering that kept grabbing me. I have a full-time camera that I am completely content with (the Olympus EM5 with the Panny 25 1.4 permanently attached), but I've been shopping for a long time for a small budget zoom cam to fill the gaps of super portability and reach. I bought a Sony NEX 3N and although it performed well, the pictures just didn't have the color and punch I go for, besides not being as small as I really wanted, so I sold it.

This time after hours of research I ordered the Sony WX300 and a Canon SX510. The Canon gave me longer reach, technically better quality photos, had better controls and customization, a better flash, and felt absolutely perfect in the hand. I tried so hard to keep it instead. But the Sony just had the punch I love in pictures; that unmeasurable quality that makes a photo for me.

I took it to the city this weekend and here a a few examples from the excursion. This is just a random sampling of quite a few I got that I liked after using it all day and the next, and I still have almost a full battery charge. You do not want to pixel-peep these! But they make me happy considering the extreme pocket-ability and reach.




Michigan Avenue through a window on a bright afternoon




Zoom to the Field Museum




Jeweler's Building topper




Union Carbide Building topper.




$6 dinner from a city grocery - delicious!




Dawn




Sunrise complete



[ATTACH alt="Jeweler's Building and "Corn Cobs" golden in the sunrise "]373930[/ATTACH]
Jeweler's Building and "Corn Cobs" golden in the sunrise




Window washers from the 34th next door.



(All pics edited in LR5, and yes I missed RAW!) I'll still use the Olympus most of the time, but I am not nervous to use the WX300 any time I need a small zoom!



--
Elizabeth
efg40

 

[TheAe]

The cams handy. Best design since the HX9V.

 

[LSHorwitz1]

TheAe wrote:

The cams handy. Best design since the HX9V.

Great thread !!!

My NEX-7 and SLT-a77 sit at home and my WX-300 gets used all the time !!

 

[APokey1]

I just bought this camera today... and it seems like it's complicated to use. I want to be able to take photos with the zoom... but unless I disable a lot of options, it will not focus on things that are close... if I want to photograph a lady bug on a flower - it seems like I can't be too close to the subject and get the camera to focus... I'm sure I'm overlooking something, but I couldn't find any information on using macro in the online book, or the pamphlet that came with the camera...

Is this a good camera for a novice? Or should I get something simpler?

Thanks!

 

[efg40]

APokey1 wrote:

I just bought this camera today... and it seems like it's complicated to use. I want to be able to take photos with the zoom... but unless I disable a lot of options, it will not focus on things that are close... if I want to photograph a lady bug on a flower - it seems like I can't be too close to the subject and get the camera to focus... I'm sure I'm overlooking something, but I couldn't find any information on using macro in the online book, or the pamphlet that came with the camera...

Is this a good camera for a novice? Or should I get something simpler?

Thanks!

I think it's an excellent camera for a novice, but if it's not doing what you want it to do that's frustrating. It has a minimum focus distance of 5cm so it should be able to focus that close, without any need to choose a macro setting. But it might indeed be too close to find whatever it's looking for to focus on. I've had this happen at times with every camera I've owned.

What are you disabling to enable it to focus? Not sure what you mean there.

Sometimes it helps to back off a bit and zoom in. This can often give you a better picture anyway, increasing background blur. Also, if it is breezy and the flower is moving at all it will struggle to find focus if too close.

I'd say just keep trying it using iAuto and SAuto, and see if you get used to where you want to be or zoom to to give you the results you're looking for. You will either get used to its quirks or decide it's not for you. After using it for the weekend I must say I found it very fast and easy to use! The whole point of this cam for me is to point and shoot. The only thing I usually change is flash on or off.

 

[APokey1]

Thank you Elizabeth... What it's doing is not focusing when I zoom in to get a close up... For example, yesterday I tried to take several close ups of objects... If I was across the room - the photos were great... However, if I was trying to take a photo of something that was closer - say 10 inches to 2 feet away - if I zoomed in much at all the camera would not focus.

I read the instructions for 'zooming' in and disabled the 'smile recognition' feature and made sure that the Digital Zoom was turned off.. It still will not focus if I zoom in closer than about 1/3 of the way on the 'zoom bar scale' (for lack of a better thing to call it). Maybe I'm expecting it to be able to get too close? I suppose if I take photos that are in focus, and then put them on my computer and expand them I will get the same effect? Or... will I then lose resolution?

I'm a novice for sure... and the whole Zoom thing is confusing me with this camera. I had a Panasonic Lumix before this one - and it could zoom in to isolate one tiny little thing from even very close up. I purchased this one because it is smaller and looked like it was even more 'powerful'.. as far as it's zoom capabilities.

The other thing that concerns me that maybe you can advise me on - Am I correct in assuming that this camera does not have a 3:2 aspect ratio for the 'usual' size prints... 4 x 6, etc???

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

Shari

 

[efg40]

Here a a couple more favorites from the weekend, but please feel free to add your WX300 favorites if you own this cam! When I am shopping for a new cam this is the kind of thread I look for so it might be helpful to anyone interested in the WX300.






