Sony continues to build on the success of its ultra-slim DSC-T digital still camera range with the release of the six megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-T9 model.
Following in the footsteps of the T3, T5 and T7 models, Sony’s new mini-snapper manages to add optical image stabilisation and high light sensitivity, with the company claiming pictures with “significantly less blur and graininess than typical point-and-shoot cameras.”
The camera shoehorns a smarty-pants lens-shift optical image stabiliser that does it stuff courtesy of two gyro-sensors which detect hand movement and automatically calculate the necessary compensation for a crisp image.
The increased high light sensitivity (64 up to IS0 640) allows punters to grab flash-free, atmospheric shots in low light, although we’ve yet to see how effective Sony have been in keeping the inevitable noise down at high ISO ratings.
“Our T Series set the standard for slim, stylish, point-and-shoot cameras with fine image quality,” said James Neal, director of digital imaging products at Sony Electronics.
“Now the use of this category of cameras is pervasive. With the DSC-T9, we are taking this category a step further by incorporating advanced imaging technologies that ensure that you get the shot, even in unfavourable light conditions, like nightclubs and restaurants,” he added.
As with previous DSC-T models, there’s a whopping great 2.5-inch 230k LCD dominating the rear of the camera, with four playback ‘themes’ letting users display their photos with dynamic transitions shuffling along to user-selected music clips.
The Lilliputian shooter comes with a 3x (38-114mm ) Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar folded-path optical zoom so there’s no whirring lens thrusting out of the camera on start up.
The DSC-T9 offers shutter speeds from 30 to 1/1000 second, Multi-pattern, Centre-weighted, or Spot metering, five white balance presets and 10 scene modes.
There’s also VGA (30 fps) MPEG movie recording onboard, with 58 MB of internal memory and a slot for an optional Memory Stick Duo or Memory Stick PRO Duo media card.
Turning the camera on and off is a matter of sliding the camera lens cover, with Sony claiming a battery life of up to 240 shots per charge – an improvement on the fairly dire performance of its predecessor.
The Cyber-shot DSC-T9 camera will be available in January for about $450 (~£254~€374) online at SonyStyle.com