I am here today to compare two products: the Sony Cybershot DSC- W7 digital camera and the Canon EOS Rebel GII 35mm film camera. I own both of these cameras, and have had them both for over a year. I am a photographer at heart, and I have taken over 5,000 pictures and videos in the past year. This means I have used both of these cameras immensely for my photography needs. So which camera is better, the Sony Cybershot DSC W7 or the Canon EOS Rebel GII?
Well, it really depends on what you are using it for. Digital cameras in general have some clear advantages over film cameras, hence their increasing popularity and never-ending sales. However, film cameras can still give an edge in some types of photography use, and should not be overlooked entirely when making a camera purchase. The choice between these two also depends on the individual features of each of these cameras.
So, here goes the comparison…
1. What are you using the camera for?
If you are using the camera to take a video, then you will have to choose the Sony Cybershot DSC W7. This camera has a video feature that the film camera does not have. In general, film cameras have one purpose- to take photos. You will not generally find film cameras that take video. This is really not their function. You may find a film camera that takes many successive shots, so that it could look like a video when you print out the pictures, but it is not a video.
The Sony Cybershot DSC- W7 has a great video function. On the top of the camera there is a wheel, for settings. You put the wheel setting on video, and then hit the button in the middle of the wheel to start recording. Your recording will continue as long as you have space left on the memory stick. I recommend a 4 GB memory stick for video of any length. A 4 GB memory stick will give you over two hours of recording time for video. If you only wish to shoot short videos, such as one minute or five minutes, you could use a 1 GB or 2 GB memory stick. Remember that this uses the memory that would have been available to take pictures!
If you are using the camera to take pictures, then here is a true comparison. I have found both cameras to be excellent for picture-taking purposes. Each has its own distinction and advantages and disadvantages.
The Sony Cybershot DSC- W7 creates up to 7.2 megapixel images. This clarification is good, but not as good as with the Canon EOS Rebel GII, in my opinion. When you blow up pictures, such as when you print out a picture in 10 by 12 instead of 4 by 6, the resolution does not seem great with the Sony Cybershot. You can actually tell that a digital camera was used- you see the separate pixel lines on the images. This is not real bad, but it does happen on some of the pictures I take. It could be that I haven’t figured out how to make sure I am always getting 7.2 megapixels on each picture, but it is a concern. With the Canon Rebel, most pictures when blown up have great clarity. However, even with the Canon Rebel, if I haven’t focused exactly right, the image could be a little blurry.
2. What options do you want for your pictures?
If you want to develop film and have negatives, then you need a film camera. Some people still prefer to have negatives for pictures that they take. This option isn’t available with a digital camera.
If you want to have the pictures on a cd, then you can choose either camera. If you take digital pictures with the Sony Cybershot DSC- W7, you can go to Walmart with the memory stick and make a cd from the memory stick. If you take film pictures with the Canon EOS Rebel GII, then you can go to Walmart and ask to have a cd made from the negatives.
TIP: If you have a memory stick, up to a half a GB can be put onto a cd. If your memory stick is 1 GB, you will have to have two cds.
If you have film, generally eight 24-exposure pictures can go onto one cd. So, don’t waste money putting one roll of film on a cd. Do it when you have eight
rolls of film.
If you want to have the pictures on your computer, or loaded into a website such as www.snapfish.com or www.imagestation.com to print photos for less and make photo gifts, first you have to be able to load the pictures onto your computer. You can do this after you have the photo cd made. But, with the Sony Cybershot DSC- W7 you have an additional option. If you computer has a media card reader for reading memory sticks, you can put the memory stick into the computer and import the pictures from this!
3. What do you want your image to focus on? Do you want the picture to focus everything equally, such as the foreground and background, or do you want the picture to focus the girl in the foreground and blue the background. I generally like to focus everything equally. I find the Sony Cybershot DSC- W7 has the ability to do this somewhat. What I mean by this is that if you use the camera settings to focus on the whole picture and not just a specific part, you will be able to focus on everything generally equally (there is still a slight amount of variation in focus). However, with the Canon EOS Rebel GII, generally only one thing will be in focus and the rest will be blurry. I will admit that I don’t know every setting on each camera, so it is quite possible that the Canon could achieve this if the settings were used appropriately.
4. Lighting. The Sony Cybershot DSC- W7 has four different lighting settings for the amount of light you want to use in your pictures. You can turn the flash off, or you can have low lighting, medium or full lighting by use of the flash. I find this quite useful. With the Canon EOS Rebel GII, you either have a flash or you don’t. I will say that figuring out which light setting to use on the Sony is sometimes difficult. I always end up using the wrong setting, and end up with a picture that is whited-out or one that is so dark you can’t see anything.
Another thing to mention about lighting is the ability to turn off the flash. With the Sony Cybershot, you can turn off the flash. However, if there isn’t enough light to take the picture, the picture comes out really dark. With the Canon Rebel, I have found that on the automatic setting if there isn’t enough light, it won’t let you take the picture. You can override this by using the manual function, but the picture probably will turn out dark.
5. Zoom and zoom lenses. The Canon EOS Rebel GII has a 35-80 mm zoom lens that comes with the camera. This is great. I find it very easy to be able to zoom in on my subjects with this camera, and zoom a good distance. The clarity in the picture remains good when zooming as well. The Canon also takes standard CANON zoom lenses which can be purchased separately. These give the option for incredible zoom for sporting events and taking pictures of wild game, for instance. The Sony Cybershot DSC- W7 has 3x optical zoom and 4x digital zoom. This means that you can get three times as close when taking the picture. Once you have taken it, you can zoom in on your shot four times. This really isn’t a lot of zoom. The Canon wins in this category. However, the reason I chose the Sony Cybershot DSC- W7 as my digital camera choice was that it is one of the few compact digital cameras that actually can have a zoom lens added to it. Zoom lenses are actually sold for this product! This does make the product bulkier and you lose the compactness.
6. Ease of use. I have found both cameras easy to use in some ways and difficult in others. I don’t generally have problems taking pictures with either camera. I must admit that I don’t like to read manuals, so any complex functions have probably escaped me thus far. I don’t know how to use all the intricate functions such as shutter speed on the film camera. I don’t know how to change the F stop on either camera. I take pretty good pictures, but there is more to learn. Both of these cameras are ones that to really use all of the functions you need to be really good at reading manuals and then applying what you have read, or you might need someone to show you. Both cameras have some very intricate functions that make them top notch!
The main problem I have with the Sony Cybershot DSC- W7 is that I can’t always get the pictures to have the right amount of lighting– they are either too dark or too light. The main problem with the Canon is that you don’t get to see the photos ahead of time on a screen, so you may take a whole roll of pictures that aren’t any good and not know it until after your trip is over. The other big disadvantage with a film camera is that when you take a trip, if your film speed is over 800, you will have to take the film out of your luggage and have it hand-inspected at security.
Overall, I love both cameras. I wouldn’t want to give either one of them up. However, I must give some extra kudos to the Sony Cybershot. With this camera, I can take videos and not have to carry a camcorder, I can pop the memory stick into my computer to save pictures, and I don’t have to deal with developing and carrying film. But, the Canon EOS Rebel GII wins if you want to zoom without purchasing a new lens, and you wish to have negatives of your pictures. I recommend both cameras highly and their upcoming models. I would buy a new Canon Film Camera or Canon Digital Camera. I would also purchase another Sony Cybershot digital camera. Both companies and their cameras are reliable and great!
