Cyber shot Digicam SonyThe ever stylish Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T200, update to the Cyber-shot DSC-T100 comes in an ultracompact frame with 8.1 megapixels. Battery life is good with at least 125 shots between charges although the battery is smaller than the T30. This is surprising given the large screen, a touch screen at that. The touchscreen opens up a whole new way of operating a camera while setting up a shot especially for less experienced photographers who are not set in their ways already. Shutter lag is no problem, nearly instant once focused.
On the downside it uses Sony’s proprietary Memory Stick PRO Duo, like all other Sony products. The auto white balance feature could use some work. It’s a tiny camera and there is barrel distortion at the lens edge. For the price the image quality isn’t great, especially indoors in auto mode. But what you get is a small, stylish, Sony camera with some slick new features and a very useful interface. It may depend on how much it’s worth for you to have a camera with a large touchscreen.
Basic features:
8.1-megapixel Super HAD CCD
Carl Zeiss 5x optical zoom lens; up to 25x Smart Zoom feature
3.5-inch widescreen, touch-panel Clear Photo LCD Plus
Face Detection technology (up to 8 faces)
Multi Resizing
Adjustable flash intensity
Super Steadyshot
January 28th, 2008
Canon Cyber shot Digital Camera FujiFilm GE PowerShot SonyComparison between the GE A830, Sony CyberShot DSC-S700, Fujifilm Finepix Z10, and the Canon PowerShot A560:
These four entry-level, affordable, point-and-shoot cameras all have 3x zoom except for the Canon A560 which has 4x optical zoom and we will ignore digital zoom. They all have approximately 7 megapixels except for the GE A830 which has eight megapixels. They all have a 2.5 inch LCD screen except for the Sony S700 which is slightly smaller. And they all go for $149 except for the GE A830 which is currently on sale “exclusively” at Kmart for $129 although you can pick it up from a few other places for the same price such as Dell.
So first let’s talk about the cheapest of the lot, the GE A830. In this case it’s not necessarily a good deal unless you desperately need to spend slightly less even though if you shop around you can probably find one of the other three for the same price. The Washington Post’s hired lab found many problems with the quality of the output of the camera: “Our lab tests show the GE A830 has trouble with colors: yellows, greens, and blues look dull and sometimes half the picture is tinted a different shade than the other half.” They also found that performance was unreliable and inconsistent throughout. The resolution of the images and even of the LCD screen, the flash, and its face detection system.
Sony CyberShot DSC-S700 on the other hand has good build quality of full metal and design and images do come out well. An improvement on the S600. However, video recording is not one of its stronger points. And of course like all Sony products you’re stuck using Memory Stick which would raise the price of this entry-level camera if you don’t already have other Sony products. There is no manual exposure mode.
Fujifilm Finepix Z10 is another good camera in a long line of good Finepix cameras But like the Sony CyberShot it performs less well in over ISO 200 conditions with highly noticeable noise in low light may be worse overall than the Sony S700. The camera does have some good features and its face detection system can detect up to 10 faces. But it’s image stabilization is lacking. On the other hand it comes in colors like “wasabi green” and hot pink. Below is the camera in midnight black.
The Canon PowerShot A560 is a welcome step up from others in the A series like the A460, the A540, and the A550. It lacks the image stabilization of the A570 IS but it does have the Digic III processor, a face detection system, ISO 1600, and decent redeye removal.
“Although the line’s “A” designation stands for the convenient AA batteries it accepts, it could easily stand for “affordable” or simply reflect the consistently high marks that these feature-packed PowerShot digital cameras earn from camera users and digital camera advocates alike. These two newest A-Series digital cameras continue to deliver on Canon’s long-standing commitment to produce the highest quality cameras at the highest possible value to consumers. Indeed, Canon’s A-series of cameras have long been heralded as a top-featured, entry-level line of digital cameras and rewarded with considerable consumer loyalty.”
Overall a good camera and highly recommended especially if you can get it for much less than the estimated selling price of $229. You should be able to find it for $149.
