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Sony CyberShot DSC-P30 Sony develops an affordable, full-featured 1.3-megapixel compact digicam with great picture quality! Select a topic Reference: Datasheet CyberShot DSC-P30 Sample Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments on CyberShot DSC-P30 Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & Flash Review First Posted: 4/9/2001

Exposure
Given its small, portable size, and point-and-shoot appeal, the P30 offers very limited exposure control. Aperture and shutter speed are automatically controlled at all times, though the settings are reported on the LCD monitor when the Shutter button is halfway depressed. We always find this report useful, as we're quite interested to know the camera's exposure settings in different situations. Two basic exposure modes are accessible by turning the Mode dial on top of the camera: Automatic and Twilight. Automatic exposure mode works exactly as it indicates, by placing the camera in charge of the aperture and shutter speed. The user, however, maintains control over ISO, exposure compensation, and all other available settings. Twilight mode adjusts the exposure to capture a bright subject in dark surroundings (neon lights or fireworks, for example), without washing out the color. Because Twilight mode uses a slower shutter speed, a tripod is recommended to prevent blurring from camera movement. Available shutter speeds range from 1/800 to two seconds, with the slowest available shutter speed in Automatic mode being 1/15 second. For slower speeds, switch to Twilight exposure mode.

Despite the automatic exposure control, the P30 offers a fair amount of exposure options. Exposure compensation is adjustable from -2 to +2 in exposure equivalents (EV) in one-third-step increments. The P30 normally employs an "averaged" metering system, which averages exposure readings throughout the image to determine the best overall exposure. Through the settings menu, a spot metering option is available for taking more accurate exposure readings in high-contrast shooting situations, and is effective for locking the exposure for a particular part of the subject. Though the P30 doesn't have an AE Lock button, you can manually lock the exposure in the same manner as locking focus, by framing a portion of the subject in the center of the view, halfway depressing the Shutter button, and then recomposing the shot while keeping the Shutter button halfway depressed. This locks the exposure and focus until the Shutter button is fully depressed or released. The P30 features an adjustable ISO setting, offering Auto, 100, 200, and 400 sensitivity equivalents. The white balance setting offers Auto, Indoor, Outdoor, and Hold operating modes, matching a variety of light sources. The Hold white balance mode works like a manual white balance adjustment, allowing you to adjust the white value to the light source by placing a white card in front of the lens.

For more creative shooting options, the P30 features a Picture Effects menu, which has proven a popular addition to Sony digicams. Effects like Solarize, Black and White, Sepia, and Negative Art produce unique images. The effects are live on the LCD screen when selected, giving you a preview of each setting. A sharpness setting controls the effects of the in-camera sharpening, and is adjustable from -2 to +2 in arbitrary increments (zero is the normal sharpness level, with -2 being very soft and +2 being very sharp). A self-timer counts down from 10 seconds once the Shutter button has been fully pressed in Self-timer mode (accessed by pressing the top arrow of the Arrow rocker pad). You can cancel the countdown by pressing the Self-timer button a second time or simply by turning the camera off.

Once an image has been saved to the Memory Stick, the left arrow key on the Arrow rocker pad (back panel) activates a quick review of the previously captured image, and offers a delete option for removing the image. Pressing the arrow key a second time returns you to the normal image display screen, as does pressing the Shutter button halfway.


Flash
The P30 features a built-in flash with three main operating modes: Auto, Forced, and Suppressed. Flash mode is changed by pressing the up arrow on the Arrow rocker button, which cycles through each mode. An icon display on the LCD monitor identifies each mode, except for Auto, which has no icon. Auto puts the camera in charge of whether or not the flash fires, based on existing light levels. Forced Flash means that the flash always fires, regardless of light level, and Suppressed Flash prevents the flash from firing, regardless of light levels. A Red-Eye Reduction mode is activated through the Setup menu, and works with both Auto and Forced flash modes. Red-Eye Reduction fires a small pre-flash to reduce the occurrence of red-eye effect in people shots.

You can adjust the flash intensity to High, Normal, or Low, through the settings menu. This option makes the flash more accommodating to varying light levels or different subjects. We liked the fact that we could adjust exposure for the flash and ambient lighting separately, a feature that makes it easier to achieve more balanced exposures.

Movie Recording
The Movie mode is accessed on the Mode dial on top of the camera by selecting the film frame icon. You can record moving images (without sound) at either 320 x 240 and 160 x 112-pixel resolution. Movies are recorded in the MPEG EX format, meaning that you can record for as long as the Memory Stick has space. Recording starts with a single press of the shutter button, and ends with a second press. A timer appears in the LCD monitor to let you know how long you've been recording and approximately how much recording time is available. The P30 capture speed is eight frames per second.

The P30 also offers a rudimentary editing tool that we initially saw, and enjoyed, on the DSC-S75 model. Though most digicam users don't necessarily want to engage in full A/B roll video editing on their cameras, many do want to trim off excess material from the beginning or end of a recorded video, or extract an interesting bit of action from the middle of a much longer clip of footage. The Divide function works by dividing movies into two segments. Do this once to trim away spurious material at the front of the clip you're interested in, do it a second time to remove the unwanted footage at the end. Once you've split the movie into parts like this, you can throw away the segments you don't need, or keep them around for reference.

After enabling the Divide function through the Playback menu, the P30 starts to play back the movie. You simply press the center of the rocker pad button to stop the playback where you'd like to make an edit. From there, you can scroll backwards or forwards frame by frame until you find the point where you'd like to divide the movie. You can then either delete the unwanted portion of the movie or keep it on the Memory Stick. As noted, the Divide function is great for "editing" out the best part of a movie file, as you can make an unlimited number of divides. You just can't put the pieces back together again in the camera. For that, you'll have to use the included MGI VideoWave software.

Clip Motion
Clip Motion is a fun feature that we've enjoyed on several other Sony digicams, including the DSC-P1, where it debuted. (That's a shot of the P1's underwater housing above, NOT one for the P30.) The Clip Motion capture mode turns the P30 into an animation camera, recording up to 10 frames of still images to be combined into a single GIF file for animated playback. Frames can be captured at any interval, with successive presses of the shutter button. When you've captured as many photos as you need, you just press the center of the Arrow rocker pad to tell the camera to finish the sequence. Available image sizes are Normal (160 x 120 pixels) and Mobile (80 x 72 pixels), and the number of actual captured frames may vary with image size and available Memory Stick space. (You have a maximum of 10, but could be constrained to fewer if your memory is very full.) Files are saved in GIF format, and are played back with (approximate) 0.5-second intervals between frames. Unlike Movie mode, the flash is available with Clip Motion.

Special Record Modes
A feature that we've become accustomed to on Sony digicams is the Record Mode menu option, which offers several recording format options for still images. Through the Record menu, you can select TIFF for uncompressed images, Text, E-mail, or Normal modes. In TIFF mode, the P30 records one uncompressed image at the 1,280 x 960 resolution size, in addition to another image at the size and quality settings already established in the Record menu. E-mail mode records a smaller (320 x 240-pixel) image size that's small enough to be easily sent to friends and family by e-mail. Like the TIFF option, the e-mail image is recorded in addition to the image size already selected through the Record menu. The Text mode records a black-and-white GIF file that is perfect for taking pictures of white boards, flip charts, or meeting notes.