It is almost a month that I am owning this camera, and now after several shooting session I feel I can write a complete review.
In brief the DSC-H2 is a 6Mpixel camera with a 12x optical zoom and a super steadyshot image stabilization system. The lens assembly is very luminous, the zoom is perfect and can be used as well when shooting videos. It runs on 2 AA batteries (rechargeables) and uses the sony memorystick duo for storing the images.
I bought the camera from a reputable ebay seller at 270€ - experienced some problems – Read the review for more info.
Package
The package of the Sony H2 is in complete sony style. It is origami alike! Differently from other products instead of the usual full one cardboard all package there is a additional piece of cardboard shaped to hold the camera itself.
Inside you will find the Camera Body – A lens adaptator – A shadow to avoid sun light to cause unwanted reflections into the lens assembly – A lens cap – A strap to hold the camera – 2 AA rechargeables and the universal recharger. Also included of course the usb cable, instruction booklet on recycled paper and the mostly useless Sony software.
I like the recycle attitude of packaging.
Camera Body
The camera body is bulky and made of plastic. It comes in silver as no other colours are available. A carring bag is not provided and I feel it could be quite useful as the plastic is prone to scratch easily.
Honestly I was expecting more. Other products as the Fuji S5000 have a better feel than this Sony. Also my previous camera the Sony P-93 has the same plastic casing and at the end of its life experienced the discolouring of the body because of bruises.
I advise anybody to mount the lens adaptor and leave it in place. It will protect the lens from the usual hits and fingers. Also the lens cap is very nice and easy to use. Some friend of mine complained about the adapter getting into their way while taking pictures. I had problems just twice with the cap’s cord getting in the way of the flash.
Before using the camera it is better to study a way to grip it correctly. It is easy to get into the way of the: Flash, Lens Assembly, Low Light illuminator, Settings Dial. I use now the posture suggested in the instruction booklet that also helps to make steady pictures.
Optics
The optics are the best part of the camera. It is a Carl-Zeiss Vario-Tessar assembly. 12x optical zoom with integrated image stabilization! The aperture goes from f/2.8 to f/8 at wide angle and f/3.7 to f/8 at telephoto so it is on the LUMINOUS range of camera optics. This means that more light will be reaching the sensor which is a very good thing. See after how Sony partly managed to screw that up. It is possible to attain great results in aperture and manual modes (blurring the background by focussing on the subject and then raising the aperture).
The image stabilization is excellent and it is easy to take sharp shots even of moving subjects at 12x zoom (full light situation of course!).
The focus is ultra sharp, one of the best I’ve seen in digital cameras. A pro photograph can miss the absence of manual controls but I didn’t experience this problem. Also putting manual controls on the lens assembly would have made the camera even more bulky than it is already.
Overall I could take very good pictures already and I fell like this camera is one of my favourite when it comes to nature shots.
Sensor
This is the part that can be a little disappointing. I decided for the H2 over the H5 because of its LOWER pixel count. The reason is that the sensor size was the same and the less the pixels the more the light they are going to store. Unfortunately this is not enough. Sony shipped this camera with a small sensor anyway and it is not going to give you the results attainable with a canon D400 or a Sony Alpha – That could be understandable because that are cameras costing at least Twice. So my advice is to go for a H2 instead of a H5!
You can expect noise free pictures at 80ISO, there is no noticeable noise even at 100ISO but scaling up the last “usable” ISO setting is ISO200. Above ISO200 there is noticeable noise, you can choose to shot pictures if you plan to print them on small sizes or websites. Infact if you raise the bar to 400ISO there are are several sparkles and there is noticeable detail loss.
ISO800 and ISO1000 should be avoided at all costs. They look more like marketing stunts rather than a real world setting. The noise at ISO1000 is all over the frame and in addition you can expect a incredible large file because JPG is not good at compressing the noise. I tried shooting at ISO1000 in discos and have to discourage it. It is much better to shoot in manual mode with limited flash. In this aspect the camera is not a excellent performer, keeping in mind that Pro cameras like the Canon D400 have a usable ISO1000 (and their top ISO is 3200)
The average sensitivity of the sensor might make it difficult to frame a subject in the monitor while composing the picture in a dark environment (discos and the like).
