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Archive for the ‘Sony’ Category

Wow, it wasn’t all that long ago that I bought the Sony DSC-W100 as my personal point and shoot for the times when I didn’t want all the heft an notoriety of pulling out a bigger camera. I thought the camera was impressive then with 8 megapixels, 3x zoom, and great picture quality, but this camera takes it one step further with 12.1 megapixels, Super SteadyShot and higher ISO control. Keeping up with cameras is more expensive than keeping up with computers!

Designed to make photo-viewing crystal clear, Sony today announced a
new line of digital cameras featuring a high-definition component
output.  These new Cyber-shot W-series cameras offer direct connection
to an HDTV, which is ideal for integrating full 1080 HD photo-viewing
into a home theater.

Imaging resource reviewed Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W80 and wrote:
“It’s hard to call the Sony W80 the bottom rung in the W-Series because it only gives up a few pixels for a lower price. Otherwise the Sony W80 has all the bells and whistles, making it a terrific bargain. It has a Bionz processor, face detection technology, High ISO, Super SteadyShot, in-camera editing, and HD output signal. The Sony W80 does give away detail to hold onto color at higher ISO settings, but most users won’t mind that tradeoff, particularly if you only plan to make 4×6 prints. The color that the Sony W80 holds at ISO 1,600 is pretty good. HD output — particularly when played as a slide show with the built-in special effects and music — was stunning on the Sony W80, but only for stills. This isn’t an HD movie camera, and it even has trouble playing VGA movies through the dock accessory. But to see any HD output from this camera, you’ll have to buy an accessory cable, dock, or dock/printer. Packing that big a technoload (new word, sorry) into such a small package at such a low price makes the W80 an easy Dave’s Pick.“
Read whole review here

LAS VEGAS–The heyday of 35mm film SLR cameras is long past, but one foundation of the technology is staging something of a comeback with new help from Sony.

The vast majority of digital single-lens reflex cameras today use an image sensor that’s smaller than a full frame of 35mm film, which means lenses behave somewhat differently than on a film camera. For years, only Canon sold SLRs with a full-frame sensor, but Nikon entered the market with its top-end D3 late in 2007. At the Photo Marketing Association trade show Thursday, Sony announced its forthcoming “flagship” Alpha-branded SLR will follow suit.

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A300 and A350 – Sony’s Latest Snappers

Here’s a couple of new offerings from Sony – the A300 and A350.

The A350 boasts 14.2MP and is able to blast away at 2.5fps in continuous shooting.  The A300 can notch up 3fps.

The DSLR-A300 kit with a DT 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 standard zoom lens will ship in April for about $800. The DSLR-A350 camera body will be available in March for about $800, and the DSLR-A350 kit with a DT 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 3.9x zoom lens will be available for about $900 at the same time.

They both offer Sony’s new “Quick AF Live View” technology allowing you to frame photos on the camera’s LCD without sacrificing auto-focusing speed common to other live-view systems.

Sony’s ‘Pentamirror Tilt’ mechanism directs light to a dedicated live view image sensor, enabling fast and responsive TTL phase-detection auto-focusing, even during live view.  I’m guessing you guys understand all of that yeah?

With Live View and an adjustable LCD, the cameras don’t need to be in front of your mug.  This will allow proud parents to maintain eye-contact when snapping their offspring or for paps to keep an out for security ;0,

These new models are promising tip-top imaging and crediting it to their APS-C CCD image sensors and ‘BIONZ’ processing engine.

In its new Alpha 200, Sony has given its original DSLR (and our 2006 Camera of the Year), the Alpha 100, a makeover. Although it bears a slight outward resemblance to Sony’s higher-end A700, inside, not much has changed. The camera does get new firmware, a boost in ISO sensitivity to 3200 from the previous 1600, and a tweak of the sensor-based Super SteadyShot image stabilization that Sony says will allow a half-stop more handholding leeway than the A100. While the nine-point autofocus array remains, AF speeds are said to be improved 70 percent, and with better tracking. Otherwise, it uses the same 10.2MP CCD imager of the A100, and metering, flash, viewfinder, and image adjustments are all carried over from the A100 with little alteration.

Most noticeable external changes are a modestly bigger LCD monitor — now 2.7 inches, up from 2.5 on the A100 — and the elimination of the Function dial on top, which gave access to settings for ISO, white balance, Dynamic Range Optimizer (DRO), color profiles, flash modes, focus modes, and meter pattern. Instead, the A200 has an A700-style Function (Fn) button within easy reach of the thumb on the back of the camera. This provides quick access to camera controls via the rear LCD panel, whose interface more closely resembles that of the A700. The new camera can also accept a vertical grip, VG-B30AM ($250, street) that can use one or two rechargeable batteries.

In spite of the bigger screen and a few tweaks, isn’t this camera a little less than the old A100? Well, yes. Sony is clearly positioning the A200 as the entry-level DSLR in its lineup, and its projected street price ($699 with 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 Sony DT lens) reflects that. Moreover, the A200 will be available only with the kit lens, not body-only.

It’s still quite a deal. You get a camera capable of Excellent image quality (with resolution right around 2,000 lines), useful image controls such as DRO, a fine-performing lens, and image stabilization that will work with virtually any lens that fits on the camera.

Read the full article here: