Customer Reviews

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T900 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization (Black)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This camera is incredible! Pictures are great. Very easy to use. It can do it all for you, or you can adjust ISO and other settings to get creative. Warns you if someone blinked, has smile-detector... you won't be disappointed! But the real positive is that with a flip of a switch you ALSO get a high-def video camera with stereo sound and zoom. Yes, zoom is only 4x, but its a fair trade-off for something this thin and light. Touch screen is incredibly easy-to-use. Great for touching-up pictures, showing off your vacation videos, etc. Love the calendar view! Tips: battery seems to drain a bit fast, so I recommend a spare. 4GB Duo stick a must (minimum). Also, be sure to get a nice case to protect. I recommend a BUILT case (Built NY E-HCS-BLK Small Hoodie Camera Case (Black)) as it fits the camera well and has a hard protective back. Glad I spent the extra cash over the T90 as the larger screen and stereo sound seem worth it. It's a head-turner so get ready for compliments! I think you'll really love this camera!

Let's start with the good news; this camera is certainly very svelte and stylish, and the brushed metal finish adds a classy touch to complement the solid build quality. The T900's touch screen is lovely and responsive, and the interface is slightly bland but decently simple to use. That said, I'm personally not a big fan of touch screens on cameras as I find them fiddly and tend to complicate rather than simplify operation.

Which brings me on to the most disappointing aspect of the camera - image quality. Colors are adequately vibrant when taking shots in bright conditions, but not outstanding by any means. However, when I took shots at a friend's birthday party in a dimly lit restaurant, the results were poor. Noise was noticeable, color tones looked flat, while black levels were mediocre. Though the camera can take images at up to ISO 3200, the noise in such images is so nasty the I wouldn't recommend setting the ISO at anything above 800. The weak flash doesn't help matters, but more positively, the face/smile detection works well.

Video quality is also good for a point-and-shoot camera; colors are bright and black levels are well rendered. It should be noted however, that despite the Full-HD claims, the maximum resolution is actually 720p, and not the REAL Full-HD (1080p). Nevertheless, video recording is one of the T900's stronger points. Battery life is poor though, which is disappointing but expected, mainly due to that massive screen.

The T900 will sell like hot cakes among the fashion-conscious and die-hard Sony fans. But to the rest of us, those gorgeous looks sadly conceal a camera lacking in substance and ability with its indifferent image quality. The high price is the final straw; $400 is dangerously close to bridge camera territory (such as the brilliant Panasonic FZ-28). Entry level dSLRs don't cost too much more, either.
All in all, there are much wiser ways to spend your money.

I've had every model in this line and this one is clearly the best. Amazing close-ups, fantastic video and great shots of fast moving objects/subjects like kids, pets, cars etc. It's a wonderful replacement when you don't want to lug your large camera around. Changing from picture mode and video mode is quick since it's controlled by a physical button. It's also the smallest and thinnest.

Battery life isn't bad but could be better.
Get an extra battery for all day events.

This camera is everything that I have wanted and more! My previous camera was an older model touch screen 8mp that I loved. I decided that it was time to upgrade to something smaller (that would fit in my pocket and purse more conveniently). I couldn't be happier with this camera.
Prior to getting this Sony, I purchased a Nikon S60 and absolutely hated it. Nothing about that camera was good, it took terrible pictures. So, I immediately returned the camera and went back to the brand that I have known and trusted for many years.
The size of the camera is perfect. The touch screen is not pixelated and the display is fantastic.
The smart modes pretty much guarantee a great picture!
This camera is very user friendly right out of the box (without reading the manual), within minutes I knew where everything was and what every button on the touch screen meant. After reading the manual I learned some new tricks about the camera and some extra features.
I absolutely recommend this camera to anyone who wants high quality pictures in a highly portable camera!

First I have to say that this is my 4th Sony cybershot camera, I have also had nikon and cannon cameras.

The Good:
It's fast, feels great, feature packed, very compact and slim, screen looks amazing, feels solid, HD Video, steady shot, and much more

The really bad:
It's video and still photos have a ridiculous amount of Chromatic aberration also known as purple fringing. 50% of photos taken with any bright light source in it has purple all over. While this may have been tolerated 7 years ago in Sony cameras, it shows how out of date or how cheap Sony is being when it come to quality lenses or proper R&D. For a nearly $400 camera, Sony customers should demand much much more.

While this camera would've been my favorite point and shoot camera to date, my final recommendation would be to stear clear of this model and it's sister the T90

Sony, it's time to wake up and provide the quality that we deserve

Before we go any further, I would like to mention that this review will primarily look at the camera's video capabilities as I was hoping to combine a 720p HD pocket video camera with a digital still camera. Alas, this was not to be.

Pros:
- Ultra-compact size, VERY pocketable
- Fixed lens with 4X zoom
- Capable of zooming while recording (surprisingly, this is rare)
- Capable of adjusting focus while recording (also surprisingly rare)
- Optical image stabilization
- Large, high-res 3.5" LCD screen
- Touchscreen menu system (I was surprised to find that I did like it)

Cons:
- Proprietary data connector instead of mini-USB and mini-HDMI
- Requires use of camera dock for USB and HDMI connections
- Uses proprietary Sony MemoryStick instead of more readily available SD/SDHC
- Lens is prone to significant chromatic aberration, or purple fringing. In cases where the sun or a bright point source of light is in or near the visible frame, you will get a bright purple streak across the image.
- Colors are washed out compared to actual colors
- Low light performance is really bad due to the max aperture of F=3.5
- Only two focusing options in video mode: Auto and Infinity. Auto results in a soft focus or focus hunting, and Infinity increases the minimum focusing distance, which makes it tough to record an 18 month old who like to stay up real close. A single-point focus option would be really nice or even the ability to select a focus area by touching the screen like in still picture mode.
- Battery life seemed to be around an hour with taking test shots, downloading, taking more test shots, downloading, etc. Would be nice to have an AC adapter. Would definitely recommend extra batts.
- Connecting and downloading files to a Mac required setting the camera's USB mode to "Mass Storage" instead of Auto. In Auto mode, the files would not copy via Finder nor could they be viewed directly from the MemoryStick. iMovie would copy them, but they would be corrupted. Changing to "Mass Storage" mode resolved this issue. I'm guessing the included Windows software somehow helps the handshaking. Sony needs to design this to work regardless of OS.

