Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W30

Auto Mode (7.0)
Auto mode turns the W30 into a full point-and-shoot digital camera, limiting the menu to setup and burst mode. All of the features on the multi-selector are available, though, so users can change the exposure compensation or flash mode. The auto mode remembers these settings rather than returning to default, making customization easy.

Movie Mode (7.0)
A little filmstrip icon designates the movie mode on the dial, an option which will appeal to many users familiar with Sony’s impressive camcorder technology. While neither optical zoom nor image stabilization is available, making smooth transition footage almost impossible to obtain, the video quality is pretty good.

The W30 focuses well and stays sharp, even when the subject is moving, and records either an email-friendly 160 x 112 pixels at 8 fps or 640 x 480 pixels at two frame rates: 30 and 16.6 frames per second. 30 fps is only accessible with a Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo card, though, and 16.6 fps is choppy.

All video options record audio, and the built-in microphone and speaker features provide reasonably clear sound. Additional good news: the W30’s movie mode has more options than most. Users can shoot movies in black and white or sepia, select the auto focus and metering modes, and even adjust the white balance, giving their movie clips accurate colors and decent exposure.

Drive / Burst Mode (6.0)
Many compact models disable the burst mode in the full auto mode, but the W30 allows access to it, via the recording menu of every mode except night scene, even when automating everything else.

However, the burst mode on the W30 isn’t that impressive; it lasts for only 3 shots and shoots 1.4 frames per second at full resolution. At lower resolutions, while the speed remains the same, the camera can shoot longer. The W30 takes 98 shots at 1.4 fps when at the smallest resolution. A multi-burst mode in the recording menu shoots 16 frames very quickly at VGA resolution, then automatically plays them back like a choppy movie, a useful tool for sports analysis or whimsical action pictures of oneself. A self-timer, available at the bottom of the multi-selector, facilitates this with 2 and 10-second options.

Playback Mode (6.75)
Pressing the designated button to the right of the optical viewfinder enters or exits playback mode. This handy button can also turn the camera on when pressed down for a second or two; the W30 wakes up already in the playback mode. In this mode, users can order prints, see pictures individually or in index frames of 9 images each, delete them one at a time or all at once, resize them, rotate them, play them in slide shows, and add them to folders. Movies can be divided into two separate clips as well, separating ten minutes of dead air from the four seconds of actual content. Viewing pictures on the 2-inch screen isn’t quite as glorious as it is on bigger screens with higher resolution, but the W30 can zoom in on individual pictures, so all is not lost.

Custom Image Presets (6.0)
At a time when compact digital cameras are adding more and more scene modes, it is almost refreshing to come across a model that sticks to the essentials. Rather than offering a menu of 30 plus presets, many redundant or useless, the W30 has 7 basic scene modes located directly on the mode dial: Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Soft Snap, Landscape, Beach, Snow, and High Sensitivity. The in-camera function guide explains each one, clarifying, for example, that the ambiguously-named Soft Snap mode shoots the subject with a soft background.