Sony's CyberShot DSC-TX1 and DSC-WX1 cameras boast pet-friendly settings, 'Exmor R' sensor for low-light scenarios
By Ross Miller 
posted Aug 6th 2009 12:35AM
posted Aug 6th 2009 12:35AM
Update: Akihabara News got some hands-on time during the Japanese unveiling.
SONY DEBUTS WORLD'S FIRST DIGITAL STILL CAMERAS WITH BACK-ILLUMINATED "EXMOR R" CMOS SENSOR TECHNOLOGY
New Cyber-shot® Cameras Excel in Low-Light Performance
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 5, 2009 – Sony today announced two new Cyber-shot® cameras (DSC-TX1 and DSC-WX1 models) that provide unprecedented advances in low-light performance with approximately twice the sensitivity of cameras with traditional image sensors.
These Cyber-shot cameras are the first to employ Sony's new "Exmor R" back illuminated CMOS sensor technology to improve shooting in low-light scenarios, enhancing image clarity and drastically reducing grain.
"With these new "Exmor R" CMOS sensor cameras, Sony has vastly improved the customer experience for taking pictures with digital still cameras in low-light scenarios," said Phil Lubell, director of the digital imaging business at Sony Electronics. "We've all taken pictures in dimly lit situations, like blowing out candles on a birthday cake, and the results were grainy and unclear. By redesigning the way these cameras capture light, Sony is leading the industry by creating this easy way to take amazingly clear, vibrant photos in low lighting scenarios."
"Exmor R" Sensor Optimizes Low-Light Performance
Conventional image sensor architecture has required wires and other circuit elements to be positioned above the light sensitive photo-diodes, limiting the imager's light gathering capability. Positioning these elements behind the photo-diodes, Sony's "Exmor R" image sensors can gather more light, resulting in approximately twice the sensitivity compared to conventional sensors.
To further extend low-light shooting performance, the TX1 and WX1 cameras incorporate the hand-held twilight and anti-motion blur multi-shot modes introduced in Sony's breakthrough Cyber-shot DSC-HX1. Using "Exmor R" CMOS sensor's high speed, these modes capture six separate images in less than a second and utilize Sony's BIONZ™ processor to combine the shots into a single image of extraordinary detail and low noise.
Combining the "Exmor R" technology with hand-held twilight and anti-motion blur modes delivers a breakthrough in low-light photography. Users can now capture images of stunning detail and low noise in scenes with no more than candlelight-without flash or the need of a tripod.
Innovative Sweep Panorama™ and High-Speed Shooting
In addition to their breakthrough low light performance, these new cameras also include Sony's Sweep Panorama and 10 frames per second burst shooting features, which were introduced with the Sony® DSC-HX1 camera. The TX1 and WX1 cameras offer these features in smaller, more compact bodies that match nearly any unique style.
Capturing wide landscapes is as easy as "press and sweep." Sweep Panorama mode lets you reach beyond the traditional wide-angle lens and capture breathtaking shots. Using the high-speed "Exmor R" CMOS sensor, the cameras shoot continuously while you sweep across the scene. Using the BIONZ imaging processor, they automatically stitch the pictures together to create one stunning panoramic photo.
The TX1 and WX1 Cyber-shot models can take up to 185 and 256-degree panorama shots respectively in one easy press-and-sweep motion with an image size of 7152 x 1080 (ultra wide horizontal).
Advanced Technology and Compact Design
While the HX1 camera is a well-rounded solution for customers who are looking for high-zoom and speed in a smaller size than a DSLR, the TX1 and WX1 cameras are made for an audience that wants advanced technology in an even more compact design.
With its slim profile of just 16.5mm, the 10.2 mega-pixel TX1 offers streamlined, distinguished curves for a sophisticated look appealing to the fashion-oriented who are also looking for great performance. This model features a new operation on the touch panel that lets you scroll through images with an effortless "flick" of your finger and directly access menus on the 3-inch Clear Photo LCD Plus™ display.
With a Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar® lens, the TX1 camera lets you focus as little as 0.4 inches from your subject for extraordinary close-up shots. The 4x telescopic zoom is perfect for capturing far-away subjects, and Sony's Optical SteadyShot™ image stabilization helps overcome camera shake.
