The Sony Cyber-shot TX7 comes with a huge 3.5" LCD which has a touch-screen menu interface. The camera is packed with Sony's unique and useful shooting modes: hand-held sweep panorama, hand-held twilight, anti-motion blur, backlight correction HDR, and high-speed burst. The lens is very wide for being so small, but Sony does a good job correcting lens distortion and purple fringes. Images are very good for this type of camera.

 

New to this generation of TX ultra-slims, the TX7 has a 25mm wide angle lens which provides better vertical coverage for the panoramas. The touch-screen menu interface is different, but improved from previous TXs. It's clear and easy to use, and we like the ability to select the focusing point by using the touch-screen. In full sunlight, the LCD brightness needs to be set manually to 'bright' because the 'normal' setting is a little dark.

 

Overall, the TX7 is an excellent ultra-slim camera: it's fast, easy to use, packed with features and beautifully built. However, excellence doesn't come cheaply: the camera retails at $400. (In addition, we paid $49 for an extra spare battery for our trip.) We got over 200 pictures for each charge, which is not bad given the big 3.5" LCD.

 

Previous generations of Cyber-shot had a Color Mode with sepia and black and white capture options. We are a little disappointed to see this mode eliminated in the TX7 and newer Cyber-shots. Probably to appease some critics, Sony allows the TX7 to accept both Memory Stick and SD cards. Unfortunately, this causes a side effect: it's harder now to insert a memory card.

 

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HIGH

• features packed
• quick, easy to use
• very good image quality
• stylish, beautifully built

• very wide 25-100mm zoom lens
• effective optical image stabilization
• huge, excellent 3.5" touch-screen LCD
• 1080 HD video with optical zoom
• stand with HDMI, USB, AV output ports
• sweep panorama mode
• hand-held twilight mode
• anti-motion blur mode
• backlight correction HDR mode
• high-speed burst mode
• smile-detection

 

MIND

• no black and white mode
• expensive spare battery

WISE

• the slickest ultra-slim to date