Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700 review

Performance
Performance for the DSC-T700 is about the same as the T300, and one of the top performers in its class. In our tests, it averaged 1.7 seconds from power-on to first shot. Shot-to-shot time was about the same, while flash bumped that up to 2.4 seconds, which is pretty fast for an ultracompact. In high-contrast conditions it took only 0.4 seconds to focus and shoot, while that raises to a modest 0.9 seconds in a lower-contrast environment. It held a rate of 1.9fps in burst mode for over 50 shots.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Time to first shot

Flash shot-to-shot time

Typical shot-to-shot time

Shutter lag (dim)

Shutter lag (typical)

Canon Digital IXUS 970 IS

1.3 

3.7 

2.5 

0.8 

0.4 

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700

1.7 

2.4 

1.8 

0.9 

0.4 

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T300

1.9 

2.2 

1.7 

1 

0.5 

Fujifilm FinePix F50fd

1.8 

3.1 

1.9 

0.9 

0.5 

Picture quality is also respectable, with excellent colour and contrast at low ISO sensitivities, though there's some visible lens distortion on the left side, which is common in this class of cameras. Photos at and below a size of 200x250mm were fine quality, though all photos generally look soft. Viewed at 100 per cent, we saw some chromatic aberration, and off-subject elements of the scene tended to look smeary and overprocessed, but nothing that was noticeable at traditional print sizes and certainly not on the T700's LCD. Noise in the pictures becomes noticeable at ISO 200 and starts to seriously obscure detail at ISO 800; we don't suggest using higher settings.