Sony T9 Digital Camera Review

I got myself the latest Sony DSC-T9 about two months ago.


Please welcome the latest addition of the kennysia.com family.

The Sony shop at Tun Jugah was selling it for RM1,639 with nylon pouch and 256MB card. It’s a pretty sweet deal.
I bought it to replace my trusty Kodak DX6340, which has been serving faithfully kennysia.com since the dawn of time.

I like my old Kodak. It’s capable of taking amazing shots like the ones you see here. The only complaint I have is that it’s built a bit like Kenny Sia – too slow and too damn bulky.

The svelte Sony T9 is completely different from the monstrosity that is Kodak.
It comes in two flavours, silver and black. I chose the latter because silver is so passe and we all know black is the new black.

Measuring no bigger than a deck of cards, the camera fits comfortably in the pocket of my pants without my humungous testicles getting in the way.

The camera supports Sony’s proprietary Memory Strick Pro Duo (that’s a mouthful) and InfoLithium battery. Sony is the only digital camera manufacturer in the market that shows you how many minutes you have left on your battery.
The downside of course is that all these bloody “proprietary” stuffs can cost an arm, a leg and your first born baby.

The Sony T9 oozes sex appeal. I like how it’s front cover slides down with a satisfying snap, revealing the lens and activating the camera. How cool is that?
Like most Sony cameras, the T9 uses Carl Zeiss lens, whoever that bastard is.

The thing I love most about this camera is on the back. Despite having a small real estate, Sony manages to pack a full 2.5″ LCD screen in it. It’s hi-resolution and the photos look great in it, not like those bullshit LCD screens Casio uses.

Of course, the biggest selling point of this baby is what Sony likes to call “Super Steady Shot”. Steady steady pom pi pi.

In theory, it is supposed to correct Shakyhands Syndrome that usually occurs when noobs take photos of chiobus.
In practice, theory always fail. I find that the improvements aren’t all that obvious with or without “Super Steady Shot”.

I took the Sony T9 out for a ride with my old Kodak DX6340. Here are the results.

Click for larger version

Personally I prefer the Kodak’s image quality.
One thing I don’t like about the Sony camera is the lack of manual functions. I need it to take stunning night scenes. The T9 allows you to set a night mode, but it can’t do long expsure. That sucks.

There’s a lot to like about the Sony T9 eventhough it isn’t perfect. The Kodak may take better pictures but it’s a chore bringing them around due to it’s size.
Not sure if this is a wise idea, but I plan on carrying the camera with me during the race over the weekend. Then maybe I can secretly take photos of other marathoners.

The Sony T9 is slim, light and a great joy to use. Extras like the “Super Steady Shot” though not necessary, is a definite plus.

For someone who likes to take his camera everywhere he goes, this droolworthy camera is just perfect for me. 🙂


OMFG SCARLETT TING YOU SHALL DIEEEEEEEE!!!!111oneonesatusatu

87 Replies to “Sony T9 Digital Camera Review”

  1. Personally, sony is well known for its design, however, quality photos is definitely not one of its forte. In fact for some really good photo shoot within the same price range would be canon powershot though its size is probably similar to your kodak.

  2. seems like u dint really took a picture wif both of ur camera… u juz edited the lighting using photoshop dint u? otherwise it would have been a perfect duplication of shots… perfectly taken and etc… but anyway its to portray the differences of ur 2 cams… so yeah i got the idea…

  3. I bought that too & its definitely a good deal.
    I like it very much because I bring it everywhere I go to snap at any shit, every shit.

  4. “…not like those bullshit LCD screens Casio uses.”
    Excuse me? The Casio Exilim EX-S600 will beat your T9’s quality of photos and shutter speed and processor any time of the day.
    I’ve used both and also the Nikon Coolpix S3 and the Panasonic DMC FX-9.
    Casio is like, the best and Pana comes in second. Too bad your trashy T9 is too lousy in taking photos.
    Sony is also very fragile, easily damaged.
    For the price you pay, you should’ve gotten the Nikon Coolpix S6.

  5. ‘Too bad your trashy T9 is too lousy in taking photos.’
    whoa whoa.cool it.i have a sony dsc too, and yea the photos taken definitely arent the best. still i love it like hell. i guess its bcoz…’it’s a sony’.

  6. Ahem Kenny.. After readin bout that webcam adventure of urs with Ting.. *cough*.. would u like to.. ahem.. perhaps take some pics of ur..*cough cough*DICKONOSAURUS*cough cough cough cough*.. with the Sony DSC-T9 and post it up?
    I just want to see picture quality lah.
    Promise.
    *choke*

  7. If we can see a consumer digicam without optical zoom these days… Whoa then that will be a technology downturn.

  8. Kenny Sia u sucker! I bought it much cheaper, ’round RM1580, with the same specs, at an electronic shop near ang cheng ho (beside the licensed cobbler shop) on last december. MUAHAHAHAHA

  9. you buy that 1600rm camera just because it’s less bulky, and not because it’s superior in performance?
    no way it’s going to justified the amount of money you spent.

