Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T500

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Sony's latest Cyber-shot offering, the DSC-T500, is certainly keeping up with recent compact camera trends by incorporating HD-quality (1,280 x 720-pixel) movie capture. Sweetening this deal further is the integrated stereo audio recording, a feature found only on one other shooter to date, the Samsung NV24HD. Sony is targeting the T500 at hip, young, working adults, but our guess is that HD video capture will probably appeal more to the tech-savvy crowd. However, image quality left much to be desired, especially after seeing what the Cyber-shot DSC-T77 can deliver.

Design

The exterior of the Cyber-shot DSC-T500 looks typical of Sony's T-series shooters. There's the front sliding cover, clean button layout on the top, and as with its touchscreen-enabled point-and-shoots, the rear is clutter-free. However, we found some clever modifications made to this snapper.

Compared with the T77(bottom), the T500(top) is much thicker.
(click for larger image)

To allow users to change between shooting and video capture mode easily, Sony has implemented a switch around the shutter button which makes toggling between modes really simple. Surrounding this switch is the zoom collar which is positioned where our forefinger had easy access to.

Despite all these features which appear to make one-handed operation an intuitive task, we had to use our other hand to navigate the menus and change settings because the icons are scattered on both sides of the screen. This is not so much of a problem as a matter of personal preference.

Unlike the typical T-series shooters, we would not consider the T500 slim and light. Rather, it feels relatively substantial in our hands. The heft and weight are something we noticed immediately when we picked up the shooter, but since its target audience is the more tech-savvy crowd, we guess they wouldn't mind the slight bulk.

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