 Excellent Camera for Taking Everyday Shots |
| Review Date: April 14, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Andrew J. Freyer, Cleveland, OH USA |
Lets get to the bottom line:
The Good:
This camera takes excellent pictures - as a response to CNET and other reviewers who note that the DSC-T300's pictures are soft/noisy/high contrast/ et cetera are reviewing this from a professional photography point of view. Comparing this to an SLR or any other non-subcompact isn't reasonable. Just like we wouldn't compare a Chevy Pickup with a BMW sedan. Photos taken with this camera are intended for "everyday shooting." I will use this for vacations, parties, or tours. I would not use this to photograph my own wedding. For everyday shots, the quality is superb. If you are looking for a professional camera in a subcompact chassis, then this is about as close as you will come.
The optical zoom is fantastic, as is the image stabilization -- I do not have a very steady hand. Of the first few test shots that I took with this camera, one was of a license plate from a car parked about 100 meters away. I zoomed in with full optical and digital zoom, and snapped a photo of what looked like a very grainy and pixelated white blob jerking quickly around the screen. To my surprise, when I viewed this shot, the camera had cleaned it up so that not only was there no motion blur, the license number was perfectly visible. I could even see the county name on the bottom! Needless to say, I won't be taking many pictures from this far away, but still it is good to know that the feature is there if I ever need it.
The smile shutter works surprisingly well, and I use it all the time. What not many of the other reviews that I read talked about was the functionality of the smile shutter. When the feature is enabled, the camera is not in normal photo mode. You will have to take it out of Smile Shutter mode if you want to resume taking pictures. Once enabled, the smile shutter constantly looks for faces, and puts an orange box around each one. It will identify up to 9 faces. Once a face is ID'd, it judges how much the person is smiling, and if they are smiling enough, then a picture is taken. It will take pictures of smiles until you take it out of smile mode. In fact at a party of mine, I put the camera on a tripod, set it up for smile mode, and told people to go smile in front of it. By the end of the night, every single person had a smiling portrait in my camera. Excellent feature. The funny thing is, no one believes that the camera actually can determine who is an isn't smiling - so when they finally see the red-eye flash go off, 90% of people cant help but smile a real, and perfectly captured, smile of pleasant surprise. When in this mode, this camera only captures happiness.
The Add-A-Smile Feature is completely useless, but because of it, your camera will be a hit. I have tried the add-a-smile feature on 20+ people and more often than not, they end up looking creepy. However, this is hilarious. You will never seriously use this feature, but its a joy to have all the same.
Video is surprisingly good. When in "fine video" mode, I would be hard pressed to tell the difference between this and broadcast quality. "Fine video" does take lots of memory though - 1 hour ~ 4 GB. To fit more video on the card, you can switch to "standard" but unless you are using this ONLY for youtube, don't bother with standard.
Touch Screen - Once you learn it, it is a very intuitive interface.
The Bad:
There is a learning curve on the touch screen - Most people will be turned off initially by the touch screen. I have found that the learning curve has put people off from borrowing my camera to take pictures. I always have to explain how to use it. Not a huge deal, I bought the camera for me, not for people who want to take pictures of me.
Fingerprints collect on the screen - well, its a touch screen, what do you expect?
Bottom Line: This is a great camera for everyday shots. For shots that you do not intend on editing professionally, this is a great camera. For shots that are for viewing pleasure, this is a great camera. If perchance you do want to edit professionally photos taken by this camera, the resolution gives extreme detail.
All in all, I have never considered returning this camera. |
Wonderful Camera!
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| Review Date: May 11, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Sikandar Porter-Gill, Gaithersburg, MD USA |
I researched cameras for over 2 months, but could never find one that was right for me. I went to BestBuy, Walmart, Target, and other stores looking and trying out their various cameras. One day I came along the T300.
It is extremely user friendly, has a long battery life, and an excellent zoom (wonderful for novices and professionals). The camera has many options including environmental settings, flash, image size, timer, and macro settings.
