Guide to Digital Photography Spring 2007
Getting the shot you really want. Any camera will take pictures. Sony ® cameras are designed to help you take great pictures – even when the circumstances are less than great. Sony cameras shine when the light is low. When subjects are distant. Or moving quickly. Sony uses the latest digital technology to help you get the shot you really want.
DSC-W200 Face Detection Friends and family will look their best because Sony has taught cameras how to recognize – and optimize – the human face. Have you ever seen pictures with the faces bleached out because the flash was too strong? Or blurry faces because the camera didn’t know where to focus? Or faces too dark because light was coming from behind? Sony’s supremely powerful BIONZ™ processor – originally used in the award-winning a100 Digital SLR – solves these problems automatically.
DSC-W80 Full HD 1080 A spectacular new way to share your still pictures with the whole crowd: on your HDTV in HD resolution! Sony has helped to deliver a brilliant new canvas on which you can share your digital pictures. It’s called HDTV and Sony is the industry leader. Thanks to the Full HD 1080 output capability of Sony’s latest Cyber-shot® cameras, you can now enjoy your pictures with more than four times the detail of conventional, Standard Definition TV.
DSC-T100 Out of the shadows The interplay of highlights and shadows is the soul of photography. Now Sony helps you make the most of it. Professional photographers carefully avoid exposure mistakes like “blown out” highlights and “crushed” shadow detail. But sometimes, back-lighting, intense highlights and other tricky situations make these problems hard to avoid. Until now.
DSC-T20 Bye-bye, blur Handheld shots in low light have been the perfect recipe for blur. Sony uses three powerful technologies to kiss blur goodbye. Shooting in low light means long exposure times. And that means that even slight camera motion ends up destroying the shot with blur. You could set the camera up on a tripod, but only if you have one handy! You could turn on the camera’s flash, but that would spoil the mood! Sony has a better way.
DSC-H9 Get into the action You may be on the sidelines. But your pictures can get right into the action with Sony high zoom cameras. Do you shoot kids’ sports? Our DSC-H7 and DSC-H9 offer a 15x optical zoom lens that gets you far closer than conventional lenses. Since optical quality is critical, Sony uses a Carl Zeiss® lens. Since 15x optical zoom can magnify the effect of camera shake, Super SteadyShot® optical image stabilization helps keep your pictures clearer.
DSC-W90 Shoot at the speed of life Life moves fast. Thanks to the Sony BIONZ™ processor, you can catch the most memorable moments before they pass you by. To grab a baby’s smile or a soccer goal before it’s gone, your camera processor needs to be as fast as your subject. Sony’s BIONZ™ processor typically adjusts focus and exposure in less than half a second. After that, there’s almost no “shutter lag.” The shutter typically opens less than 0.01 second after you fully press the release button.
DPP-FP90 Picture perfect printing Any printer can print your pictures. Sony printers improve them – actually correcting defects and achieving quality that will amaze you. “If only.” It’s a familiar comment to anyone who prints out pictures. If only the camera’s flash hadn’t caused those ghoulish red eyes. If only the focus had been a little better. If only the exposure had been a little brighter. Sony’s latest printers announce the end of “if only.
Shooting the digital way CAMERA SYSTEMS CAMERA SYSTEMS The lens “35mm equivalence” To the casual user, it’s obvious that the camera takes the picture. But to accomplished photo professionals, it’s really the lens that takes the picture. The lens is responsible for so much of what Unfortunately, lens focal lengths are related to image sensor sizes.
Shooting the digital way CAMERA SYSTEMS Sony lens features CAMERA SYSTEMS Carl Zeiss lens Prized by professional photographers for superior sharpness, excellent contrast and color accuracy. Carl Zeiss T* coatings 82% less reflection than conventional lens elements, for maximum contrast and perceived sharpness. Interchangeable lenses The a100 accepts any of 16 million Maxxum® lenses dating back to 1985. Each lens defines a view of the world and establishes its own set of creative possibilities.
Shooting the digital way CAMERA SYSTEMS 12 MP 480 1536 1944 2448 2736 3000 to an integrated circuit chip called the image 200 dpi 200 dpi 200 dpi 200 dpi 200 dpi 200 dpi The pixels of the typical image sensor are sensitive to all colors of light. Without outside help, they can only see images in “black and white.” To capture color, they require the help of a color filter array. This is a mosaic of microscopic filters that permit light of only one color – Red, Green or Blue – onto each pixel.
