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Sony is exhibiting an array of new digital imaging products here at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) 2009 International Convention, including the new Cyber-shot® camera (model DSC-HX1) with “sweep panorama” technology.  New Cyber-shot models being shown include cameras in the T, W, H and S series, along with new printer models and other accessory lines.

Sony has announced the new Cyber-shot DSC-W290 digital camera, a 12.1 megapixel model with 5x wide (28mm) optical zoom lens and 3.0” LCD screen.  The camera is designed to make it easier to take the best pictures without changing settings. The DSC-W290 also features an intelligent auto mode that helps the camera “think” for you to detect scene conditions and adjust settings, especially in difficult lighting scenarios. 

“Bottom line - the latest “Top Dog” in Sony’s “T” series camera line, the Cyber-shot DSC-T700 is an awesome ultra-compact. This is a Fast camera that can capture beautiful images, all the while being as compact and stylish as they come. Like we saw on the T77, the “cool” touchscreen worked great, and is sure to impress your friends. There were very few annoyances with this camera, but with an MSRP of $399 the T700 is expensive. However, I feel the larger 3.5-inch LCD and the fact that you don’t have to buy Any memory cards for this camera help bring that price into a considerable range.”

Sony is adding high-definition movie recording to its digital camera line with the introduction of the Cyber-shot® DSC-T500 model. This 10-megapixel camera features wide and full-screen 720p movie recording at 30 frames per second in fine, standard and VGA recording modes. This resolution is three times higher than standard-definition movies.

“Bottom line - Sony’s ‘top of the line’ entry-level Alpha 350 or DSLR-A350 is an outstanding camera. In this saturated market, consumers really have a lot of great cameras to choose from, all at competitive pricing. At about US$899 or less as tested, I feel the A350 offers a great value for such a well balanced camera. The Live View performance offered by the A350 is way ahead of its competitors. Another feature that helps make this model more appealing is the fact that you have an effective form of Image Stabilization built right in. This will allow you to save some money when buying lenses, where with other models you’ll have to spend a nice chunk of change to acquire a stabilized lens to achieve the same level of low-light performance.”

“The H3 is essentially a long-zoom point and shoot camera that performs well as long as you let it do its thing in Auto mode. Once you develop an ambition to set your own shooting parameters things get a bit more tricky. This is partly because some manual settings are simply not available, but also due to the fact that changing the settings that are actually there can be a fairly time-consuming process. This is owed to the slightly counter-intuitive menus and user interface in general. The lack of a manual White Balance option is particularly unusual on a modern digital camera. It is even more painful if the white balance presets are not particularly reliable (as we experienced in our studio tests). The H3 does not offer Aperture or Shutter Speed Priority modes although there is a fully manual ‘M’ mode. But, with only 2 possible aperture settings at a given focal length, its use is seriously limited.”