Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150

Bottom line

The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-WX150 is almost the perfect little point-and-shoot camera, experts and owners say. It's cheap, tiny and fast, and it shoots very nice photos and high-def video, even in low light. It has a hefty 10x optical zoom, too, plus lots of nifty features -- and it's refreshingly simple to use.

In short, the Sony DSC-WX150 is the best camera you can buy under $250 -- and easily our top pick. You could spend nearly $100 less for the Canon PowerShot A4000 IS (*Est. $130), the best of the under-$150 digital cameras, but you'd have to sacrifice some speed, zoom and photo/video quality.

Ease of use

Slender and simple. This camera is slim -- less than 9/10ths of an inch thick. "Small enough to fit into a cigarette packet," one Amazon.com owner says. "Slips into your pocket with really no more bulk than your phone," says another.

It's simple to use, too -- very few buttons to deal with. One turns it on and off. One snaps a photo. There are four more buttons (for movie mode, playback, delete and menu), but that's it. Point-and-shooters will be grateful for the "friendly" controls, says Liam McCabe at DigitalCameraInfo.com.

To walk you through everything, the Sony has a built-in user manual -- "one of the most comprehensive, user-friendly in-camera help guides we've seen in a point-and-shoot," McCabe says.

The big, bright, 3-inch LCD screen is easy to see, too. Text pops up extra big when the camera is in Easy mode. In fact, experts find very little to dislike -- except that the Sony might actually be a little too tiny. Some of the buttons strike CNET's Joshua Goldman (and some users) as too small and flat against the body.

"Also, because there's not much weight to it, it can be very difficult to keep the lens still when fully extended," Goldman says. "This is a problem with all long-lens compacts, but there's just less to grab onto with the WX150." It's still one of CNET's favorite under-$250 cameras, though.

Performance

Excellent photos, videos and speed. Pocket cameras aren't usually this good, experts say. The Sony WX150 does just about everything right. First, it's fast. You won't miss action shots anymore, reviews say. Your family won't get sick of smiling while they wait for the camera. The Sony starts up, autofocuses and shoots almost instantaneously, with next to no shutter lag or dead time between shots (unless you use the flash, which does slow things down a bit).

You can even shoot rapid-fire bursts of 10 frames per second (fps) -- really blazing for a pocket camera. However, "once you've fired, you're stuck waiting for the camera to save the photos, generally a second or two per photo," CNET's Goldman points out.

Second, photos look great. The Sony can "capture sharp images in all kinds of light -- a rare feat for a pocket camera," says Jim Fisher at PCMag.com. The 18.2-megapixel sensor delivers sharp detail, with "punchy" colors, says McCabe at DigitalCameraInfo.com. Dim light isn't a problem -- "shots are usable at small sizes up to ISO 1600," Goldman says -- and in good light, the Sony captures enough detail for a good-looking 10-inch-by-13-inch print.

Finally, HD video is superb -- "on par with an entry-level video camera," Goldman says. "If you'd like a single device for capturing good photos and videos, this is one of the better options available." The Sony shoots 1080i video at a smooth 60i frame rate, with stereo sound and optical zoom (although you might hear the zoom on your video). You can snap still photos while you're recording, too.

Battery life is rated at 240 shots, "but if you're shooting a lot of video, have the display brightness cranked up, or using a lot of the multishot modes or burst shooting, this will cut into your battery life," Goldman writes.

Durability

'Should be handled with care.' Experts don't say much about the Sony WX150's toughness. It's "not rated for any kind of shock or water resistance, so attach the wrist strap," cautions McCabe at DigitalCameraInfo.com. "It feels like a quality product, but any compact camera with a relatively long-reach lens like this one should be handled with care."

Some owners at Amazon.com agree that the Sony feels solid, but others aren't so sure. "The camera is very thin and small. The downside to this is that you feel you could break the camera just by using it," says one owner (who gives it a perfect 5 stars anyway).

Another owner returned the camera even though it worked great, because the mini HDMI door refused to shut after only one use. "After carefully inspecting it, it looks like it is held on with two very tiny pieces of plastic that are shaped to snap into the body of the camera," the owner writes. "They really should have made this cover out of a soft piece of rubber so that it would stay in properly after multiple uses."

Features

Long zoom and lots of tricks. Zoom is impressive on the Sony WX150 -- just shy of ultrazoom status. The 10x optical zoom "lets you capture wide landscapes and zoom in to grab a telephoto shot when needed," says Fisher at PCMag.com. Sony's high-quality digital zoom (Sony calls it "Clear Image Zoom") boosts this to 20x.

Like most Sonys, the WX150 packs a boatload of special effects -- you can capture panoramic shots, 3D photos, Handheld Twilight shots and more. You can tailor the camera to what you're shooting -- Soft Skin setting for portraits, for example, or Gourmet for food shots. There's an Underwater mode, but you'll have to shell out $300 for a waterproof case to use it.

You can watch your movies and look at your photos on your HDTV, too, thanks to the Sony's mini HDMI jack. A micro USB port doubles as a charging port -- "just plug the WX150 directly into a wall via the included AC adapter," says Jim Fisher of PCMag.com. "There's no dedicated battery charger included, which can irk shooters who opt to buy a second battery."