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Sony DSC-S70 Sony makes a compact 3.3 megapixel digicam with full movie/sound capability and a razor-sharp Zeiss lens! Select a topic 13. Reference: Datasheet 14. DSC-S70 Sample Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Video, Power, Software :(Previous) | (Next): Reference: Datasheet>> Page 12:Test Results & Conclusion Review First Posted: 5/5/2000

Test Results
In keeping with our standard policy, our comments here are rather condensed, summarizing our key findings: For a full commentary on each of the test images, see the DSC-S70's "pictures" page.

As with all Imaging Resource camera tests, we encourage you to let your own eyes be the judge of how well the devices performed: Explore the images on the pictures page, to see how well the DSC-S70 performed, and how its images compare to other cameras you may be considering buying.

Overall, the DSC-S70 produced really excellent pictures: Color was quite good, with appropriate saturation of strong primaries, but good handling of pastels as well. Overall color accuracy was very high, with only a slightly reduced color saturation in the subtractive primaries (cyan, yellow, and magenta). Tonal range was excellent as well, particularly in the area of shadow detail.

This is the second Sony camera we've tested that uses a Carl Zeiss lens, the first being the unusually-shaped DSC-F505 (now updated to the F505V, with 2.6 megapixels, up from the initial 1.92.) At the time, we were very impressed with the quality of the Zeiss optics, and the exceptionally sharp images produced. We're happy to report that the lens in the DSC-S70 shows similar performance: In shot after shot, we were consistently impressed with how sharp the Zeiss lens was, contributing to our rating of the S70 as the highest-resolution digicam we've yet tested (late April, 2000). We did find some geometric distortion though (very common among zoom-equipped digicams we've tested): We measured barrel distortion of 0.8% in wide-angle mode, and pincushion distortion of 0.15% (almost imperceptible) in telephoto mode. These distortion figures are actually a bit better than average, particularly at the telephoto end of the lens' range. Chromatic aberration is present but very low, we caught about 2-3 pixels of coloration on each side of the corner elements in our resolution target, shot at wide angle. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target). At the telephoto end of the lens' range, the chromatic aberration is much less apparent. In other respects, the S70's Zeiss lens performed superbly: The chromatic aberration is the main fault that would prevent us from giving it an altogether stellar rating.

The DSC-S70 follows the current standard in its provision of both optical and LCD viewfinders.We found the S70's optical viewfinder to be a little "tight" (we recently changed our terminology, we would have previously referred to this cropping as a "loose" viewfinder, but felt the "tight" term described what went on in the viewfinder itself a bit more accurately), showing approximately 84 percent of the final image area at wide angleand about 83 percent at telephoto.The LCD monitor proved only slightly more accurate, showing about 90 percent frame coverage at wide angleand about 92 percent accuracy at the telephoto setting. (We generally like to see the LCD monitor as close to 100 percent accuracy as possible). We also shot at the 2x digital telephoto setting, which provided about 88 percent frame accuracy and a somewhat softer image (a typical symptom of using digital zoom).

The S70 does a nice job in the macro category, capturing a minimum area of just 0.94 x 0.70 inches (23.77 x 17.83 mm). Resolution, detail and color all look great. Closest focusing occurs in wide-angle mode, which also introduces a moderate amount of barrel distortion. (Not measured, but our impression is that there's more distortion than we saw in the viewfinder test, shot at greater distances.) The macro capability could also potentially be extended through the use of auxiliary lenses, if you purchase the optional accessory lens adapter ring, the VAD-S70.

Probably the only area where we felt the S70 came up a bit short was that of white balance for indoor photography. None of its white-balance settings could fully compensate for the strong yellowish cast of the household incandescent lighting in our test setting. The positive note is that colors within the images are still well-balanced, meaning it's fairly easy to clean them up after the fact in Photoshop or PhotoGenetics, but we still would have liked to seen a stronger white-balance compensation to start with.

The S70 performed pretty well under low-light conditions, producing very usable images down to light levels of 1/2 foot-candles (~6 lux), and images that could perhaps be used, albeit after some work at levels of only 1/4 foot-candle (~3 lux). This is pretty good, as a typical city night scene under average street lighting is a lighting level of about 1 foot-candle. The S70 should do fine for outdoor night scenes in the city.

Overall, we were very impressed with the DSC-S70: It takes exceptionally sharp pictures with excellent color, gives good exposure control, and has the added benefit of capturing full-motion movies with sound. Really an excellent little camera!

 

Conclusion
The S70's lightweight portability and full set of features make for a very user friendly camera we think most consumers will enjoy. Aperture- and shutter-priority exposure modes provide good exposure control, and give you as much decision making power as most users will want or need. At the same time, the full-auto mode gives true "point & shoot" operation for the novice, or for those times you'd prefer to let the camera do the thinking. We'd like to have seen a standard flash sync connector, but the optional Sony auxiliary flash does provide a solid external-flash option. The camera's Carl Zeiss lens is of unusually high quality, rendering exceptionally sharp, highly-detailed images, with the highest resolution we've yet found in a digicam. The optional (huge!) wide-angle lens produces very wide coverage, which could make the combination a great choice for people needing to photograph building interiors or other very wide-angle subjects. Overall, an excellent 3 megapixel digicam - Highly recommended!