I was primarily comparing this the T900's video capabilities against the lower priced MinoHD and Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10. The T900 is most comparable to the Xacti, but the Xacti's picture quality in daylight shots was visibly sharper and had much better color even though it was a bit over saturated. The MinoHD probably has the truest color reproduction, and the Sony is still significantly washed out comparatively. Considering that this camera is $180 more than the Xacti and the MinoHD, I would expect its picture to blow the them both away. It did not. If anything, it only managed to match them in some cases, but in others, it could not even do that. The washed out color was bad enough, but the chromatic aberration was too much to ignore.

I really wanted to like this camera as I've loved my DSC-T7, but it just doesn't pass muster. If you want to see exactly what I'm talking about, you can see my comparison videos at[...]

I did take a few still pictures for comparison with the Xacti's 10MP capabilities, and again, the Xacti held its ground. The T900's still pictures were victim to the same poor color reproduction and chromatic aberration.

This is the top of the line Sony super compact camera. It takes great pictures, and a turn of the knob gets you HD video with stereo sound.
The best thing is that you can always have the camera with you--no more choice between missing shots or carrying around a larger camera.
I hope someday they come out with a wider angle and in-camera panoramic stitching...Kodak has that in some of their cameras, but their cameras are a bit larger. For small size and quality, Sony has done a solid job...

I own both the DSC-T300 and the DSC-T900. (I am returning the T900) The 900 takes a noisier, fuzzier picture then the T300. On a side by side comparison, their is no comparison! The T900 is twice as noisy and takes a less detailed picture. Why? Sony made the lens smaller. The 12 megapixels are of no use, compared to the 10 megapixel DSC-T300. The smaller lens cannot gather enough light to overcome the noise. Sony also repackaged the camera making it lighter and thinner then the DSC-T300. The only effect that had was to reduce the optical zoom to 4x instead of 5x. I bought the T900 because of the stereo sound, 720p movie mode. But please, save your money, the camera might be feature rich, but it takes terrible pictures. Update 8/16/2009... Sony has just introduced the DSC-TX1/H. It has many more new features. Check out the video here on Amazon. It uses a CMOS 10 megapixel sensor instead of the older 12 megapixel CCD sensor. This sensor will be much better in low light conditions. Most of the latest DSLRs use CMOS sensors. Don't expect DSLR quality, :) but it should outperform the T900 and the T300. Finally Sony is addressing the real issues. Don't be fooled by buying a point and shoot camera by the number of megapixels. Small sensors become less light sensitive as the megapixel count rises. Sony should be applauded for using a 10mp CMOS sensor in the new DSC-TX1/H instead of trying to keep the pixel count at 12 megapixels. Bottom line: Stay away from the DSC-T900. A few more bucks will get you a much better Sony Cybershot.

I bought this product a couple of weeks ago and have been using it in Spain for the past 6 days. And I cannot stop raving about how great this camera is. It comes with so many features, takes great pictures and has great quality video. I hate using the flash and I have used this camera in dark settings such as taking a picture in a castle in Segovia Spain. I changed the setting for a dark room and it took a great picture!

The only two cons I have are the following:
1. Battery life. If you purchase this camera get an extra battery or two and keep rotating them in the charger. This is a pretty big problem with this camera. But it's not enough for me to return it. The features and quality of it are just too good. I bought an extra battery and things have been just fine for me.
2. Proprietary memory stick. I wanted a camera that I could use eye-fi with. Since Sony does not have a standard memory card slot eye-fi does not work with Sony cameras. Maybe Sony will come out with something. Tethering to my laptop has been just fine. Pictures and video transfer really fast.

The camera has some really great features and this is why I still give it 5 stars despite my cons.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T900 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization (Black)

PROs: Great looking camera that is tiny, easily fits in the pocket, great build quality and finish, fits nicely in your hands, beautiful LCD screen on the back with great resolution and excellent response to touch, and video quality that amazing for such a tiny camera.

CONs: For a point and shoot camera that is close to $400, it can't do what it was made for, take good pictures.

Considering all the technology that is present in this camera it doesn't really do a great job taking pictures that you would actually want to keep. The flash is horrible and when taking pictures indoors they usually come out grainy, blurry, or almost look edited like cartoons. Black color looks especially awful. Outdoor pictures are better. Even the optical stabilization doesn't work that well as I still had many blurry pictures. This camera is supposed to be all AUTO with the camera adjusting to each scene automatically, which leaves little room for changing settings to get it to work any better.

The video quality is the only redeeming part. The dock is also a nice addition.

Clearly the battery life is horrible. Also the camera doesn't auto rotate pictures that were taken vertically. You have to press the rotate button everytime. I expected more from a top of the line point and shoot camera from Sony. I used this camera for close to a month trying out many different scenes. My brother has an old Canon SD 1100 that takes far better pictures than this thing. Definitely would NOT recommend it.