CONSUMER
Review: Sony DSC-T200 Cyber-shot camera
31-10-2007
by Ralph Averbuch
Sony's latest 8.1 megapixel pocket digital camera has lots of new features on offer and great picture quality, but it's not without its issues.
Sony's an interesting organisation. It's grown from manufacturing roots to become a worldwide brand which not only makes all sorts of mainstream electronics, but also dabbles in the movies, mobiles and MP3 players.
That inevitably puts it under a lot of pressure to succeed in a host of categories and it's probably due to this that we've seen Sony drop the ball so badly with the likes of the Walkman in the face of an onslaught by Apple's iPod. That's forced Sony to look to its laurels and rediscover what once gave it an edge in the personal mobile music space.
To its credit, Sony's partnership with Ericsson in the mobile-meets-music space and the opening up of its latest generation of portable music players all suggest that Sony is far from a spent force and is reinvigorated by the challenge newer brands have brought to bear.
However, one category where Sony has never really been threatened is digital still cameras. Yet cheaper brands are constantly coming along with an ever-increasing array of features to woo customers away. This means that Sony is constantly forced to innovate and that's what it has done with the DSC-T200 [T200 press release].
What the company has tried to do is maintain strength by meeting competitors head on with features that we once could never have hoped to see in a point and click pocket camera.
At ENN we got to play with the T200 and we made the following observations...
The Good
Massive screen - The entire backplate is covered by a touch-sensitive LCD screen that not only lets you view your subject but pretty much access all your picture controls. That means you're faced with just four physical buttons across the top of the camera.
Size - This camera is highly pocketable... but it needs to be. With mobile phones now packing 5 megapixel cameras and improving in picture quality all the time, the Sony T200 needs to justify itself in the minds of point-and-shoot buyers as a camera that can't be left at home in favour of the lesser quality but greater convenience of a mobile.
Picture quality - This was a genuine surprise. In even the darkest conditions the T200 was very good at capturing close up subjects and skin tones without creating white-out, whilst still catching background subjects. For such a small camera and a small flash that's impressive.
Video in mpeg - Quite a few digital still cameras now pack simple video to sweeten the pill and that's the case with the T200. However, where this has typically been a fairly large AVI file format, the T200 saves directly to MPEG making for much smaller files. We couldn't discern between AVI and MPEG quality in 640x480 resolution. This is particularly handy for people who want to shoot a quick video and upload it to YouTube or Viddler.
Lithium battery - Bye bye batteries. Much like a mobile, this camera packs a rechargeable lithium battery which should give many many hours of use between charges. And, as this battery is mobile phone thin, it allows the profile of the camera to remain svelte and light at 160g.
Post picture viewing - Whilst the on-screen finger controls take some getting used to, the tools for post viewing are really very useable given the screen size. We particularly liked the easy way it allowed each picture to be viewed, zoomed into or deleted.
The Not So Good
Proprietary USB connection - Why why why do manufacturers of all sorts of devices, including Sony, not opt for a standard USB format rather than yet another proprietary fitting? Whilst it works fine, lose the cable and you're stuck, unless you have a card reader for the memory stick duo which sits just next to the battery compartment. That said, once connected it just pops up as a drive volume on the PC, allowing the use of any photo software to catch and edit shots. We used Google's Picasa.
Lens cover - This is a bug bear. It's too easy for the cover, which slides down to reveal the flash, lens and microphone, to be dislodged whilst in a pocket, thus leaving the Carl Zeiss lens susceptible to damage.
Pricey - Sony has added all the bells and whistles for a reason. It believes it can maintain a price point margin over most of the other pocket digitals. But with a recommended retail price of EUR445, the problem is if the price point is too close to the next category up what's to stop someone opting to spend a little more for a Digital SLR such as the excellent Pentax K100D? There are also higher resolution pocket competitors with lower price tags.
31MB Built in memory - What's the point of such a small amount of built in memory in a camera which takes 8.1 megapixel pictures? Taking pictures at the best resolution will get you roughly ten shots before you run out and nothing if you try to shoot film at the best quality. With memory so commoditised, Sony should have embedded a bit more. The excellent Sony Ericsson K800i mobile with its 3.2 megapixel camera manages 64MB.
The Low Down
There's no doubt that Sony has created a superb digital camera with the T200. But it comes with a few compromises. Obviously it tries to find a sweet spot between the cheaper pocket cameras and mobiles with camera functionality and higher-end but, let's face it, more complex digital SLRs. This is a camera that will suit people who want quality pictures without having to think about how to get them in a wide range of situations. Yet, if we're looking beyond the pragmatic, this is a beautifully constructed gadget that feels great to use and has a difficult-to-define quality that's sure to help its sales whatever its minor flaws.
Click here for Sony Ireland's DSC-T200 page.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 