Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX100V First Look

I’ve only had the camera for a week, but so far I’m impressed with the image quality. I should confess that I’m not partial to touchscreen LCDs and the TX100V’s is no exception so far. The TX100’s screen is not very responsive and often requires multiple taps to get the function you want to come up.

With some cameras, that isn’t a problem because they have (in addition to the touchscreen) redundant traditional controls – not the TX100. The only traditional control on the TX100 (aside from the shutter button) is a tiny on/off button. I even persuaded a young friend who loves touchscreen devices to audition the TX100’s. She also needed to make multiple taps to enable every function – just like I did. I’ll get into the menu in the full review – suffice it to say that I found it as unresponsive and difficult to use as the screen.

Finally, the TX100’s huge super-shiny LCD screen is subject to above average glare and reflections in outdoor shooting and is also the most incredible fingerprint magnet (there isn’t any place on the back of the camera to rest your thumbs without touching the screen) I’ve ever seen.

The TX100V won’t be for everybody – with an MSRP of almost $400, it costs about four times what Canon’s cheapest digicam sells for and more than twice as much as an average point-and-shoot. The feature rich TX100V was obviously designed for folks who are seeking a high-end camera, but it allows essentially no user input into the exposure process – so it clearly wasn’t designed for traditional photography enthusiasts. We’ll cover the Sony TX100V in more detail in our upcoming full review.

Sample Images