Sony DSC-T7 Review

The DSC-T7 features a 3x Carl Zeiss Vario Tessar "folded" 6.33 - 19.0mm optical zoom with 38 - 114mm coverage (as compared to a 35mm camera.)   The lens operates completely inside of the body. This is a high quality, all-glass lens constructed of 11 elements in 8 groups with 3 aspheric elements.

The DSC-T7 employs a 5-point Multipoint auto focus system with a low-light focus assist illuminator. The working focus range is from 50 cm (19.7") to infinity in normal mode and in Macro the coverage is from 8 cm (3.1") to infinity. Using the Magnifying Glass Mode it can focus from 1 - 20 cm (0.4 - 8 in.) for incredible closeups. You can also manually select one of 5 focus distance presets from 0.5m to infinity.

The built-in flash has modes for Auto flash, Red-Eye Reduction, Fill-in, Slow Synchro and Flash Cancel. The flash has a working range of: 0.1m to 2.6m (3 1/16 inches to 8 feet 6 3/8 inches) (W) and 0.5m to 2.1m (1 feet 7 11/16 inches to 6 feet 10 11/16 inches) (T) at ISO Auto.

The lens is protected by the sliding front cover when it's not powered up. Sliding the cover down turns the camera on, sliding it up turns it off.

On the top is the shutter release, the zoom control and the microphone.

The back is dominated by a huge 2.5-inch color TFT LCD monitor with 230,000 pixels of resolution. It's the viewfinder and it's also used for image review and accessing the menu system. This is a trasmissive / reflective hybrid display for use even in the direct sunlight. Sony's "Clear Photo LCD" technology provides higher resolution, contrast ratio and brightness. Images in the LCD will have up to a 40% improvement in color reproduction than previous models.

Controls on the back:

On the top is the Mode switch with positions for Review, Record and Movie. The MENU button calls up or dismisses the onscreen menus. The 4-way selector lets you navigate through the menus or select images during playback. Pressing it in the center accepts selections. In record it lets you select the flash mode, macro focus, self-timer and Quick Review mode. The button below and to the left of the 4-way selector lets you quickly change the image size in record mode and acts as the image delete button in playback. Below the LCD is the Resolution/Delete button for setting the image size in record mode and deleting images in playback mode. The Monitor button controls the amount of data overlayed on the LCD screen.

The I/O connector is on the side. The included cable adapter has outputs for USB 2.0 high-speed transfer to the computer or connection to a PictBridge printer, Audio- Video for display on a TV (video signal can be set for NTSC or PAL standard), Audio is monoraul and a jack for the optional AC power adapter.

Included with the T7 is this handy stand to hold the camera when you have the cable adapter plugged into it. On the bottom is a standard tripod screw mount so it can be used if you want to put the T7 on a tripod.

Located on the side with the battery is the Memory Stick Pro Duo card slot. The DSC-T7 comes with a 16MB Memory Stick Duo and can use any capacity or Memory Stick Pro Duo card up to 2GB.

The higher performance MS PRO Duo cards are required for recording movies in the 640-Fine VX mode. This mode captures VGA video at 30 frames per second.

Power is supplied by a tiny Sony NP-FE1 3.6v 1.6WH (450mAh) InfoLITHIUM rechargeable battery pack. Sony quotes a battery life of approx. 180 images or a viewing time is approx. 150 minutes. The battery is replenished out of the camera with the included BC-CS3 AC battery charger.