Phil Hanson is seduced by the beauty of sony’s new compact
Sony’s T90 is such a cute and clever piece of design it’s almost irrelevant whether function follows its beguiling form. After a few minutes of handling and admiring this super-slim newcomer, its image quality could have been on a par with the Agfa Clack box camera from the mid-1950s for all I cared. Well, not quite, and more on that later.
The T90 is a member of the new Cyber-shot range introduced earlier this year. At only 15mm, it’s way thinner than the compact I often carry in my shirt pocket. Plus, the Zeiss zoom lens doesn’t telescope out when the ‘on’ button is pushed; it stays in place behind its glass cover in the top right corner. Or not — if the lens seems to be missing, that’s because the incredibly cool and sensible sliding-panel cover is in position. This slides down with finger pressure, turning on the camera at the same time. Slide it back and the power goes off.
A 3-inch screen dominates the back and the controls are… not there. This is another of the breed of touchscreen cameras, a technology that tends to polarise the marketplace.
The T90 records JPEGs and MPEG-4 video to Memory Stick PRO Duo cards and is largely automatic in operation.
HONEY, I SHRUNK THE CONTROLS …
Because the lens is out of the way in a corner, it’s easy to get a good grip on this baby body; it’s not only for the daintily handed. And a small hump on the left side gives something for the photographer’s second finger to rest against to help provide a firm, steady grip.
A tiny button on the camera’s top edge powers it up and down, if you’re not using the sliding cover. There’s also an equally wee joystick that zooms the lens, and sandwiched between these is a shutter button. Another little button on the bevelled edge immediately above the screen puts the camera in Play mode. Despite their Legoland size, the controls are surprisingly easy to use.
Everything else is worked by touching screen icons. Detractors of touch technology say it gets the screen filthy and that it’s too easy to push the wrong icon. I find I’m regularly wiping a screen anyway, and that with five minutes’ practice it’s easy to hit the icons with accuracy, even with my clumsy fingers.
IN THE PICTURE
The specs look pretty good: a 12.4 megapixel Super HAD CCD sensor and a Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar optical 4x zoom that covers the 35mm to 140mm full-frame equivalent range, and maximum apertures of f3.5 on the wide side and f4.6 at the telephoto end.
Using the camera is just so easy. For example, it focuses the scene before your finger even touches the button. Casual snappers will love this and other features such as intelligent scene recognition that make the T90 an excellent choice for those who just want the photo. More advanced photographers may become frustrated with the range of choices.
The Zeiss lens delivers a reasonable if not stellar picture, with a pleasing though slightly subdued colour palette. The camera is best used at 80 to 200 ISO speeds; by 400 there’s a lot of noise.
It’ll shoot reasonable widescreen and full-screen 720p movies at 30 frames per second.
CONCLUSION
The T90’s design is captivating and the camera has a feel of quality to it. Newcomers to photography will love how easy it is to take successful photos; but experienced photographers may find it’s a bit like a delicious-looking dessert — interesting and tasty, but why isn’t there more?
SONY CYBER-SHOT DSC-T90 – SPECS
Manufacturer: Sony
Model: Cyber-shot DSC-T90
Effective Pixels: 12.1 million
Lens: 6.18-24.7mm (full-frame equivalent: 35-140mm)
Aperture: f3.5-f4.6
Monitor: 3-inch colour TFT LCD
ISO: Auto, 80 to 3200
Shooting Modes: Intelligent auto, easy shooting, program auto, movie (auto adjustment, high sensitivity, underwater), custom scenes (high sensitivity, twilight, twilight portrait, soft snap, landscape, beach, snow, fireworks, hi-speed shutter, underwater, gourmet)
Exposure Metering: Nine-point evaluative, centre-weighted average
Focus mode: Autofocus
Media: Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, approx 11 MB built-in memory
File Format: JPEG, MPEG-4
Flash: Flash on/off, auto, slow synchro
Interface: USB, PictBridge
Battery: NP-BD1 lithium-ion rechargeable
Dimensions: 94 x 57 x 15mm
Weight: 151g including battery
CONTACT
PROS
- Great looks and styling
- Fits any pocket
- So easy to use
CONS
- Too much of a fashion statement?
- Pricey
- Few advanced features
Design 19
Performance 16
Features 16
Image Quality 15
Value for money 16
TOTAL 82/100
This article if from D-Photo issue 31.
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