POCKET DIGITAL CAMERA THAT COULD BE USEFUL IN SCIENCE AND MEDICINE THE SONY DSC W120 IS NO SLOUCH WHEN IT COMES TO LOW LIGHT AND BURST MODE

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O.k I admit it. My inner geek is showing. If you look at the posts here on healty medical Blog you may have noticed several discussions about digital cameras and high definition camcorders. Digital cameras are super useful in medicine and science and frankly,they are just plain cool. Doctor or not, many times you just wish you had a camera with you to catch a great shot. Many things in science and medicine (and sports) happen in the blink of an eye. Previously I wrote about the Casio FH 20, a digital camera that can take an amazing 40 shots in one second. In my never ending quest for digital cameras that could be useful in science and medicine I have discovered a 7 megapixel pocket camera, the Sony DSC W120 that seems to be on sale at every office supply and big box retailer. You know that old saying don't judge a book by it's cover? Well I guess in this instance don't judge a camera by it's housing. This little camera packs a lot of wallop for it's size. Just for the record I don't have any ties with Sony or any other company for that matter.





The first thing that struck me about the Sony W120 was the low light ability. That is the ability to get a good picture even in low light or at night without a flash. The Fuji f31d was a pocket camera a few years back that had it's own fan club because of it's legendary low light ability. I didn't see it but this Sony W120 has got to be a contender. Usually in most cameras, to get good pictures in low light you hike up the ISO setting. But as the ISO goes up so does the noise in the picture. The W120 seems to do a good job at least up to ISO 800.



Another thing that surprised me was that this little camera had a burst mode that could take full 7 megapixel pictures at a fairly rapid pace and keep it up. If a camera has a burst mode at all,it usually involves a trade off of speed of pictures taken with size of picture. More pictures equal less size. But the W120 can take 7 megapixel shots at a fairly decent continuous rate. We aren't talking frames per second but maybe 1 to 1 and a 1/2 frames per second.



It has the obligatory face detection feature and another even more geek attractive feature, whose use in medicine I am not sure about, called the the smile shutter. You can guess from the name, this camera will "watch" your subject and snap a picture when they smile. It works! (some of the time).



Previously I wrote about the Casio FH 20,(not a pocket camera) a digital camera that can take an amazing 40 shots in one second. Many things in science and medicine happen in the blink of an eye. This camera can record them.

Video Review of the Casio FH 20 High Speed Burst Mode Camera