Customer Reviews

Sony Cybershot DSC-T20 8.1MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom and Super Steady Shot (Silver)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I just purchased two pink T20s and one black T100 as gifts. Before I gave them away, I did a few tests for myself.

I originally thought these two models were identical except for the different lenses and LCDs, so their photos should be similar. My test results didn't support with my assumption, though. While T100 surprised me a little bit by producing very clear photos, T20 had problems producing consistent clear images.

Like the N1 I have, T20 seems to have the trouble of focusing the object correctly indoors. About half of the photos are more or less out of focus. On the contrary, 90 percent of the photos produced by T100 are correctly focused. In addition, although I set both models in the same way (ISO to 80, face detection to ON, SteadyShot to ON, and illuminator to AUTO) photos taken by T20 seemed nosier than that by T100. I cannot be sure if the lens, the processor, or whatever else caused that.

My suggestion: choose T100 over T20 whenever possible. I am convinced that T100 is superior to T20 in producing good photos and worth the extra money.

We have had this camera about 2 months, since nearly the debut on Amazon, late April. What intrigued me was this is a reasonably-priced ultra-compact with image stablilization (Sony Super Steadyshot). What also intrigued me was the secondary "anti-blur" and low-light solution, which is High ISO (ISO 3200). Well, kudos to Sony for the Super Steadyshot, but the High ISO setting is a huge disappointment. If you are buying this camera for primarily low-light, without flash situations, then look elsewhere. If you are buying it as a 8 megapixel ultracompact with the Steadyshot image stabilization, then it is worth the price.

In typical outdoor situations or indoors with flash, the photos are great. If like me and my kids, you have a natural tremor in your hands, the image stabilization will make you love digital cameras. The shutter lag is reasonably short too, which for me is a welcome relief from 2 prior generations of Olympus cameras in the family. In fact, shutter lag is what kept me from buying Olympus again.

Back to the high ISO (3200). There is a reason this is hard to pull off in any camera line. I'm surprised Sony went this high, as the results are quite annoying. The "grain" is atrocious, reminding me of photos taken with a VGA web-cam! Were I Sony, I would have optimized for ISO 1600 before going to market, as 1600 is still 2 to 4 times greater than most consumer-market cameras. I also wish Sony had an option between 400 ISO and 3200, but I can't find it.

I'm a bit annoyed with the features menu as well. I don't necessarily see a rhyme or reason why they divided the features as they did. I don't pick this camera up every day, or every week for that matter, and I have to traverse two separate features tree to find what I'm looking for.

Just a few other thoughts, the movies look great on a standard definition TV. I don't yet have HD, so I can't speak about the HD mode.

Would I buy this camera again, knowing the High ISO mode is a disappointment? I think so.

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this camera! It takes great pictures no matter what the conditions! I purchased a 2gig memory for it and can take tons of great pics and video. The battery lasts a really long time and its easy to charge. The charger doesn't have a cord so I leave it plugged in the kitchen and just put in the battery every few days. The different settings & menus are easy to get to and easy to see even without my glasses on that big screen. I cannot say enough good things about this camera. If you need a pociet sized good quality camera, buy this!

Fantastic camera! Overall, I've been very pleased with the sony cybershot line, and seem to continually upgrade to a higher model. Due to the inability of my 1 yr old neice to stay still for more than one second (unless she's asleep), I've quickly realized that I needed the SteadyShot feature. WOW. It's fantastic & has made all the difference in my pix of her.

I also used the T20 at a concert, in low light conditions. With the proper setting chosen, I got some wonderful & clear pictures. So much so that everyone was asking what kind of camera I used. It's very light & fits nicely into a pocket or purse, but not so small that you feel you are going to break it. The buttons are well placed and easy to manage.

A big concern of mine was chaging from AA to lithium batteries (i liked the ability to run out and get new AA's at the drop of a hat without having to wait for charging). However this seems to be no worry - the battery life with the T20 seems to be excellent - I used it extensively on a 2 week holiday to England/Scotland and never once did I run the battery below 1/2 power (and I promise you, I'm a shutterbug). I used a 4 gig memorystick PRO duo, and with 800 pix at 8MP, plus substantial video, I had just over 1/2 the card filled.

