Four 5-Megapixel Cameras In Review

Specific Aspects

While Nikon, Minolta and Olympus appear to have tried to design their cameras to be similar to conventional ones, Sony has decided to pull out all the digital stops. For instance, there's the Night Shot function for capturing subjects in the dark. It is activated in automatic mode only, and switches the camera to infrared capture using two transmitters above the lens. They are not very powerful though. Photos can only be taken from short distances - a few meters for ISO 400 (high grain), and less than two for ISO 100 (practically grainless). Another unusual mode is Night Framing, where the camera uses its infrared focus to show the subject on the monitor, even in complete darkness. But the shot is taken quite conventionally using the flash.

Three examples:

• Night Framing
• Normal mode in artificial light
• Night Shot