Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W35

Front (7.0)
The front of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W35 is formed out of a metallic-silver plastic that is the predominant material and finish found on the entire camera body. When facing the front of the camera, a polished silver ring with engraved ridges surrounds the lens on the right side of the camera. Directly surrounding the lens of the camera, the lens specifications and brand are to inform users that they are shooting with a Carl Zeiss, Vario-Tessar 2.8 – 5.2 / 6.3 –18.9 lens. The 3x optical zoom lens extends from the shell of the camera when the camera is turned on. When turned off or when in playback mode for an extended period of time, the lens barrel retracts into the camera body and an automatically closing lens cover snaps into place.

A horizontal in-camera flash is located above and to the right of the lens and is positioned near the edge of the camera, in a place that may become covered by fingers. Beneath the right edge of the flash is the auto-focus illuminator light. To the left of the in-camera flash, slightly lower on the camera body, is the window for the optical viewfinder. The terrible position of this window, in relation to the actual frame being captured by the camera lens, will result in images with inaccurate frames whenever the viewfinder is used without the LCD screen as a back-up reference. A small polished silver tab is raised slightly from the camera body and is theoretically present in order to provide users with better handling during shooting. But the small size, polished surface, and close proximity to the edge of the camera body will most likely make this small add-on a rarely used feature.

Back (4.0)
The 2-inch, 85,000 pixel LCD screen fills the left two-thirds of the Sony Cyber-shot’s left side. The in-camera playback speaker is located above the upper left corner of the LCD screen’s frame. Beneath the LCD screen is a port cover that can be opened by pulling on a tab located along the cover's lower edge. This cover protects both the AV Out and the USB ports for the camera. Above the LCD, slightly right of center, is the small optical viewfinder. To the right of the viewfinder are two LED lights that indicate the current state of the camera. Moving to the right of these lights is a small button labeled with the fairly universal "play" icon familiar to anyone who’s ever used an electronic media playback device. This button allows the user to switch into playback mode.

The mode dial is located in the upper right corner of the DSC-W35’s back face. This mode dial is oddly placed and too small to really be used with any speed. Beneath the mode dial and slightly to the left is a button labeled 'DISP' that controls both the LCD's power and the amount of information displayed on the LCD. Beneath this button is the menu button that allows the user to access both shooting and playback menu systems. Underneath this lozenge shaped button is the four-way control. In addition to menu navigation, the four-way control is also able to control four camera settings. When not in a menu system, the up arrow controls the current flash setting, the right arrow controls whether in regular or macro shooting modes, the down arrow engages and disengages the self-timer feature, and the left arrow allows for adjustments to the exposure compensation setting. In the center of the four-way control is the important select button, which is unlabeled. This button confirms adjustments that are made to the camera’s settings when alterations are made by the user. And finally beneath the four-way control is another button that is identical in size and shape to the display and menu buttons located above the four-way control. This button controls image deletion when in review mode and opens the image size menu when in shooting mode.

Left Side (7.25)
Besides a label indicating the 3x optical zoom capability of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W35’s lens, there are no features on the left side of the camera body.

Right Side (7.25)
The small eyelet in the center of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W35’s right side and accompanying eyelet on the back face of the camera body are for attaching the included and optional wrist strap. Its inset design makes threading the wrist strap anything but a pleasant experience; the reviewer found jamming the wrist strap through the eyelet took several minutes of careful and concentrated effort. Perhaps smaller fingers would have greater success with this miniscule feature. Above the eyelet, near the top of the camera body, is a port cover that houses the DC IN port. The cover is plastic and connected to the camera body via a small piece of rubber.

Top (7.0)
On the top left of the Sony DSC-W35, there is a small bump with three holes. This is the in-camera microphone and users may find that audio is easily compromised when shooting video clips with two hands since it’s natural to place the fingers on the top of the camera body. On the right side of the top face is a sizeable and well-positioned shutter button. A zoom ring surrounds the shutter button. To the left of the shutter button is a small power button that is set slightly into the camera body in order to protect against being accidentally turned on.

Bottom (3.0)
There are several features located on the base of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W35 that are important to the camera. On the far left side, located near the back edge of the camera body, is a metal tripod mount. Choosing to make this component out of metal was a good decision by Sony as it makes stripping and ruining the tripod mount through improper threading nearly impossible. If it were made out of plastic, one or two improper connections to a tripod could permanently ruin this feature. On the right side of the camera body, underneath a port cover, are both the optional memory card slot and the Lithium Ion battery slot.