  10. I wonder if that Sony 512mb memory stick is a fake or not. Plenty of fakes floating around that market despite retailers claiming its Original.

  11. Sony’s colour is nicer and sharper, but the bigger LCD screen means that the battery life wld be shorter…
    Anyway, it’s cool but comes at ‘price’…haha…so expensive…

  12. nice camera…. it a good deal..damn..i got my T7 at RM1599 at the same shop on November… should wait for a few month b4 getting it… regret… 🙂 but the size is good, can fit anywhere…almost..:)

  13. That’s a really nice camera! I’m looking to get one of those. I’ve been reading the reviews of this camera for a couple weeks and everyone that has it thinks it’s the best pocket camera out there. Great choice!
    Rob in China

  14. eh, how come the sony cam’s picture is poorer than the kodak one? Especially the night shot, its so weird! its like more ex, higher resolution and everything…

  15. Hi Kenny,
    Hmmm…lets see… can I consider this as a compliment to Sony’s Cybershot? If the sales hit up in this few days I should let my colleague know that you indirectly advertised for Sony *laughs* they’ll be happy. Anyway… It’s been so long since I last post a comment here, hope you’ll still welcome me.
    Regards,
    Penny

  16. I am planning to buy a digital camera lately and have been spending time reading reviews. After spending days shortlisting the cameras on my list, T9 was still on the list. Now after looking at your super underexposed night scene photo taken by the T9, it’s out.
    I just love night scenes too much.

  17. well T-9 has it’s own feature and can’t expect it to be totally perfect. to those who trashes T-9 get yourself some high-tech DSLR lar. Not everyone can afford DSLR!

  18. To Andrew,
    T9’s 2.5″ LCD display screen packs 230,000 pixels, and in low light situations the screen “gains up” automatically.
    Your Casio Exilim EX-S600 LCD display screen has a lousy(your fav word) 84,960 pixels.
    Kenny is not talking about the image quality. And your writings would be much appreciated if you could get your facts right. =)
    No Offend.

  19. is yr sony water resistant?
    being in your pants while u jog/walk 42km it should be.
    love your boxers too, drop the papers next time, flirt!

  20. Still love my family’s casio exilim ex-z55. at least when you press the shutter, it snaps. Canon is the laggy-est. at least sony’s design is sleek.

  21. that camera looks nice two of my friends have it and funnily enough one has the black and one has the silver! i reckon its abit heavy for its size though!!! btw u got an interesting blog =]! im from sydney! :O! far away from where u used to live, perth. bye now!

  22. I used to have this old Canon Powershot A70(make your shot a powershot) which took amazing picture quality but unfortunately it rosak.
    Downside is it’s a lil bit bulky for my liking and the flash light’s a lil weak.A lil bit slow, but the good stuff is it’s very user friendly and so damn easy to use.
    Now that I have a Sony DSC-M1(it’s a Sony) which i bought early last year and if I make a comparission I would say Sony M1 designed beautifully. rectangular candy bar shape about 4′ x 2 inch,about 1 1/2 inch thick with a big,cool rotating screen display, which still lies flat in my pocket when im on the move. It’s not very user friendly, however.It takes time for me to get the hang of it. Also there are too much buttons you can get easily confused and slows me down whenever I wanna take a quick shot at something.The extra thing bout this cam it takes wicked mpeg or movie!just like using a camcorder. It costed me about a filthy rm2000 when it 1st came out!
    But the Picture quality is fair but not as good as the Canon Powershot A70 which I bought for rm1500(now only about rm700 or less,i think) when it 1st came out…

  23. I’ve been using Sony Cybershot P2 for 4 years now… pictures good enough for my kind of use… but planning to upgrade soon for vain reasons. Look out for CANON IXUS 800 IS and PANASONIC LUMIX FX01! Coming in April.

  24. nice camera!! but my friend bought the same thing at abt RM10 higher but she got a 512MB memory card..

  25. yea.. sony t-9 is indeed a fine camera.. in fact, few weeks back my bro was confused between the choice of two digicam.. the sony t-9 and canon. his fren then recommend him to take another digi-cam of better quality.. its panasonic LUMIX DMC-FX7 or something like that i think..
    the lens is made by LEICA.. supposingly the best lens maker in the world i believe?me n my bro do compare btwn the t-9 and the Lumix.. and guess wad.. he took the lumix coz the lumix one was much much better.. he bought it in Indonesia thou.. costed about Rp3.6million.. equal to around RM1400 i guess.