The 10.2 mega-pixel WX1 camera has a 2.7-inch Clear Photo LCD Plus display and is just over three quarters of an inch thin-an ideal choice for DSLR owners who also want to carry a compact, high performance digital still camera.
The WX1 camera features a Sony G lens with an extraordinary wide angle 24-120mm 5x optical zoom. This lens' f/2.4 maximum aperture offers nearly twice the light gathering capability of conventional lenses, and works together with the "Exmor R" imager and low-light shooting modes to provide low-light photography beyond the abilities of other compact cameras.
Tech Savvy Cameras
These cameras include the most recent Sony technology, including, Intelligent Auto (iAuto) mode which, recognizes scenes, lighting conditions and faces, and adjusts settings resulting in clearer images, faces with more natural skin tone and less blur; Face Detection that detects up to eight faces and optimizes focus, flash, exposure and white balance and intelligent Scene (iSCN) that delivers nine Scene Selection modes to quickly adjust for specific shooting conditions.
Pet mode is a new Sony feature that minimizes blur when shooting moving pets. This new mode also reduces glowing pet red-eye.
Additionally, the cameras have technologies Sony Cyber-shot customers have come to expect. These include Smile Shutter™ technology that automatically captures a smile, dynamic range optimization (DRO) that improves exposure and contrast, intelligent Auto Focus that captures fleeting moments and HD video capability that records HD movies in 720p high definition MPEG4 format.
With HD video capability, these cameras record HD movies in 720p high definition MPEG4 format for stunning large-screen home movie playback. You can record up to 29 minutes (or up to 2GB file size) in 720p format.
Pricing and Availability
The TX1 camera will be available in silver, gray, pink and blue this September for about $380. The WX1 camera will be available in black this October for about $350. Pre-sales will start in August. The cameras and a range of accessories will be available online at sonystyle.com, at Sony Style® retail stores (www.sonystyle.com/retail), at military base exchanges and at authorized dealers nationwide.
sexy but god dam 350$. ughh
Reasonably wide lens.
Reasonably fast lens.
An extra stop with the new sensor design.
Sounds interesting.
Ahh my T900 is still better
If you can load it with an SD card, I'm sold. If they're still sticking with stupid memory sticks, count me out.
Then your out.
Move along..
Hrm
They Are like parallel To every technology , Everything Else comes after Sony
Who cares about the memory stick? You buy one and leave it in the camera forever. BUT, the thing that bugs me more is that Sony, Panasonic, and nearly everyone but Canon, can't stop messing with the digital connector. I want to use one USB mini B connector cable for everything I plug into my PC. Only Canon seems to realize how important this is. No one want's to use a different cable for every toy?
I agree with you lens42.
My LX3 uses a curvy mini-USB that f'ing irritates me.
Forced me to buy a card reader.
Love current Sony point and shoot, it does wonderful 480p. Looking for an upgrade for shooting concert footage that's halfway acceptable, looks like it has arrived! www.youtube.com/users/jerseyvids < not shameless self promotion, almost all the footage was shot with my current Sony, pumped for an upgrade to do some even better footage.
i have a panasonic lumix DMC-ZS3 and its great. It will be interesting to see how these sony cameras are better in low light, as thats something that small cameras are generally hopeless at, including my lumix.
when is sony coming out with a nice waterproof/shockproof like the ones from Olympus?
these cameras are wayyy too fragile for outdoor sports man
IDK when sony is gonna come out with one, but I hear Canons take on the waterproof point and shoot is pretty good.
Stupid question, but uh, where's the lens on the so-called fancier one? It's not that tiny little thing in the corner, is it?
Yep, thats it.
Although I love the Sony camera I really like the geo tagging that I can get with the eyefi SD card. Anyone know when consumer level cameras like this are getting gps chips? Holding out for a bit longer to see what happens.
I bought a GPS logger to geotag photos (including ones from an old Sony T33). It's a bit more of a hassle -- you have to have some separate software (but often free, on my Mac anyway -- I'm sure you can get similar for Windows) to combine the timestamp on the GPS logger data file with the time stamp on your photo.
It only takes a few extra seconds, and works a treat with the 'Places' feature on iPhoto.
