Digital Trends

 

The DSC-T50 is a beauty. I used a silver version but it’s also available in a very bright red or black. The camera measures 3.75 x 2.25 x .9 (WHD, in inches) and weighs 5.8 ounces with battery and Memory Stick Pro Duo card. I used a 1GB Sony high-speed card for the test. The front of camera is as clean as can be with understated Sony and Cybershot logos on the metal case. There’s also an eyelet for the wrist strap. Slide the front panel down and the camera powers up, exposing the 3x Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens (38-114mm 35mm equivalent), the AF Assist lamp and flash. The top of the camera is also very clean with just three buttons—the shutter, power on/off and optical image stabilization on/off. On an angled edge is the mode switch for playback, still or video shooting. The DSC-T50 takes 640 x 480 pixel clips at 30 frames per second, basically VHS levels. On the left side is a compartment for the battery that’s rated 400 shots per the CIPA standard and the memory card slot. On the bottom are a metal tripod mount, speaker and port for the special combination USB/AV/DC-in cable.

 

The real standout is the 3-inch LCD screen on the back (there’s no viewfinder). As mentioned it’s a touch screen so you make all your adjustments by tapping the screen with a fingernail or the supplied stylus. This eliminates the classic four-way controller and center set button found on almost every other digicam. There is a wide/toggle switch, a key to activate the onscreen menu and a display option (with histogram). As a cool touch, icons for the two keys are backlit. The screen and keys are all set on a black background, so the LCD and silver keys really stand out. You really couldn’t ask for a cleaner layout than the DSC-T50. As stated before, it’s a beauty.

 

The Sony Cybershot DSC-T50 comes with everything you need to get started. There’s a rechargeable Lithium ion battery (NPFR1), charger, cable, wrist strap, stylus and software CD ROM. The camera has 56MB of internal memory so you can save loads of photos and run them during a slide show. No memory card is supplied and we suggest at least a 512MB high-speed Pro Duo edition.    

 

Image Courtesy of Sony