Sony DSC-T30 Digital Camera

Wow, that's all I can say to sum up this amazing piece of technology. I have read some review disparaging the Cybershot but I can't follow their arguments, I have to assume they are talking about a completely different camera. First of let's speak about the camera body, metal in a glossy black which oozes sex appeal. The only downside is it attracts fingerprints like a mirror. You will be taking the polishing cloth to this on a regular basis. The camera is extremely small but feels solid and sturdy in the hand. It is turned on either by sliding down the integrated lens cover or by pressing the power button on top.

The LCD is 3 inches and is incredibly bright, detailed and easy to see even in sunlight. You will not be missing the lack of optical viewfinder, the LCD screen gives a good representation of the finished photograph. Again it attracts the fingerprints and is probably the cameras weak point in the strength/sturdiness department so a screen protector would be a sensible investment.

The camera is simplicity itself to work, there are no modes that allow you direct control over shutter spped / f stop settings but you can use the presets to fudge the camera into doing what you want. I find this offers the best of both worlds, novices will use the presets to help out with tricky exposure situations whilst the more experienced users will be able to use the program mode to nudge +/- ev and the like to produce a usable image.

There are a few standout features on this camera that raise it head and shoulders above the competition. First off is the macro function which allows focus down to one centimetre, it is simply incredible and opens a whole new world of photography. Second is the optical stabilizer which assists with low light/ no flash photography. To say it helps is an understatement. I took a photo at a ferry terminal in the dead of night with the camera leaning on the door of my van (still being held by me to stop if from falling) and with a combination of countdown timer and the optical stabiliser the two second was pin sharp. I have not seen such sharp images taken at night on any of my previous digital cameras. The last feature I really like is the burst mode. This records a constant stream of 16 images and when you press the shutter is saves the eight prior to you pressing the button and the eight after. When viewed back the images are displayed sequentially and are great for analysing golf swings etc but I have had a lot of fun capturing splashes, ripples etc.

As mentioned in previous reviews battery life is generous. Throw in a 2gb memory pro duo card and you have enough capacity to easily last a one or two week hoilday.

I have absolutely no hesitation in awarding this camera five starts, the images are of good quality, the internal optical zoom minimizes the form factor, it looks classy and works really well in low light. There are now camera in the sub-compact category that have 8 or more megapixels but this is not to be taken as a benchmark of a better camera. The lens elements in these cameras are so small that the 7 or 8 mp mark CCD's are about the max that can capture images with such small lenses. Anything bigger the CCD size increaes and the form factor goes up.

This camera fits neatly into a pocket, fires up in 1.3 secs and has a quick processing time for more shots.

I really can't reccommend this camera enough, if you are looking at the sub-compact category please go for this, you will not be disappoi