Can't remember what brand my logger is. It only cost about 35 quid from eBay (which is what...? About $10 these days!) and works with any camera (I plan on getting a Lumix GH1 shortly, so no need for any additional hardware).
If you have a phone with GPS (iPhone, SE C905) you can also get software to create the track files too. Check out the App Store or GPSed for Java phones.
Hope that helps.
Sony do or at least did sell a GPS logger unit although it was a lot more expensive than the ones from Maplin.
I know this is really anal, but you should have either the models in the headline reversed, or the pictures. Just to follow convention... you know.
It would be interesting to see how good this CMOS sensor is when compared to the CCD sensor that most of the compact digital cameras are using these days. I hope this CMOS sensor can live up to its claim and deliver good image/video quality that is lacking in most compact digtital cameras.
And I don't mind the resolution is 10 Mpx as that is already way too high for most app. Again it is image quality, not resolution that I want.
Finally I wish Sony would support SD memory card. But that is a wishful thinking, unfortunately.
Looking at Canon's SX1 and SX10, the latter seems to have about 2/3 EV (4dB) of advantage in SNR. I wonder if SX1 is similar to the baseline performance against which Exmor R is compared. If this is indeed the case, back illumination CMOS should be better than current generation CCD in SNR terms.
Can we please have this sensor technology in the alpha series? Im sick of canon and nikon bragging about their high iso performance!
From the looks of the video it just combines several shots into one for low light, that's not very innovative, but perhaps someone that speaks japanese can set me right or wrong on this.
Seems to me like it just has good stitching and they use it for everything from panoramas to image stacking.
"where's the lens on the so-called fancier one"
They use "Folded optics" in these cameras.
There is a little right angle prism in the lens, so most of the optics are running top to bottom in the camera.
That's how they get them so slim.
What is the difference between the DSC-TX1 and the T900? Is it an upgraded T900?
I was about to buy the T900 so maybe I should just wait...
The WX1 looks just like my W290. Upgraded sensor, downgraded resolution?
That's what I'm wondering... I have a really old 2005 sony cybershot that needs to be replaced. And I was looking at the DSC-W290.
Now all I know is that the w290 is 12.1 megapixels and has a 3" LCD while this WX1 is 10.1 megapixels and a 2.7" LCD but some new sensor.
So any camera buffs out there... Which is the better camera to buy? Is this new sensor worth it?
I think the better camera depends on what you prefer as far as features go (resolution vs. sensitivity at night). If I was choosing I would choose to buy the WX1 for one reason, the shutter speed. My W290 has a fast shutter speed, but the software lags with it forcing you to hold the camera up longer. From how the WX1 is described it seems its much faster.
The 12.1 megapixels does look nice on screen. But is really that big of a difference from 10? I wouldn't know.
Oh and the 3" screen is the shit.
Yes but I'm just looking for a nice simple upgrade to my old camera. For professional better shots I might get an SLR down the line. But I was leaning heavily toward the w290 for a while. And if the WX1 is just improved shutter speed or some new sensor, it's also like $100 more than the w290, im going to have to see how its reviewed.
I recently upgraded my DSC-T5 to a T90. It's a nice upgrade. There's a big difference between the pictures, the T90 takes more crispier pictures, and takes better low light pictures. There's a lot of detail lost from the NR stuff, but the pictures a re still clear.
can any of these cameras zoom when shooting a movie??? if so, i'm sold. if not, do you know of one that does? and not video cameras :)
of all the stupid extra features (PET shot, case in point) that SONY includes, all i want is good optics (carl-zeiss lens), 8MP, good colors, and a movie mode that allows you to zoom. is that really a lot to ask??? including a microphone that doesn't pick up wind would be nice too but i get if they can't do that.
I've done a lot of research lately on point and shoots that take excellent 720p video and can zoom. The best option I think is the Panasonic Lumix ZS3. Has stereo audio, too. Speaking of that, I wonder if either of these Sony's do?
@ Ejota new TX1 will have the Exmor R sensor so you will have clearer pictures in low light as well as normal conditions also the sweep panorama feature is really quite nice and overall the camera is an upgrade on the T900.
If your looking for bigger screen then T900 will be for you 3.5 touch screen it has whereas TX1 has the 3.0 inch. Tbh you will still get some really great shots with T900 so its all about personal preference on the design and what sorta budget your on!