Shooting the digital way CAMERA SYSTEMS CAMERA SYSTEMS Charge Coupled Device (CCD) sensors CCD stands for Charge Coupled Device. It’s often compared to a bucket brigade. When light enters the “bucket” of a pixel’s image sensing area, the light generates an electrical charge. After the exposure, charges are passed along to other buckets, and then to an amplifier that converts the charges to a voltage. CCDs exhibit high image quality, with a minimum of unwanted image mottling or “noise.
Shooting the digital way CAMERA SYSTEMS CAMERA SYSTEMS The image processor ORIGINAL IMAGE MINUS CCD FIXED PATTERN EQUALS DIGITAL CLARITY The original recorded image (left) shows noise. The secondary capture (center) reveals the fixed-pattern noise of the CCD. Slow Shutter NR creates the resulting image (right) by subtracting the noise from the original picture! (Sample photos for illustration purposes.) Slow Shutter NR Outstanding clarity in low-light shooting.
Shooting the digital way CAMERA SYSTEMS blur is a good tripod. But when a tripod isn’t available, blur can happen under a surprisingly wide range of circumstances. • Low light, including evenings, nights and many indoor shots. • When flash would ruin the mood. You could use flash to get the birthday girl blowing out the candles. But you wouldn’t get the glow of the candle-lit scene. • Sports photography. Fast-moving sports can easily blur, especially indoor sports.
Shooting the digital way CAMERA SYSTEMS CAMERA SYSTEMS shake directly. Sony Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization uses separate vertical and horizontal sensors that detect camera shake. As implemented in selected Cyber-shot® cameras, the camera sends an equal-but-opposite correcting signal to a stabilization lens, which moves to compensate for shake at no sacrifice of picture quality.
Shooting the digital way CAMERA SYSTEMS CAMERA SYSTEMS customize the finder to your specific vision. An optional magnifier and angle finder give you creative flexibility. Clear Photo LCD Plus™ monitor Optimum contrast and color. Our best camera LCD is the Clear Photo LCD Plus monitor. This jewel-like monitor delivers higher resolution, better contrast, and 40% better color than previous Sony LCDs. You’ll find this outstanding quality featured on the DSC-W200, T20, T100, N2, H9 and the a100 Digital SLR.
Shooting the digital way CAMERA SYSTEMS The Memory Stick PRO Duo™ media family now offers capacity for literally thousands of shots. CAMERA SYSTEMS cards. That’s why the cameras support both Memory Stick® media cards and CompactFlash™ Type I and II cards. Power The a100 Digital SLR offers a single CompactFlash slot and accepts Memory Stick media via the supplied adaptor. (CompactFlash storage performance is not guaranteed. File system is FAT 16/32 compatible.
Taking your best shot CAMERA CONTROL Focus CAMERA CONTROL Sony focus features For the complete story on Face Detection and the BIONZ processor, please turn to page 26. With all but the most basic cameras, image sharpness depends on adjusting the lens Face Detection according to the distance to the subject. This, Taking advantage of the BIONZ™ integrated circuit, Sony cameras accurately recognize – and focus on – the human face. of course, is focus.
Taking your best shot CAMERA CONTROL photography. In Monitor AF, the camera is always “pre-focusing” and doesn’t lock until you press the shutter halfway. Thanks to prefocusing, the camera is faster to take the shot, improving your chances of getting exactly the shot you want. And Monitor AF works together with Multi-Point AF to intelligently capture your subject.
Taking your best shot CAMERA CONTROL CAMERA CONTROL darker than the overall scene. Think of a downhill skier on a sunny day, where most of the frame is bright, white snow. Significantly brighter objects on dark backgrounds pose the opposite problem. Camera designers have ways to overcome this challenge. • Specific scenes. Twilight, candlelight, fireworks and other common shooting situations pose their own, specific exposure challenges. Special “scene modes” can address these exposure issues.
Taking your best shot CAMERA CONTROL Note that long shutter speeds exaggerate the effect of camera shake. Clear images require steady hands or some means of camera support, such as a Sony accessory tripod. Camera shake is also exaggerated when you zoom the lens to telephoto. Aperture Priority Auto Exposure An advanced mode for greater creative control. Aperture Priority enables you to select the lens opening or “f number” manually, while the camera automatically selects the appropriate shutter speed.
Taking your best shot CAMERA CONTROL Multi-Burst A sequence of images that plays back on-screen, Multi-Burst is perfect for analyzing a golf, tennis or baseball swing. Our Multi-Burst mode shoots a sequence of 16 rapid-fire frames, each of which has 320 x 240 resolution. The 16 frames become part of a single 1280 x 960 image that plays back sequentially in the camera. Selectable frame intervals include 1/7.5, 1/15 and 1/30 second for convenient motion analysis.
