Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T30 Digital Camera Review
By Richard Baguley
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
December 28, 2006
The 7.2-megapixel T30, announced in April 2006, is part of Sony’s line of ultra-compact point-and-shoot digital cameras. At just under an inch thick, it offers a host of trendy features. It has an optical image stabilization system, 3-inch LCD screen, and a one-touch slide show button that plays pictures with background music. It had an initial $500 MSRP.
The T30 takes a different approach to lens design. While most cameras have telescoping lenses that come out of the camera body when in use, the T30’s lens stays in the body. The lens cover is different, too, in the form of a large panel that covers most of the camera's front. Sliding this down exposes the lens and turns the camera on. This combination of lens and cover design would make it a good pick for klutzes; you are much less likely to damage the lens if you drop the T30 than a camera with a telescoping lens, like the 6.1-megapixel Kodak V603's protruding 3x lens.
The back of the camera is dominated by the large, bright 3-inch LCD screen, which has 230,000 pixels and makes it easy to review images. It has a good angle of view and a brightness control. However, its performance is not as good when used as a live preview or playing back a movie. The motion is noticeably jerky, with the screen only being updated a handful of times per second, which could lead to lost shots. The screen size is one of the major improvements to Sony's T9, which has a 2.5-inch LCD but the same screen resolution, 58 MB of internal memory, and tiny 3x lens.
The Sony Cyber-shot T30 takes decent movies at a resolution of up to 640 x 480 pixels, but to use this mode to its full advantage you’ll need to make sure to get a Memory Stick Pro Duo card. The less expensive Memory Stick Duo cards limit the frame rate to 16.6 frames per second.
Despite its thin profile, the T30 fits well in the hand, with the shutter and zoom controls falling under the index fingers. There are only a handful of controls on the back of the camera, so many options are only accessible through the rather complex on-screen menu. You have to go into the on-screen menu to change shooting modes, for instance, which takes a lot longer than twisting a dial. There are nine shooting modes available, including a High Sensitivity mode that bumps the ISO sensitivity up to 1000 for photographing in low light without a flash.
The shots taken by the T30 looked good, with reasonably accurate color and plenty of detail captured by the 7.2-megapixel sensor. Low light images showed a fair amount of noise (and the colors quickly faded as the light level diminished), but they were acceptable; this camera could be used to shoot images at an indoor party without using flash.
The Sony Cyber-shot T30 is an attractive camera that shoots decent images. It has a slim design and is easy to use, but this comes at a big price. It originally retailed for $499, but could be found for $100 less online at the time of publication. There are less expensive cameras available that are only slightly larger, but the Sony T30 is still an attractive option if you’ve got the money.
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