Customer Reviews

Sony Cybershot DSC-T9 6MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilization Zoom

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

User rating Spectacular 9++ out of 10

SONY's DSC-T9 is another Masterpiece. WOW. Specacular +1. December 28, 2005

Pros:Great image detail and color rendition - small high quality footprint

Cons:Being picky - would like a more powerful flash
Full user opinion

This camera is one of the best I have tested in the last 6 years.

As an adjunct faculty member at FAU a south Florida +25,000 student university, teaching "Principles of Digital Photography" and authored/published a book with the same name, with Pearson Education, Inc., 2003, I have tested hundreds digital cameras that have been offered to the public in recent years, and this one is truly unbelievable.

One must understand that all cameras cannot do all things regardless of price and size. Digital SLRs, like Canon's 1DsMk2, which I proudly own and consider the very best digital SLR on planet Earth, can execute most imaging tasks beautifully; however you cannot place it in your pocket, does not have built-in flash, and cannot make a video!! Comparing the image quality and color to other similarly priced cameras, both seem better than on previous SONY "T" series units (the T1, T11, T3, T33, T5, T7) in their 6-step progression to the T9. The brightness on the LCD panel is also better and has two brightness levels; The LCD also seems to have a protective covering on its surface. The flash also seems a bit stronger, and the imager noise is significantly lower. Understand that the tiny built-in flash is effective for groups of 3-6 people placed within 8' or less of the camera, period; any further, other than fill-in flash and the results will be less disappointing than in prior versions. It is hard to imagine than so much technology can be contained within this truly thin package. This version has an OPTICAL IMAGE STABILIZER that really works in both Still image and Movie Modes. The large and bright LCD panel is great for sharing images with friends after the picture is taken; a suggestion for SONY is that the automated viewing (post image) is too short, internally set to about 2 seconds, and not adjustable; this should be an adjustable feature, which can be corrected by a simple SONY "firmware" upgrade.

Most critics do not make mention of the Software; Be it known SONY has one of the best (included) software packages available; Install the software one time; then plug in the camera into an available USB post, turn on the camera, and in 5,4,3,2,1 seconds the images and movies, begin their migration into a unique folder in the hard-drive, in a subdirectory in "My Pictures" with today's date as the folder name. Could not be a simpler process.

If you want to see some T9 sample images you can go to http://www.416-1100.com/Test%20Images%20-%20Digital%20Equipment%20Testing/73537. Images will be added periodically so check back often; and while you're there look around at other images posted at your pleasure.

JimWilson 28/Dec/2005/5pm

I am not new to digital cameras, I've had about 5 in the last 4 years. From Canon, Sony, and Casio.

In general my favorite cameras over all are the Sony CyberShot's , why? They have strong features, great battery life and the ARE fashionable. Canon and Casio have excelent picture quality just like the Sony. So for me it would be hard to pick one of theese just by quality of the pictures.

I recomend you think about what you want to use your camera for... In my opinion people enjoy more being in pictures when you use a small "chic" camera then when you pull out a huge Professional camera.

That said let me talk to you about the Sony CyberShot DSC T-9

The Image Stabilizer (Super Steady Shot)

Man, this thing works wonders, but it is obviosly not perfect. I dont want to be cruel, but If you have parkinsons you picture will still look like crap. But for the regular user (we all shake a little, especially when holding small cameras like this) it takes care of most of the blurryness. You can easily have a great picture without using the flash. Some of you might think, why would you not want to use the flash? Well lets take the holliday season, no matter what mode you use, christmas light look better in pictures without flash. Same as when you want to take a close up picture and theres a lot of light in the background you want to show in the picture.
So YES, Super Steady Shot works great.

The size of this camera.

Its amazing, its even smaller over all than the DSC T-7 wich is a very small camera. But its still easy to hold and would be hard for it to get lost.

Looks

I got the black one, YES there is a black version of this camera as has sony done before with many of its T series cameras. The camera looks very elegant, radiates personality and is not at all intrusive. You get confortable buttons and BEATIFULL clear screen. One of the best ive seen in a camera.