It didnt get 5 stars from me because it has only a 3x optical zoom, and thats a bit low (esp. as some lower model cybershots have higher optical zoom ratings). Also, the menu is a bit scattered (sometimes you need to navigate 2 button menus to get something accomplished) and it would have been nice to have compatibility with the standard memorystick format, as I now have a lot of sticks that are obsolete. Oh well, the price of progress.

Overall, it's great camera and I'm very impressed with the quality of the pictures. I'm definitely recommending it to friends/family.

I already had a small 7 megapixel camera - a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P200 when I began looking for something smaller. My current camera was the size of a pack of cigarettes, but it was bulky in my purse. I wanted something smaller and lighter. Also, I was going to Hawaii and I wanted something I could snorkel with. My current camera didn't have any matching underwater case to go with it. The DSC-T20 does!

I was already used to having a high quality camera with me all the time, with very fast response to pressing the button. So to be honest even though the DSC-T20 was higher on the megapixel range, I was at first a bit annoyed by its response time. It takes about a half second before it gets the green focus rectangle and lets you take a picture. It might not sound like a lot, but when you're taking pictures on the fly, it can really get to you. With the DSC-P200 I could literally point, click and move the camera again in one movement and the picture would be great. With this one, there was a noticeable lag between wanting to take the picture and having it taken.

Now, that being said, it is SO nice to have this light, easy to carry camera with me. The other one was small - but heavy. This one is much smaller and lighter. I could carry it around with me on my wrist as I went from place to place and it was hardly noticeable at all.

I really liked the fact that the whole front is shielded by a sliding panel, and the camera turns auto-on when you manually slide that panel. It made it very easy to pop it on and off again.

On the other hand, I don't like how they set up the menus. On the old one, a spinning wheel let you instantly switch between camera and video. This was very handy. On this DSC-T20, you have to go paging through a menu in order to move from one to the other. Quite a pain. You can pop between macro mode and flash mode with the easy buttons on the face, which is good and the same - but for some reason the buttons are harder to use. The DSC-P200 had a slightly larger center button, slightly larger side buttons and the buttons were separate pieces. This DSC-T20 has just a single circular unit that is hard to move.

The images seem great. I've used it for large landscapes, tiny origami, faces, and everything in between.

Still, all in all, I am very glad that I got the DSC-T20. Its small size was perfect, and it is great to have an underwater-capable camera. If you want to see photos from this camera, I took over 1,000 photos in Hawaii on my LisaShea.com site. Enjoy!

I have been a sony digital camera user for over 5 yrs now. They keep improving on the product constantly. in the dsc T20 , i have no red eyes, the picture doesnt blur cause of the steady shot, and have an not to miss feature of 3x optical zoom. BUT what u r really payin $100 extra for is the cool sexy looks and slim design,also the vide range of colors they r available in.
one draw back i see is the 2MP,3MP pictures dont seem as great as the previous cameras. and at 8MP u have great pictures which are very heavy to transfer or upload on the internet.
sid

I really like the camera. The Carl Zeiss lens is great and gives a extremely clear picture.

The only thing that I don't like is the built-in-memory which is horribly small for how big the pictures are that this camera takes. At 8.1 mega pixels, you can only take about 15 pictures before you are out of memory. I'll definitely have to pick up a 2gig+ memory card for it.

I liked the looks and the styling for this camera. I had imagined it to be the best one I ever bought. I have used a Sony P41 and Canon SD600 before this. I thought that this upgrade will provide me what I was missing in my previous cameras. But the photo quality left much to be desired. The photos were not sharp enough. I tried all different settings but was never able to get good clear and crisp pictures. The LCD screen on the camera is awesome. The colors are very vivid and rich. I was expecting the same output (as on LCD screen) on TV/Computer also, but that was not the case. This one went right back.

The image clarity, detail, and color with this camera is amazing. I used it Cancun, and the images could be in a major magazine. Extremely satisfied. I did not see the negatives I read about in other's reviews.

This is the most fun camera I've ever had. It's easy to use and does a lot of amazing things for such a little camera.

The pictures are clear, the shot is taken immediately without a delay,
it's easy to erase, easy to change the amount of light going into the lense to brighten up a cloudy day, and the lense cover/on off switch was a great idea.

The color pink makes it easy to find in my purse, and the weight makes it so I can take it everywhere easily. I'm going to Paris and Rome in November and it'll be very convenient to get great shots.