The Cyber-shot DSC-T110 is Sony’s latest addition to their touchscreen lineup that is priced at a relatively affordable price of Php17,999. It packs a whopping 16.1MP which is a step up from the 14.5MP of the previous Cyber-shot DSC-T99. Let’s see what the DSC-T110 has to offer as we snag the camera for a field test.
Design
Comparing the DSC-T110 to the T99 is like having a mirror image of the two due to the fact that they look exactly the same in size and shape. It’s a chic little camera that can easily fit in a pocket or purse and it comes in black, silver, red, pink and violet colors.
What we tested was the silver one that has a brushed metallic surface and pretty much resembles an Apple Macbook Pro’s surface. There is the front sliding panel that covers the camera lens and built-in flash which seems to be a fingerprint magnet. Also, opening the sliding panel will power up the camera right away so you could start shooting.
Sony has taken a minimalistic approach here as the physical camera buttons can only be found at the top corner of the camera. We have the power button, the shutter button, zoom rocker and the play button. That’s just it, as most of the controls can be found on the touch screen itself.
At the bottom of the camera is where the battery and MMC/SD/Memory Stick Duo card compartment is located as well as the USB port and the tripod mount. It’s good to know that Sony is able to support other memory cards unlike before, Sony solely supports Memory Stick Duo cards.
Features
Both features of the T110 and the T99 are present except that the T110 has a bigger mega pixel count of 16.4MP.
The 3.0 inch touchscreen was intuitive enough with thumb-friendly buttons and readable text which you won’t have trouble going through when using the menus. However, we find the touchscreen experience to be sluggish due to the slow transition when cycling through the menus and camera controls. Don’t despair though as the iAuto shooting mode takes care of the camera settings for you which can then minimize menu tinkering.
The T110 sports a 25mm wide angle lens which is best for landscapes and can also zoom up to 100mm for a close-up shot. It has an aperture of F3.5 – F4.6 which is not susceptible for low light shooting though. The camera can also capture HD movies which are saved as .MOV files for easy sharing in Facebook or YouTube.
The sweep panorama mode is one of the camera’s biggest feature in which you can take panoramic shots easily without the use of a tripod. All you have to do is press the shutter button and sweep the camera from left to right (or from top to bottom) to produce the panoramic shot. It is that easy and we find it to be a very good feat. However, the image quality when zoomed up close is not that good as it tends to get really soft due to the in-camera processing involved in processing the panoramic shot.
The macro feature of the T110 gets you really close enough up to 1cm (.39″) and does a really good job of keeping the image sharp all throughout.
As most other digital cameras, the T110’s battery takes up to approximately 230 shots and we definitely would recommend carrying a spare battery as the LCD touchscreen drains most of the power.
Samples
We’re quite happy on how the shots turned out as the colors were well saturated and the contrast is good. The 16MP count of the camera will then yield good results when printed in a 16×20 inch photo. Here are some samples taken with the DSC-T110.
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Verdict
The DSC-T110 is a great little camera that suits the youth with its stylish design and colors. It takes great pictures and the sweep panorama is a really nice feature to be desired despite the relatively low image quality. It’s perfect for day to day shooting especially when travelling however, the maximum aperture of F3.5 doesn’t do well in low light. The LCD touchscreen on the other hand has a long way to go due to the sluggish performance but its a bold attempt for Sony though.
In a nutshell, it has the features that would flatter youngsters for a casual shooting and style but definitely won’t satisfy prosumers due to its relatively low image quality and lack of manual controls. Also, if you already have the DSC-T99 it’s pretty clear that the 16.4MP resolution isn’t enough to persuade you to opt for the DSC-T110 as the two were pretty much identical. For new buyers, the DSC-T110 is a good deal but you may want to consider the Canon Ixus 210 which has a better touch screen performance and image quality but comes with a bit higher price tag.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T110 Specs: |
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16.1 megapixels (4:3, 16:9 aspect ratio) |
25-100 mm Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens (4x zoom), F3.5 ““ F4.6 |
3″ touchscreen LCD display (230k dots) |
ISO : Auto / 80 / 100 / 200 / 400 / 800 / 1600 / 3200 |
HD 720p/30 movie recording with mono sound |
Sweep Panorama Mode |
MS Duo and SD/SDHC/SDXC Compatible |
Colors: Black, Pink, Red, Violet, and Silver |
SRP: Php17,990 |
Editor’s note: This post is contributed by Carl Clasio with some slight revisions by the editor. Carl is a contributor here at PTB and loves playing with all sorts of gadgets. He’s also into photography, likes Piña Colada and getting caught in the rain.