Review based on a US Production Model DSC-S70
Sony surprised quite a few people with their announcement of the S70, not least I'm sure some of their competitors. Although most manufacturers claim to know what their competitors are doing some of Sony's recent moves must certainly have sent ripples through certain offices in Japan.
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Sony are making a big thing about their Carl Zeiss lens systems, recognising that consumers are no longer just won over by megapixels, they want image quality and the quality components it takes to produce that. Although the lens systems used by Sony are designed by Carl Zeiss labs they are manufactured in Japan.
Taking the lens system situation on its own, us reviewers have for a long time begged manufacturers to fit decent quality lenses to digital cameras. Over a year ago we were reading comments by engineers saying that tiny lens systems focusing a scene down to such a small CCD area were reaching their limit. With the advent of greater and greater pixel counts without an associated increase in imager size the need for quality lenses is becoming more and more apparent (and obvious if you look at the increased visibility of chromatic aberrations on the latest batch of 3 megapixel digital cameras).
So here Sony enter the arena with the S70, a more traditional design than their excellent but rather wild looking F505, it's not too big nor is it pocket sized, but with a nice big, bright F2.0 Carl Zeiss lens they're hoping it'll produce the image quality that educated consumers are expecting.
If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this review (it may help you understand some of the terms used).
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Photographs of the camera were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 990, images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 1024 x 768 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. |
This review is Copyright 2000 Phil Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey.
Sony DSC-S70 Cyber-shot 3.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom | $29.00 |
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T90 12.1MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization (Black) | $214.50 |
Focus Camera Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H200/B Compact Zoom Digital Camera in Black + Sony 32GB Class 10 Secure Digital Memory Card + Sony Camera Case + 4 AA Rechargeable Batteries w/ Charger + Accessory Kit | $228.00 |
Sony DSC-S70 Cyber-shot 3.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom | $29.00 |
Sony Cybershot DSCW70 7.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom | $30.00 |
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H90 16.1 MP Digital Camera (Open Box) (Black) + 8GB SDHC Class 10 Memory Card + Extra NP-BG1A Battery + Carrying Case + Table Top Tripod, Lens Cleaning Kit, LCD Protector + USB SDHC Reader + Memory Wallet | $148.69 |
Sony DSCF707 Cyber-shot 5MP Digital Still Camera w/ 5x Optical Zoom | $78.88 |
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W690 16.1 MP Digital Camera with 10x Optical Zoom and 3.0-inch LCD (Silver) (2012 Model) | $147.00 |
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H90 16.1 MP Digital Camera with 16x Optical Zoom and 3.0-inch LCD (Black) (2012 Model) | $149.99 |
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-WX70 16.2MP CMOS Digital Camera (Silver) | $180.79 |
Sony DSCS75 Cyber-shot 3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom | $24.99 |
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