One of the curses of being the designated photographer at a party is that, inevitably, you spend the majority of the party taking photos...

Product Overview

Overall rating:

90%
Overall score:90%

Pros:

  • Fantastic innovation, effective in use, hands-free party shooting

Cons:

  • Lacks broad compatibility

Product:

Sony Party-shot

Manufacturer:

Price as reviewed:

£90.00

One of the curses of  being the designated photographer at a party is that, inevitably, you spend the majority of the party taking photos. Also you’re never in any of the photos yourself, though some photographers, myself included, could view this as a blessing. Imagine, then, if there was a way that you could rest your camera down and leave it to take perfect photos of you and your guests while you forgo photo-taking duties.

This is exactly what Sony’s new Party-shot product claims to do. Labelled as ‘your personal photographer’, the Party-shot is an ‘intelligent pantilter’ mount for your digital camera that boasts the capacity to rotate around 360° and capture images as it does so. The Party-shot utilises the various intelligent shooting technologies of the compact camera it’s paired with to distinguish faces and subjects in the room, and then zooms in and out to create well-composed shots.

The Party-shot also has a selection of settings which can be adjusted to alter the shooting experience, such as restricting the angle around which the Party-shot rotates, and the frequency of image capture.

In use, the Party-shot is incredibly effective. The device goes about its business with minimum fuss and without being intrusive.

The Party-shot is effective at both finding subjects and capturing them clearly, while the device can be powered directly from the mains, meaning  you can feasibly leave the Party-Shot shooting all night.

There are a few issues with the device, however – the Party-shot is currently only compatible with Sony’s most recent WX1 and TX1 compacts, meaning that unless you happen to own one of the two, the £90 price tag of the Party-shot is bumped up by an extra £200 to get it operating. However, don’t let this distract you from the fact that the Party-shot is an excellent development in the world of digital photography and yet another first for Sony.

Verdict

If you own a Sony TX1 or WX1 this should be regarded as a must-have accessory.