Memory

It has 56 MB of internal memory, many reviews say that files are easilly transferable between internal memory and the Memory Stick DUO (Sony's Propietary memory) and to tell the truth i had to take a look at the manual to do it. So its not really THAT simple.

CONS

Memory Stick DUO media are expensive, to get a good amount of pictures you will have to buy atleast a 512MB card. I went with the 1GB Cost me around $100 in eBay the high speed one.

Transfering Pictures to the PC is easy but I HATE the cable this camera brings, Im looking forward to getting the craddle where I can charge and Transfer, way more convenient. Replaceable battery is expensive if you want to get a Spare of Replace it. About $50 average to get one.

Bottom Line

One of the best cameras ever. I will post some pictures using the Steady Shot and stuff so you guys can hudge by yourselvs.

A while back, I reviewed the T-3 Euro version of the T-33 and it was a fine little camera. However, I wanted to upgrade (isn't that the point?) so I bought a T-9 a few weeks ago. A friend had purchased a T-7 and I was impressed, but when I saw the T-9, I was sold!

The image quality is better, (6+ megapixels!), and this camera includes the "anti-shake" feature. I tested the "anti-shake" extensively on a recent trip to Thailand, as I absolutely h*a*t*e on-camera flash with these small point & shoot cameras. It's never enough and the lighting is far too bright (up close) and washed out. I can tell you, the "anti-shake" works rather well - not perfectly - but you do gain the equivalent of a "stop" or two of light, for all you low-light shooters. You can stretch that by setting the ASA or DIN speeds manually, and the pictures are quite nice. Color rendition is good, producing a very attractive image, and the zoom is the typical 3x. No problems there.

They added a tripod screw on the bottom, dumping the separate plastic base of the T-3 (never used it...). There's a sliding front cover that powers the camera when moved from over the lens, or you can, as I often do, leave the cover down and operate the power button. Either way, the camera powers quite quickly, and battery life is good. I have not noticed any significant decrease in battery life over my T-3, but then I have a separate charger and an extra battery. Nicely, Sony added the separate charger to this set, probably to induce you to buy another battery but that's a smart idea.

I use the leather belt case (same as the T-3) so I did not have to re-invest, and it's very fast. You'll be a real quick draw artist with this camera.

In my T-3 review, I compared the T-3 favorably to the DSC-828 that I have literally retired (using it only for formal events now), and the T-9 is even better. I'd give the 828 away but I don't know who wants a boat anchor now, the T-9 is just that good.

The T-9 is a super camera, as easy to carry everyday as a cell phone with capabilities far beyond cameras 5 times the size (and weight). Features: Red Eye reduction, *HUGE* view screen (really impressive for showing off to your friends what you just shot...), neat carry strap, LARGE internal memory (have to have it with 6 megapixel shots that save as large as 2mb each, but I strongly recommend the 2Gb chip. I keep a number of family and travel pictures on the card (always) to show friends and strangers, and keep about ¾ of the card free for pictures. While traveling on this last trip, I needed to download from my 1 Gb chip several times. It's big but not THAT big, so get the 2 GB chip...you're worth it and so are your vastly improved pictures...

FYI - I shot almost 400 pictures in a week, as I allow that I shot duplicates many times to get the "right" view of a particular shot, and there's always bad ones to delete.

Look for a USB memory stick reader, like the wonderful SanDisk MobileMate MS (the size, literally, of a USB flash drive, i.e. keyring-able), and you're ready.

You can afford this. Think about it. Super small, excellent quality, out of the way...but ALWAYS there. Get it. Or, let me put it another way, "Can you afford less?".

PS What I REALLY like about this camera is that my big 828 scares the pants off my subjects because it's seen (to them) as "professional", yet no one runs away when I pull this little guy out. You can see the differences in their attitude right away.

I get more intimate pictures, with better resolution, using this camera far more frequently, now, than the 828.

Being a previous owner of Sony's T7 I couldn't wait to get my hands on the new T9, mainly for the image stabalization feature. These small cameras are difficult to hold steady and I thought the 'clear shot' stabalization feature would solve everything. Well, it didn't. It does help but don't expect it to do miracles.

