Sony DSC-T1 Review

The screen display when in the AUTO (point-n-shoot) mode. Upper left is the battery runtime that's constantly displayed. The image size is "5.0M"egapixels, Fine quality, the image folder is 101, there's 80 shots left and in the center are the AF target marks. The "S AF" indicates single auto focus mode. When you half-press the shutter release it will indicate a lock with the "green dot" and show the selected shutter speed and aperture.

In any record mode you just push the Image Size button and an onscreen prompt like the one above lets you change the selected image size between 5M, 5M in 3:2 aspect ratio, 3M, 1M or VGA (640x480).

Here's the Program AE mode screen. Most of the onscreen icons are the same as Auto mode. We have enabled the realtime histogram display and you can see that the focus was locked using all 5 AF points.

Program AE record options:

Camera - Auto, Program, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Landscape, Beach, Snow, Fast Shutter, Fireworks
EV - Exposure compensation +/-2.0EV in 0.3EV steps
Focus - Multi AF, Center AF, Spot AF, 0.5m, 1.0m, 3.0m, 7.0m, infinity
Metering - Multi-pattern (default) or Spot
White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Flash
ISO - Auto or fixed at 100, 200, 400
Picture Quality - Fine or Standard
Record Mode - Normal (single frame), Speed Burst (continuous with no LCD display), Framing Burst (continuous with LCD display), Exposure Bracketing (3 shots), Multi Burst (16 shots saved as one image), E-mail (creates 320x240 plus selected size), Voice (record audio comment with still image)
BRK - Bracketing step +/-0.3, 0.7 or 1.0EV
M - Multi Burst interval 1/30, 1/15, 1/7.5
Flash Level - High, Normal or Low
Picture Effect - None, Negative Art, Sepia, Solarize
Saturation - Default is 0 but may be + or -
Contrast - Default is 0 but may be + or -
Sharpness - Default is 0 but may be + or -
Setup - Enter the Setup menu (see next page)

The T1 has a very good closeup mode with coverage from 8 cm out to infinity. The Magnifying Glass mode lets you get even closer but the lack of a tripod socket makes capturing shake-free images a real challenge.

The recording screen in the 640 Fine Movie mode. The 640 mode is VGA resolution 640 x 480 full screen, Fine quality is 30fps and requires the Memory Stick Duo PRO cards for their faster writing speed. 640 Standard is 16fps with audio - the length of movies recorded in either mode is limited only by the available memory.

Movie clips can also be recorded at 160x112 resolution, these movies will playback in a smaller window. The advantage is that the file sizes are smaller and more practical for email purposes.

Movie mode options:

Image Size - 640(Fine) 30fps, 640(Standard) 16fps, 160x112
EV - Exposure compensation +/-2.0EV in 0.3EV steps
Focus - Multi AF, Center AF, Spot AF, 0.5m, 1.0m, 3.0m, 7.0m, infinity
Metering - Multi-pattern (default) or Spot
White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Flash
Picture Effect - None, Negative Art, Sepia, Solarize
Setup - Enter the Setup menu (see next page)

The MultiBurst mode lets you record sixteen frames at high speed. The capture rate is selectable for 7.5fps, 15fps or 30fps via the menu. These 320x240 images are merged into one 1280x960 finished image. When the image is played in-camera it is animated in sequence.