Sony DSC-W30 review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 27 Jul 2006

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: Ben Pitt

Our Rating 5 stars out of 5

ExpertReviews Award

Review
Specs

The W30 is one of the smallest cameras in the group, and in our opinion it's the best-looking.

The only thing that lets it down slightly is its 2", 85,000-pixel screen, which isn't as luxurious or detailed as a 21/2" screen. If this is a serious deterrent, the Sony DSC-W50 costs £158 and is essentially a W30 with a 21/2" screen.

The controls are easy to learn, with a clear menu system and a mode dial that gives access to scene presets. One of these, High Sensitivity, turns the camera to its maximum ISO setting for low-light photography without using the flash. The lack of a function to delete all photos is odd, but you can do so on your PC or by reformatting the memory card.

The W30 is fast to use, with a two-second startup and just 11/2 seconds between shots, even when using the flash. Auto-focus is fast in bright conditions and reasonable in low light. The only disappointment is that its Continuous mode is limited to three shots. The li-ion battery lasted for an impressive 525 shots in our test, making it one of the best here.

The W30 came top overall in our image quality tests. Images were sharp, vibrant and free of noise even at ISO 400. The camera goes all the way up to ISO 1,000. While these images are speckled, Sony's noise reduction does an excellent job of minimising noise without losing too much detail. The macro mode is by far the best here and video quality is excellent, too.

This camera excels in almost every area and is amazingly good value. It's easily the Best Buy.

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