Sony Cybershot DSC-T70 8.1MP Digital Camera (White) Review

PRETTY IN PINK
I own a professional camera (Canon EOS 1D Mark III) so it was bit of an embarrassment to seek a camera for my wife that was "cute" (1st criteria), "slim" (2nd criteria), and "pink" (third criteria).For these three criteria, there is no substitute other than the T70 from Sony.

POOR PERFORMANCE
The camera performs very well in great conditions (sunny, bright days) but suffers when lighting is compromised (darkness, incandescent or fluorescent lighting).This is largely based on the camera's inability to modify white balance to accommodate the strong colour hues given in artificial light.

TOUCH SCREEN
The touch-screen menu is not entirely intuitive but it is high on the "cool factor" (no buttons to press, it's mostly touch-screen).

SMILE
Also amazing (although more in an hilarious way than a cool way) is the smile technology where the camera only takes the picture when people are smiling.It seems this only works when you have the "cheesiest" smile ever.You need to be showing all your teeth (including your molars!) to get the camera to take a picture.Our family laughed about this for an hour as we were all screaming "cheese".My wife (who normally refuses to smile for the camera) was being as cheesy as ever!This feature is a bit silly and impractical but it can be fun.

MEMORY DUO STICK
Another factor with this camera is it's use of the Memory Duo for photo storage.This is a proprietary Sony item, and appears to be destined to the same history as Beta Video tapes (ie. premature obsolescence).Memory is cheap (we bought a 2GB card for $30) but you are unlikely to already have this card from a previous camera unless you are a Sony person.You should also check that you have a card reader (for more efficient transfer of images) on your computer.

8.1 MP TOO MUCH!
Lastly, the 8.1 MP is great, but the optics and image quality aren't worthy of this MP size.I would suggest that you are wasting memory and time shooting at full size.You will not lose much (if any) discernible quality by shooting at 5MP.

OTHER OPTIONS
Before you consider this camera, I would suggest looking at the Canon A720IS or Canon A560.The camera are not as "cool" but the image quality will be remarkable.My son's graduation pictures (from kindergarten) were wasted using the "cute" camera and nothing will recapture that moment.



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Digital Camera Labels: Sony Cybershot DSC-T70 8.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom with Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization (White),Sony,DSCT70/W