New Sony DSC Packs Intuitive Slideshow Creation

By Greg Scoblete On Oct 24 2005 - 6:00am

Sony introduced a new digital camera capable of automatically creating multimedia slideshows and displaying them on a 3-inch touch-screen LCD.

The 8-megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-N1 is Sony's first model to offer an automatic multimedia slideshow creation tool in-camera. When the user presses the shutter, a high-resolution image is stored on the memory card or on the camera's 26MB of internal memory while simultaneously saving a VGA-resolution duplicate to a dedicated portion of the camera's internal memory. This dedicated space can store up to 500 VGA images.

When played back in slide show mode the camera will automatically add preloaded music and transition effects. The camera sports built-in speakers for audio playback. Users can search through images saved on the camera by the month and the date they were recorded.

Using an included stylus or a finger, users can also "draw" on an image to add text or symbols to the file.

The NI also features a Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar 3x optical zoom lens and VGA resolution video capture at 30 frames per second when using a Memory Stick PRO Duo media card. The camera is also compatible with the optional Cyber-shot Station dock.

The N1 will ship in mid-November for an estimated $500.