Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2008/11/06/review_compact_camera_sony_cyber_shot_dsc_t700/
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700 compact camera
A slimline, stylish snapper that looks the part
Posted in Personal Tech, 6th November 2008 13:02 GMT
Review Sony is renowned for its stylish products, and the Cyber-shot DSC-T700 is no exception. But it'll take more than just good looks to convince us that this is a camera worth opening your wallet for.
This super-slim 10.1-megapixel digicam comes in a brushed aluminium body with a whopping 3.5in display area - almost 922,000 pixels worth of picture - which takes up all virtually all the available space on the back of the camera. The LCD's resolution, to save you the maths, is 1920 x 480.
Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-T700: a minimalist approach when open...
Sony has adopted a decidedly minimalist approach to the DSC-T700. At the front is a slide-down cover which drops to reveals the flash and lens, and switch the camera on. It takes about a couple of seconds to get the DSC-T700 ready for action.
At the top is barely enough space for a small power button, shutter button and zoom rocker switch, as the DSC-T700 is just 16mm deep. In fact, its slimline dimensions are just 95 x 58.4 x 16.4mm.
Underneath the camera is a battery charging port and a small flap covering the battery itself and the memory card compartment. And that's it.
...and even more so when closed
So where are the buttons and switches for selecting the menu and other functions? Well, Sony has opted to use touchscreen technology for most operations. Dotted around the display area are various icons which are used for selecting menus and features, all of which are activated by a finger-press.
Incidentally, don't be fooled by Sony's 3.5in display specification claim - the actual area used for displaying the image is less than three inches, with the rest taken up by two large black bands at the sides. Tucked on top of the display is a black playback button which is hard to see against the camera's black background.
The display area is closer to 3in than 3.5in
In terms of features, the DSC-T700 has a 1/2.3in Super HA CCD with 10.1 effective megapixels; a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens with a 4x optical zoom and focal length of 6.18-24.7mm, equivalent to 35-140mm in the 35mm format; shutter speed range of one-quarter to 1/1000s; ISO range from 80 to 3200; and as much face-detection technology as you can shake a stick at: the system is even designed to distinguish between adults and children.
Oh, and there's smile-detection technology too, with a choice of three settings; red-eye reduction; anti-blink technology which it detects when your subject's eyes are closed; anti-shake; and a "D-Range Optimiser", which Sony says adjusts exposure and contrast in high-contrast and backlit scenes.
Memory cards and battery slot into the base
The DSC-T700 offers a maximum image resolution of 3648 x 2736 pixels down to 640 x 480 (VGA) resolution, and there are three movie modes too: VGA resolution at 30f/s and 17f/s, plus 320 x 240 (QVGA) at 8f/s.
Sony has really beefed up the internal storage capacity on this camera and the DSC-T700 offers a massive 3.71GB of on-board storage, enough for 40,000 images at the lowest resolution or 1000 images at the highest. If that's not enough for you, the camera will also accept Memory Stick Duo cards.
The camera comes with Picture Motion Browser for importing and exporting images
Click for full-size screenshot
The DSC-T700 is very compact and weighs just 160g with battery and memory card on board. The camera is clearly designed for the style-conscious snapper who for the most part simply wants to point and shoot. Manual control is minimal and the camera offers three main operating modes. Auto Mode does what it says on the tin. Easy Mode takes away even more control from the user, offering just a few adjustable variables, such as image size and self timer.
Program Auto Mode lets you adjust variables such as ISO speed, metering mode and exposure compensation. There are also a number of Scene Modes, including Sport, Underwater, Snow, Beach and Gourmet, as Sony prefers to call the food-snapping mode. The macro mode includes a close-focus option, which operates as near as 1cm from the object.
Whether the DSC-T700 is the camera for you will depend on whether you like touchscreen technology or not. We have yet to be convinced. As with many touchscreens, the DSC-T700's was temperamental. Sometimes it was over-sensitive and we'd accidentally activate a menu or function; at other times it took several taps to get anything to happen. Sony supplies a plastic stylus to help things, but who wants to use a stylus to operate a camera?
You can even use the touchscreen to focus on an object, but it's probably easier just to point the camera in the right direction.
Sample shots
Click for full-size images
Colour reproduction is impressive, as this shot of autumn trees shows
The DSC-T700’s Burst mode lets you shoot up to 100 images at close to 2f/s speed
A close-up focus setting in macro mode lets you take shots when only 1cm away from the object
Sample shots
Click for full-size images
Here you can see the difference that the 4x optical zoom makes when shooting the cathedral entrance
The DSC-T700 doesn’t have the widest lens on the market but you can still take decent landscape shots
The DSC-T700 also uses a somewhat fiddly menu system. There are two main menus: Home and Menu. The former is used for adjusting various parameters for features such as slideshow and printing, while the Menu menu is used for making changes to things like the image size, recording mode and the face-detection system. There are also lots of sub-menus to navigate.
When it comes to performance, the DSC-T700 delivered in some areas but not in others. Picture quality was for the most part good, and systems like face- and smile-detection worked well. But we were disappointed in several areas. First of all, lots of our shots using the flash were afflicted with the dreaded red eye, despite the red-eye reduction setting. Despite offering D-Range Optimiser technology and other bells and whistles, the camera struggled to set the best exposure setting when subjects are backlit.
Yes, we know, this is always a tough area for cameras, but we have seen better results from other products. We were also disappointed with the battery life and this is no doubt due to the large LCD screen and small battery. We fired off around 150 shots - true, many with flash - and then had to recharge the battery.
On a happier note, the DSC-T700 coped well with fast-moving objects and low-light conditions, and its close-focus macro function really lets you get decent shots when the camera isn't far from your subject.
Verdict
If style is your thing then the DSC-T700 could be the camera for you - provided you don't mind shelling out £300 for the privilege. It looks great, for the most part produces good pictures and offers superb internal storage capacity. But it's not the easiest of cameras to operate, and you pay for the slim design and large LCD screen with a shorter battery life.