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Fuzzy Logic Is Sony overloading on camera features at the expense of photo quality?
Fuzzy Logic Is Sony overloading on camera features at the expense of photo quality? | Is Sony overloading on camera features at the expense of photo quality? |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Tuesday, 25 March 2008 | |
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Given the fact that digital cameras are all about taking pictures, are digital camera manufacturers now overloading on features in an attempt to convince users it’s time to upgrade their cameras yet again? For the last few years, in Australia at least, Canon have published a report called the ‘Canon Digital Lifestyle Index’. In this report, digital cameras have been outselling mp3 players by two-to-one year after year, with ever improving photo quality and cool new features being but two of the reasons why you’d want to buy a new camera and replace your older digital model. An article in the Australian IT explores the latest features on some of Sony’s latest models, including the new Cybershot T300, noting that although 10 megapixels is now the new standard, it’s “more than double the image size needed to get postcard-sized print”, while also taking up more space on your camera’s memory card – and your hard drive. The article notes that some of Sony’s models have improved ‘face recognition’ capabilities, ensuring clear faces are the priority in photos you take – in both photo and video mode, while a new ‘Smile Shutter’ feature doesn’t take a picture until everyone is smiling. That could actually be one of the first instances of a camera that actually won’t take a picture when you press the button, and it makes me wonder if this feature will backfire and cause some users to get annoyed. I haven’t had the chance to test this camera as yet, but I’d love to test it with a group of people in front of me, just to see how long it takes to take a photo – especially if some youngster is intentionally pulling faces and refuses to smile – so whether this feature is truly of any benefit is yet to be seen, although on the surface it does sound like it will ensure you get photos where everyone smiles. Still, that’s one of the benefits of digital – you can take as many photos as your card can store, so if someone wasn’t smiling – take another photo! Photo editing software can also merge two photos together so you can get everyone smiling, although for many people it’s not a simple process, so the idea that the camera will only take a shot when all are smiling does have some appeal. So, what about the actual photo quality? Although the Australian IT looks at new Sony models, it doesn’t actually talk about photo quality. An article in CNET says the T300’s quality is worse than its two predecessors, the T200 and T100. What’s going on? Please read onto page 2. |
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