Sony DSC-TX10

From a quick glance at its tech specs, the Sony Cyber-shot TX10 looks like a fairly typical high-end camera. It has a 16-Megapixel inverted CMOS sensor, an optical stabilisation system, a 4x (25-100 mm) zoom lens, a 1080 HD video mode with stereo sound, a 3D picture mode, a touchscreen interface, a sleek design and more besides. However, this camera has got one unexpected trick up its sleeve: it's also waterproof and shockproof.

Handling

With the TX5, Sony changed the rules of the game for waterproof compacts. Previously waterproof point-and-shoots had always been built with a rugged, all-terrain design with chunky casings, big visible screws, rubber shock absorbers etc. Sony's models, on the other hand, have a much more classic design and they're all the more stylish for it. In fact, at first glance, it's hard to tell a TX waterproof compact apart from a regular Sony T-series camera.

The touchscreen interface means that buttons can be kept to a minimum, with physical controls only remaining for on/off, shutter release, video record, zoom and playback. The TX10 may be designed with smooth, flowing curves that are easy on the eye, but it isn't the most comfortable camera to hold—we found that it slipped out of our hands quite easily. The zoom controls are ridiculously small but thankfully they're easier to use than expected. Screen definition has been upped compared with the previous model and the 920,000 dots are very much appreciated. However, the on-screen image does get a little slow and jumpy in low light (particularly indoors and with no artificial light). The TX10 has a high-quality finish (which we suppose is normal for a high-resistance camera), but it's a shame there's no double locking system on the memory card/battery/connections compartments. Another downside is that is can be difficult to 'half-press' the shutter-release button and we found ourselves accidentally taking photos when we just wanted to focus.


The touchscreen-controlled graphic user interface looks pretty good when you first start using it. It's responsive and nicely designed but, in the end, if feels like you spend a lot of time tapping the screen to change the slightest setting or option. The menus are dense and it's easy to get lost in the huge range of options, which isn't necessarily a good thing in what's first and foremost a consumer camera. Thankfully, certain menus can be customised (but unfortunately not the icons around the edges of the screen) and the Auto mode works like a dream.

Responsiveness

The TX10 is a responsive camera that's nice to use. It starts up quickly and focuses quickly in wide-angle mode. It's just a shame the autofocus gets a little more hesitant when the light starts to fade, especially in the evening. In burst mode, the TX10 can shoot 10 frames per second.

Picture Quality

This waterproof compact has a 16-Megapixel BSI (backlit) CMOS sensor, but a sensor with such a high resolution needs a top-notch lens to keep up with it. From our tests, we found that the lens wasn't quite up to scratch and in wide-angle shots, the picture lacks sharpness and the edges look hazy. As you zoom, picture quality becomes more consistent across the frame but, here too, pictures aren't as sharp as they could be.


The 16-Megapixel BSI CMOS handles noise very well indeed. Speckling is pretty much invisible up to 400 ISO and remains reasonably discreet over all the ISO settings (up to 3200 ISO). Smoothing, on the other hand, is definitely visible from 800 ISO.

Surprisingly, pictures taken at 125 ISO seem to be slightly overexposed but shots taken in the camera's fully automatic mode generally don't have any problems with exposure. There's no real sign of chromatic aberration in wide angle or telephoto but, as is often the case, the automatic white balance doesn't do so well under tungsten light, giving pictures a strong orange tinge.

Video

The TX10 has a pretty good video mode. It films 1080i HD video with stereo sound, an optical zoom and a decent continuous autofocus. On the whole, videos are good quality and an HDMI output makes it easy to share videos or watch them on a bigger screen.