Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T200
It's a perfect camera for someone who prizes style and gimmicky features over performance and control.
| The good | Great design; nice, large 3.5-inch screen; touchscreen. |
|---|---|
| The bad | Iffy accuracy for Smile Shutter; no custom white balance; slight noise even at ISO 400. |
CNET Editors' Rating
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CNET Editors' rating
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Rating breakdown
Design
Whatever your tech heart tells you (i.e. going for a higher megapixel count), it's hard to remember its advice when you are gazing upon a well-designed piece of kit--even when that 3-megapixel lemon is sitting next to a high-spec, high-zoom beast of a camera.The Cyber-shot T200 is an animal along the lines of the former. It's wonderfully sleek. And it's a close replica of the awarding-winning Cyber-shot T100, so it's good to know that the Japanese firm understands the need for not fixing what's not broken.
For more details on the T200's design, click on the image.
Yet, while the classics are still there, some have gone missing. The joypad controls on the Cyber-shot T100's back have been replaced by a 3.5-inch LCD. In fact, leftover buttons have migrated to the camera top and, they look and feel… a little cramped.
But turn on the touchscreen and you may feel a little forgiving. It's like watching TV. And the LCD has a large viewing angle, so you can compose pictures even when you are looking at the display from a close to 90-degree angle. Experienced photographers may disdain the LCD in favor of a viewfinder, though, the average consumer would find it easier to frame with the larger screen.
The camera menu is pretty much touch-and-go, literally. You can press a part of the screen to select a focus point or you can scribble over the recorded image in red ink. Because it's a touchscreen, there are more hotkeys (peppered over the display) than the Cyber-shot T100, so options are now more accessible. But all these aren't new; early Sony Handycams used touch-based controls. There's also the matter of subjectivity--not everyone likes non-tactile buttons.
Features
The 3.5-inch LCD is a bit of a mirage. For one, the Cyber-shot T200 doesn't use the entire screen for framing, which leaves two black bars on the sides. During image playback, you do not enjoy the benefit of a full screen, either.In both cases, the T200 is using just 2.8 inches for the display, while the T100 flaunts more screen space. There is a widescreen option for the T200, but what it does essentially is to crop an image temporarily to a 16:9 aspect ratio, so some visual details will be lost.
In playback mode, you can also tweak color, correct red-eye, and even apply different effects such as fish-eye and blur filters, all within the camera. Most of these are available on the T100 as well, but it's instinctively easier when you are manipulating an image using a touchscreen.
The Cyber-shot T200 can also output MP3-playing slideshows to standard-definition TVs with the included video cable, or to high-definition TVs with an optional component-video cable.
Under the hood, the heart of the T200 is almost the same as the T100. They both have the same 8-megapixel resolution, same 3,200 ISO cap and 5x optical zoom. However, the T200 does have an additional 10 scene modes.
Smile Factor
The face detection mode (it focuses and tracks faces) on the Cyber-shot T200 isn't worth grinning about since it's so commonplace, but the Smile Shutter may be worth it for some.As the name literally suggests, the shutter mechanism is activated by your subject's smile. He beams and the camera takes a picture immediately. But smiles can vary from a mild smirk to a laughing-your-head-off guffaw. To remedy that, Sony lets you set three levels of grin detection, but it still isn't foolproof.
"Can you smile a little bit more?"
Your friend shows more teeth.
"Not good. I think you need to grin harder than that."
He puts on his best Cheshire cat impression.
"Nope, nope. Hey, don't look at me like that. It's the camera that thinks you aren't smiling enough."
Things get more interesting in a group photo. If someone in the group flashes the correct grin before everyone else, the camera will just snap the picture anyway. And it's no laughing matter, if you have to keep repeating the shot just because someone has a stubborn smile.
Performance
In CNET Asia Labs' tests, the T200 lacked the performance grunt that marked the T100 as a winner. The T200 took 1.98 seconds to start up and time to first shot was a slow 3.8 seconds. This is even slower than the new Panasonic FX-33 (2.9 seconds).)