December 10th, 2007
Cyber shot Digital Camera Digital SLR Camera SonySony Cyber-shot DSC-W55 7.2MP Digital Camera can be had right now for $139.98 which include shipping for a camera that lists for $179. What you get is a nice all-in-one camera with 7.2 MP, more than enough at this price range, that takes clear and noise-free images at high speed, in a stylish brushed-aluminum package. It’s a small camera at 3 1/2″ x 2 1/4″ x 7/8″ (89 x 57 x 23 mm) weighing 4.2 ounces (116 g). While the pictures turned out great under regular lighting conditions with the Sony® Super HAD™ (Hole Accumulated Diode) CCD and Sony Clear RAW™ NR (Noise Reduction) image processing technology reducing noise even with high sensitivity ISO 1000 you’ll still get some grainy pictures in low light conditions. Other downsides are that you’ll have to purchase Sony’s proprietary Memory Stick if the internal 56 MB isn’t going to be enough for you. Another problem may be the lack of optical image stabilisation so unless you have surgeons steady hands you may want to consider the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX12 which is also available for under $200.
Find deal here
In all a great upgrade from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W35 or W50 and a superb deal.
November 22nd, 2007
New Releases Sony
If you (or your wallet) aren’t quite ready to succumb to the DSLR urge just yet, but yearn for a solid megazoom to bridge the gap between your pocket-friendly P&S and that future money pit you’re sure to eventually end up with, Sony’s DSC-H9 offers an enticing list of options including a 15x optically stabilized zoom lens. Reviewers over at Megapixel were quite pleased with the “comprehensive bundle” that Sony includes in the package, and while the svelte three-inch flip-up LCD monitor, ridiculously long zoom, and “good image quality for printing past the widest angle” were praised, there seemed to be a negative vibe about the whole shebang. Among the lengthy list of digs were complaints that the compression was too strong, noticeable barrel distortion, purple fringing, and pincushion effects marred image quality, and a “convoluted menu system” kept operators on the verge of frustration. As if those weren’t damaging enough, the battery was said to drain faster than other Sony digicams, and the plastic enclosure was dubbed “too slippery” for their preferences. Of course, it’s not unusual to see these megazooms suffer in one area or another while still offering incredible closeups for a relatively low price, but we’d recommend perusing the read link for yourself before pulling the trigger on the H9.
Source: PhotographyBlog
May 30th, 2007
Sony
If you’re thinking of picking up one Sony’s new AVCHD high-definition camcorders then you’ll want to give the VRD-MC5 accessory a peep. The burner features PC-less, one-touch HD-quality dubbing when connected to over USB to your new HDR-SR5, HDR-SR8, and HDR-CX7 Handycam. The unit packs a 2.5-inch LCD, Firewire and S-Video inputs, and plenty of memory slots including SDHC/SD, xD, and compact flash in addition to Sony’s proprietary formats. It’ll even write to those wee 8cm DVDs just like Sony’s DVD camcorders. Sorry, no Blu-ray Discs here, and it won’t run from battery. Available August 10th for an estimated Â¥30,000 or about $247.
Source: Engadget
May 30th, 2007
Sony(InfoWorld) - Strong sales of digital consumer electronic gadgets helped Sony achieve record sales and higher net profit in the financial year just-ended, but shipments of PlayStation 3 consoles missed their target, the company said Wednesday.The company reported a net profit of Â¥126.3 billion for the year from April 2006 to March 2007. That’s a 2.2 percent increase on profits from the year earlier. Sales hit an all-time high of Â¥8.3 trillion, up 10.5 percent over the previous year. Compared to Sony’s most recent estimates, which were revised in January , those figures are respectively 14.8 percent and 0.8 percent higher.Sony’s core electronics segment saw a healthy 16.9 percent increase in sales and profitability on the back of an ongoing restructuring plan. The Japanese manufacturer, which has ended several unprofitable product lines, said it plans to stop making CRTs (cathode ray tube) and Vaio desktop computers.”The electronics segment showed a remarkable recovery,” said Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony’s chief financial officer, at a Tokyo news conference.Sales of Bravia LCD (liquid crystal display) televisions more than doubled to 6.3 million sets in the year and Sony said it expects to sell 10 million sets this year. After arriving late in the LCD TV market, the company has gone on to become one of the strongest players in the sector and anticipates its LCD TV business will finally turn an annual profit in the current year.Other strong selling products included digital still cameras and Vaio laptop computers, said Oneda. Sony sold 17 million digital still cameras in the year and expects to sell 20 million this year as consumers continue to snap up the CyberShot.Not all product sectors had a good year, however.Sony’s portable audio business, which was badly hit by the success of Apple’s iPod, reported flat sales of 4.5 million units. Sony had been hoping to sell 5.5 million Walkman players in the year. The company has set a goal of 5 million for the current year.”We would like to make a comeback and return,” said Oneda of the business. He said Sony aims to achieve this with new players that offer both audio and video