Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 - Features Table

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Ahlan

3:13 PM on 15 July, 2008

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you guys from TR just hate Sony brand, this Camera is so awesome, one the best i have, its for pros not for stupid people like you who make difference between brands...

oh its sony lets give it a low score.....

look here some reviews from Pro photographers:

www.photographyblog.com

gave it a score of 4.5 out of 5 thats 9/10.

www.dphotojournal.com

gave it also a score of 4.5 out of 5 thats 9/10.

www.cameratown.com

gave it also a score of 9.17/10.

http://photography.consumerelectronicsnet.com/

gave it a great review.....

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GavinHamer

5:12 PM on 15 July, 2008

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Personally, I hate Sony and all they stand for, but I'm pragmatic more than dogmatic and bought this camera about a month ago after an extensive look at the superzoom market. None of the options are perfect, but I'm quite sure that I got the best one for me and I'm very happy with it.

The reviewer clearly despises the menu system, but, despite my big fat fingers, I have never accidentally hit the zoom and have never had any trouble selecting the manual options with the jog wheel. After a short time, it becomes second nature. I think that camera experts come to expect menus to work in a certain way, and when they don't, they consider it to be "wrong". It is different, but it works very nicely in my opinion, and 90% of the time I'm using it in manual mode. In reality somebody buys a camera and keeps it for years, they learn every option inside out. If it isn't intuitive for the first few minutes, surely that should be irrelevant to the rating of the camera.

The comment about pictures having "an unreal digital look" is perhaps the most perplexing thing of all, so vague and yet so all-encompassing. There's an excellent range of options, including different colour modes. If the reviewer finds the colours to be unreal, they should perhaps try a different colour mode. Just a quick experimentation reveals that the most natural colours come from the "Real" colour mode. The default seems to give what I would call "Sony colours", a bit more colour and contrast than reality. By setting the white balance on a white surface and using Real colour mode, all my photos look just right in terms of colour.

One key feature not mentioned is that this camera zooms during video. The zoom isn't completely inaudible, but it's only noticeable in particularly quiet situations.

Just a few things that could have got a mention -

1. The smile shutter mode - automatically taking when somebody in the frame smiles

2. The happy faces retouch - makes miserable buggers look like they were smiling (a bit of fun if nothing else)

3. Full HD output to TVs (via a cable which isn't supplied).

Also, it only takes MemoryStick Duo cards - eeek! But don't fear, because it also works perfectly with a MicroSD card if you purchase the relevant unbranded adapter from somedodgyinternetshop.com

There are quite a few links to other reviews above, but perhaps the most comprehensive is this one:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/H50/H50A.HTM

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Hans Gruber

5:41 PM on 15 July, 2008

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Yeah, I see what you mean. TR are always biased against Sony branded cameras. That's why they always give low scores like 7/10 or just blatantly deducting a point from a perfect 10 whenever they feel like it, just because they hate the word 'Sony'.

So, performing a very quick search of this site's reviews for Sony digital cameras and you can clearly see this awful unprofessional bias in action. I mean, why would you want to follow the crowd of other review sites and just copy their marking when you can go it alone and make your own mind up when reviewing a product? It's more work but the pay off is better.

A200, 350 and 700 SLR models all *only* get 9 out of 10 with two of the cameras reviewed having perfect (10 out of 10) image quality. Bah! It should be better. Of course they always add a point or two for the likes of Canon and Nikon (probably every time they have a spare unawarded point or two from reviewing a Sony camera like this one).

Just look: http://preview.tinyurl.com/62ap9u

Maybe the camera reviewed scored lower because of the dust on the front element? Maybe it affected the handling and build quality also? Perhaps a clean and retest is in order then. ;/

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AndyfromVA

7:06 PM on 15 July, 2008

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Maybe it's not the website but the reviewer. I was very displeased with Mr. Harrison's review of the Fuji S8100fd and I don't think much of this review either. I'm not convinced that the handling of the H50 is as bad a Mr. Harrison says and I'm astounded that he thinks its picture quality is merely average. Compare Mr. Harrison's test shots with shots of other point and shoot cameras and it's obvious - the H50 has outstanding picture quality. I would give it at least a 9 out of 10 in that category.

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JimmyDee

2:30 AM on 16 July, 2008

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I am surprised by Jamie Harrison's review here, and totally disagree . Without doubt Sony H50 is the best extended zoom camera for the money available in the market at the present time. The competitors either have poor, although longer zoom lenses with aberration/distortion problem (Olympus, Fuji, Nikon - 8/10) or their image quality/features are not upto the par (Panasonic - 8.5/10).

The features of this camera are well thought of, handling is superb, the Carl Zeiss lens is sharp along the entire 15X range, 3 inch angulated, clear and bright LCD is best of the bunch, flash is powerful, focus is fast and accurate under various conditions, and the pictures are stunning even at default setting - all in a light package at an impressive price.

I took over two hundred close-up and telephoto shots indoors and out, and noticed minimal distortion and chromatic aberration usually expected from large zooms, and no edge softening whatsoever. The only other camera which has a superior lens is now aging Panasonic FZ18 (Leica). However, all other features in Sony H50 are far better than FZ18.

A winner all the way (9.5/10) - what else one can ask for?

Canon makes best (above 9/10 rating) point and shoot, Sony best entry level DSLR's and Nikon best professional DSLR cameras currently. However, the difference is not that much between some other makes like Olympus, Panasonic and Pentax, at lower ratings (below 9/10).

Problems:

This is not a DSLR, so don't expect it to perform like one. However, even a DSLR doesn't have a powered megazoom, auto focus in live view with shutter release button and light compact body like an extended zoom camera.

Loose lens cap (it may be meant to prevent damage to the lens if you accidently switch on the camera with the cap still on, unlike H5 which had a 'cap on' warning).

Expensive proprietary accessaries.

Checkout: dphotojournal reviews of H50.

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Sean Groarke

7:17 AM on 16 July, 2008

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Sometimes people's comments crack me up. One comment complains that

<quote>

"...its for pros not for stupid people..."

</quote> (sic)

while someone else bemoans the lack of mention of

<quote>

The happy faces retouch...

</quote>

heh. Made my morning. :-)

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SpiderJacek

8:40 AM on 16 July, 2008

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Not only TR's reviewer found H50s interface fiddly:

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews_sony_cybershot_dsc_h50_6.php

"Just half a star short of the full set – there's no RAW, that control pad/scroll wheel combination is fiddly and the menu/home options are confusingly ordered and divided up."

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AndyfromVA

12:36 PM on 16 July, 2008

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Photography Blog gave the H50 4.5 out of 5 overall (and a 4.5 out of 5 for image quality), so the "fiddly" controls were obviously not perceived to be a significant problem.

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JimmyDee

8:27 PM on 16 July, 2008

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I would have rated it - Design 10/10, Features 10/10, Image Quality 9/10, Value 10/10, Overall 9.5/10. We are comparing it with other extended zoom cameras here, not DSLR's - None of them have a 3inch tilting LCD or flash as powerful as Sony H50. Its picture quality rivals a DSLR. And the lens is of highest quality, second only to Panasonic's Leica.

Mr. Harrison - Be fair or lose credibility (did you receive a defective camera?).

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GL

7:28 PM on 17 July, 2008

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Too jimmydee, who mentions that it's image quality rivals a DSLR.

You are wrong, very wrong. There is a massive gap in image quality, especially from ISO 200 up. And worse of all you can't change the lens, and therefore get rid of the awful barrel distortion at wide angles.

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