Sony's T500 Camera Shoots HD Video

Sony's latest addition to its T-Series, the Cyber-shot DSC-T500, is the company's first point-and-shoot camera that can record high-definition video. Earlier this month, Sony announced the DSC-T700 and DSC-T77, 10-megapixel cameras that offer a number of similar features.




At first look, the 10.1-megapixel T500 is virtually identical to the T700, but has a lower resolution screen (230k pixels compared to the 700's 921k screen). It can, however, record HD video (1280-by-720 at 30 frames per second) in MPEG4, AVC, and H.264 formats. Not only that, but optical zoom is enabled during recording (a rare feature), and you can even take up to three still shots without interrupting the video capture (also rare).

The T500 has a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 33-165mm lens (35mm equivalent), and, as we're seeing more and more in this category, a 5X optical zoom, up from the 3X zoom usually present in point and shoots. You can view HD slideshows with music on its wide 3.5-inch transflective LCD touch screen. Other features include face detection, optical image stabilization, in-camera editing, and a macro mode.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T500 will be available in late September for $399 (list)