This camrea is a work of art in miniaturization and performance, I wouldn't part with it for anything. The photo quality is great for everyday use however I still pack along my big 8mpx SLR for those special scenic shots. The T9 slips in and out of my pocket with ease, I hardly know it's there and it's sure handy to pop out with a good camera when a photo opportunity comes up.

The T9 has a brighter screen than the T7 - even in direct sunlight. The LCD screen even 'seems' bigger although phiscally it's the same size. I like the handy 'slide show' button - which the T7 doesn't have. My friends were impressed with the instant musical show with special transistions. What sold me on the T5 was the video quality and the T9 holds up with the same reputation. I was disappointed that I could not import the mpg video files into Pinnacle9. But using most other editing software there is no problem.

Seclusion is this camera's unique feature. Sitting in the front row I made a video of a lecture and the speaker had no idea he was being recorded. He gave his permission before hand and afterward he asked "I thought you were going to video this"?

I eventually resolved to take all my photos at the 3 mpxl resolution with both the T5 and the T9. I personally can not find any advantage of using all 6 mpxls with this camera - I have not seen evidence where the optics will support it. But even at 3 mpxl I am very satisfied with the photo quality.

After a few minutes with this camera - watch out - you'll fall in love with it!

Tested Sony T5 and Nikon S1 that I had bought for other people. I own a Sony H1,love the Steady Shot on that camera. I guess you can call me a Sony Guy, as I also own a Sony S50 and a Sony F828.
I have taken about 150 shots with my new Sony T9 (got the camera this morning), most of the shot are great. Had maybe 10 bad shot, My fault not the camera's fault. Works good on Macro (note photo on shared pictures). Good battery life. Quick auto focus and it does do a good job in low light conditions. If your looking for a small camera that take great pictures, This is the one! The Steady Shot works great.(note photo on shared pictures)
The Sony T5 had too many fuzzy pictures and the Nikon S1 had those white dots in the picture if light is poor.
This camera is worth every penny and will alway be on me ready for action.

Amazing camera!

Love the shots, love the quality, love the portability, love the features, love the camera!

The only thing that I "don't like" about this camera is the fact that it takes about 1-2 seconds to take the shot after you've pressed the button. If you are shooting something moving fast... it might be already gone by the time the shot is taken :)
Definitely don't take this camera to a Formula 1 race, you'll miss all the cars (except for Sauber, Super Aguri, and some others) :)

I fully researched all the different compact cameras and am very happy to have chosen the Sony T9.
Its a perfect piece of miniaturised technology and takes excellent shots, on long zooms and with the steady feature which works very well.
Buy at least a half a gig card and make sure that any docking station you buy suits this camera.

Movies are v high quality for the size of the device.

Really happy with this product

Year 2006 saw us retiring our old but still servicable Kodak DC290, a now-ancient 2.1 mega pixel that's pretty hefty but shoots good photos nevertheless. It was the camera I had when my wife and I started dating, ah...the memories. :-)

The Sony T-9 overcame many of the limitation of the Kodak:
1. Small and stylish enough that the wife actually wants to carry and shoot with it.
2. Enough mega pixel to finally print good 8 x 10s on our Epson 2200 printer.
3. Fast enough focus so that the wife can use it easily. One of the biggest problem my wife had with cameras is that she's not used to pressing the shutter release half-way to focus, then all the way to finally shoot the picture. So what heppens is that she'll typically just press the shutter release all the way and hopefully doesn't move the camera while it focus and shoot. The Kodak is too slow and she frequently takes picture of her foot. The T-9 overcame that.
4. Pretty good ISO sensitivity for such a small camera. Look at the 2 teddy bears I shot using just a normal light bulb as light source. It was shot using hand only.
5. Sharp pictures, especially when light is good.
6. Some reviewers mentioned the sliding door can be troublesome but we found it great. Sliding it open instantly turns on the camera. Excellent for those spur-of-the-moment shot.
7. Very simple and "idiot proof" software. Load it on my wife's computer and all she needs to do is to plug in, turn on and viola! Pictures shows up on the PC. Of course I do the rest of the heavy lifting with the Photoshop when she wants something printed or cropped etc. :-)

