Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-J10 review

We try to keep some perspective about the important things in life, but we must admit that the J10’s 16-megapixel sensor makes us pretty despondent. For years we’ve complained about how the ever-higher pixel counts of compact cameras’ tiny sensors merely serve to raise noise levels rather than details, but it seems that marketing hyperbole continues to trump good design.

As we feared, the 16 million pixels don’t equate into lots of lovely detail in pictures – click to enlarge.

Examining the J10’s photos confirmed our fears, with even more noise than the 14-megapixel cameras we’ve been lambasting for the past year. Even in bright conditions at ISO 80, noise permeated darker areas of photos and made a mess of high-contrast lines, while noise reduction supressed fine details. When low light demanded high ISO speeds, the camera refused to venture beyond ISO 400. With no optical stabilisation, this often resulted in under-exposed or blurry shots. When we set it to ISO 1600 manually, photos were awash with noise. The video mode was equally disappointing with its basic VGA resolution and noisy picture, even in bright light.

We can take or leave the J10’s unusually connectivity, and otherwise there’s nothing to recommend it over countless rival cameras, such as the Canon Ixus 115 HS.