Cameras which shoot when you smile

Weybridge, 22nd August 2007 – The stylish, slimline Cyber-shot T Series from Sony gains two feature-packed new models that make it easier than ever to grab great pictures (reads a press release issued by Sony UK).

The Cyber-shot T200 and T70 complement exquisite HD imaging quality with exciting innovations like the new ‘Smile Shutter’ mode for happy faces when you’re shooting family and friends as well as clear, wide extra large touchscreens.

The flagship T200 looks and performs like no other digital camera. Available in silver, black and red, its uniquely stylish vertical design conceals a powerful 5x optical zoom lens – great for pulling distant subjects in closer. It’s complemented by the svelte T70 that makes a serious fashion statement with a choice of silver, black, white, and pink finishes.

The T70 comes off the production line in four colours. Someone missed a great PR shot here by cloning one blonde white model to show them off…

New Smile Shutter function

The T200 and T70 feature the new Sony Cyber-shot ‘Smile Shutter’ function, which enables the camera to automatically react to a smile – a first for digital photography.

This auto shutter system is capable of identifying when someone smiles and will immediately take a shot without you needing to press the shutter – bringing more fun to informal portraits, family shots and other ‘people picture’. If there are several people in the frame, the shutter only fires when the main subject – selected using the touchscreen – smiles. A sequence of up to six smiling shots can be taken without needing to manually press the shutter. So you can always have pictures of children or adults looking happy in every shot!

The compact, easy-to-use Face Detection capability helps photographers of all abilities capture great-looking ‘people picture’ without the risk of spoiled shots.

Face Detection automatically adjusts exposure, flash and other settings. Enhanced autofocus performance and advanced eye detection ensure beautifully sharp portraits with natural skin tones – even at high zoom settings, in low light or with moving subjects.

The perfect packshot, or not – T200. Clever, this Photoshop program, isn’t it? (the press release image downloads include not one single straightforward studio shot of the product – all the shots are more or less in this style).

Wide and Touch Screen LCDs

Both models stand apart from the crowd thanks to their big, touch-sensitive LCD screens for viewing images and having full control over the camera functions. The Cyber-shot T200 comes equipped with a 3.5 inch LCD screen, while the T70 has a 3.0 inch screen. Clear Photo LCD Plus technology ensures superb clarity and colour reproduction, and an anti-reflective AR coating maximises contrast and visibility even when shooting outdoors in bright conditions. The screen’s wide 16:9 aspect ratio offers ideal proportions for viewing images on any connected HD Ready television.

Tapping any point on the screen immediately locks focus on that part of the image, while touching a face on screen turns on Face Detection. During playback, a brief touch anywhere on screen zooms in on that part of the image for quick checking.

Double Anti-Blur

Sony’s Double Anti-blur solution teams Super SteadyShot optical image stabilisation with a maximum sensitivity of ISO 3200. This reduces the chances of spoiled pictures while shooting handheld indoors or at dusk without flash. Sony Clear RAW NR processing reduces colour noise and luminance noise for more natural pictures at high sensitivity settings.

Photo TV HD Full HD image display

It’s easy to enjoy the finest quality High Definition images captured with the T200 and T70 on a BRAVIA or HD Ready display (HD output adapter cable required) so you can share your big, beautiful images with friends and family. Music can accompany the slideshows for an extra dimension of enjoyment to your photos. Just pick from four visual effects (Simple, Nostalgic, Active and Stylish) and four preset musical accompaniments – then watch the show onscreen with HDTV image quality. Slideshows can be personalised further with MP3 background music tracks imported from a PC.

Photo TV HD optimises the images for subtler, more natural colour and textures on the latest generation of Full HD BRAVIA. This offers a significant improvement over viewing still images on conventional TV sets that are optimised for moving video.

Other features

Both models complement high-quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar optics (T200 with 5x optical zoom, T70 with 3x optical zoom) and 8.1 effective megapixel resolution with the powerful Sony-developed BIONZ engine. This responsive imaging processor controls autofocus, exposure and other picture settings for beautiful results under a wide range of shooting conditions – even tricky back-lit portraits.

Options for adding extra polish to your images have also been increased. Enhanced in-camera touch-up functions now include ‘Radial Blur’ for dynamic freeze-frame effects, while ‘Retro’ authentically recreates the feel of an old-fashioned camera.

The popular Paint function has also been enhanced with an increased palette of 30 stamps for customising images on screen. A new Resize function optimises picture files for HD TV display, emailing or web upload.

Accessories

An alternative way to enjoy the High Definition experience is to place the Cyber-shot T200 or T70 on the optional Cyber-shot CSS-HD1 station and view slideshows on your HD TV. It also charges your camera and comes supplied with all the necessary connectors and a remote control for ease of use. Another affordable option for the HD experience is the VMC-MHC1 cable that plugs directly to your Cyber-shot and allows for full HD image playback through your television.

Other optional accessories include a range of high quality genuine leather cases in a variety of colours to match your camera and personal style. Newly introduced are a spare InfoLithium rechargeable battery (NP-FD1) to match the compact size of your camera and especially designed Marine Pack for use down to 40m under water (MPK-THE). A range of high quality compact dye-sublimation photo printers is also available for printing and sharing the best of your photography.

The Sony Cyber-Shot T200 and T70 compact digital cameras will be available throughout Europe from the beginning of September 2007.