The Bottom Line
During my Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T90 review, I showed the camera to a few people, receiving plenty of "oohs" and "aahs" from each person. The bright body colors and slide panel on the front of the DSC-T90 make it a very impressive looking digital camera. Then, when they saw the large touch screen LCD, the "oohs" turned into, "How can I buy this camera?" There's no question: The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T90 is a great looking camera.
Unfortunately, this camera's usability and image quality aren't quite as good. It's still a very nice camera worth recommending, but be prepared to spend some time learning to use the DSC-T90.
Pros
- Very stylish looking and cool camera is available in five colors
- Macro (close-up) focus is outstanding; easily can shoot text documents
- Touch screen LCD is a handy feature
- Response times are pretty fast
- Zoom feature on LCD is great for making sure photo is in perfect focus
Cons
- Camera needs more scene mode options
- LCD can be a little tough to see in bright sunlight
- Low-light images subject to a lot of noise
- Camera's automatic settings sometimes don't work perfectly
Description
- Resolution: 12.1 megapixels
- Optical zoom: 4X (35-140mm equivalent)
- LCD: 3.0-inch touch screen, 230,400 pixels
- Battery: Rechargeable Li-Ion
- Dimensions: 3.75 x 2.38 x 0.59 inches
- Weight: 5.3 oz. (with battery and memory card)
- Image sensor: 1/2.3-inch CCD
Guide Review - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T90 Review
Image Quality
Overall image quality is a hit and miss prospect with the Cyber-shot DSC-T90. When the camera's automatic shooting function is able to determine the correct settings to use, the image quality is outstanding. However, that doesn't always happen, primarily in low-light situations.
To counteract this problem, most cameras offer dozens of scene modes, which allow the photographer to try to select a shooting mode that most closely matches the shooting conditions. However, the DSC-T90 offers less than a dozen scene modes, leaving many situations uncovered.
With some of the manual controls that Sony has included with the Cyber-shot DSC-T90, you can shoot better photos, but it will take some time to learn to them properly. As a plus, the printed user guide is thorough.
Performance
Response times are very fast for the Cyber-shot DSC-T90 most of the time. However, the camera operates slowly with the flash engaged and in low-light conditions. I'd recommend using a tripod with this model.
The DSC-T90's macro mode works extremely well, and this model can shoot sharp images of text documents.
Design
As I already mentioned, I have never reviewed a camera where I had more people comment so favorably on the design. It is pretty cool to slide down the front cover, revealing the tiny lens and flash while turning on the camera at the same time. There are very few buttons to clutter the design.
The 3.0-inch touch screen LCD is great, and it's very easy to use. You can use the touch screen to tell the DSC-T90 to focus on a particular area of the photo or to work with photos you've already shot.
Ultimately, this camera is great for the beginning photographer who will shoot mostly outdoors and who have time to learn use the camera properly. If you will shoot in low light, though, the image quality problems offset the very cool design.
