Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7

In summary
Sony’s new DSC-T7 model is even smaller than the earlier T-series models and will suit users with delicate fingers, especially left-handers due to the location of most key controls. All buttons are small and some lie almost flush with the camera body. The tiny zoom rocker sticks up just enough to be usable (though not with real precision) but the memory card hatch will challenge the less than dexterous. . . [more]
Full review

Quality rating (out of 10) Build: 8.5Ease of use: 8.0Image quality: 8.0Value for money: 7.5
Sony’s new DSC-T7 model is even smaller than the earlier T-series models and will suit users with delicate fingers (especially left-handers due to the location of most key controls). All buttons are small and some lie almost flush with the camera body. The tiny zoom rocker sticks up just enough to be usable (though not with real precision) but the memory card hatch will challenge the less than dexterous.
You pay a premium price for such miniaturisation – almost $850 is a lot for a shirt-pocketable camera – but the T7 has some genuine attractions. It’s very well built and straightforward to operate. It also takes good-looking still pictures – and you can record VGA movie clips at 30 frames/ second with sound.
The camera is switched on by pushing the lens cover down. Unfortunately, it’s easy to do this inadvertently, which contributes to the relatively high battery drain caused by the large LCD that takes up most of the rear panel. No viewfinder is provided. The T7 offers the same range of controls and settings as previous T series models but the user interface has been slightly reworked to improve functionality when the camera is mounted in its cradle (required for tripod use).
Pictures taken with the test camera were surprisingly good for such a small model. Colour fringing was minimal, although contrast was a little high for bright Australian sunlight. Colour saturation was modest and images taken at low ISO settings were clean and noise-free. Noise became apparent at ISO 400, regardless of the shutter speed setting. The white balance control performed well, delivering close-to accurate colours with both incandescent and fluorescent lighting.
Imatest detected some lateral chromatic aberration but showed overall resolution to be above average.
We measured an average capture lag of 0.6 seconds, which reduced to 0.2 seconds with pre-focusing. The burst mode captured shots at 0.85 second intervals, with burst length being determined by image size and card capacity. The Multi-Burst setting recorded 16 shots in half a second and presented them as a single file. [24]




Specifications

Image sensor: 5.8 x 4.35 mm CCD with 5.255 million photosites (5.09 megapixels effective)
Lens: Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 6.33-19.0mm f3.5-f4.4 zoom (38-114mm in 35mm format)
Zoom ratio: 3x optical
Dimensions (wxhxd): 91.7 x 60.2 x 14.7 mm
Weight: 136 grams (with battery and neck strap)
Image formats: Stills – JPEG (EXIF 2.2), Movies – MPEG 1 (VGA at 30 fps with monaural audio)
Shutter speed range: 1-1/1000 second
Focus system/range: TTL AF; range 50 cm to infinity; macro to 8 cm
Exposure metering/control: Multi-Segment, Spot metering
White balance: Auto, daylight, cloudy, fluorescent, incandescent, flash.
Flash modes/range (ISO auto): Auto, Red-Eye reduction, On, Off, Slow Sync
ISO range: Auto, 100, 200, 400
Sequence shooting: up to 9 high-resolution shots
Storage Media: 32 MB Memory Stick Duo
LCD monitor: 2.5-inch LCD with 230,000 pixels
Power supply: NP-FE1 InfoLithium battery
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