Sony Cyber-shot T30 Compact camera

Posted by T3 Online on Mon 29 Oct 2007

Stylish snapper feels even better in the dark.

The latest in Sony's slim and stylish T-series boasts higher resolution, longer battery life, a bigger screen and much-improved low-light shooting.

Adding a three-inch screen and an all-metal body make it a touch wider and heavier than its predecessor, the T9, but it uses the same SteadyShot optical image stabiliser to do a fine job of banishing blur from twilight shots. Better still is an improved maximum sensitivity: ISO 1000 means less need for flash at night. Grainy noise is kept down but colours do fade away, so stick to lower sensitivities if you're shooting portraits.

It's more difficult to see the benefit of the larger, three-inch LCD. It doesn't have any more pixels than the T9, so isn't any sharper and even at full brightness struggles in direct sunlight.

Controls are fast and easy to use, but they are positioned so close to the screen it's easy to leave fingerprints on it. Response-times are generally very quick, although the Carl Zeiss lens potters through its modest 3x zoom range like a pensioner round his garden.

The key factor in any camera is image quality though, and it's amazing how much detail Sony extracts from that tiny, corner-mounted lens. Seven-megapixel pics look simply stunning: sharp, crisp and packed with colour, with only a hint of softness at the edges.

Despite the larger screen and a powerful flash, battery life has been boosted. The power meter is as good as always on a Sony, showing exactly how many minutes of operation remain.

It's touches like this that demonstrate this camera's maturity. T-series snappers have always been skinny, but this adds grace, solidity and low-light features. It's a great compact.