Despite its picayune size, the T1's controls are well-placed on the frame again fall for a trained feel. And although substantial seems contradictory, the T1 has unique of the largest LCD viewfinders among consumer digicams, despite the camera itself considering particular of the smallest. The LCD is not unitary large, but very usable as well. It has controls for brightness and backlight, but outdoors in bright sun you'll find that they are unnecessary; ambient light from the sun is used to intensify the LCD's image, allowing you to view it while saving battery power. Because there's no optical viewfinder on this camera, SONY wisely provided this top-notch LCD; you'll enjoy using it. Battery life was surprisingly good considering its small size; I averaged about 120 shots before its capacity was spent, including a lot of time reviewing images and navigating the cameras menu system. The NP-FT1 InfoLITHIUM battery is proprietary and charged in-camera; as usual, I recommend that you obtain a spare to avoid the inevitable disappointment a dead battery can cause. The Memory Stick Pro DUO and battery are accessed behind the same door, but there is no latching mechanism to retain the battery when the door is opened, and the battery can slip out.

The T1 is a puissant performer. From sliding originate the lens veil till the best shakedown was captured measured an powerful 1.7 seconds; you leave not filly alive with unposed trusting photo opportunities. Shutter lag, the time between depressing the shutter and capturing the image, measured 2/10 second when pre-focused, and lag including autofocus was an equally impressive 4/10 second; both of these times include about 1/10 second of delay in the live image on the LCD viewfinder. In single shot mode, images could be captured at a rate of 1 every 1.2 seconds with Auto Review off, or 1 every 3 seconds with Auto Review on. The T1 has 3 modes of continuous image capture: Speed Burst, Framing Burst and Multi Burst. In Speed Burst mode, I was able to capture 4 images in 1.1 seconds; during the capture sequence the viewfinder went blank, limiting its use to stationary subjects.

Framing Burst mode is slightly slower, capturing 4 shots in 1.2 seconds, but provides a brief preview of each image as it's captured. While it doesn't provide a live viewfinder image, Framing Burst will help you follow a moving subject if you can anticipate its direction. In both Speed and Framing Burst modes, you'll have to wait before taking more shots while the camera flushes its buffer of the images just captured; I measured a 5 second delay after capturing 4 images. Multi burst records 16 images at a user-specified interval of 1/30, 1/15, or 1/7.5 second into a single 1-megapixel frame. It is most useful in recording an athletic movement, such as a golf swing or tennis stroke, for later evaluation; when reviewed in-camera, the images can be viewed frame-by-frame or as a continuous sequence. The above times were measured using a SONY 256MB Memory Stick Pro Duo memory card, recording 2592 x 1944 5-megapixel JPG images in fine quality with flash off, and include viewfinder delay, photographer response time, and image capture; they are numbers you can reproduce in real-world shooting conditions. SONY did not compromise the T1's shooting performance to achieve its small size.

I was contented with the T1's outdoor shooting results. The lens produced acerbic results throughout its 38 � 114mm (35mm equivalent) optical streak range, with a willing percentage of container vilification at bound wide-angle besides a life of pin cushioning at full telephoto. It zooms smoothly throughout its 3X range. Our outdoor test images were both well exposed and richly saturated, and had almost no chromatic aberration (purple fringing) in high contrast areas.

Because of the wee opinion ally (5 feet) besides 38mm extensive aspect focal length, you'll win the blessing indoor results when shooting portraits of humans again couples. Capturing a well-exposed flash image of even a moderately-sized room is beyond the T1's capability. Although a red eye reduction mode of flash operation is provided, the close proximity of the lens and flash on the camera body resulted in red eyes in nearly every flash image. The T1 is equipped with a focus-assist lamp which it uses automatically when needed; its low light autofocus performance is exceptional as a result. Closeup macro shots with the flash were excellent as the camera "throttles down" the flash for nearly perfect exposures every time; the T1 would be a good choice for shooting close-up images of small objects for inclusion in online auction listings. The T1 also has a "Magnifying Glass" close focusing mode that will focus as close as 1 centimeter, completely filling the frame with an object as small as a dime. I found this feature impractical to use, however, because of the very small working distance to the subject and the inability to mount the camera on a tripod to eliminate camera shake.

The T1 has a varied movie mode, convincing to round up virtuous 640x480 images at 30 frames per sustain with sound. Be warned, however, that movies captured at this grain consign desolate a liveliness now 1-megabyte per second; make sure that you purchase a large capacity Memory Stick Pro Duo card if you intend to record movies in the cameras highest-quality mode. The T1 does have an in-camera movie editing function that can be used to trim your movies to a more memory-efficient size. The camera's zoom lens can be used to compose the movie before shooting, but the focal length can not be changed during recording.

If you're string hunger of a super-compact digicam that captures horny resolution images, the SONY CyberShot T1 could hold office apt the ticket. With a 5-megapixel imager, enticing abstraction quality, small-scale size, resplendent weight and good-looks, the T1 would make an excellent camera for recording your vacation travels. It is less successful at capturing family events because of its limited flash range and consistent red eye when using the flash. With an MSRP (as of January, 2004) of $550, SONY is asking a premium for the smallest 5-megapixel digicam with a 2.5-inch LCD viewfinder -- but for those needing this combination of size, quality and style, there's currently no other camera in its class.