Sony Cyber-shot T50
^just slide and shoot
^minimal buttons. thanks to touch screen!
Construction 
Features 
Image Quality
Ease Of Use
Value For $$$
Overall
PROS
Large 3" Touch Screen Display
Intuitive Menu
Excellent Movie Mode
Good AF & Zoom
Super Macro Mode (1cm)
CONS
Red Eye Effect
DETAILS
Construction - The built is pretty solid. My initial fear was the sliding lens cover. It felt fragile but I’ve never had anyone report of a malfunction so far. The large 3" touch screen display is impressive and fun to use. Battery life lasts well too.
Features - The touch screen won me over. And it’s something the other brands don’t have at all (for now, at least). It also has a doodling feature that lets you have fun with your pictures in preview mode. The slideshow is cool too, you can download music into ur camera from your pc.
There are about 8 preset modes. Pretty standard compared to Olympus which has… I don’t know, I lost count. The super macro mode called "Magnifying Glass" is awesome. You can take pictures clearly as close as 1cm!
Click here for more info on features.
Image Quality - Quality is generally all right. The only thing I noticed is the Red Eye Effect which occured in almost every flash shot. I wonder why they don’t just make the Red Eye Reduction as a default function. I’ll try to find out.
Ease Of Use - Everything’s straight forward here. Minimal buttons on the camera, and everything is on-screen. The T50 comes with a touch pen, which lets you avoid having fingerprints all over the display. Pretty much works like a PDA. Cool no?
Value For $$$ - I grabbed this yesterday at Mid Valley, from Foto Shangrilla’s promo booths, featuring Nikon, Canon, Sony and Olympus. It was the last day of a 5-day promo. The T50 package came with a free Sony case, USB pendrive memory card reader, mini tripod, LCD display protective layer and 1Gig memory card. How much? RM1,550. Usual price is about RM1,699.
Overall - Very satisfied! Come come…take pictures with me!
OTHER CAMERAS CONSIDERED
Nikon S series (S7, S8, S9) - Being a proud owner of the Nikon Coolpix E4300, I naturally checked out the Nikon booth first. Unfortunately, the S series has its zoom button located at the top, right beside the shoot button, which dampens the ease of use. Zooming and shooting with the index finger just seem forced and unnatural. The jog dial is also too sensitive. You tend to jog it unintentionally while your thumb is operating the other buttons. Sorry Nikon, not this time.
Olympus Stylus 700 (mju Digital 700) - This camera is neat. I would have gotten this if the T50 lacked the touch screen feature. Going at RM1,149 with a free additional battery and 1Gig card, it’s a steal. The only thing bad about it is the slow capture-processing speed after every shot.
Olympus Stylus 720 SW (mju Digital 720 SW) - Waterproof up to 3 metres, and shockproof up to 1.5 metres, this is the perfect outdoor cam. But I had only snorkled once in my life and party every week instead. I need party cam. Anyway, you rock Olympus.
SAMPLES
I immediately took some shots with the beautiful Xmas deco in Mid Valley after getting my T50. Have a look at http://fotologue.jp/huojin.
