New Cyber-shot Cameras Get Intelligent

Even though there are still a couple of weeks until PMA, press releases have started trickling out on some of the cameras being shown at the annual photo trade show. One of them being information on Sony’s latest “intelligent” Cyber-shot digital cameras. The new T900, T90, W290 and H20 all feature an intelligent auto mode, which supposedly "think" for you and detect scene conditions and then adjust the settings for you. Seems very useful in difficult lighting situations. The intelligent auto mode can also tell when the person you are taking a picture of has closed eyes, it enhances the skin tone of the subject and can also reduce blur without reducing the quality of the image.

Other features include Sony's Smile Shutter technology and iSCN advanced – when a scene has difficult lighting, the camera will take two shots using two different settings, then you select the picture you prefer.

Specific Camera Information

The W230 camera has 12.1 megapixels, 4x (30mm) Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar optical zoom lens and 3-inch (measured diagonally) LCD screen. The W230 will be available in silver, black, blue and red for about $200.

The 12.1 megapixel W290 has the same features as the W230 model but adds a 5x wide (28mm) optical zoom lens. The W290 will be available in silver, black, blue and bronze for about $250.

The T90 camera also has 12.1 megapixels and a 4x Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar optical zoom and 3-inch (measured diagonally) wide touch-panel LCD screen. The T90 will be available in silver, black, pink, blue and brown for about $300.

The T900 camera adds a larger 3.5-inch Xtra Fine LCD screen that delivers high resolution images (921,600 dots), which is approximately four times higher than conventional LCD screens. The T900 will be available in silver, black, red and bronze for about $380.

The H20 features 10.1 megapixels, a 10x Carl Zeiss optical zoom lens and a 3-inch (measured diagonally) LCD screen. The H20 camera will be available in black for about $280.

All cameras will be available for pre-order in March at www.sonystyle.com, with a release date of April 2009.