In one of the most audacious stunts seen from a tech company, Sony went to extreme lengths to promote the 'twilight' technology found in its latest camera range this week, by organising seven games of football which followed twilight around the globe.
Each game kicked off just as light was getting low, with matches taking place in the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Argentina and Australia with the Twilight Football finale taking place in South Africa.
LIGHT FANTASTIC: Twilight in Antequera, Spain
TechRadar was fortunate enough to be taken to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall to watch the UK leg of the football taking place, and also tried out the Twilight shooting mode on the company's latest Cyber-shot and Handycam range, which come with an Exmor R CMOS Sensor.
The sensor is said to offer a 2x increase in sensitivity, cutting image noise to half in low light compared with conventional sensors.
SNOW JOKE: Football antics in Chamonix, Switzerland
And while the cameras had their work cut out due to low visibility (typical Cornwall fog) and spatters of rain, the new camera range seemed to cope with whatever Mother Nature wanted to throw at it.
The way the Exmor R sensor works is actually fairly simple. Sony has decided to use back illuminated technology, and take the wired circuit off the front of the sensor and put it on the back, so more light falls directly on the receptive areas than ever before. More light, means you can squeeze out better illuminated shots in low-light situations.
It also means there's less noise in a shot and picture quality is improved as a result.
And with the new handheld Twilight shooting mode, you can shoot in low-light, without the need of a tripod. Which was a good thing in Cornwall as if we had one, it would have completely sunk in the ground.
ENGER-LAND: Tintagel, Cornwall was the UK location
Sony's latest Cyber-shot camera range, including the Sony DSC-WX1 and the Sony DSC-TX1, is available now.
Also out is the company's new Handycam camcorder range, which makes use of the Exmor R CMOS sensor, and includes the HDR-XR520VE and the pistol-gripped HDR-TG7VE.
Got to www.sony.co.uk for more details.