The choice of this camera is a good one for its intended purposes for us, mainly a camera for the wife to toy with (while I fiddle with a bigger "real" camera). If you're looking at this camera, make sure you're aware that:
1. This isn't one of your rugged field camera. It's a stylish piece of modern technology that looks great in my wife's $1000+++ Louis Vuiton handbag but it won't take abuse on say, a safari trip.
2. Its a small camera with a small battery. If you tend to have extended travel without access to a ready powersource (eg. a rental car or hotel close by), get at least one or two extra batteries.

In sumary:
- Great camera. Sharp pictures and good light sensitivity
- Great LCD. Bright and usable in sunlight.
- Battery could be better but its not an issue for us.
- Stylish and good looking. Many manufacturers ignored the fact females likes taking photos too but won't use one that looks like a geeks' toy. The T-9 is an excellent piece of form and function for the purpose of getting the wife/girlfriend etc. interested in taking photos.
- Easily operated with long fingernails. I'm surprised many manufacturers doesn't take this into account when designing their cameras.

Good job Sony!

I've owned the T9 now for just about 3 weeks. I purchased it after some extensive research. Of course you never really know a product until you've had it awhile. Here's my thumb nail opinion.
I like:
The ultra thin metal body
Optical image stabilizer
great photo quality
high ISO performance
large, high rez screen
Auto focus assist lamp works well
very fast start-up
fast recovery even after flash
lots of built in memory, but you need to buy the 1 or 2 gig card
ok slide show feature with music

I don't like:
Redeye doesn't work that well
Too few manual controls
needs white balance
needs long shutter speed modes
Chews up battery time pretty fast. Already ordered a second battery.
No optical viewfinder (most ultra smalls don't)
flimsy plastic cover over the battery will be first thing to break

All in all a great little camera. Takes awesome, clear pics. Not for the professional photographer, but that's not why you are considering it (I hope).

There is an old story about the engineers at SONY who were told to develop a transistor radio that would fit in a shirt pocket. When it was time to show the first working model, the engineers had shirts made with slightly larger than normal pockets.

Since then, Sony has become the experts at putting lots of features in a small package. The T-series continues the "shirt pocket" design philosophy, and the T-9 brings much extra functionality.

I was particularly impressed with the movie function, in the FINE mode it can record 12 minutes of high quality 640 x 480 video on a 1 Gig memory stick. My first digital camera, the Sony MAVICA, took 640 X 480 stills! I found this a great feature in the discos, where the lighting is extremely intermittant, I just shoot 30 seconds or so of video, then pull the best still frames for my website using SONY VEGAS movie editing software.

Another advantage for me is the large image size. I can crop the huge 2816 X 2112 images significantly and still have native 800 X resolution for my web galleries.

I also like that an external charger comes with the camera, although not as cool as a docking station (which came standard with the T-1, and is an available accessory with the T-9) is more convenient because having a standby battery in the charger can allows me to charge one battery while shooting with the other. The octopus cable is a bit unwieldy, but makes it very simple to playback movies and stills on any monitor.

Be sure to buy at least two 1 or 2 Gigabyte memory sticks and one or two extra batteries when you buy your camera, only one battery is included.

My biggest problem so far has been getting my finger in the picture, this is because of my style of holding the camera in both hands. The T-9 is so thin that it is very easy to get a picture of your digits. (hence the term "digital photographs")

The only real gripe is that the manual does not repeat the information in the Quick Start paper, so you do not have a single reference book for all functions.

There is an underwater case available. I would recommend this in any beach or boating situation, not just underwater. A SINGLE DROP of salt water can completely destroy any electronic device if it gets inside. The other danger is leaving in a hot car. Our personal experience: 1 camera (a casio) destroyed by a drop of salt water, another (a sony) blinded by being left in a car in the Las Vegas Sun.

I highly recommend this camera.