If you have $400 to spend on a new Sony digital camera, you have a choice to make: Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-T500 and DSC-T700 (both $399.99 direct) are two solid, 10.1-megapixel shooters—but there are a few key differences between them. The biggest attraction of the T500 is that it takes high-definition video. The T700, on the other hand, is thinner, adds 4GB of internal memory, and has in-camera picture editing and four times the screen resolution. Whichever one you go with, you can expect excellent image quality and the best digital camera touch-screen experience we've seen. The sibling cameras also share the same flaws, including mediocre battery performance and sizable shutter lag.

Of Sony's latest point-and-shooters (including the T700 and the entry-level DSC-T77) the T500 is the heftiest overall, measuring 2.4 by 3.8 by 0.8 inches (HWD) and weighing 5.5 ounces. The face of the camera has a sliding shield with a rubberized grip that shifts down to reveal the lens. The only real buttons on the camera rest on top and control zoom, shutter release, power, playback, and the still/video switch. The rest of the functions are controlled via the big, bright, and battery-draining 3.5-inch widescreen touch display on the back of the camera. The T500's lens has a big, 5X zoom and a focal range of 5.8mm to 29.0mm (35mm equivalent: 33mm to 165mm), with corresponding maximum f-stops of f/3.5 and f/10.

Sony's touch-screen interface works well and displays a lot of information without overcrowding the display. The entire screen serves as the viewfinder, and the white icons are cast over the image, but they are still easy to see and touch—especially compared with the small, gray icons on the $199 (direct) Kodak EasyShare V1073's, which blend into the background and are often hard to find. Nikon's Coolpix S60 touch-screen camera doesn't display as much info as the T500 and has a much-more-convoluted menu system. For example, it takes four clicks to change the ISO setting on the S60, whereas the T500 takes just one. Sure, the S60's touch interface is fun to use because of the iPhone-esque fingertip swiping gestures, but it makes too many other navigation mistakes to outshine the T500.

When it comes to performance, the T500 won't be winning any races. It starts up quickly–it's ready to take its first picture in a rockin' 2.41 seconds on average—but its refresh time is a so-so 3.41 seconds. And its performance on Shooting-Digital.com's shutter lag test was distinctly disappointing: an average of 0.73 second, excessive when compared with the performance of the Cyber-shot DSC-T77 and most Canon point-and-shooters, which average in the 0.3-second range. (The T500 will still do a better job of capturing important moments than the Olympus Stylus 1050 SW, which averaged a pokey 1.13 seconds on the shutter lag test.)

In terms of image quality, the T500 scored high marks on our Imatest testing. Overall, the T500 delivers a sharp image in most areas of the frame, though there is a bit of distortion at each end, which is a common occurrence in many cameras. When testing the different ISO speed settings, I found that the amount of noise that turned up at ISO 800 or below was acceptable. (The camera settings reach as high as ISO 3200.)

You can judge image sharpness based on how many lines a camera captures at various parts of the image. The T500 was able to capture an average of 1,945 lines per picture height at the center of the image, which is high for a 10MP camera (you'd normally expect around 1,800 lines). The number dropped by 22 percent toward the image edges, which isn't bad, either; any drop of 30 percent or more becomes problematic.

Imatest also brought to light a couple of small problems with the T500's image quality. You can expect a bit of barrel distortion in wide-angle settings, and some pincushioning at the telephoto end. Neither was particularly visible in real-world testing, though. Imatest also indicated that there were negligible amounts of color fringing in the corners of the photo.

On a stormy day in New York City, I took the T500 to BlackBerry press event in Times Square. The 16:9 wide-angle view offered a massive panorama of lights and billboards in Times Square. The touch screen was very handy for focusing: All you have to do is touch the area of the image you would like to focus on. When I wanted to refocus shots of someone holding up the BlackBerry Storm—instead of the Times Square background—all I had to do was tap the image of the phone and the BlackBerry came into focus.

Reviewing the shots later, I found the quality held up. All the shots I took between ISO 100 and 400 were sharp and clear. At ISO 400, though, subjects wearing dark colors (like navy blue) showed a little bit of noise in the form of tinges of red, green, and blue—but I could see it only when I was really searching.

Point-and-Shoot HD Video

If you enjoy taking brief videos on your point-and-shooter, the T500 is worth a try. The T500 captures video at up to 1,280 by 720 pixels at 30 frames per second progressive. That means it produces video that is much larger and more detailed than what you get with standard-def shooters. Holding the camera steady during longer video shots, however, is a bit of a challenge. Like most point-and-shooters that record HD, the video is very bumpy—even with image stabilization. Video comes out a bit choppy, too—as if a frame is dropped every so often. I was able to reduce the bumpiness only when I was making an effort to stand perfectly still (or you could invest in a tripod).

For those who want to view their pictures and video on their HDTV with no fuss, the T500 is a perfect match. The included dock has an HDMI-out port, which provides an easy way to play back video and audio on an HDTV. The T500 is also one of the only point-and-shooters on the market to offer an LCD screen with an aspect ratio of 16:9, which is what you find on HDTVs.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T500's $399 sticker puts it head-to-head with Canon's PowerShot SD990 IS. Along with its sibling the Cyber-shot DSC-T700, the T500 boasts great image quality, as does the SD990. The latter, however, is also a better camera altogether; it gives users more manual controls, produces bigger images, has a better screen, and operates faster. The Sony T500, on the other hand, is a fun toy thanks to its touch screen, huge display, and HD video.

Benchmark Test Results
Check out the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T500's test scores.

Compare the digital cameras mentioned above side by side.