Sony Launches T200 and T70 with Smile Shutter
The new 8.1-megapixel cameras borrow HD viewing abilities from its predecessors but offer larger, 16:9 aspect ratio LCD screens and a new function called Smile Shutter for automatic picture capture of smiling portraits.
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*August 21, 2007 –* Sony has announced two additions to its T-series, the Cyber-shot DSC-T200 and DSC-T70. The models follow up the T100 and T20, introduced in February. The new 8-megapixel point-and-shoots borrow HD viewing abilities from the previous models, but offer larger, 16:9 aspect ratio LCD screens and a Smile Shutter function that detects a smile and automatically snaps a photo. The Sony T200 will retail for $400 when it ships in September, and the T70 for $300 in October.
Sony adds a few features to the T-series models, known for their touch screens. Using the touch screen, users can select the subject to focus on in Shooting Mode and select the image and zoom level in Playback mode. The T200 sports a 3.5-inch, 230,000-pixel Clear Photo LCD Plus, up from the T100's 3-inch screen. The T70 has a 3-inch, 230,000-pixel resolution Clear Photo LCD Plus monitor, compared to the 2.5-inch LCD on the T20. Both the new models' LCD screens maintain the same resolution as the older models.
Sony added 16:9 viewing capabilities to these point-and-shoots, making them the largest 3- and 3.5-inch LCDs with 16:9 aspect ratios on the market, according to the company website. In 16:9 view, users can play back images in wide format, as well as view images captured in 4:3 aspect ratio as wide photos.
The 5x optical zoom T200 and 3x optical zoom T70 feature the 8-megapixel Super HAD CCD image sensors and optical zoom from the earlier T100 and T20 models.
The Cyber-shot T200 and T70 add a new Smile Shutter feature, a first in digital camera still history, according to the website. Smile Shutter works in concert with the cameras’ face detection system that sets focus, exposure, white balance, and flash automatically on up to eight faces in a scene. When engaged, Smile Shutter detects faces, as the name implies, that are smiling. Users can set different levels of smile sensitivity from High for faint smiles, Medium, and Low for wide smiles. Users can also select which subject to use the Smile Shutter on with the touch screen control. The feature works in both vertical and horizontal shooting, according to the website.
Both Cyber-shots share the Bionz processor, a feature borrowed from the Sony Alpha SLRs. The processor was first introduced to the point-and-shoot line with the T100 and T20. In addition, the T200 and T20 carry over the double Anti-Blur system with mechanical and digital stabilization. Super SteadyShot technology reduces camera shake with a built-in gyro sensor and a High Sensitivity mode for up to ISO 3200 sensitivity.
The DSC-T200 and T70 retain HD viewing abilities that allow users to view photos at a high definition 1080-pixel resolution. Users can see their photos on HD-enabled television screens via an HD cable or cradle. Both point-and-shoots are compatible with the optional Sony GPS-CS1 device that tracks longitude and latitude coordinates on photos.
The Sony Cyber-shot T200 will be available in silver, black, and red, and the T70 in silver, black, white, and pink.