Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W30

Front
The front of the Sony W30/W50 appears vaguely like a Canon Digital ELPH. Touch the front faceplate though and you’ll quickly notice these lightweight cameras are made of a plastic-like polycarbonate, not metal.

On the center-left of the camera is the 3x optical zoom, surrounded by a stainless steel-looking ring that’s also polycarbonate. The ring has etching that spells out the name of the lens and its range– Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar, 2.8-5.2/6.3-18.9. The first range is its aperture and the second is its focal range.

All the way left near the top of the camera is a small round focusing light and then above that is the rectangular flash. In the center top of the front of the camera is another round opening for its optical viewfinder. On the top left of the camera is the Sony brand in raised letters and on the bottom left it says "Cyber-shot," also in raised letters. All the way on the right, in the center, is a silver polycarbonate nub that serves as a finger grip.

Back
On the back right of the camera is its control dial with ten settings. Below that are a display button and a menu button, and below that to the right is a four-way controller. At the very bottom is a button for creating an index display of images or for trashing images. Make sure you know which mode it’s in before using that button!

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W50

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W30

The rest of the main portion of the back is taken up by the LCD display – 2.5 inches for the W50 and 2 inches for the W30. Above the display are a small playback button, two status lights and the optical viewfinder, which is so small it’s barely usable, though its very existence is a novelty. On the left rear of the camera is a small speaker for playback of movies. Below the LCD screen is part of a hatch-like door that overlaps the bottom of the camera for the memory card and the battery.

Left
Aside from a small metal screw and writing that states the camera has a "3x Optical Zoom" the rest of this side of the camera is pretty blank. There’s a thin lip with a slight curve where the front and back faceplates come together.

Right
The right side of the camera is another place where the two models differ. The W50, the slightly higher end model, has a steel band on the right side of the camera to lock the front and back sections together. On the W30, the front and back polycarbonate sections are joined together with a thin indenture and two screws. Both models have a metal exposed strap lug and plastic covering at the top for the USB and A/V in/out connections.

Top
There’s a power button in the center of the top of both models that lights up green when it’s on – a nice, higher-end feature in these obviously lower-end models. The top of the camera is also the one place on the body where you see some actual metal. The top is banded with stainless steel and has writing that says "MPEGMOVIEVX on the left side." The shutter release button is also made out of steel and, thankfully, large enough to get a finger on. Surrounding the shutter release on the right side is a steel zoom rocker that’s fairly easy to use.

Bottom
Carved out of the polycarbonate on the bottom is a tripod mount. There’s also a hatch-like sliding door that molds over part of the back of the camera, revealing space for Sony’s proprietary MemoryStick cards – MemoryStick Duo and MemoryStick PRO Duo – and for the camera’s Lithium-ion batteries.