Sony Cybershot DSC-T1

My brother just got back from Afghanistan - he worked on a helicopter for the army. He took thousand of pictures and hours of video - which he edited using the included software, and he knows nothing about video editing. He told me the reason he was able to get so many great shots was because he could grab and turn on the camera so quickly. It literally is ready to go in a second - it's amazing. There are no moving parts, so it's instant. My pentax digital camera takes forever to prepare for a shot, and by the time it's ready, the moment is gone. I noticed some of the pictures were a little blurry - but that could be because it spent a year in the desert - and those pictures were taken hanging out of the door of a helicopter. The temperatures ranged from below 0 in the winter to 130 in the summer. All in all, pretty impressive. By the way, I found a place to get one of these cameras for free: http://www.FreeDigitalCameras.com/?r=17740131 All you have to do is refer some friends and sign up for a free trial offer. It's pretty cool.

Ease of use, durability, speed

Some focus issues - but probably because the helicopter was going 100+ knots.

If you're looking for a highly portable digital camera with all the same great features as some bigger, more bulky ones – the Sony DSC-T1 could be your answer. This camera is no bigger than a deck of playing cards but still manages to carry an excellent array of features. It has a huge LCD display, which is nice since the T1 lacks a viewfinder. The T1 takes sharp pictures – although getting good shots in low light conditions can be a challenge. Another great feature about the T1 is it’s continuous move capture, which quality is on par with any good camcorder. The camera doesn’t have a tripod mount, but if you get the Sony Active Jacket case, it has a tripod mount on the bottom of it. I got one and works great – a must for those of you who want to protect your camera. Thus far I'm pretty pleased with my T1, although the pictures are not as sharp as some pics I took with an older Canon S45. I will probably be replacing the T1 with a camera in the likes of the Canon G6 – why? Well, I mainly use my digital for two specific things. 1) I do reviews for www.pinkbike.com – so I need to take pictures of new products, which are not always in well lit areas. The T1 lacks in that department. 2) I have to take some outdoors pictures when riding. The LCD is great in some cases, but when you’re outside in bright sun conditions, you can’t see anything on the LCD. Another good example, lets say you’re trying to take a picture of a bird flying by – you can’t follow it with the LCD if you have the sun in your eyes. I think a Canon G6 or Canon S70 will be better suited for my needs.

+ The Carl Zeiss lens + Video capture + very compact + Big LCD + Live Histogram

- low light condition images - no tripod mount (solution get an active Jacket case) - No viewfinder

Canon S50, Canon S45, HP R707

N/A

This is my 5th generation digital camera. I found the T1 to be compact, user friendly, and had a very large, bright screen. I use it mountain biking, snowboarding and for general travel. For occations in which I need more flash power, I use my Sony V1 which has a dedicated hot shoe for a flash. Overall, I love this camera. The price has come down since I bought it almost 2 years ago.

Compact size, large screen, Memory Stick Duo storage media

Price, flash

Sony V1, several Canon products, Nikon Coolpix

Have not needed to contack Sony yet.

You might call me a Sony fan. Throughout my life I might have owned more than a 100 Sony's. My first digital cam was a Sony DSC-F55E. The tiny miny Sony DSC-T1-Cybershot is my 5th cam. I even had a Sony DSC-F828 for a short period of time. But T1, as a little gadget that delivers enormous results is the best one I ever used. The size, the Carl Zeiss lens and the huge view-screen immediately took my heart away. I took about 800 pictures since I bought it for USD 600, which was the price then. Most of them are good photos and you cannot even find a difference compared to the Sony F828 results. I'll write down ups and downs below, but if you always carry your digital cam with you and anywhere you go, I advise a T1. It is not a professional cam, but if you do it right and be with the basic rules of photography, it is gooooood... and handsome too.

The Carl Zeiss lens, smallness, the huge view-screen, features like continuous video capture with sound.

No tripod chance. Reasonable battery time but I advise at least one spare battery. Hard to get good photos in low light conditions. Not everything is under your control.

Sony DSC-P1, Sony DSC-P92.

Sony has always had customer service problems, but the good thing is it is a small possibility that you'll need a customer service if you're using a Sony.

This camera is pretty neat I must say. It really is smaller than a deck of cards and has one of the biggest Lcd screens I've scene which is really nice. The batter is smaller that a match box so yeah it's not the longest batter in the world, but it lasts about 85min in shooting mode with sony's infolithium technology. That's enough time to fill up my 256mb pro duo card that I bought (94+ picts in best picture mode) and the 32mb card the camera came with (12 pictures). Leaving me a good 30 minutes to still view them, so its not terrible but don't expect it to last forever. Overall the pictures are pretty good but it's not a low light camera at all. The modes do help somewhat with taking pictures but I prefer more manual settings in low light. The camera does give considerable red eye but it's easy to fix in the computer so I can live with it. The movie mode is great abosolutly wonderful. Really good quality yet at about a meg a second at high quality only about 3 min on my 256 not exactly thrilled with that but its so clear (you can actually tell whos in the movie). I really love the camera though its so small but still 5 megapixels and 640x480 movie mode at 30fps not bad.

Sony technology-Info Lithium Battery, Its size, Image quality 5 megapixels, Video mode great, Giant Lcd, and flip front is really kewl. The 3x optical zoom is nice too plus the 2x digital or the 4x smart zoom in vega mode(which really can be done on the computer but is nice to have anyway) The space is maximized to its best. It is fast really fast for a digital camera. If you don't need the flash in about 1.5 seconds you can take a picture from cutting the camera on. No camera I've ever used is that fast. Normally 3-4 seconds.

Well ok there are quite a few of these. No tripod mount (there isn't room), not ment for low light conditions, the shutter speed is automatically set really low even with the flash in moderate light. The media is different yes but you can convert it so it works with the old the the old will not work with the new. The truth is you need a 256 or 512 PRO duo in order to get the better movie mode which I must say is a must. Thats another 100 dollars right there. Plus i do not understand why sony doesn't have a 1 gig duo card nor why the 512mb is $299 and the the 256mb is $105 (I mean come on). The 256 only hold like 3 min 2 seconds of HQ video and I guess that means the 512 would hold 6 min 4 seconds. They really need to work on that.

The pictures are fairly comparable to my sisters cybershot DSC-p72 except higher resolution. I wish sony would spend a little extra time and money on the low light which is their biggest problem on these cameras unless you get one that doesn't fit in your pocket. Other than that I love that camera.