Sony Cybershot DSC-G3 with WiFi: upload images on the fly
To start off with the Sony Cybershot DSC-G3 is a 10MP digital camera with 4x optical zoom image stabilization. Nothing spectacular about that. A lot of digital cameras have those sort of specifications. And it is slim and pretty neat looking. True of many others.
Where it differs is that it has Wi-Fi internet capabilities. If you are in a Wi-Fi area — more and more common these days — you can immediately upload your pictures and movies to popular sharing sites including YouTube, Picasa Web Albums, Photobucket, Shutterfly and DailyMotion.
The camera, because it has 10.1 megapixels and image stabilization will let you take some snazzy shots. Having done that you can save them on 4GB of internal memory (which is a lot) and then review them on the 3.5-inch high-resolution, high contrast touch screen LCD.
The lens is the Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens (the original copyright goes back to 1902) with a 4x optical zoom which is a real zoom as opposed to a digital zoom which is a marketing claim. The lens allows close-up shooting up to just under 1/2-inch from the subject so that you can take Macro shorts.
The LCD screen is among the highest resolution screens available on a compact digital camera which will be fine for focusing except on Bondi Beach at the height of an Australian summer.
The camera measures just over 3/4-inch (19.4mm) so you can easily carry it in your pocket. It has a lot of features as well in which I have little faith. As in face detection technology whih detects up to eight individual faces and controls flash, focus, exposure, and white balance to deliver accurate, natural skin tones with reduced red-eye for beautiful images of family and friends. Not something that fills me full of confidence.
Then there is a smile shutter technology where you choose the Smiley Face feature and the camera will capture a smile the moment it happens. Not for me. If they had a Grumpy Old Man detector I would be at it like a mad dog.
On the other hand image stabilization really does work albeit to a limited extent and allows you to do flash-free photography which is, please believe me, a Good Thing.
Optical SteadyShot image stabilization uses a built-in gyro sensor to detect camera shake and automatically shifts the lens to help prevent blur without sacrificing image quality. Which has to be tested to be proved.
It is pretty much totally automatic and uses a sophisticated algorithm to determine the best exposure and contrast settings for almost any shooting environment.
There are 13 photo modes which you can select. My favorite is Gourmet Mode which, we are told, ‘lets you capture mouth-watering culinary creations with all the color and clarity of images you see in gourmet magazines.’ Nonsense. I used to own gourmet magazine and you use a food stylist to get the food ready for the photographer to take the picture. With those sort of shots the smarts do not rest with the camera nor yet the photographer. It is the food stylist who does the work.
You can take about ten minutes of video at 30 frames per second. It is not high resolution but good enough for YouTube.
As a still camera you can fire up to 100 shots at approximately .62 second intervals (at any resolution; VGA to high resolution mode). Why you would want to do that is not explained.
What is important is that this camera has built-in Wi-Fi 802.11b/g connectivity lets you connect your Cyber-shot DSC-G3 camera from any WiFi hot spot and upload them to YouTube, Picasa Web Albums, Photobucket, Shutterfly and DailyMotion. Or whatever.
The problem is the price — $500. Forget all the marketing hype. What you are being asked to do is pay $400 for a four times zoom point-and-shoot digital camera with 10 megapixels. Seems a tad expensive.
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