Sony chose this morning to announce a couple of new Cyber-shot digital cameras in Tokyo that come complete with yet another so-called 'photography aid' to help us grab better snaps.
The pair, which were previewed at the PMA photography show a couple of weeks ago, are the entry-level ¥28,000 (£132) DSC-W120 with 7.2 megapixels and the full-featured ¥48,000 (£227)
, which cranks the megapixel count up to 10.1.
Helping hands
Apart from the resolution, there isn't a great deal between the cameras - the more expensive model has a 3.5-inch touch-sensitive screen on the back, whereas the cheaper one contains an ordinary 2.5-inch display. The optical zoom on the T300 is 5x, whereas the W120 has to make do with 4x.
As with all recent Cyber-shots, they can output full high-definition (1080) images to an HD TV and can attempt to take over most of the hard work of getting pictures just right. The software includes the usual array of smile detectors, skin-tone adjusters and the like, but the T300 features something that is likely to baffle most casual snappers.
According to Sony, the world's first 'child priority' mode sets the T300 apart from the crowd. Apparently, it can work out who - if anyone - in the frame is a child so it can keep an eye on their teeth. More specifically, once it catches a glimpse of a smile it fires the shutter off and photo albums filled with pics of scowling kids will be a thing of the past.
