Sony Launches Four New Cyber-Shot DSC Cameras

There are a bunch of new digital cameras in town, ones that place as much focus on size and toughness as they do on performance and image quality.

The new cameras that have made their official entrances are called Cyber-Shot DSC-WX150, DSC-TX66, DSC-TX20 and DSC-W690 and have prices of $180 / 133.77 Euro to $350 / 260 Euro.

The first two use 18.2 MP “Exmor R” CMOS sensors, while the other pair relies on the a 16.1 MP sensor (P “Exmor R” CMOS on the DSC-TX20 and 16.1 MP CCD on the DSC-W690).

We aren't going to dwell on all their individual specs, since Sony has already listed them in its official announcement.

What we will look at is the cameras' ability to take high-resolution pictures, some even while underwater.

Sony also wrote that the newcomers can take clear pictures both during the day and during the night, though it did not go into details as to how much would be visible from an underwater shot at twilight or under the new moon.

Moving on, the The DSC-WX150 and DSC-W690 models are described as the world's thinnest 10x optical zoom cameras (measured at the slimmest part and excluding the lens).

The “Advanced Aspherical” lens element is the major factor behind this slimness, since it makes the lens unit smaller than on rival products.

On that note, the TX66 stands out through its ultra-slim, front-sliding design and measures about 12.2 mm (excluding lens cover).

Furthermore, the TX20 is the most “rugged” of the lot, waterproof (up to 5m or 16ft), dustproof, shockproof (up to 1.5m or 5 ft) and freezeproof (up to 14oF).

The list of assets exhibited by one or more of the newcomers goes on with fast Auto Focus, image stabilization, multi-shot capabilities (including 10 fps burst mode), “Background Defocus” mode, 3D still image shooting,“Dual Record” functionality (captures high-resolution still images while shooting video) and “Clear Image Zoom” digital zoom technology (boosts optical zoom to 2x virtual capability -i.e. 5x optical zoom to 10x virtual zoom- at full camera resolution).

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