CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 09/12/2003
- Released on: 07/15/2003
Sony's Cyber Shot DSC-U30 is meant to have a social life. Sleek, slender, and only slightly heavier than 4 ounces with a Memory Stick and batteries installed, this itsy-bitsy 2-megapixel model can fit easily in just about any pocket or dangle winningly from the included neck strap. The camera is a perfect accessory for late-night barhopping or cruising the city streets on a Saturday. This little guy is fast, too. But what you get in style and speed, you lose in shooting flexibility and image quality.
The U30's body, which comes in blue, silver, and charcoal, is made of high-quality, brushed metallic plastic. This camera doesn't have a viewfinder, so you have to use the tiny but well-lit LCD to frame shots. The lens cover slides smoothly, turns on the power when opened, and features a built-in convex mirror--handy when you're including yourself in your photo. Scrolling through scene modes requires a good deal of dexterity, but the few controls are well laid out and straightforward. Watch out: It's easy to block the lens with errant fingers. Although the U30 doesn't have a tripod mount, its flat bottom allows you to set it on a stable object--a necessity when you're using the flash-disabled Twilight scene mode.
The U30 is equipped with autofocus but not an optical zoom, and resolution is limited to 1,632x1,224 pixels (2 megapixels) and 640x480 pixels (VGA). You'll find several flash options, a macro mode and manual focus at preset distances, five scene modes, a VGA burst mode, and silent MPEG-1 movie capture. Sony also threw in four special effects: Negative Art, Sepia, Black And White, and--our personal favorite--Solarize. A couple of useful features, exposure compensation and white-balance presets, are conspicuously absent; even the most basic camera should include them.
Thanks in part to its low resolution, the U30 is quick on the draw. There's little shutter lag, and shot-to-shot time is similarly zippy. The camera ships with two rechargeable AAA nickel-metal-hydride batteries, which will keep you shooting well into the night. We squeezed out 140 photos on a full charge.
For images in the 2-megapixel class, our test shots were mediocre, with only middling levels of detail and sharpness. Also contributing to the average results were moderate noise, artifacts, and a compressed dynamic range that tended to blow out highlights. On the other hand, colors were overall on target, and exposures were generally well metered. If your main goals are to e-mail your photos and make a few small prints to pass around or stick on the fridge, the U30's picture quality should be good enough.
All told, the U30 obviously isn't the camera to own if you want a lot of creative control or the ability to make fine prints. But if you're looking for a fun point-and-shoot to take out on the town, this Sony fits the bill.
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