Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T100 First Impressions Review

by Emily Raymond
Published on April 20, 2007

Navigation
Intro	Physical Tour
Components	Design / Layout
Modes	Control Options
Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras
Overall Impressions	Conclusion

 
 

There aren’t many manual controls on the Sony T100. That is just as well. Surely they would be difficult to access with the small size of the current buttons. The manual controls that are included are discussed in the following sections.

 

Auto Focus – The T-series upgrades its auto focus system. Its predecessors had five AF points while the T100 has nine AF points and a face detection system. The camera can focus from 50cm to 8cm when the macro mode is activated which can be done with a touch of the left side of the multi-selector. There are a few auto focus modes available in the recording menu: multi, center, and spot. Green brackets appear where the T100 is currently focusing, and the focus locks when the shutter release is pushed halfway. In the menu system, users can activate the orange auto focus assist lamp.

 

The face detection system is brand new to Sony digital cameras and is a trendy option on new models this year – and a few models from last year too. Sony’s face detection system can recognize up to eight faces at a time, compared with Canon’s system that can detect nine faces, and Fujifilm’s that detects 10 faces. Sony’s face detection is just as fast as these competitors, and it’s much faster than Nikon’s substandard version. The Sony T100 can track faces quite well even when it’s turned to the side a bit. The LCD displays boxes around the faces. The boxes change shape as the subjects move around the frame. Once the camera recognizes the faces, it takes a meter reading from them and adjusts the exposure accordingly. All in all, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T100’s auto focus system works well and quickly whether it is using face detection or not.

 

Manual Focus – The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T100 does not have a manual focus mode.

 

ISO

In the recording menu, there are a host of ISO sensitivity options. There are manual ISO settings from 80-400 along with a fully automatic ISO option in the auto mode. In the program mode, the ISO settings extend from 80 to 3200. There isn’t a live view when scrolling through these options.

 

There is a live view in the menu for the white balance options: Automatic, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent, and Flash. Unfortunately, there is no custom white balance setting which is important even for point-and-shooters. It is an all-purpose mode that allows users to tell the camera what color white is underneath different lighting – something the presets don’t do.

Manual exposure settings cannot be adjusted, but the shutter speed and aperture automatically change when the exposure compensation is tweaked. This can be done in the recording menu with a live view that allows users to gauge just how bright or dark to make an image. The T100 has the typical +/- 2 range in steps of 1/3 that is available on almost all digital cameras. It also has an exposure bracketing function grouped with the burst modes; this isn’t a feature commonly found feature on ultra-slim models.

 

Multi, center, and spot metering modes can be found in the recording menu with a live view and explanations for each option. These are typical fare on digital cameras, but the T100’s metering control in the movie mode is unique. Users can choose from multi and center options there.

 

The T100 isn’t meant for low light photography involving long exposures. Its shutter speed ranges from ¼-1/1000th of a second in the auto mode and 1-1/1000th of a second in program auto. The shutter speeds are automatically chosen by the camera, but the chosen speeds can be somewhat adjusted using exposure compensation.

 

The aperture can’t be manually adjusted. It ranges from f/3.5-5.6 when zoomed out and f/4.4-10 when zoomed in, falling short of the f/2.8 aperture that comes on most other digital cameras.