Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W30

Color (7.61)
Sony paired the W30’s 6-megapixel imaging sensor with a Real Imaging Processor to capture pictures that hold realistic color. We tested this claim by taking several well exposed images of the GretagMacbeth 24-color chart, which many imaging manufacturers use to standardize what colors like forest green and magenta should look like, then modifying them in our Imatest Imaging Software to show the comparison between the original chart’s colors and those produced by the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W30. The chart below shows the original GretagMacbeth colors in the small vertical rectangles within each tile, the W30’s color on the outer square of each tile, and the exposure-corrected ideal on the inner square. This chart shows the colors produced with the Sony W30’s Normal color mode, as opposed to its Rich and Natural modes, which will be addressed later.

For those photographers who are slightly colorblind, but still want their pictures to be perfect, the same information is displayed below. This graph shows the color error as a line that connects the ideal GretagMacbeth color (square) to the Sony W30’s produced color (circle).

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W30 produced fairly accurate colors with a 6.58 mean color error in the Normal color mode. Saturation, at 99.9 percent, was almost perfect. For these results, the W30 received an overall color score of 7.61, better than that of previous W-series digital cameras. The Sony W1 scored a 7.51, and the W7 did slightly better with a 7.53. We also tested the Sony W30 in Rich and Natural color modes. The first over-saturates colors quite a bit – by 14.3 percent, to be exact, while the latter under-saturates colors by 18 percent. While the actual saturation percentages vary, the mean color scores remain in the same ballpark. Rich mode had a mean color error of 6.66, while the Natural garnered a 6.81 result. Overall, the Sony W30 produces fairly accurate colors, and the saturation is best in the Normal mode.

Still Life Scene
Below are three shots of our elegant still life scene, captured by the Sony W30 in its Normal, Natural, and Rich color modes.

Normal Color

Natural Color 

Rich Color

Click on any of the images above to view the full resolution files.

Resolution / Sharpness (3.78)
With its 1/2.5-inch, 6-megapixel Super HAD CCD and Real Imaging Processor, the Sony W30 is equipped to take great shots suitable for large prints. To see if the equipment functions as it should, we shot several exposures of the ISO 12233 resolution chart. Many imaging organizations use this chart to test imaging sensors’ abilities to handle certain amounts of megapixels.

Once we took several images, we uploaded them into Imatest Imaging Software, which analyzed the data and output results in terms of line widths per picture height (lw/ph). This measurement tells us how many alternating black and white lines could theoretically fit across the frame, horizontally and vertically, without blending together.

Click on the chart above to view the full resolution image

The above image is the sharpest one we could extract from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W30. It was taken using a focal length of 14.3 mm and an aperture of f/4.5. Imatest determined that the W30 can resolve 1684 lw/ph horizontally and over-sharpened by 22.8 percent in this direction. In the vertical plane, the W30 can fit 1015 lw/ph and under-sharpened by 12.8 percent. Unfortunately, these figures only give us an idea of the overall camera resolution. Taking a closer look at the resolution chart reveals that the outer edges are quite blurry and out of focus, while the center of the frame is perfectly focused. Although the Sony Cyber-shot W30’s resolution results were average among point-and-shoot camera designs, the edge falloff is much more exaggerated than most and will ultimately prove detrimental to overall image quality.

Noise - Auto ISO (2.39)
Because the target audience of the Sony W30 is largely point-and-shooters, it is important to determine if the automatic ISO setting can effectively control noise. We tested the camera in nearly ideal lighting conditions, and the W30 automatically chose an ISO rating much too high. The resultant noise levels matched those found at ISO 380. For this, the Sony W30 received a poor 2.39 automatic ISO noise score. This is quite a departure from earlier W-series models, which did much better at this test.

Noise - Manual ISO (7.88)
One of the Sony W30’s best traits is its expansive ISO range. The following manual ISO ratings are available: 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1000. A High Sensitivity scene mode
automatically uses the ISO 1000 rating. We tested the noise levels at each step and created a chart that shows the ISO ratings on the horizontal plane and the noise levels on the vertical plane.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W30’s noise levels begin very low at the ISO 80 setting and steadily increased until the latter half of the ratings, where they increase almost exponentially. Still, the overall noise suppression is impressive for such an inexpensive camera. For this, the W30 received a 7.88 overall manual ISO score.

Low Light Performance (4.5)
We tested the Sony W30 in less than perfect lighting conditions as well without the use of the flash. First we tested it at 60 lux, which resembles two soft lamps in a living room after dusk. Next, we tested the W30 at 30 lux, which is about the same lighting found in a basement lit by a single 40-watt bulb. Our next test involved shooting at 15 lux, where the light is hardly there at all. We tested the camera at 5 lux as well, even though this is uncommonly dark.

We tested the W30’s low light capabilities using the camera’s Program, High-sensitivity, and Night Scene modes. We found the camera performed best in its Program mode.

The Sony Cyber-shot W30 did not perform very well in low light. Even the image at 60 lux is noisy and under-saturated. The darkest three tests were horribly discolored and leaned toward a warmer hue than was natural.

The chart below shows the amount of noise in the low-light exposures, which are longer than exposures in our other tests. Shutter speeds are shown across the horizontal axis, with the accompanying noise on the vertical axis.

As seen in the chart, there is a steady rise in noise as the exposure lengthens. Still, the shutter speeds did not vary as much as in some other compact models, where the slope is more dramatic. Overall, the low-light pictures from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W30 were poorly illuminated and disappointingly noisy.

Dynamic Range (5.5)
Dynamic range measures the spread of light and dark that a camera can record with detail. We use a standardized test to measure cameras' performance, photographing an industrial target that ranges more than 13 EV in brightness. Imatest software analysis yields two results: a "Low Quality" score and a more important "High Quality" assessment.

The Sony W30 has a bit better dynamic range than typical compact cameras, retaining highlight and shadow details well up to ISO 200 and delivering diminished but respectable performance at ISO 400. ISO 800 and 1000 show considerable deterioration, but are far from the worst performances we've seen from this category.

Speed / Timing
Startup to First Shot (7.48)
It took the Sony W30 2.5 seconds to start up and take a picture when we turned it on in our tests. On occasions when a candid shot might pop up any time, it's best to keep the W30 turned on – 2.5 seconds is too long to wait for action shots.

Shot to Shot (9.57)
In regular burst mode, the W30 delivered 3 shots in 1.3 seconds for 2.3 frames per second. At highest resolution and quality, it took almost 12 seconds to write those images to memory, though. In Multi-burst mode, the W30 shot 16 1-megapixel images in 0.6 seconds, a speed worthy of a (low-res) flip book.

Shutter to shot (8.62)
The Sony W30 delayed about 0.2 seconds between the time we pressed its shutter and the time when it took an image. This is pretty good for a compact camera, but not great for action photography. Users will have to anticipate the action a bit and press the shutter slightly before the perfect moment.