Barnard Microsystems Limited

The SONY Cybershot W200 compact camera

• Compact cameras
• The SONY Cybershot W200 camera
• Pro and cons
• Images ... taken using the SONY Cybershot W200

The following compact cameras, all less than 130 grams in weight (without batteries), with good reviews in photographic magazines, are in our opinion, worth considering for use in a light surveillance Unmanned Aircraft. Canon do not seem to offer a lightweight ( < 130 grams without batteries) compact camera.

Most of the quality compact cameras seem to cost between £130 and £200 each. For discussion and reviews on a wide range of digital cameras, see the comprehensive http://www.imaging-resource.com/ web site.

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The good points

• very light weight
• good, high definition 1080i video imagery, even when the camera is moving
• inexpensive

The not-so-good points

• takes about 3 seconds between single images due to time for auto-focus and image data storage
• non-standard USB cable
• no software as far as we can tell at the present time to enable computer control of the camera
• images taken in multi-shot mode tend to be blurred, no doubt due to the small diameter lens on the camera
• images taken from a moving platform, such as an aircraft, are blurred due to the small lens in the compact camera.

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These photographs were taken on the EasyJet morning flight 5333 from Gatwick Airport to Toulouse on Friday 4th January, 2008. Note that the ISO setting was left at AUTO. Less image blurring might have occurred if the ISO setting had been set at 800 or 1600.

Above, on the outskirts of Toulouse, with the magnified section shown next. Maximum zoom setting.

Over Toulouse itself, with the magnified section shown next. Certainly struggling with resolution.

More from Toulouse, with the magnified section shown next. Resolution still struggling. Maximum zoom.

We conclude that the quality of the imagery from the SONY Cybershot W200 taken from a moving aircraft is unfortunately both expected and disappointing. The images are more blurred than those from the mid-size and DSLR cameras, simply confirming the importance of using a large, quality, lens and a sensitive, high fill factor, CCD imager, when taking photographs from a moving platform.

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