In summary
Available in blue, gold or white Sony’s DSC-T33 Cyber-shot is an update to the T3 model and is slightly larger, but lighter than its predecessor. The front panel of the brushed aluminium shell is flat, with no grips or protrusions. The lens sits in the top right corner, where it may be obscured by the fingers of the left hand when the camera is in use. . . [more]
Full review
Rating (out of 10)
Build: 8.0
Ease of use: 8.0
Image quality: 8.5
Value for money: 7.5
Available in blue, gold or white, Sony’s DSC-T33 Cyber-shot is an update to the T3 model and is slightly larger, but lighter than its predecessor. The front panel of the brushed aluminium shell is flat, with no grips or protrusions. The lens sits in the top right corner, where it may be obscured by the fingers of the left hand when the camera is in use.
There’s no viewfinder for composing shots in bright outdoor lighting and the rear panel is dominated by the large LCD, which is reasonably bright – but next to useless in sunlit conditions. Most control buttons sit to the right near the right edge to set the movie, stills and playback modes, while the battery and Memory Stick Duo card slot into the base of the camera.
The T33 is supplied with a docking cradle that is also used for mounting the camera on a tripod, although the slowest shutter speed available is one second. Shutter speeds depend on the selected shooting mode, with the auto setting limited to 1/8-1/1000 second, Program AE covering the full range and the High Speed Shutter mode ranging from 1/250 to 1/1000 second. Nine pre-set scene modes cover Beach, Candle, Fireworks, High Speed Shutter, Landscape, Magnifying Glass mode, Snow, Twilight, and Twilight Portrait – but there’s no Portrait setting.
Continuous shooting supports high-resolution capture for up to four shots at 3fps, 16-shot multi-burst and a 100-shot burst mode that can capture a VGA image every 0.71 seconds. B&W and sepia effects are provided, along with five white balance presets (but no manual measurement); flash output adjustment; multi- and spot metering; EV compensation and bracketing; and multi-point, centre and spot AF, with single and monitoring options. VGA movies can be recorded at 30fps on Memory Stick Pro Duo cards but you need at least 256MB to record just under three minutes.
The test camera produced vibrant, noise-free pictures that were slightly over-sharpened and contrasty. Colour accuracy was quite good and the white balance performed best with the manual pre-sets. Flash output was rather weak. [23]
IMATEST RESULTS
Excellent image resolution for such a small camera and sensor. Image files from this camera should be printable up to A3 size.
Despite a rather odd-looking plot, chromatic aberration is low enough to be negligible.
Overall saturation is modest but orange, red are magenta are boosted, while purples and blues are restrained. Most colour errors should be correctable with image editing software.
The above chart confirms the L*a*b* colour error results and suggests that noise will be problematic at high ISO settings.
Specifications
Image sensor: 5.8 x 4.35mm Interlace Scan Super HAD CCD with 5,255,000 photosites (5.09 megapixels effective)
Lens: 6.7-20.1 mm f3.5-4.4 Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens (38-114 mm in 35mm format)
Zoom ratio: 3x optical, up to 6x digital (12x Smart Zoom at VGA resolution)
Dimensions (wxhxd): 99.4 x 60.9 x 20.7mm
Weight: 125g (without battery and card)
Image formats: Stills – JPEG (Exif 2.2); Movies – MPEG (monaural) (VGA and QQVGA
Shutter speed range: 1-1/1000 sec.
Focus system/range: Multi-point, centre and spot AF; range 50 cm to infinity; macro to 8 cm
Exposure metering/control: Program AE plus 9 scene modes
White balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Flash
Flash modes/range (ISO auto): Auto, Forced Flash, No Flash, Slow Synchro; range 0.1-1.6 m
ISO range: Auto, ISO 100, 200, 400
Sequence shooting: 4 Shots (5M/Fine) at approx. 0.33 sec interval
Storage Media: 32 MB Memory Stick Duo; holds 12 high resolution images or up to491 VGA shots
LCD monitor: 2.5-inch Hybrid Colour / Clear Photo, 230,400 Pixel LCD
Power supply: NPFT1 InfoLithium Battery
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