The
Sony DSC-P50 and its near identical twin, the DSC-P30, take their
design cues from the DSC-P1
which was released at the end of 2000. The distinctive shape of the P1
is scaled up for both these models: the P50 offers a 2.1 megapixel resolution,
while the P30 has a 1.3 megapixel resolution.
The cameras have a nice-looking finish that uses metallic-looking surfaces
on the front and back — the front being accented by a bright finish
lens trim and a metallic arc that serves as a grip — combined with
blue-grey plastic everywhere else.
The mode dial has five positions:
Setup;
Movie;
Playback;
Record;
Twilight.
The
P50 provides an optical viewfinder that shows approximately 80% of what
the CCD captures. Although it is quite usable, the exit pupil is narrow,
and the image it shows is small and somewhat distant. No diopter correction
is provided.
The
back of the P50 is equipped with a 1.5 inch TFT LCD screen that can be
turned on and off using a button above it. On the right, the zoom control
for the 3X lens also serves to show the captured images as thumbnails
on the LCD screen, or magnify a selected image (5X), when the DSC-P50
is in Playback mode.
The remaining two controls are on the left side of the LCD screen: a round
four-direction controller, and a Menu button.
In
recording mode, the directional control offers four additional functions:
flash mode selection, macro recording mode, self-timer, and instant playback
of the last image captured.
Even though the P50 is simple to use, the camera does offer extra settings,
accessed in the menu, which make it functional under a number of circumstances.
