Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T10 (silver)

As usual for a T-series camera, the DSC-T10 is a quick camera. It took 1.4 seconds to start up and capture its first image, while images thereafter took 1.6 seconds without flash. With the flash that slowed noticeably to 2.38 seconds, but that's still very respectable. Shutter lag impressed us, measuring 0.5 second in our high-contrast test and 1.45 seconds in low-contrast. Burst mode was the only less-than-stellar performance result, with an average of 1.28fps when capturing VGA resolution JPEGs and 1.35fps when capturing 7.2-megapixel JPEGs. Of course, an ultracompact camera such as the T10 isn't likely to see much burst shooting anyway.

Image quality from the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T10 was pleasing, especially for a pocket camera. Colors look accurate, though a bit flat at times, and noise is kept under control except at the highest ISOs. The camera captured clean, well detailed images at both ISO 80 and ISO 100. Noise crept in at ISO 200, but plenty of detail remained. By ISO 400, we saw enough noise to obscure finer details, such as texture in fabric and separate strands of hair. At ISO 800, there was noticeable detail lost, and off-color speckles and grainy noise was pervasive, though smaller--and possibly even letter-size--prints, should be fine. At ISO 1,000, the noise was only worse, but 4x6 prints, while obviously not perfect, should still be passable.

While on the outside it's difficult to distinguish Sony's DSC-T9 from the DSC-T10, once its innards start cranking out images, it's obvious that Sony has continued to refine its stylish series of pocket cameras. The T10 raises the bar in terms of noise performance, while retaining all the other nice features that have made their way into this line over time. When it comes to ultracompact cameras, it's hard to beat the value of Sony's Cyber Shot DSC-T10, even if it does seem expensive.

Shooting speed
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (typical)

Pentax Optio A10

4.2 

3.8 

0.8 

Nikon Coolpix S4

2.8 

2.5 

0.8 

Sanyo Xacti VPC-E6

2.3 

2 

0.7 

Casio Exilim EX-Z850

2.7 

2.1 

0.5 

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T10

1.6 

1.4 

0.5 

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T30

1.6 

1.8 

0.4