Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T900

Display (9.10)

Sony is known for creating large, gorgeous LCD screens, and the T900’s is no exception. It’s a widescreen display with 16:9 aspect ratio ratio, measuring 3.5-inch diagonally, with 921,600-dots. Most other point-and-shoot cameras only offer 230,000-dots, usually in a 2.3-inch or 3-inch screen. The Sony T900’s screen is decidedly better quality than any of the comparison cameras, though the Canon has a 461,000-dot LCD, which isn’t to be scoffed at. During image playback, photographs are crystal clear and the high resolution of the screen means that you can see detail very well in the images, and easily spot any focus problems. However, when shooting, the Live View system is lower resolution (probably to keep the frame rate smooth), and the images look grainy and poor quality on the sharp screen. The menu system on the T900 is also low-resolution, an issue we’ve had with previous Sony cameras as well. The menus and icons look distinctly lackluster on the otherwise beautiful screen. It’s a bit like watching a VHS movie on an HDTV; it looked fine on an old, low-resolution TV, but looks poor indeed on a high-res display.

Because the T900 is a touch-screen camera, the vast majority of inputs and controls use the screen. Most touch screens currently available are either resistive or capacitive — Sony uses the former. Capacitive screens, like those found on the iPhone, are more accurate, more sensitive and can handle multiple input points. Resistive screens, on the other hand, tend to be less responsive and less accurate, as well as occasionally requiring re-calibration. The one advantage for users of a resistive screen is that you don’t have to use a finger, but can point with any hard object, like the included stylus, a piece of plastic or a fingernail. Overall, though, the T900 screen feels laggy and inaccurate. Sometimes you’ll have to press an icon a number of times before it registers, and it generally feels sluggish in responding to inputs.

Flash (4.50)

The flash on the T900 is placed roughly in the middle of the camera, slightly more to the right side. It’s far enough from either edge that it’s unlikely to be covered by fingertips accidentally. The flash is rated to 14 feet 9 inches on auto ISO. The flash can be set to auto, on, off or slow synchronization, which uses the flash at a slower shutter speed to illuminate the foreground subject without losing the background in the darkness. The flash intensity can be set to low, normal or high, and red-eye reduction can be set to auto, on or off. While the flash is moderately bright, there was noticeable light dropoff towards the corners of the image.

Lens (3.50)

The tiny lens tucked in the top right corner of the camera has a 4x zoom ratio, with a 35mm focal equivalent of 35mm – 140mm. You have to be careful when holding the camera two-handed, as it’s very easy to slightly cover the lens with a stray finger. The lens doesn’t project at all, and is completely silent when it zooms. It has a maximum aperture of f/3.5 at the widest lens setting and f/4.6 at maximum telephoto, and a minimum aperture of f/10, meaning you’re limited to a pretty shallow depth of field.

Zoom Ratio Examples
6.18 mm	12.3 mm	24.7 mm

Battery (4.00)

The battery is only rated for 200 shots, as powering that huge LCD uses a lot of juice. You won’t get a huge amount of use out of a single charge, and might want to carry a spare battery (an extra-cost option, of course).

Memory (2.50)

Sony is a huge fan of using its own proprietary formats whenever possible, ever since the days of Betamax. The company insists on forcing users to stick with their Memory Stick PRO Duo format, when SDHC cards are cheaper, perform as well or better, and are far easier to come by. The T900 also has 11MB of internal memory.

Jacks, Ports & Plugs (2.00)

As mentioned above, Sony loves its proprietary formats, and also uses one for the sole I/O port on the camera. On the plus side, the camera comes bundled with a cradle, which lets you plug into standard HDMI, stereo A/V out and mini-USB ports. However, the camera doesn’t ship with any HD cabling, only standard definition. If you don’t want to lug the extra bulk of the cradle everywhere with you, you can buy cables to plug directly into the camera’s port, direct from Sony, for $40 a pop.