SONY CYBER-SHOT DSC-T77

Sony's Sexy Cyber-Shot




In simple terms, the DSC-T77 is a beauty. Its compact design, metallic features, and touch screen make it feel like a luxury item. Aside from color fringing in the corners of images, most users will find this camera's shots dazzling.

The DSC-T77's 3-inch LCD touch screen is very responsive, and the uses interface is more intuitive than those of competing touchscreen models, such as the Nikon Coolpix S60 and the Kodak EasyShare v1073. But as with any camera that employs a touch screen, battery life suffers.

The T77 has a very slim build, measuring just 2.4 by 3.8 by 1.3 inches (1-1WD), but feels rock solid. The lens has a focal range of 6.18mm to 24.7mm, with corresponding maximum f-stops of f/3.1 and f/5.9, and a 4X optical zoom. Sony has jam-packed this shooter with features, including face and smile detection, an assortment of in-camera editing options, and fun effects like soft focus, fish-eye lens, radial blur, and retro.

TheT77 is also a reasonably quick camera, with good boot and recycle times (and little shutter lag). Sony's touch-screen interface works well, displaying a lot of information without overcrowding. Sony also includes physical buttons for the most commonly used operations: on/off, shutter release, playback/ shoot, and zoom in/out. As with most point-and- shooters, you'll find distortion at both ends of the lens, but no more than is tolerable. In the wide-angle position, barrel distortion is evident.



At the full telephoto position, there's a bit of pincushion distortion. Video shot with the177 looked and sounded good, but I wish it could record widest Teen SD video. Also, battery life was much shorter than expected.

Overall, the 177 offers good speed, solid imagery, and exciting in-camera editing tools. Just don't forget to bring along an extra battery.-PJ Jacobowitz

PC Magazine February 2009