Model Design / Appearance
As part of the T-series, Sony is specifically targeting the T300 to techno-socialites. The Sony Cyber-shot is cyber-cool. With its sleek, eye-catching thin body, the camera acts as a fashion accessory. Consumers will be proud to wear the T300 on their wrists. To co-ordinate with an outfit, the camera is offered in red, silver, and black.
Size / Portability
The pocket-sized camera is one of the tinier cameras we’ve seen. The Sony T300 measures 3.7 x 2.33 x 0.84 inches (94 x 59.3 x 21.4mm) and weighs 5.2 ounces (149 grams) without battery or memory card. It certainly is made for portability to easily fit into a pocket or attach to a wrist for nights out.
Handling Ability
The Sony T300 suffers from the curse of thin beauties – no girth to hold onto. It’s a double-edged sword. To keep the body small and sleek, Sony skimped on hand grips or rubber material for handling. The lens is poorly located. There is little room for right or left hand support, although the Sony logo and large strap eyelet provide minimal hand support. We are going to have to dock the Sony T300 points for its limited handling that would make shooting for extended periods of time difficult.
Control Button / Dial Positioning / Size
The Sony T300 has an overall minimalist design that transfers over to its button design. The LCD acts as the main control, with digital touch screen buttons that replace traditional buttons. The camera only has four real buttons, located on the top of the camera: power, display, shutter release, and zoom toggle. We almost missed the zoom toggle when reviewing this camera. The zoom toggle is pushed off to the corner edge of camera. Its small size and poor placement hinder zooming capabilities. We're very impressed by the touch screen controls, but disappointed with the zoom control.
Menu
Sony menu systems tend to deviate from that of other manufacturers. Instead of using a linear column-based system, the Cyber-shot T300 uses icon prompts and a vertical filmstrip-like interface set against a black background and live preview. The menus include white or orange text. Users can change the display setup to include all the controls or simplify it to only the key tools.
The menu system and touch screen LCD go hand-in-hand. While the monitor is very responsive, the menu system tends to be crowded because there are so many functions. There is a home key, menu key, and the initial main menu page, set up like a computer screen. When users select one function, the menu pulls up a bar of submenus. When selected, the function highlights in orange.
| Home | |
| Shooting | Photos or Movies, OK |
| View Images | Folder View, OK |
| Slideshow | Slideshow, Music Tool |
| Print | Print, Ok |
| Manage Memory | Memory Tool, Ok |
| Settings | Main Settings (Beep, Initialize, Housing, Function Guide, Calibration, Smile demo mode), Clock Settings (Date, Time, OK), Shooting Settings (AF Illuminator, AF Mode, Grid Line, Digital Zoom), Language Settings (English) |
| Main Menu | |
| Image Size | 10M, 5M, 3M, VGA, 3;2, 16:9 +, 16:9 |
| Self-timer | Off, 10-second, 2-second |
| Record | Auto, PGM, Scene (ISO, Smile Shutter, Soft Snap, Landscape, Twilight Portrait, Twilight, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, Underwater, Hi-Speed Shutter Easy, Movie |
| Flash | Auto, On, Slow Syncro, Off |
| Focus | Auto, Macro |
| Display | Setup (Normal, Simple, Image Only), Histogram (Off), LCD Brightness (Normal, Bright) |
The menus, with large font and icons, are easy on the eyes, but navigation is problematic. Instead of live preview for color effects, for example, the camera displays prompts asking if you really want to change the color: Apply color effect? OK, Back. The "OK" prompts are an unnecessary step. The menu system is an adjustment, especially if you are used to other brands of cameras. It will take an hour or two to find all the functions, but users can reduce the menu to a simple setup.
| Menu | |
| Face Detection | When Touched, Auto, Child Priority, Adult Priority |
| EV | +/- 2 (1/3 steps scale) |
| White Balance | Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent Light 1, Fluorescent Light 2, Fluorescent Light 3, Incandescent |
| SteadyShot | Shooting, Continuous, Off |
| Shooting Settings | Ok |
Ease of Use
The Cyber-shot T300 is a strange mix of really easy and really difficult. Like working at PMA itself, we know what should be done but getting there is sometimes a task. The T300 has a strong touch screen LCD and compelling design for easy portability. The physical buttons and crowded menu, however, could use some work. We hope the next generation of T-cameras will remedy these key components to make a truly successful camera.
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