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April 5, 2006 – Sony updated its T-series today with the addition of another style-conscious Cyber-shot with high resolution and optical image stabilization. Designed to combat blur and accommodate those looking for "a group shot before leaving dinner or the party," the 7.2-megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-T30 offers a large 3-inch LCD display and expanded ISO sensitivities. The Cyber-shot DSC-T30 will retail for $500 when it enters stores in May.
The combination of image stabilization and high sensitivity settings were also highly marketed aspects of the Cyber-shot T9, which was announced last November and released earlier this year. The slim cameras are easily portable and designed to handle low light conditions.
"When people go out to have a good time, they don’t want to spend it learning how to avoid taking blurry pictures," said James Neal, director of digital imaging products at Sony Electronics in today’s press release. "We’ve engineered our new flagship T-series camera with intelligent, automatic features so that people can spend more time having fun and less time understanding technology."
Like the DSC-T9, the Sony T30 contains a 1/2.5-inch CCD and 3x optical zoom lens that stays within the camera body. Both cameras also have the same 58 MB of internal memory and a slide show mode that merges music with pictures.
Besides upping the quantity of megapixels, Sony expanded its ISO range on the new T-series model. The five month old T9 had a range of 80-640, while the T30 now extends to a top sensitivity of 1000. The other major difference between the two cameras is the LCD screen. The T9 has a 2.5-inch screen and the new T30 has a 3-inch display, although, both have the same 230,000 pixels of resolution.
There are a few other tweaks in the specifications. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T30 adds Natural and Vivid color modes to the standard offerings of Black & White and Sepia. The new digital camera also adds a 2-second option to its self-timing function. The T30’s burst mode does suffer a bit though, slowing to 1.1 frames per second for 5 shots compared to the T9’s 1.3 frames per second rate for 7 shots. This may be an acceptable sacrifice to users, as the T30 adds a much more capable InfoLithium rechargeable battery. With a lifetime of 420 shots, the Sony T30 is much more equipped to play musical slide shows and shoot plenty of high-resolution photos. The T30 measures 3.7 x 2.2 x 0.9-inches with a 6.2 oz loaded weight.