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Typical Playback mode screen with most all of the overlay data displayed.
Left to right: Battery condition and time remaining, image size, image number,
graphical representation of space left on the memory stick. Across the bottom is
the folder name, time and date information.
Selecting Index from the popup menu brings up the thumbnail index mode where you
can quickly review the stored images and choose one for fullscreen display or
deletion.
While viewing an image fullscreen you can zoom in up to 5x magnification and then
scroll around inside of it to check for composition and focus.
The popup menu lets you bring up the Index, move forward or backward through the
images, delete images or access the File, Tool or Setup menus (see following frames).
File menu options: Format the memory stick, Rotate images, enable the Slide
Show, Print Mark for embedding DPOF printing information, Protect images from
accidental deletion.
Tool menu options: Copy the diskette to another diskette. Resize larger images
down to smaller sizes.
Setup menu options: Video Out (NTSC or PAL), Language (English or Japanese),
Clock set (time and date), Beep (Shutter, On, Off), LCD Bright (onscreen adjustment
of the LCD backlight illumination).
Steve's Conclusion
Sony's new "top of the line" CyberShot DSC-S70 is a more than worthy competitor in
the crowded arena of three megapixel cameras. It follows and equals the likes of
the Nikon 990 and the Olympus C-3030. Image quality is excellent due to Sony's 12-
bit A/D conversion, an uncompressed TIFF mode and of course, the Carl Zeiss lens.
This is a small and lightweight camera with loads of high performance features but
it's also easy enough for anyone to operate. It's priced about $200 below the
competition -- and that includes the battery, charger, AC supply and a USB port
that eliminates the need for a card reader.
At first I wasn't too keen on the new Memory Stick modules as I figured we didn't
need another incompatible flash memory standard. With Sony's manufacturing clout
the Memory Stick has been produced in large quantities and has already reached the
promised capacity of 64MB. In fact the 64MB MS is cheaper than a comparable 64MB
CompactFlash or SmartMedia card, I picked one up for $92.75. Sony promises even
bigger MS modules in the next year with capacity up to 256MB. The Memory Stick
like the SmartMedia card can be used in a floppy adapter, PCMCIA adpater or card
reader so it's very portable.
The one thing I have always liked about Sony cameras is that marvelous InfoLITHIUM
"smart" battery system. It is undoubtedly the best rechargeable battery available
to consumers today and is in use in millions of camcorders and still digital
cameras worldwide. The DSC-S70 uses the smaller "M" series NP-FM50 pack which
is rated 7.2v at 8.5W and seems to go forever even when using the color LCD and
flash a lot. As with all cameras using this battery system, the S70 displays
the amount of battery time left in minutes on the LCD screen at all times. You
never have to guess when the battery will go dead, you know exactly how long you
have left.
The user interface of the S70 is the same as that used on the Mavica cameras,
all of the settings are accessed through a popup menu across the bottom of the
color LCD. A few items such as focus and flash can be changed with a push
button but all others must be done with the menu system. It is quite intuitive
and using the 4-way jog switch you easily navigate the menu and make your
selection by pressing the jog switch inwards. The user controls are well placed,
the zoom switch is easily accessed even by those of us that aim with the left eye.
The real test is just handing a camera to someone whose never used it before and
see how they fare. The vast majority took to the S70 like a duck to water.
The color LCD on the S70 is the conventional TFT type, it is not the solar
illuminated / reflective type such as the one used on the DSC-F505. Under 95% of
the lighting conditions I used the camera in the screen was bright and highly
visible. If dealing with direct sunlight however it is about as useless as most
other color LCD screens unless shielded with your hand or turned away from the
sunlight. It is protected by a plastic cover that is easy to clean. The refresh
rate is realtime, the motion is clear and fluid no matter how fast you pan the
camera. For most shooting situations you switch off the LCD and use the optical
viewfinder. It is large and bright and has a diopter adjustment to make it useable
by even those wearing glasses.
Anyone who knows cameras also knows that a great picture starts with a great lens
and there just isn't any better optics than Carl Zeiss'. Sony first put a 5x Zeiss
Vario-Sonar on last year's DSC-F505 and the images were incredibly sharp and
colorful. The DSC-S70 gets a 3x (34-120mm 35mm equivalent) Zeiss Vario-Sonar that
is very fast with a maximum aperture of F:2.0-2.5. A faster lens means better low-
light shots. The S70 can be used handheld without flash in many lighting conditions
that require the use of flash on other cameras.
The Zeiss zoom like the Canon zoom extends outward from the body during use and
retracts back in when powered down. The zoom mechanism is robust as well as
virtually noiseless. I won't get too technical here, the lens exhibits the usual
amount of barrel distortion in wideangle and just a little bit of pinchushioning at
the extreme telephoto position. No more or less than what is seen on expensive 35mm
SLR zoom lenses. The lens mount is threaded for Sony's lens adapter and they have
filters and several add-on lenses available for the S70.
If you're into sports or action photography then the S70 may not suit your purposes
as well as the Nikon 990 or the Olympus C-3030. About the only thing lacking in
the S70 is a large RAM buffer for burst mode shots. The image processing of the
camera is quite fast and even the highest resolution image can be saved in 3 to 4
seconds but there is no sequential or burst mode available in the S70.
The movie recording function is limited to preset time lengths of 5, 10 or 15
seconds maximum. This isn't a replacement for a camcorder but is excellent for
recording short, high-quality motion clips with good ambient audio. The 320 x 240
HQ mode produces a 10-sec clip that's about 5MB in size and plays back full screen
on the LCD or TV set. Unlike the Olympus C-3030, the S70's zoom lens is functional
in the movie mode but you must choose the desired focal length before recording is
started. The movie quality is excellent, the color, white balance and focus were
on the money 95% of the time even when I just pointed and pressed. The movies are
saved as a standard MPEG (MPG) file and easily viewed with the Windows Media Player
or any other viewer than handles MPEG format.
Often times we want more in the way of flash illumination. The built in flash
units are handy but hardly capable of lighting things up much beyond 8 to 10
feet. Built in flash units are also too close to the lens and there is often a
problem with "red-eye" when photographing people. Sony has an optional high power
HVL-F1000 flash unit that can be easily connected to the S70 thanks to a dedicated
sync port. Unlike the Olympus or Nikon flash units, the HVL-F1000 only costs
around $125 so you don't have to take out a second loan just to buy a flash.
As I said at the beginning, the S70 comes complete with a high-capacity lithium
rechargeable battery, the charger and the AC supply. It is a proprietary battery
so do yourself a favor and buy a spare right off the bat. These batteries go
a long way on a charge but once they're dead, they're dead and you can't stick
any kind of "off the shelf" battery in there. The NP-FM50 batteries are what
I would call reasonably priced, going for about $50 a piece. You can charge the
battery in-camera or use one of several different and optional external chargers
available from Sony.
So there you have it. Sony strikes again with an excellent camera that's easy to
use, produces vivid and sharp images and comes with everything you need in the base
package -- at about $200 less than the competition. It's digital inside and out
but "looks and feels" like a regular 35mm camera so even the newbies won't be
intimidated by it a bit. It's a little larger than pocket size but still small
enough and light enough to be toted on all-day excursions without giving you neck
strain. If you don't need the three megapixel image size then check out the less
expensive and lower resolution DSC-S50 or DSC-S30 cameras instead.
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