No grumpy pictures with new 'smart' camera

For those fed up with the family photos where one person is perpetually frowning, a new Japanese camera is said to automatically weed out pictures when a person isn't smiling.

Electronics giant Sony Corp. said Wednesday it will begin sales this month of the compact "Cyber-shot T" series that can detect a smile and immediately drop the shutter.



The photographer can program the camera to detect which type of facial expression to look for, be it a faint smile or a tooth-baring grin, a Sony spokeswoman said.

But the camera is not exclusively designed to take pictures of happy moments, she added. The user can turn off the function and use it as a normal camera.

Sony's DSC-T200 and DSC-T70 will be launched on September 21 at a price starting at 40,000 yen (345 dollars).