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Details on the T200's ISO image quality; ISO 400, 800, 3,200.
Image Quality
The Cyber-shot T200 takes decent pictures, but image noise is its bane. Even at ISO 400, we were already detecting noise and nitpickers would probably not even consider light sensitivity settings above that. ISO 800 should be the furthest ventured as anything beyond that is plagued with plenty of detail softening and speckled noise.We did not detect noticeable purple fringing and the autofocus churned out accurately sharp pictures.
The auto white balance was accurate in most types of lighting conditions, whether it was in a fluorescent or tungsten environment. However, Sony did not include a custom white balance option.
Latest comments
Pros: Big screen, sharp pictures, great super macro shots. eyecatching design, switches between 16:9 n 4:3 frame
Cons: battery life..............
Summary: Superb Camera in all aspects
I bought this cam in HK in Dec 2007. Before I bought this while doing research on digi cams when my eyes fell on this. Honestly it was love at first sight reason ? It's screen. I just couldn't take my eyes off it.I had to buy it. When in HK I did and boy it justifies my buy not only in looks department but technically too. Trust me this is a gem. it's takes great pictures. period. Due to touch screen it becomes more easier to navigate when taking macro shots where you require steady hand n concentration. Take a look at my macro shots to believe this cam's quality. http://www.flickr.com/photos/26309540@N08/sets/72157604912657953/ There are no negatives but battery life could improve,for a guy like me 250 shots on single charge is very less. But then again I guess the big screen takes the juice out.
Pros: 3.5" touch screen LCD, smile shutter, picture quality, build quality, design
Cons: photo's at high ISO settings are soft and a bit smudged, 10min video clip w/ sound limit
Summary: Great camera!!!
I just bought this yesterday and even the store agreed with the reviews I researched on the web that T300 has bad picture quality having soft images and with annoying noise. It's weird that cnet-asia gave the T300 higher marks than T200 when cnet.com gave the T200 higher marks than the T300 and even went as far as saying to buy T100 or T200 instead of T300 because of it's poor picture quality. My sony cyber-shot T200 is great! lots of fun to use, fast and is worth it! I would recommend this to everyone! If you are wondering the smile shutter really works even if you smile without showing your teeth as other sites say. I think you just need to smile fast so the face detection can notice the sudden change in facial expression. It's limitations are acceptable cause if you use flash in night shots or adjust your scene mode manually pictures are crisp and detailed. And the 10min clip limit is okay cause it's a digital camera! If you want video then buy a digital video camera. It really is almost perfect! I am extremely satisfied with my T200.
Pros: Everything especially the touchscreen and slideshow
Cons: None
Summary: Great Camera!
Love everything about it. i dont regret buying this camera.
Pros: 3.5"bigger view, 8.1megapixels
Cons: touch screen is sensitve any sharp object could damage the screen
Summary: nice look
SONY is a maker of television, not specialized on camera, only recently they get a partner joint venture to produce camera, but peoples attracted to the sony digital camera, so the sony digital camera become hits on the market.
Pros: large screen ,impressive touchscreen
Cons: pictures 30% crisp, no viewfinder (nobody use it anyway) very fragile.
Summary: for people who enjoy showing off!
i've bought one because of the design sleek, its a good show-off tool! take picture then show it -hey this is what you look like,,,, and let me draw you a horn and write down the dates, let me zoom it. a great toy just like an iphone, a tool to show-off but when you get to the serious business. weeew the picture quality is not that great, but color rendition is magnificent. so when you buy this -think about your purpose. shoot show erase or shoot edit save? you're spending for the touchscreen not the qualiy.
Pros: smile shutter function is really goodit
Cons: it is not work properly in low light condition
Summary: excilent
Very fast shutter during the day or during the night with good lighting. - Excellent multi shots. - Easy to use touch-screen.I really want to love this camera but image quality is everything in a camera for me. After all, we take pictures with my camera.