  26. Well, I think it’s very pricey, but it’s also very pretty. I like that you chose it in black. And that it has anti-shake (got difference la).

  27. the size of the lcd screen is definitely not important. the pic may look good on the lcd screen n turn out trashy when it is developed.

  28. Have the lil brick DSC-W5B BLACK!! here, brother to the T9. Relative to its menue check out + saturation? and + sharpness ? if you have them, may not be available in all ‘modes’ ? Re: the night scene, did you try ISO 400? I’m VERY happy with my pics off of the lil black brick, relative to its price $480NZ I hear the silver model may be even cheaper at $398NZ to ‘clear’, so silver isn’t selling then…wink.

  29. erm…actually there is a NEW slimer Kodak V750 just out in the mkt? I’m in uk, its not out yet, but it has dual lens technology, alternating from normal to wide angle lens, has what I think by far a state of the art paranoma function, comparatively slim, if not, slimer, than the sony, and from what i heard, it costs ard 600sgd! I just can’t wait to get back to singapore to procure it…go check the model out at the Kodak official webbie, cams in the Uk are just too ex…

  30. so uhm…….. shouldnt you express ur gratitude to the persom who accompanied u on dat day (xmas?) ….. and got u the best bargain… tsk tsk

  31. LOL, kenny ,are u encouraging a better quality homemade sex video or pics ?because of all the poor quality of all the homemade videos? hahahaha , anyway nice review for tat sony cam, i think i might get it next month…

  32. Hmm, don’t know bout you but I find Kodak’s picture quality for both that day and night scene shots are better – although there’s slightly too much exposure in the case of Kodak’s photo (with regard to the night shot). I’m sure you can capture a nicer, more dramatic night scene pic with the T9, by messing around with the settings.
    I hope you didn’t drop the cam while running today 😉

  33. Hey Kenny! Hope u have a good run. I thought ur kodak shots are beautiful, then i looked closer and realised its schneider lens, no wonder. Personally right now using samsung digimax ( older camera) which uses schneider lens too, and the shots are natural, just like ur kodak (bulkier and slower also). Find carl zeiss lens not good enough, the colour is so lack of ‘red’ element. Pentax lens is a joke man, the photo doesnt even look good on the screen, let alone downloading to the computer. After reading this post, the more i dun wan a sony haha, rather get panasonic. Its still have its good thou, and that its small and easy to carry, just have to do use more photoshop!

  34. Kodak’s really bulky; I don’t like it. Haha, but yes, the quality is better than that of Sony, even though the Sony camera looks incredibly hot.

  35. i bought my t9 in penang for RM 1,550 with 256 and a box of casing (nylon pouch, wrist strap and key chain)…
    Kenny, i think you should learn how to properly use the t9 for night shots as your night shots look GELI compared to mine! haha

  36. WAH WHAT DO U MEAN BLACK IS THE NEW BLACK.
    degrading my silver colour T9 only.
    :'(
    why didn’t u post the entry earlier, then i could have gotten black as well.
    >:(

  37. btw, mine cost RM1200 with strap, keychain, pouch, 1GB memory stick. =D =D =D and LCD protective layer.
    worth it leh…. =D =D =D
    happy happy…

  38. u dont see anyone bragging bout their d70s or eos5d, do you? i hope sony is paying you for this lame dumbass post. oh, and if they are, they’re even bigger dumbasses.

  39. It quite funny but my wife and I were discussing the fact that pictures taken by our old 3MP camera were better than the newer 5 MP camera. Did take a look at the Sony T9 but decided on the Penasonic Lumix DMC-FX.

  40. mmm nice camera.. the one i hav is a fujifilm one from japan (bought from there too) and i think its pretty good, but that sony one definately looks better =)

  41. Thanks Kenny, for your review.
    Sony T9 is of the cameras I’ve been considering for quite some time.
    But I’ve always loved night views and sceneries, so the (crappy) night shot you took using Sony just helped me eliminate this camera for good. 😛
    It’s not worth compromising quality that much I think 🙂

  42. i want to get a new cam & i noticed this blog… great review. one thing though…
    Oy! ur link for seeing the larger picture of comparison wrong lah!!!

  43. Hi, I have a Sony Cyber-Shot Dsc-T9 and it seems to have a problem the pictures I take with it are slighty blurry. But when i first got this camera a few years ago the pictures were fine with no blur. If anyone can help me with this problem e-mail me at: Haydn_Clark@hotmail.com
    Thanks.

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