 Great camera! |
| Review Date: March 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ms. Zoe Priestley, Staffordshire, England |
| Fantastic camera. Great for 'point and press'! This camera replaces the dsc t-1 for us and we like the updates. Love the touch-screen controls but fed up of wiping fingerprints off it already!! Uses loads more memory space so now I will have to buy bigger cards! |
Excellent for videos - Only average for photographs
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| Review Date: July 23, 2009 |
| Reviewer: S. Ahmed, London |
I bought this camera mainly to use for filming 720p HD videos. For that purpose I am very pleased with my purchase. So much so that I've actually sold off my ageing Sony MiniDV camcorder as that no longer gets used, now that I've got this small, pocket-able wonder within easy reach.
I chose this over other 'still-camera-with-HD-mode' offerings from Panasonic, Canon, Samsung etc for many reasons.
Firstly the video quality is truly impressive for such a diminutive pocket-sized thing. The highest quality 720p setting movies look great on my 32" HD ready TV. Even indoors and in low light the camera performs well, with some expected noise/grain but acceptable to me. I would say it copes just as well as my Sony PC105 MiniDV camcorder in low light.
I love the fact there is real physical optical stabilisation during filming (where the actual lens element moves to compensate for shake) - and this works very well for minimising jerkiness inevitable in hand-held filming with a light-weight device (obviously you need realistic expectations - this will not neutralise jerky motion for example if you're filming while walking - it wasn't designed for such kind of motion).
You will find many cameras with video recording that only have 'fixed focus' during filming which results in soft, slightly blurry videos. I love how the T500's continuous autofocus works throughout the video recording to focus on different things while you move the camera. It has a macro-mode as well for focusing on close objects which I usually leave on as default because this mode automatically focuses on both distant and close-up object whereas the standard autofocus mode requires a minimum of 60cm or so to ensure sharp focus.
I love being able to optically zoom (very smoothly!) whilst recording video (as opposed to more common 'digital' zoom which just blows up the pixels in the picture). I know optical zoom is also possible with some Panasonics, but from what I read the zooming operation is noisy and can be picked up on the recording. Not so with the Sony T500. The zooming is silent and silky smooth along its full 5x range.
I also like how the lens is internally folding, therefore no protruding lens mechanisms to accidentally jam, bend or inadvertently activate whilst in your back pocket. By this design the camera also retains its sleek, slender design even when you turn it on, unlike other conventional cameras where the lens extends out from the body on start-up.
You can see Sony's intentions for this camera to be used for video recording just as much for still shots by the fact they have included a dedicated flick-switch right near the shutter to quickly switch from still-camera and video mode. This and other features mentioned above give me satisfaction that a lot of thought was put into the video recording aspect of this device and was not simply a 'bolted-on' after-thought.
The T500 is encased in classy, strong metal and feels very robust and expensive in your hand. I got the silver brushed metal version and it gets admiring comments whenever it makes an appearance. The LCD touch menu takes a bit of getting used to, particularly the unnecessary separation of 'menu' and 'home' options which can confuse the user about where to find particular settings. But after while its easy enough to live with once you've used it a few times. I haven't actually read the manual yet, so it's not too bad!
Having such a large screen (same dimensions as the iPhone) the battery doesn't last very long - from my first full charge, the battery indicator went from full 5 bars to 1 bar in around 50mins of continuous operation. Therefore I would definitely recommend a second battery (preferably a high capacity one) if you intend to do a lot of filming and viewing photos/videos on the camera's screen.
You may also wish to set the Optical Image Stabilisation to 'half-shutter activation' instead of 'always on' and keep screen brightness on 'normal' rather than 'bright' as this will help reduce battery drainage.
The Sony camera allows a maximum of 10mins continuous shooting per movie file. You can fit as many 10min clips as your card capacity allows. From what I've read this 10min limitation is due to EU tax rules for photography equipment. Camcorders attract a higher tax, and if a device can record continuous video for more than a certain period it becomes classified as a video camcorder. So this 10min limitation ensures the T500 is classified as a digital still camera and therefore falls under the lower tax rate. Others have speculated that the 10min limit is to prevent or hamper piracy at cinema theatres and concerts since the camera is so small, unobvious and discrete.
Whatever the reason, it isn't a big issue since I've never had to record the same scene for more than 5-8 mins without interruption anyway. I am used to editing and putting together the scenes using a PC. The movie files are recorded in the H264/AVC codec at around 30fps and play smoothly with Apple QuickTime by the way, which is free to download on the internet.
I bought a Sony branded 8GB Pro Duo Mark 2 MagicGate memory stick and this shows on the camera as allowing up to 1hr35mins of video at highest quality 720p, which is good enough for me. Although as stated before, unless you have more than one battery at hand, your battery will run out well before you can fill that amount anyway.
I would emphasise the importance of buying your Sony Memory Stick cards directly from reputable sources such as Amazon or other similar established retailers to ensure you are getting a genuine card otherwise you will find although you can take pictures, the camera will refuse to record videos if the card is fake - the card needs to be MagicGate enabled. SanDisk and Transcend are also licensed to use MagicGate but once again only if genuine. I would definitely avoid auction sites as most sold there are undoubtedly counterfeit. Also if you are buying from Amazon, make sure it's direct from them and not an Amazon marketplace retailer for peace of mind.
Now finally, the still-picture quality (hey, after all this is a digital camera!) the images are pretty average I'd say. Outdoors is good, but indoor shots are quite noisy and the face-detection isn't as fast as Fuji or Canon's. Also the 'half-shutter' point on the shutter button isn't very obvious, and it's very easy to press the full shutter when you're trying to re-compose a shot.
So if you're intending to buy this primarily for still pictures I wouldn't recommend it, but if you're after a camera with very good video capability along with acceptable image quality I can think of no better alternative. (Well except the newer Sony T90 or T900 maybe!) |
Great all rounder camera
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| Review Date: March 14, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Kevin, London UK |
Sony CyberShot T500 Digital Camera - Silver (10.1MP, 5x Optical) 3.5" LCD
This is a great looking camera that delivers stills & video. what sold to me was the large LCD display that is a touch screen, the 5 x zoom that doesn't extend out, style & size. So easy to use either as a still camera or video it's just a flick of a switch. Also purchased case LCS-THM that suits the style perfectly. Only disappointing thing is the battery life so you will need another one or two.
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