While there's rarely any method in the product-naming madness, it's tempting to believe that the 'T' in T7 stands for 'thin'. Measuring just 9.8mm thick at the thinnest point, and only 14.7mm across its bulging belly, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7 is an anorexic supermodel on a lettuce-leaf diet. It's far thinner than your wallet, even on the day before payday. If you're too shy to flaunt it round your neck, it'll slide easily into your pocket.
The slim design is married to a lean feature set. The macro and magnifying glass modes and the 30fps VGA movie mode are excellent, but it lags behind the competition on user-friendliness, with cryptic menus and relatively few scene modes. Snapshots are detailed, colourful and generally well-exposed.
Design
The T7 measures 92 by 60 by 15mm and weighs 136g, including the battery pack and neck strap. Those figures are deceptive, though, because most of the body is only around 10mm thick. The extra girth comes from the lens cover, a 61 by 31 by 5mm slab that slides down to reveal the lens and activate the camera. Flicking the lens cover with your thumb is quicker and easier than pressing the tiny power button on the end, but the camera would be slimmer and look neater with a recessed lens cover.
The body is made of stainless steel and feels very solid, but the lens cover is silver plastic and is prone to chipping and scratching around the edges, spoiling the look of the camera. A protruding lug on one end provides an attachment hole for the lanyard and resting place for your thumb. The sleek design means there's very little to get hold of and you'll need to use both hands -- it's impossible to hold it steady with one. You also need to keep your fingers away from the lens, which sits very close to the top of the camera. A big orange blur on the viewfinder is a good clue that you need to change your grip.
Most of the controls are on the top and the back of the camera. On the top you'll find the microphone, an orange light that blinks when the flash is charging (and is difficult to see when you're looking at the back of the camera), a minuscule zoom controller, a spongy shutter button and a green power light. On the back there's a small slider for choosing between playback, still and movie modes, a menu button, a five-way controller for navigating the menus, a couple of small buttons for deleting files and turning off the display, and a speaker. The direction buttons on the five-way controller double as short-cut buttons for selecting the flash mode, activating macro mode, activating the self-timer and reviewing the last image. All the controls are small, so if you have large hands, you should test drive the T7 before you decide to buy.
The one big thing on the camera is the LCD, which measures 62mm (2.5 inches) across the diagonal. It's bright and sharp and functions reasonably well even in bright sunlight, making it easy to frame your images and show them to your friends. There's no optical viewfinder.
The T7 takes the smaller Memory Stick Pro Duo cards, currently available in capacities up to 2GB. The card slots into the bottom of the camera, and the dinky square NP-FE1 battery hides behind a door in the right-hand end. If you want to transfer images via USB or connect the T7 to a television, you'll need to use the supplied adaptor, which slots onto the end to provide USB, AV-out and DC-in ports. If you want to mount it on a tripod, you'll need to screw it to the supplied stand, which has a tripod socket in the bottom. You also get a battery charger that plugs directly into the wall. Although they are all small and light, it's annoying that you need to carry three separate accessories to make full use of the camera.
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User reviews3
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Krishan Swami 12 March 2006
Good: The thin, sexy exterior, great low-light and outdoors shots, excellent picture clarity and the fact you’re crowded by people when you whip the camera
Bad: Relatively short battery life - could be better, prone to tiny scratches on the lens cover, and awkward general handling of the camera
Comment: An excellent camera for the discerning photographer and grabs attention everywhere you go! You'll be the object of lust of all your friends, but try to keep a steady hand while snapping those shots.
Overall, one superb camera that is suitable for any occasion, which is generally user friendly apart from the small quirks. If you want to attract friendly attention and compliments all day long then buy this camera, especially if you’re strutting about taking great snaps!
Andy Pimlett 14 July 2005
Good: Size, Style and Convenience
Bad: Not much!
Comment: A lot of reviews state the image quality, particularly in low light is very bad. I woud have to totally disagree with such a comment. I bought this camera along with a Nikon D70s Digital SLR and Tamron 300mm lens which cost £800. One is for serious picture taking and the other is to go to clubs, pubs, bars, BBQs, nights out, parties and generally anywhere that an enormous digital SLR would be considered thoroughly inappropriate.
On the subject of normal shooting conditions, the quality is astonishing for the size of this thing. I took a picture of my car, plugged the camera into my Canon IP4000 and printed a standard 6x4 glossy print. 99% of people would not know this didn't come from a 35mm film processor. The other 1% might notice the Canon logo on the back of the photo.
In low light, well, show me a camera that loves low light. I have seen low light conditions make a Canon EOS 1D in the wrong hands look pitiful. And I make the point, 'in the wrong hands' because that's what it is all about. And I don't mean coming to terms with manual overide, though this helps. I read somewhere that great photographs are about being there to capture the moment with any camera not about owning the best camera in the world. If that is true, then this really is the camera that can be with you at any time... literally in a shirt or jeans pocket.
To those who naysay the quality I suggest you either do not know what you're doing or you simply expect too much from a lens and sensor of this size.
Andy Pimlett 14 July 2005
Good: Size, Style & Convenience
Bad: Nothing So Far!!
Comment: I bought this camera and a Nikon D70s Digital SLR at the same time. For every great review I read about the T7 there was a negative one complaining about the poor image quality. All I can think is that these people can't use this camera properly or expecting far to much from this beautiful electronic masterpiece. And make no mistake, this is a fantastically constructed piece of kit. The image quality in normal shooting conditions for something this size is astonishing. Of course low light conditions are not as good, but I have seen Canon EOS 1Ds take incredibly bad low light shots. It's all a question of who is doing the shooting and making the most of the conditions you are in. My personal feeling is this... if you want a camera that will go clubbing, partying, BBQs and generally anywhere then this is the camera.
I cannot remember where I read it online but somebody made the point that the best photographs are taken opportunistically. When you are the only person there with a camera, and it really doesn't matter what the camera is, it's about catching the moment. If that is true, then this camera is the one that can be there at that moment.
The first picture I took was of my car. I plugged the camera straight into my Canon IP4000 and printed a 6x4 glossy print, with no pre-proccessing in Photoshop. The print was spot on, and could quite easily have been slipped into a set of 35mm pictures from Boots and 99% of viewers would never have noticed.
My advice... BUY IT... it's great.
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