Toshiba PDR-T20 Review

(These screen shots were photographed directly from the camera's LCD screen. There is no video out port on the PDR-T20.)

The typical Record mode info display is superimposed over the viewing area as above and toggles off after about 3 seconds. In the top left of the viewing area is the red camera icon signaling the record mode followed by 00111, the number of photos that can be recorded in the flash card's remaining free space. Below that is a full battery icon and slow shutter speed warning. Along the right is the date and time followed by image quality and zoom indicator.

At the bottom of the frame are three touch screen icons (left to right):

Scene modes: 6 different exposure modes; Auto (shown), Portrait, Portrait + Landscape, Landscape, Macro, Sports, and Portrait + Night, Multi(burst-16 frames) modes. (Sports, Landscape and Multi disable the flash)

Flash control: Auto, forced flash, no flash (shown) and auto red-eye reduction are the options.

Self Timer control: Off, 2 or 10 second delay.

Along the left, off the display area, are three more touch screen icons:

Flower icon(display key): In Record mode: allow access to the Scene, Flash and Self Timer modes.
In Playback mode: access to Image magnification(zoomed play) or Thumbnail display.


File Drawer icon(Menu Key): In Record mode: Access to Preview Settings, White Balance, Color modes, Quality/image size settings, ISO, LCD brightness and Setup.
In Playback mode: Access to Slide show, Paint, Information, Protect, PDOF, LCD brightness, and Setup.


Trash Can icon(Erase Key): Allows access to Delete image(s) or initialize the SD card.

Pressing the MENU button while in Record brings up these options:

Preview - ON / OFF of post record review

White Balance - Auto, Sun, Cloudy, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Incandescent

Color - Recording Color mode: Color, Black & White or Sepia

Picture Quality - High (1600x1200, low compression), Standard (1600x1200, standard compression), Economy (1024x768, standard compression), VGA (640x480, standard compression)

ISO - 100, 200, or 400

LCD Brightness - slider scale w/ 5 steps up or down

Setup - Auto power off(1, 3 or 5 min's), Sound(on/off), Date Setting, Language
(7 choices), System(brings up 2nd screen): Firmware version #, Card
Info(Card size,Available card space, percentage used). reset frame number
on next image, Reset(to default settings), Touch panel(touch two "X"s on
screen to adjust touch screen accuracy)

Pressing the Menu button while in Play brings up these options:

Slide Show - Play images on card automatically

Paint - allows drawing on or filling in an area of an image with various colors

Information - superimposes following info over images while browsing in play: Date, Time, Image size, File Size, Strobe(on/off), ISO

Protect - lock image(s) from deletion

DPOF - Set print quantity for DPOF printing

LCD Brightness - darker, normal, brighter

Setup - same as Setup on Record Menu(above)

The last picture captured is displayed full screen when you power up with the lens cover closed or, if already on in the Record mode, touch the mode button on the camera back which toggles modes from record to play. The data displayed is the play mode indicator, file icon, followed by the folder and image number. Beneath them is the battery condition indicator. The upper right displays the date and time of capture over the quality setting(4 flowers indicate 1600x1200-low compression). The left and right arrows at the bottom changes images to last or next frame by touching the arrow. Touching the magnifying glass icon zooms into the image up to 3.2 times. Touching the checker board icon toggles to the Index displaying 6 images at a time and a slider to move 6 new images onto the LCD(see later on this page.)

Touching the Information icon inside the Play menu displays the image data from the displayed image.

Touching the checker board icon toggles to the Index displaying 6 images at a time. You can quickly search through your stored images by touching the navigation arrows and by touching a thumbnail image you can view it in full screen mode. Deleting a highlighted image is accomplished by touching the 'garbage can' icon followed by a confirmation screen.

You can enlarge the image up to 3.2x(depending on image size it was recorded in) by pressing the 'magnifying glass' icon to the right in the playback screen. Once the image is magnified you can then scroll around inside of it using the 4 way navigation control. This is good for checking focus, color or composition on the small LCD screen.

The PDR-T20 and PDR-T10 have no optical viewfinder so viewing The LCD in the bright sunshine is a considerable issue. We found the above procedure very effective; cupping the left hand around the LCD and firing the picture with the right.The same works for the PDR-T20.