Gordon Laing, founder of Camera Labs, is back with another episode of ‘Retro Review,’ an ongoing series wherein Laing reviews old digital cameras and electronics decades after they first hit the market. For this latest review, Laing reviews the first digital camera he ever owned, a 3.3MP Sony CyberShot S70.
As Laing shares in the 15-minute review, the S70 was released back in 2000, alongside the more entry-level S50 and S30 models. It retailed for $800 at the time, undercutting its two main rivals, the Canon G1 and Nikon P990. The camera shot both stills and video and used a 3x optical zoom Carl Zeiss lens, which had a relatively fast maximum aperture of F2 through F2.5, depending on the focal length being used.
Ergonomics wasn’t a strong point for Sony, who was new to the camera game, relative to Canon and Nikon, but what it lacked in usability it made up for with a solid sensor and lens at a relatively reasonable price point. Below is a collection of photographs Laing shared with DPReview, taken during his review of the S70:
In addition to his video review, Laing has also written up a blog post review on his website, Camera Labs. In addition to the Camera Labs website, you can find more of Gordon’s work on his Camera Labs and DinoBytes YouTube Channels, the latter of which is home to his ongoing series of Retro Reviews.