Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T5 Digital Camera Review

Viewfinder (0.0)
This slim digital camera doesn’t have room for an optical viewfinder because of its large 2.5-inch LCD screen. The screen provides live views that are smooth and bright; in fact, sometimes the pictures look better onscreen than they really are. For example, I took some movie clips of my son playing on the floor, and on the screen the clips looked fine. When I uploaded the clips into my computer, the image was much darker and barely usable.

LCD Screen (8.75)
The 2.5-inch Clear Photo LCD has 230,000 pixels, which is more than any of the T5’s sleek competitors like the Nikon S2 and Fujifilm Z1 (not the recent Fuji Z2). According to a Sony press release, this screen has up to 40 percent better color reproduction than any of Sony’s previous models. The colors do look quite good as the screen is nice and bright. While this is an excellent check for focus and composition, the bright screen can also be detrimental in some ways. As I stated in the section above, the LCD is deceivingly bright; pictures are not really as bright as they look onscreen. This large LCD can be viewed from many angles, as it has an anti-glare coating on it. The LCD can display all kinds of information, including image parameters, live histograms, and even the amount of minutes the battery will last.

Flash (3.5)
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T5 has a skinny flash that is revealed when the lens cover slides downward. The tiny flash isn’t very effective; its specs state it reaches 4 inches to 8 feet 2 inches. Further, the small narrow unit will emit strong specular beams that create hard-edged shadows. This type of illumination is generally unflattering for portraiture, often accentuating slight skin blemishes. Also, with the flash unit placed next to the lens, on the same vertical plane, the defined shadows will fall to the side of the subjects and be quite visible. This is a significant design flaw for a snapshot-oriented camera that will likely record its share of “people pictures.”

The flash modes – auto, on, off, and slow sync – can be adjusted with the top button of the multi-selector. Red-eye reduction can be turned on and off, but only within the setup menu. Also in the menu is an option to adjust the flash level from normal to + or -, but this is in the recording menu. I always prefer to have all the flash options in the same spot; putting the red-eye reduction option with the other flash modes would have made it more accessible to users. The strange thing is that when the red-eye reduction mode was used, its strobe-like presence still didn’t eliminate all red-eye problems. I still had a couple uncorrected pictures.

Zoom Lens (5.0)
The Sony T5 has a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens that does not extend from the camera body. The 3x optical zoom lens has a focal length of 6.33-19 mm, which is equivalent to 38-114 mm in 35mm format. The tiny lens is constructed from 11 elements in 8 groups and includes 3 aspheric elements and 1 prism.

There are a few problems with the lens and its setup. First, its aperture range is subpar. At its widest, the lens can open to f/3.5-f/5.6 and in the telephoto setting, it can open to f/4.4-f/10. These maximum apertures aren’t enough to provide a good exposure in low light or correlate with fast enough shutter speeds to control blurring. The second problem with the lens setup is that it is situated on the right edge of the camera’s front face, where fingers are likely to get in the way. The third problem is that the lens cover has a shiny mirror-like band on its top. When opened, light can reflect straight into the lens and wash the picture out. Sony’s inclusion of a Carl Zeiss lens was a smart move, but its placement and aperture range could use some serious improvement.