playback.The largest losses in the electronics sector came from the batteries business, which recorded a Â¥51.2 billion charge due to the global recall of faulty batteries. That recall is progressing according to plan and Sony doesn’t anticipate costs to be above estimates, the company said.Sony’s games business recorded a 6 percent increase in sales and losses of Â¥232.3 billion. The losses were largely the result of start-up costs for the PlayStation 3 and the effects of a price cut that Sony made on the console prior to its launch in Japan. A total of 5.5 million PlayStation 3 consoles were shipped between the November launch and the end of March. That’s below Sony’s target of 6 million. The company cited production delays that have now been fixed.The shipment numbers count consoles as they leave Sony’s factories and include those in warehouses and en route to retailers. The number of consoles sold to retailers stood at around 3.6 million, said Oneda.For the current fiscal year Sony anticipates record sales of Â¥8.78 trillion and significantly higher net profit of Â¥320 billion.Â
May 29th, 2007
Sony(InfoWorld) - lTwo of the world’s biggest flat-panel display makers, Sony and LG.Philips LCD Co., unveiled flexible full-color displays at a display industry show in California this week.Sony took the wraps off its prototype on Thursday and released an impressive video showing the display being bent to form a semi-circle while still displaying a moving video image. The 2.5-inch display has a resolution of 160 pixels by 120 pixels making it a little larger than the typical cell phone screen and a little lower resolution.The screen from LG.Philips LCD is larger at 4 inches in diagonal width and has a higher resolution of 320 pixels by 240 pixels. In contrast to Sony’s video, LG.Philips LCD released only a photo that showed the display curved at a slight angle.Typically flat-panel displays are built onto thin sheets of glass but the Sony and LG.Philips screens are made on thin sheets of plastic and metal, respectively. That allows them to be bent but also introduces a range of other problems such as keeping everything aligned and working while the panel is flexed. Indeed the video of Sony’s prototype showed several bad pixels and other problems.Neither company has said when it thinks the displays will be ready to go on sale but early customers might be attracted to them for reasons other than their flexibility, said Paul Semenza, an analyst with iSuppli, who attended the Society for Information Display conference where they were announced.”What tends to get forgotten is that these displays are also rugged and lightweight,” he said. “Those are valuable properties.”Sony sees OLED technology as important for its future products and is putting a lot of research and development resources behind screens like that unveiled this week.The screens are different from today’s LCD (liquid crystal display) and PDP (plasma display panel) screens in that OLED pixels use an organic material that emits its own light, so no backlight is needed. That means the screens consume less power and can be made thinner. OLEDs also handle fast-moving images better and offer good color reproduction.At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January the company showed off prototype televisions based on larger, non-flexible 11-inch and 27-inch OLED panels. Thanks to the lack of a backlight the 11-inch prototype was just 11 millimeters thick but displayed a vibrant, colorful image. Sony plans to have its first OLED TVs on sale in Japan this year.Last week in Tokyo Sony unveiled its latest OLED TV prototypes, which appeared to be close to commercialization. The sets had an integrated digital TV tuner and could also accept a high-definition input via an HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) connector.Â
May 29th, 2007
SonySony Corp plans to raise about $2.5bn by listing its financial unit, in what is expected to be Japan’s largest IPO this year, reports [1] the Nikkei business daily [via Reuters].
Sony will sell at least 30 per cent of its stake in Sony Financial Holdings this autumn and use the roughly Y300bn in proceeds to bolster core electronics products including portable music players and flat TVs, the Nikkei said.
Sony, which last year said it intended to float its financial arm this year, issued a statement on Thursday saying there was no change to its previously announced plan. Shares in Sony closed the morning session in Tokyo up 0.9 per cent at Y6,460, roughly in line with the broader market.
Shigemi Nonaka, special adviser at Polestar Investment Management, said the IPO would have some positive impact for Sony, allowing it to procure capital. “But I don’t know if this is a long-term plus for the company. The key is whether or not they can expand their core business,” he said.
The unit, a Sony holding company that oversees the conglomerate’s online banking and lucrative life insurance operations, will have a market value of at least Y1,000bn ($8.43bn), the Nikkei said, putting it in the top 10 among Japanese banks.
The IPO would be Japan’s biggest since last year’s $3.2bn flotation of Aozora Bank, which was itself the largest in eight years, and likely rank as the top initial share offering in 2007.
Sony has already made a tentative application to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei said.
[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUST14969020070426
May 29th, 2007
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