Flash
The Flash is strong. Sony Claims a 16 Mt range on the flash and I agree with them. The main problem with the flash is that It is taking a long time to recharge! Some other epinioner claimed up to 12 seconds. I do agree!
There are a couple of other issues with the flash. The first one is that the flash extends automatically when you select it in the menu. Sometimes the lens cap wire can stop the flash from opening. The other issue is that at Macro range the flash is not usable due to the lens assembly.
There is a very useful flash intensity setting in the menu – When shooting in full manual mode you get the chance of not overexposing the subject and still get some backlight on the picture! There is also the the usual red eye reduction mode.
Monitor&Viewfinder
Unlike subcompacts the monitor of the h2 is recessed into the body and it is protected by a glass. Luminosity is average and for resolution I don’t see a high pixel count. That could have made spotting a blurred picture more easy! It is a LCD.
In strong light it is advisable to use the electronic viewfinder. The viewfinder is very nice but it is not selected automatically when you get the eye close to the camera (you have to select it manually). The EVF looks not to be a LCD but a DLP instead. I mean that I can see the blink of the red green and blue ! Thought this is not annoying since no-one is supposed to stare into the EVF for a long time.
While using the EVF it is almost impossible to access the menu system. The controls are not well placed for such a situation
Menu Sistem & Controls
The menu system is classical sony menu. Not nice and not really efficient in some cases but admirably clean and easy. There is a navigation joystick and many others small buttons.
There are dedicated buttons for the steadyshot stabilization, power, playmode, finder, display mode, resolution, focus, braketing. There are 2 dials, one of them is the classic function dial and the other is a setting dial used in manual and other special modes to set the variables while framing the picture. There is also a zoom button.
Not getting too much into the details here I just note that it is very uncomfortable to set the FLASH intensity (in steps), ISO setting and White Balance from inside the menu – Also the menu is not usable while using the EVF because of its position (Next to the cheek).
Some people find it uncomfortable to use the setting dial (sometimes too easy to do a press).
Shooting Modes
There are several shooting modes. Some are more efficient than others and some are unuseful.
In the useful shooting modes I’d list AUTO, Program, Aperture, Manual, Sports and beach. In the unuseful modes of course there is space for twilight portrait, HighISO and Manual. In all of these cases I suggest to study a little bit of photography and choose the Manual mode setting aperture and exposition manually ! With a little bit of practice this is granted to give more than satisfactory results. Priority and Aperture modes can be used to shortcut the setting process.
The movie mode has a selectable resolution up to 640*480 @ 30 Fps with mono audio. Shooting quality is better than a videocamera.
Performance
Rather good performance but impaired sensitivity in low light. Issues apart (Flash recharge and sensor) it is a good performer. More than 300 shots on a pair of rechargeables and quick enough to take pictures. Some focussing problems in the dark even with the assist light on.
UPDATES
I experienced two faults where the camera broke by itself. The first instance was the flash. Some part of the electronics gave up and the flash wasn't working anymore. It was fixed by sony assistance in 3 weeks.
The second issue is from yesterday, the shoot button does not have anymore a middle stop for focus and flash precharge. This is going back to assistance. Might be a faulty camera or faulty model altogheter! Here: http://forums.photographyreview.com/showthread.php?p=215019 you can check for several similar issues with this camera. I am changing the rating I previously gave it to a simple above average.
My Other reviews on digital cameras
Please check these other reviews of my previous digital cameras:
Fuji S6000fd
http://www.epinions.com/content_383136206468
SONY H2
http://www.epinions.com/content_342441954948
FUJI A500
http://www.epinions.com/content_313100504708
SONY DSC P-93
http://www.epinions.com/content_183530851972
PENTAX OPTIO 30
http://www.epinions.com/content_153171168900
HP 735 Digital Camera
http://www.epinions.com/content_149950860932
HP 720 Digital Camera
http://www.epinions.com/content_134196661892
