Sony's Cyber-Shot N1 with touchscreen

Posted on Tuesday, October 04 2005 @ 2:26 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Sony today presented the 8.1 megapixel Cyber-shot N1 digital camera which features a 3 megapixel Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar optical zoom lens and a large 3-inch touchscreen, all packed in a compact aluminum body that's only 22.7mm slim.

The large hybrid 3.0 inch touch-sensitive LCD on the Cyber-shot N1 makes this stylish digital camera even easier to use, allowing you to operate various functions when shooting and playing back by simply touching the LCD screen. For example with the Free Spot AF function, you can focus on an object directly by just touching it on the LCD screen. Likewise, functions like menu, playback, forward and reverse can be controlled by just touching or tracing a finger across the LCD screen.

The paint and stamp function is great for families:using the supplied stylus, artistic and decorative final touches can be added to photos. The brand new Clear Photo LCD Plus technology greatly improves the resolution and brightness of the 3.0 inch LCD screen. The improved 65% NTSC colour ratio leads to clearer and more vivid picture quality. The LCD incorporates a smooth anti-reflection layer, for a better image quality than conventional textured layers. It also suppresses reflections more effectively to increase the display contrast, especially outside in bright sunlight. Perfect for sharing photographs with friends and family.

Imagine how heavy a photo album carrying 500 of your favourite photos might be! The new Pocket Album feature from Sony allows you to carry and view up to 500 of your favourite still photos on the camera's large LCD screen. A separate, internal memory is dedicated to holding your pictures in VGA size thumbnails, which means you can view them whenever you want. The internal Pocket Album is a great way to share memories and tell a story with friends. In addition to sharing on the large LCD screen, images can be viewed on a connected TV screen. When the maximum capacity is reached, the oldest images are automatically deleted to make space for new ones (individual images can be protected from deletion). Of course, images are also stored in full high resolution on optional Memory Stick Duo™ or Memory Stick PRO Duo™ for you to save on a PC or print out.

In addition, the Cyber-shot N1 features a Slideshow with Music function for a truly rich slide show experience. It brings your pictures to life by playing them back in a variety of slide show styles: select from 'Active', 'Simple', 'Stylish' and 'Nostalgic' modes and your pictures will be shown at random accompanied by a choice of four pre-set background music melodies to complement the mood. You can even add background music of you own choice using the supplied Picture Package software. You can select the Music Transfer function to add your own music (MP3 or CD music) to the camera’s internal memory to further personalise your slide shows. To make the very best of your memories, the camera goes one step further, blending and zooming in and out on images for a truly dynamic, movie-like slide show. You don't even have to wait to get home to enjoy this great feature-just switch to Slideshow with Music mode and the camera does the rest! There is also a 'Normal' function for playback without mood music.

The brushed aluminium metal body of the Cyber-shot N1 boasts smooth lines and modern styling and houses a Sony developed 8.1 effective Megapixel Super HAD CCD, combined with a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 3x Optical Zoom lens, to ensure crystal clear shots every time. If you need to zoom even more, no problem: the camera features a 6x Precision Digital Zoom, and a 15x VGA Smart Zoom to help you view subjects near and far. With the 16:9 shooting mode you can even shoot wide-screen images for playback on your wide-screen TV.

Picture blur is significantly reduced because of the high sensitivity capability of the Cyber-shot N1. Traditionally this would lead to an increase in noise, however utilising the newly developed Clear RAW NR feature, the signal to noise ratio is greatly improved. The Clear RAW NR original algorithm system reduces colour and luminance noise, enabling shooting with significantly higher sensitivity (up to ISO 800). This ensures images with less noise and finer detail. This is especially beneficial when shooting in low-light conditions, or when shooting moving objects.

A fun photographic experience comes as standard with the Cyber-shot N1. Despite its huge LCD screen, its light and compact body weighs in at only 151g*. It’s a perfect size to drop into a bag so you never miss a single photo opportunity with friends and family, or a fabulous view or memories from your latest holiday. Whatever the occasion, there is bound to be a suitable setting to capture it amongst the eight pre-set Scene Selection modes, including Twilight, Snow and Beach functions. Just choose your preferred mode: the shutter speed and exposure has all been pre-set for worry-free and convenient shooting. The Cyber-shot N1 also features a manual exposure if you feel like being a little more creative.

Battery performance is not a problem for the Cyber-shot N1 - with its improved Sony STAMINA technology, you can take up to 300** shots on a single charge of the supplied Lithium battery. To keep up with the shooting ability the camera offers, its Real Imaging Processor provides a very quick camera response time. If you do run out of power, just charge it up again with the supplied battery charger.

The Cyber-shot N-series also features PictBridge, the standard for printing directly to compatible PictBridge photo printers, such as the Sony DPP-FP50. The optional Cyber-shot Station makes charging and connecting to a PC, printer or TV even simpler. A greater range of optional accessories are available for the Cyber-shot N1, including a leather case, and a new Marine housing for underwater shooting down to 40m, complete with basic control functionality (as a substitute for the standard touch-screen operation).

The Cyber-shot N1 finished in silver aluminium will be available throughout Europe from late November 2005.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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