Small digital camera big on features.
27 of 27 Ciao Users found the following review helpful
Advantages Astonishingly small, amazing image quality
Disadvantages Highlights dust in flash pictures
'She who must be obeyed' dropped her 35mm 'compact' camera on a night out, having decided it really wasn't worth fixing, we started looking for a replacement digital camera.
I've always been a devotee of Olympus kit, since the days of the legendary OM1 (reviewed previously) and whilst I'm extremely happy with my C-8080WZ (also reviewed previously) it is, to be fair, a bit chunky, and bristling with buttons.The boss holds true to the principle of 'less is more' and the Sony DSC-T50 meets that criterion admirably.
The T50 is currently the top of the range 'Cyber-shot' camera from Sony.It shares the same basic format - a thin oblong block, with a sliding cover over a rather small objective lens.
Unlike a lot of 'compacts' it doesn't rely on a motorised 'snout' which pushes the lens forward on power-up, instead it has ingenious static 'periscope' mirror which allows the light path to take a right angled turn once it enters the camera body.The main benefit of this is that there are no moving parts, and it means the camera can be ready for action in a fraction of a second - it's also one less thing to break!
From the front, the camera is virtually indistinguishable from most other Cyber-shot models, however from the back; it's a completely different story.Instead of a plethora of buttons competing for space with a small LCD screen, there's just one great big touch sensitive viewer.
Ordinarily, you slide open the lens window, this powers the camera up, then simply point and shoot with the 7.2 megapixel sensor.Under around 90% of occasions, that's perfectly adequate.
The camera seems to have an alloy body, which means it feels reassuringly solid, although at 130g shouldn't pose a problem for anyone.The default settings allow auto-focus, auto flash etc - you hold the camera at arms length (no optical viewfinder to peer through) and press the button when your subject is in frame.
It's when you start using the onscreen menus that you realise this is a seriously capable piece of kit.Image quality is exceptional - especially considering the diminutive size of the lens. The built-in flash is possibly a little too close to the objective (even in 'red eye mode'- meaning that red-eye can be a problem, although the instructions suggest moving closer to the subject (surprisingly enough - this actually works!)
There's a plethora of program modes; portrait, sport, landscape, and one I hadn't come across before; 'fireworks' - the 'steady camera' feature works very well, except don't expect that much from a moving subject!It's even got a 'video' mode - which is significantly better than most mobile phones, but not up to proper 'camcorder' standards.
The camera uses one of Sony's 'short' memory sticks - don't expect it to work then with older kit (my PC, a VGC-V2S - previously reviewed, etc) without an adapter, although I was able to pick up a 1Gb card on Ebay for around twenty five quid.The battery provides three or four hours usage - less I you use flash a lot. Sony will sell you an spare one for around £50, you can get a third party one on eBay for significantly less than a tenner!
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Chargers and/or Charging Plates for Digital Cameras and Camcorders for Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T50/R |
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allbatteries.co.uk
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Chargers and/or Charging Plates for Digital Cameras and Camcorders for Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T50/B |
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Shipping: £0.00 Availability: D3 |
Nice camera, shame about the USB cable!