Sony DSC-N1 digital camera

Posted by T3 Online on Mon 22 Oct 2007

Sony's new snapper steels the show.

The pictures that this latest Cybershot snapper takes are pretty damn good, but the first thing that grabs you about it is its Star Trek-esque looks. On the front, a 3x zoom erupts from a slab of brushed metal, while on the back, sci-fi details and blinking LEDs flank a monstrous three-inch screen.

Screens this big can lack detail, and even the 230,000 pixels here can't deliver the sharpness of smaller displays. However, it's brilliantly colourful, the viewing angle is wide enough to photograph Barry Manilow's profile, and the refresh rate is adequate. It only struggles in dingier interiors, lacking as it does the detail to frame low-light shots.

The fiddly zoom button controls a lens that wheezes through its average 3x range. Most other features are accessed via the touchscreen, and there are plenty on offer: manual exposure, burst modes and bracketing, scene modes, and metering and focusing choices. The interface can be a bit unintuitive. Instead of just tapping the flash icon to set red-eye reduction, for instance, you must hit the menu button and wade through several screens. Luckily the menus are clear and fast.

Once set-up's out the way, photos are packed with colour and detail - far more than you might expect from such a novice-friendly camera. High sensitivity (ISO 800) photography is handled with a lot less noise than its eight-megapixel rivals and exposure is spot on, although the flash could be more powerful.

The camera also permanently stores VGA-sized versions of up to 500 images, letting you edit them with a paint function, and upload tunes to make a multimedia slideshow.

The user interface may not make the most of the touchscreen, but thanks to the excellent image and build quality, this is still a quality camera.