4.2 The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T900, priced at $379.99 captures 12-megapixel images and HD video. However, photos tended to be noisy, and the small lens produced major distortion and chromatic aberration problems.
The Casio Exilim EC-FC100 doesn't have much over the Sony in general. Its noise levels were lower than the T900 at low ISO, but higher as ISO settings increase. In most of the tests we ran, it scored noticeably lower, especially for color accuracy, resolution and image stabilization. It doesn't look as good as the Sony, has a significantly lower-quality LCD, and has a menu system and interface that are poorly designed and exceedingly frustrating. The fact that there are separate buttons for playback and shooting modes exhibits a waste of what little space is free on the body of the camera.
But the Casio has a slick trick up its sleeve. Like its more expensive, larger brothers (the EX-F1 and EX-FH20) it can shoot video and still photographs with incredible speed, for slow motion movies or grabbing the perfect shot. If you reduce the resolution from its maximum 9 megapixel to 6 megapixels, you can shoot up to 30 frames per second. In video modes, you can shoot at up to 1000 frames per second (at 224x64 resolution) for incredible slow motion videos, 420fps at 224x168, and from 30 to 210fps at 480x360. The sliver of screen you get at 1000fps is fairly impractical, and requires far too much light to shoot successfully. 210fps on the other hand, gives you a decent size file, and the slow motion is enough to capture all sorts of amazing detail. The high speed in still mode is also great, allowing you to photograph action easily. The Exilim also has a mode that lets you store images continually in a buffer and grab a few shots of an event that happened a second or two before you actually hit the shutter. It's a a neat trick that means you won't lose any important events in the time it takes you to start recording.
It's obvious which of the two is more stylish, and the Sony is also a slightly better camera in terms of pure photographic quality. On the other hand, if you want a camera that specializes in recording fast moving objects (for nature or sports photography, for example), then the Casio probably has a lot of appeal.