The night recedes




Sunwashed




On the street



--
Elizabeth
efg40

 

[notime]

Thank you Elizabeth... What it's doing is not focusing when I zoom in to get a close up... For example, yesterday I tried to take several close ups of objects... If I was across the room - the photos were great... However, if I was trying to take a photo of something that was closer - say 10 inches to 2 feet away - if I zoomed in much at all the camera would not focus.

I read the instructions for 'zooming' in and disabled the 'smile recognition' feature and made sure that the Digital Zoom was turned off.. It still will not focus if I zoom in closer than about 1/3 of the way on the 'zoom bar scale' (for lack of a better thing to call it). Maybe I'm expecting it to be able to get too close? I suppose if I take photos that are in focus, and then put them on my computer and expand them I will get the same effect? Or... will I then lose resolution?

I'm a novice for sure... and the whole Zoom thing is confusing me with this camera. I had a Panasonic Lumix before this one - and it could zoom in to isolate one tiny little thing from even very close up. I purchased this one because it is smaller and looked like it was even more 'powerful'.. as far as it's zoom capabilities.

The other thing that concerns me that maybe you can advise me on - Am I correct in assuming that this camera does not have a 3:2 aspect ratio for the 'usual' size prints... 4 x 6, etc???

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

Shari

Are you in Landscape, Night Scene or Fireworks scene? Macro mode will not work there?

The minimum focal distance does increase as you zoom
According to the specs at photography blog, the minimum focus distance goes from 5cm at wide to 200cm (6.56 feet) at full zoom.
If you are closer than it can focus, then you will have to use less optical zoom and "use your feet" to zoom in at wide angle.

 

[notime]

And, yes, Sony, like most PnS cameras (and Four Thirds and m4/3 and medium format 645 cameras..sorry I need to stop reading Wikipedia)
went with the computer monitor/TV type aspect ratio 4:3 with an option for widescreen 16:9, so you would have to manually crop.

 

[notime]

Very nice! It would be amazing to regularly experience a great view on Michigan Ave!

 

[jazzage]

I took this at the Taylor Swift concert in Chicago on August 10 of this year. We had seats way in the nose bleed section far from the stage but I managed to get some decent shots in with the long zoom. I will be taking the WX300 to France next month as a companion to my RX1, and if it has the same image quality as the old HX9V did in good light I will be happy.

 

[efg40]

notime wrote:

Very nice! It would be amazing to regularly experience a great view on Michigan Ave!

It was a company-owned apartment I got to stay in with friends for free for one night, and I agree, I'd love that view every morning!

 

[efg40]

jazzage wrote:

I took this at the Taylor Swift concert in Chicago on August 10 of this year. We had seats way in the nose bleed section far from the stage but I managed to get some decent shots in with the long zoom. I will be taking the WX300 to France next month as a companion to my RX1, and if it has the same image quality as the old HX9V did in good light I will be happy.

Nice! I like the colors.

It is so convenient to have such a tiny camera with reach like that.

 

[efg40]

notime wrote:

Thank you Elizabeth... What it's doing is not focusing when I zoom in to get a close up... For example, yesterday I tried to take several close ups of objects... If I was across the room - the photos were great... However, if I was trying to take a photo of something that was closer - say 10 inches to 2 feet away - if I zoomed in much at all the camera would not focus.

I read the instructions for 'zooming' in and disabled the 'smile recognition' feature and made sure that the Digital Zoom was turned off.. It still will not focus if I zoom in closer than about 1/3 of the way on the 'zoom bar scale' (for lack of a better thing to call it). Maybe I'm expecting it to be able to get too close? I suppose if I take photos that are in focus, and then put them on my computer and expand them I will get the same effect? Or... will I then lose resolution?

I'm a novice for sure... and the whole Zoom thing is confusing me with this camera. I had a Panasonic Lumix before this one - and it could zoom in to isolate one tiny little thing from even very close up. I purchased this one because it is smaller and looked like it was even more 'powerful'.. as far as it's zoom capabilities.

The other thing that concerns me that maybe you can advise me on - Am I correct in assuming that this camera does not have a 3:2 aspect ratio for the 'usual' size prints... 4 x 6, etc???

Thank you for taking the time to respond!

Shari

Are you in Landscape, Night Scene or Fireworks scene? Macro mode will not work there?

The minimum focal distance does increase as you zoom
According to the specs at photography blog, the minimum focus distance goes from 5cm at wide to 200cm (6.56 feet) at full zoom.
If you are closer than it can focus, then you will have to use less optical zoom and "use your feet" to zoom in at wide angle.

Yes, Notime is right. If I get closer with the camera it does a much better job than if I zoom in from a close distance. So either get closer and zoom less, or back up further and then zoom. You'll get used to it. The Canon I returned did the same thing (would not focus if zooming from too close.) But the Sony really dies a beautiful job if you get physically close, or zoom in from a longer distance.

I see what you mean about what you disabled, and you were right to turn off smile detection and digital zoom, even if it didn't solve your problem. If you feel like experimenting, you can also try using P (Program) mode which allows you to use Multi, center, or spot focusing, which may or may not help.

 

[APokey1]

Thank you for all of the tips! I'll play with it this week and weekend and then decide if I can get the hang of it!!! I appreciate you being so willing to answer my questions!!

Thanks again!

Shari