Sony Cyber-Shot T500 is a new compact digital camera with 10.1 megapixel stills and 720p video recording.
Introduction:
Sony Cyber-Shot T series is all about compact, touchscreen digital cameras. The new Sony Cyber-Shot T500 is the newest one and although there are more and more touchscreen cameras available it is still among the best ones. The camera can capture 10.1 megapixel still photos and HD video with its Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens. So in theory the Sony Cyber-Shot T500 could replace a digital camcorder.. Well let’s have a closer look at it and judge if it indeed is as good as the specs sheet seems to indicate.
Sony Cyber-Shot T500 pros:
+ 5x Carl Zeiss Vavio-Tessar lens
+ Slim, stylish form factor
+ One of the best video capture around in a digicam
+ Easy-to-use full auto camera
+ Swift performance
Sony Cyber-Shot T500 cons:
- Noise and loss of color render highest ISOs useless
- AF flakes out on occasion
- Rather poor battery life
The design:
Sony Cyber-Shot T500 measures 97 x 59 x 22 mm so it is really tiny. At the front of the camera you will see the Carl Zeiss lens under a sliding door and a few labels. As you can see in the pictures below at the back of the Sony Cyber-Shot T500 there is only the 3.5-inch 230,000 pixels touchscreen. Apart from the shutter and power buttons the Sony Cyber-Shot T500 has no buttons – all operations are made on the screen. Bear in mind, however, that although it sounds quite nice it might be uncomfortable for people with bigger hands and fingers so it is always best to give it a try prior to buying. The Sony Cyber-Shot T500 does not have a HDMI, or USB ports, instead it uses a dock for charging the battery and connectivity. As always there are advantages and disadvantages on using a docking station. There aren’t too many ports which might clutter the camera or get dirty, but if you have to charge the battery you have to have the docking station with you.
Performance:
Sony Cyber-Shot T500’s battery allows you to take more or less 150 photos depending on the flash use. This is slightly below the average, but considering its compact size also quite understandable. As the lens has no protruding parts it works fast and quietly which makes using the camera very enjoyable, but also very quick both on startup and in continuous mode. The Sony Cyber-Shot T500 features face detection, multi-area autofocus and shake reduction (called SteadyShot optical image stabilization) which are slowly becoming a must-have for digital cameras just like music players and camera functionality for cell phones. The built-in flash may be disappointing as it has little range and recharges rather slowly.
Image quality:
Sony Cyber-Shot T500 can capture images at 10.1 megapixel which is enough for larger prints. Although the Sony Cyber-Shot T500 sometimes tends to underexpose images and at other times overexpose them the general image quality is quite good. That is as long as you do not take photos at high ISO. Especially at ISO 3200 the images become unusable for large prints.
But the best point of the Sony Cyber-Shot T500 is its video recording capability. The camera can record videos in resolutions up to 1280 x 720 at 30 frames per second. As you can apply some effect in video mode and make use of the zoom you can get really nice results.
Menus / ease of use:
Sony Cyber-Shot T500 has the standard Sony menu layout which means that if you had ever had a Sony you will not have any troubles with Sony Cyber-Shot T500. You get reasonable amount of different modes and tweaking options and as usual the Easy mode which is perfect for amateurs as it assures good results with minimum effort.
Selected Sony Cyber-Shot T500 features and specifications:
Sensor
• 1/2.3″ Type Super HAD CCD
• 10.3 million pixels total
• 10.1 million effective pixels
• RGB Primary color mosaic filter
Image sizes • 3648 x 2736 (10M)
• 2592 x 1944 (5M)
• 2048 x 1536 (3M)
• mp4 (MPEG4 AVC/H.264) Lens • Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar
• 5x optical zoom
• 33 – 165mm (35mm equiv.)
• f/ 3.5 – 4.4
• 12 elements in 10 groups (including 3 aspheric elements,1 prism) Image stabilization • Optical SteadyShot
• Shooting, Continuous, Off Conversion lenses Wide: VCL-DE07TB Digital zoom Yes, up to 5x AF area modes • 9-point AF
• Center Weighted AF
• Spot area AF
• Flexible Spot AF (Touch Panel)
• Focus Preset (1.0M, 3.0M,7.0M, Infinity) AF assist lamp Yes, auto or off Focus distance
(From front of lens) • Auto/Macro: 8cm – ∞ (w), 80cm – ∞ (t)
• Close Focus enabled: 1cm – 20cm Metering • Multi-Pattern
• Center-Weighted
• Spot ISO sensitivity • Auto, • 80• 100, • 200, • 400, • 800, • 1600, • 3200 Exposure comp. +/- 2.0EV, 1/3EV step Exposure bracketing +/- 0.3, 0.7, 1.0 EV Shutter speed • Auto: 1/4 – 1/1,000 sec
• Program Auto: 1 sec- 1/1,000 sec Aperture • Auto: F3.5 – F10
• Program Auto: F3.5 – F10 Modes • Auto Adjustment
• Easy Shooting
• Program Auto
• Movie Scene modes
• High Sensitivity • Twilight • Twilight Portrait • Soft Snap • Landscape • Beach • Snow • Fireworks • Hi-speed Shutter • Smile Shutter • Gourmet • Auto Adjustment • Underwater
White balance • Auto • Daylight • Cloudy • Fluorescent 1 (White Fluorescent Lighting) • Fluorescent 2 (Natural White Fluorescent Lighting) • Fluorescent 3 (Day White Fluorescent Lighting) • Incandescent • Flash • Underwater White Balance Mode (Auto, Underwater 1, Underwater 2, Flash) White balance fine tune No Self timer Yes, 10 or 2 sec Continuous shooting Approx 1.4 fps, 10 shots Image parameters DRO (Dynamic Range Optimizer): Standard, Plus, off Retouch • Trimming
• Red Eye Correction
• Soft Focus
• Partial Color
• Fisheye Lens
• Cross Filter
• Retro
• Radial Blur
• Unsharp Masking
• Smile
• Paint (Pen, Erase, Stamp, Frame)
• Resize Flash • Auto
• Flash On
• Slow Syncro
• Flash Off
• Red-Eye Reduction
• Range: 10cm – 3.5m (w), 80cm – 2.7m (t) (ISO Auto)
• Range: Up to 7.2m (w), 5.5m (t) (ISO 3200) Viewfinder No LCD monitor • 3.5″ Touch-sensitive Hybrid TFT LCD
• Aspect Ratio: 16:9
• 230,000 dots Connectivity • AV out (Composite, 1080i component with optional cable)
• USB 2.0 High Speed
• DC input
• All in/out via Multi Use Terminal Print compliance • Pictbridge
• DPOF
• PIM III
• EXIF Print Storage • Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick PRO Duo (High Speed), Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo card
Other recently reviewed digital cameras:
Canon PowerShot G10, Canon PowerShot SX10 IS, Samsung TL34HD, Nikon Coolpix S610, Olympus 570UZ.