Sharing your pictures When your pictures take the form of exposed film, you need to wait for processing before you can share them with anyone. When your pictures take the form of digital files, you can start sharing immediately. There’s no need to run to the drug store. No processing time to wait. And nothing to mail in. The electronic photo album With digital pictures, as long as you’ve got your camera, you’ve got a photo album. • The camera as photo album.
Sharing your pictures Sony PictureStation™ photo kiosks where in the world is that beach, that golf course or that mountain lake. Our presence in retail stores. Data Converter SR software Convert and enhance RAW images from the a100 Digital SLR. With the DSC-G1 camera, you can share pictures wirelessly with other G1 cameras and DLNA-compliant TVs and PCs. Wireless photo sharing The DSC-G1 can share pictures without a cable in sight.
Sharing your pictures INKJET PRINTER in 256 shades of each! Do the math and 256 x 256 x 256 equals 16,777,216 distinct colors for each pixel. Inkjet printers just can’t come close. 1 color ink dot = “1 dot” Because inkjet printers can’t match this range of colors, they need to approximate the correct color by printing a cluster or neighborhood of much smaller dots. Inkjet printer dots do not create a continuous tone. And the smaller dots create challenges for the transfer head and paper media.
Sony Product Guide DSC-S650 & DSC-S700 CYBER-SHOT ® DIGITAL CAMERAS DSC-T20 CYBER-SHOT ® DIGITAL CAMERA • 7.2 megapixels • 8.1 megapixels • 3x optical zoom • 3x optical zoom • Alkaline/NiMH batteries • Li-Ion rechargeable battery • 7.2 Megapixel Super HAD™ CCD with exclusive Sony technology for superb resolution, sensitivity and clarity. • High sensitivity ISO 1000; great in low light when flash would spoil the mood. • Extra-large, 2" (DSC-S650) or 2.
Sony Product Guide DSC-G1 CYBER-SHOT ® DIGITAL CAMERA a 100 DIGITAL SLR • 6.0 megapixels • 10.2 megapixels • 3x optical zoom • Interchangeable lenses ® • InfoLITHIUM rechargeable battery • 2 GB* internal memory saves up to 600 full-resolution pictures or up to 7,500 VGA-quality pictures! • World’s biggest, highest-resolution digital camera monitor (as of June 15, 2007) 3.5" LCD (viewable area measured diagonally) with 921K pixels.
Digital Still Camera Specifications DSC-T100 DSC-N2 DSC-G1 DSC-H7 DSC-H9 a100 Sony Image Sensor 1/2.5" CCD 1/1.7" CCD 1/2.5" CCD 1/2.5" CCD 1/2.5" CCD 23.6 x 15.8 mm CCD Megapixel 8.1 MP 10.1 MP 6.0 MP 8.1 MP 8.1 MP 10.2 MP Carl Zeiss® / 3X Lens / Optical Zoom Carl Zeiss® / 5X Carl Zeiss® / 3X Carl Zeiss® / 3X Carl Zeiss® / 15X Carl Zeiss® / 15X Sony / 3.9X† f2.8-5.2 f3.5-4.3 Aperture f3.5-4.3 f2.8-5.4 f3.5-4.3 f2.7-4.5 f2.7-4.5 f3.5-5.6† 5.8-17.4mm 7.6-22.5mm 6.
Index 2 Gigabytes on-board storage 45 DSC-T20 9, 30, 51 NightShot® system 24 35mm equivalence 16 DSC-W200 3, 20, 28, 30, 50 NiMH Stamina® batteries 33 a100 DSLR 3, 18, 23, 24, 26, 28, 31, 32, 36, 41, 43, 46, 48, 53 DSC-W55 20, 30, 50 Noise, image sensor 22, 23 DSC-W80 5, 30, 44-45, 50 Optical viewfinder 29, 30 AccuPower® meter 33 DSC-W90 13, 30, 50 Optical zoom 10-11, 16, 18-19 Advanced Sports Shooting Mode 11, 35 Optimized printing with Sony cameras 48 AE Lock 40 DSLR-A100 3, 18, 23, 24, 2
© 2007 Sony Electronics Inc. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. All rights reserved. Features and specifications are subject to change without notice. TV reception is simulated. Except where noted, all photos are samples for illustration purposes only. Non-metric weights and measures are approximate and may vary.
