Sony has introduced a new addition to their Cyber-shot line, the DSC-T500. The small consumer camera takes photographs at a 10.1-megapixel resolution and can record high-definition video.

The compact T500 is slightly under 4 inches wide and 3 inches high. The camera is also exceptionally thin coming in at less than an inch deep. The T500 has a 3.5 in touch-screen LCD, Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens, and a 5x optical zoom. The camera has an ISO range of 80-3200, and has optical and ISO-boosting image stabilization.

A lot of camera manufacturers have been adding high-definition video recording to their consumer cameras this year. The video mode on the DSC-T500 records high-definition video in 720p at 30 frames per second. The camera can play your video clips on your HD TV by using an optional HDMI cable. Video on the camera is compressed in MPEG$ AVC/H.264 and users can choose to record VGA quality video as well.

One unique feature of the T500’s video mode is the cameras has the ability to take still pictures while you’re recording vide. You are limited to taking three still pictures per video recording; and photos are at a 1280 x 720 resolution.

Sony is already a powerhouse in the digital camcorder market. Now that video can be easily recorded onto flash cards I think were going to start seeing more and more affordable consumer digital cameras with the ability to record some fairly decent video. For the average consumer who doesn’t plan on shooting video very often, they may only need to carry around a small pocket sized digital camera from now on to capture all their memories.

The DSC-T500 is expected to be available in September for a suggested retail price around $400.

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Entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 3:22 am under Compact cameras, Digital Camera, Sony.

Read more entries by Emily Price.