Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T300

Auto Mode
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T300 employs an Easy Shooting mode, a simplified setting that tailors the interface for beginners. The Easy Shooting mode uses larger font, simplified vocabulary, and reduced options, a function borrowed from Sony’s Handycam camcorders. The mode cuts out controls and boils them down to Image Size (Large, Small) and Flash (Auto, Off). Users can still view battery indicator, remaining shots, self-timer, and shooting mode.

Movie Mode
The Sony T300 records in MPEG-1 video in the following resolution and speeds: 640 x 480 in Fine and VX Fine at 30 frames per second (fps), 640 x 480 in Standard and VX Standard at 16.6 fps, and 320 x 240 at 30 fps and 8.3 fps. Users can use the optical zoom while recording video, which is nice since sometimes point-and-shoots forgo zoom during video shooting.

Drive / Burst Mode
The Sony T300 has a Burst mode for consecutive shooting. Unfortunately, the camera didn’t come with specifics about how fast the burst rate was at the time of publication. Read the full review in the coming months for full specs. Users access the Burst mode through Scene Selection, followed by hitting High Speed Shutter mode. Flash can be turned on or off, but it is recommended to keep the flash off since it slows down the drive. The self-timer operates on a 2- or 10-second delay.

Playback Mode
The Cyber-shot T300 is part of Sony’s strategy to revamp its cameras. It’s not just about taking pictures; it’s about managing them once you have them. Consumers are packing more pictures on the multi-GB memory cards, according to Sony’s press materials. To streamline the post-capture process, Sony updated its playback features with new editing tools and an upgraded management system.

Sony beefed up the slide show feature with added music options. In addition to slide show view, users can jump through images in a thumbnail index and navigate using side arrow directionals. The LCD displays resolution, file number, and date and time.


The Sony T300 also debuts a new Unsharp Mask tool, an in-camera retouching function. On the prototype, we didn’t notice a significant difference between the original picture and the edited version with the Unsharp tool, but then again, that was through initial testing on the LCD; we'll reserve any conclusions on that until we get the final version in for review.

Menu
Wide Zoom Display	Crop to 16:9, OK
Slideshow	Image (Folder), Effects (Simple, Nostalgic, Active, Face 2 Nostalgic, Basic, Stylish, Face 1 Basic, Face 3 Stylish), Interval (Auto), Filter by Faces (Off), Music (1-8), Repeat (On, Off), Start, Back
Retouch	Trimming, Red eye Correction, Unsharp Mask, Soft Focus, Partial Color, Fisheye Lens, Cross Filter, Radical Blur, Retro, Happy Faces
Paint	Add paint, stamp, or frame, OK
Multi-purpose resize	HDTV, Web
Trash	Delete This Image, Multiple Images, All in the Folder
Protect	This Image, Multiple Images
DPOF	This Image, Multiple Images
Print Images	This Image, Multiple Images
Rotate	Left, Right
Volume Settings	-, +

One particular feature that caught our attention is Happy Faces, a built-in post-capture editing tool that well, makes unhappy people happy. Change your driver’s license picture into a smiling portrait? No problem. We did initial testing on a prototype model, so the feature may be tweaked in the coming months. The Happy Faces tool converts the original non-smile into a smile. There are five steps of smile-ness, 1 being the least altered and 5 being the most. The editing tool seems to stretch the subject’s mouth into unnatural proportions when set to step 5, making our lovely staff writer look like the Joker. But at minor steps of 1 or 2, the smiles look close to real.  

Original Not Smiling	Happy Faces 5
Happy Faces 1	Happy Faces 2
Happy Faces 3	Happy Faces 4

The Happy Faces tool doesn’t work on the reverse, to make a smiley person not smiley. We checked. If teeth show, the camera has trouble recognizing the image. If the person smirks, the camera sometimes works to go in both extremes of unhappy to happy. The tool won’t work if the background is crowded. We had to move our subject to a plain curtain background for the tool to properly adjust smiles. But again, we'll reserve judgment on that until we get the final version in for review; Sony may yet tweak the feature.

This camera is feature-rich with editing tools, almost too many. New users will be overwhelmed with the number of options, but advanced point-and-shooters will appreciate the added tools. Yes, the Happy Faces tool and other included functions are a little gimmicky, but it will surely make users laugh, pass around the camera, and share pictures. And after all, isn’t that what photography is about?

Custom Image Presets
The Sony T300 includes multiple Scene modes for automatic shooting. Each scene mode sets the camera to certain auto aperture and shutter speeds, optimized for varied conditions: Auto, High Sensitivity, Smile Shutter, Soft Snap, Landscape, Twilight Portrait, Twilight, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, Underwater, Smile Shutter, and High Speed Shutter.

The camera also has an auto of auto Scene modes - Intelligent Scene Recognition (iSCN). In this mode, the camera supposedly detects six shooting conditions - Portrait, Portrait and Backlight, Backlight, Twilight Portrait, Handheld Twilight, and Twilight using tripod – and takes one picture with the standard automatic settings,  then takes a second picture with the automatically selected scene mode. The mode is always turned on when in Auto mode. We couldn’t thoroughly test iSCN at the trade show, but tune in later for more details when DigitalCameraInfo.com releases the full review in the coming months.