The video has wonderful quality, with the option to sync your camera to an HDTV.
The only negative part of the camera is that I had to buy a new memory stick (Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo), because the camera only accepts these types of sticks--it does not accept the conventional SD memory sticks.
The touch screen is very easy to use, and can be used with your finger or the provided stylus!
I had been planning to buy the Panasonic DSCW170, however, after trying both out and comparing it the the Canon and Casio cameras--the Sony T300 was the best. I know that you will be satisfied!
****UPDATE****
I have been using the video alot on the camera, it is excellent! You have many choices, such as the quality, and the aspects of where it will be viewed (email attachment, HDTV, Computer...).
Also, the provided component cable/USB cable, give you easy connection to your compatible TV, it is beautiful on my Panasonic HDTV!
Defiantly recommended!
Enjoy! :) |
First Review! Great Camera...
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| Review Date: April 1, 2008 |
| Reviewer: R. Gates, Larchmont, NY United States |
Wow this camera is amazing. I am extremely happy I forked over the extra cash for the T300. I was originally going to buy a Casio Exilim EX-Z100, but I am so much happier with this one. Its pictures aren't SLR quality and the whole painting in the camera thing is kinda dumb, but the 10.1 mega pixels and the 5x optical zoom and the optical image stabilization and the 3.5" touch screen really sold it for me. Plus its awesome just flipping down the door on the front to power it on. The new face detection is improved over the T200 and it can do multiple smiles on the smile shutter. Ya the touch screen takes some getting getting used to and it's annoying to say ok or back every two seconds, but it's a touch screen. I mean come on. For me the pros outweigh the cons by a lot. There is nothing out on the market today that is as innovative and new as this camera, plus you know its quality because it's a Sony.
PROS:
-5x Optical Zoom (Very versatile and it starts at 33 mm, so its technically wide angle)
-10.1 Mega Pixels (I know mega pixels don't make a camera, but I crop a lot so the more the merrier)
-Optical Image Stabilization (You really need optical, digital is about as useful as digital zoom)
-3.5" Touchscreen (Touchscreen interface could be better, but its still a huge display and good for showing off pictures. Plus it's still a touchscreen)
-Face Detection and Smile Shutter (Yes I know every camera has face detection now, but this one actually works. On up to 8 faces! Plus it can distinguish between children and adults and the awesme smile shutter now works on 8 people!)
-Sleek Design (It's super-thing and the brushed aluminum looks awesome. Same with the sliding door)
-Sony Quality (You're getting a trusted product. Plus it feels solid and well built, even though its light and its built with top of the line materials)
CONS:
-Touchscreen Interface (Bigger screen is cool, but it's still kind of a new technology for cameras and its not the most responsive screen ever)
-Neurotic Menu (It asks you if you're sure to do things and then if you're ok and then if you really want to switch it and when you're done you have to hit back)
Other than some interface issues, this is a very good sexy little machine. Don't expect it to be an SLR and ISO 3200 is somewhat useless but it's good features outweigh the bad by a lot. Use it for a couple of days and you will fall in love with it. Trust me its worth $400. |
fantastic !
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| Review Date: June 26, 2008 |
| Reviewer: Douglas Medford, |
| Bought this camera after months of searching. Good thing I didn't pay attention to the professionals that reviewed it. One person said not to pay attention to them, that it was great for everyday use so I bought it on the strength of that. Boy, am I ever happy I did. Thanks, Sony. |
Great buy!!
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| Review Date: November 3, 2008 |
| Reviewer: , |
| I love my new DSC-T300 camera. The features are great and it's very user friendly. The camera takes amazing pictures. I only have one complaint about the camera. The battery is horrible. I fully charge the battery and the camera is dying after a few hours of use. I always turn the camera off after I finish taking pictures and the camera turns itself off after a couple of minutes of no use. On two different occations, my camera has died in the middle of an event. Overall, the camera is great, but you need to carry an extra battery around |
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