Pros: What I liked: 5X zoom lens in a compact, stylish metal body, Optical image stabilization, Good image quality (by ultra-compact standards), Enormous 3.5" touchscreen LCD display; great outdoor visibility (at bright setting), Snappy focusing speeds, though sluggish in low light, Good face detection system and one-of-a-kind "Smile Shutter" feature, Elaborate playback mode includes good redeye removal tool, special effects, and "painting", Above average battery life, Optional underwater case and wide-angle lens, USB 2.0 High Speed protocol supported.
Cons: What I didn't care for: Some blown highlights, blurry corners, and vignetting in photos; moderate barrel distortion, Noise reduction smudges details, mottles sky at low ISOs; unimpressive high ISO image quality, Design annoyances: sliding lens cover, tiny buttons and zoom controller, inability to remove memory card when using a tripod; camera more difficult to hold than most ultra-compacts, Design annoyances: sliding lens cover, tiny buttons and zoom controller, inability to remove memory card when using a tripod; camera more difficult to hold than most ultra-compacts, LCD resolution same as smaller screens; can be difficult to see in low light, 10 minute movie clip limit.
Summary: Featuring an 8 Megapixel sensor, 5X optical zoom, optical image stabilization, and gargantuan 3.5" touchscreen LCD display, the T200 is "bigger and better" than just about everything else on the market. Heck, it even has a "smile shutter" feature which wa
Camera performance was very good in most respects. The T200 is up and ready to go in about 1.4 seconds, which is average for a camera in this class. Focus times were very good, except in low light, where they often exceeded one second. Shutter lag wasn't a problem, and shot-to-shot delays were brief. The T200's continuous shooting mode can keep firing away for up to 100 shots, though it slows down from it's maximum 2.1 frame/second burst rate after about a dozen shots. Battery life was above average, which surprised me considering the size of the LCD. Like all of Sony's cameras, the T200 supports the USB 2.0 High Speed standard. The DSC-T200's photo quality was pretty good for an ultra-compact camera. The camera captures sharp photos with pleasing colors, with generally accurate exposure. A few times I did notice that the camera really blew out the highlights, though. Purple fringing was well-controlled, as was noise. There isn't much noise since the camera is applying a fair amount of noise reduction, the results of which are visible even at low ISOs. You'll notice that fine details are smudged, and solid colors (like the sky) appear a bit blotchy. The camera also has minor issues with vignetting, corner blurriness, and barrel distortion, which seem to be "standard features" on ultra-compact cameras. It has big issues with redeye, but at least there's a tool in playback mode to get rid of that annoyance.
Pros: Well know design
Cons: Never use Sony Lens. Touch panel, take up battery life.
Summary: well known design~yet no gd choice Cameraz
It's a choice for ppl who just love the design of colors in apperance. A well-Known Carl Zeis Lens that make in Germany. Built-in Cameras that hardly damage the lens while if it's drop. Touch Panel that can take Smile Shutter with Teeth Detection & editing formal in Camera itself like Scrapbook. BUT BUT!! Sony doesn't produce its own SONY lens like Olympus using Olympus Lens, Fujifilm using Fuji lens, Canon using Canon lens. Built-in Cameras hardly take in the night time scene. While it's gd to protect lens if it's drop but if it's drop n slight knock away. It's tends to Dis-Focus makin the picture unclear. The slip up n down while turnin on the Camera easily losen out the grip. Touch Panel too senstive, can easily damage unless you're ready to get it repair once more or paste screen protector on it. Slow in loading photos. 3.5"Lcd take up battery life..
Pros: Features, Focus, Design
Cons: Touch Screen, Other Functions
Summary: The Amateurs' Tech
This new camera is a perfect tech for point-n-shoot photographers.With features like steady-shot, smile shutter it is very helpful for anyone to snap a picture anytime. Look forward to see more from Sony in future.
Pros: Battery
Cons: Battery
Summary: Battery Low
Because of Touch screen it gets more power consumption.
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