The Sony DSC-H1 Digital Camera: An Ideal Choice For Sports & Nature lovers!
Written: Jul 09 '06 (Updated Jul 09 '06)
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Pros: Amazing battery life, huge LCD, 12x stabilized zoom, decent image quality
Cons: Bulky, slow battery charging, Memory Stick media not included
The Bottom Line: Get this if you're in the market looking for a camera that packs a long image-stabilized zoom, a huge LCD screen and isn't a battery hog.
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| camlover's Full Review: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H1 Digital Camera |
The chunky $400 Cyber-shot DSC-H1 is one of those cameras that, despite the bulk, is remarkably easy to hold. Thanks to the extra large rubberized right-hand grip that it has
been blessed with. It's loaded with quite a few nifty features too.
First and foremost, the DSC-H1 packs a powerful 12x optical zoom lens and a huge 2.5 inch LCD screen that truly is spectacular. It's builtin image stabilization system helps produce sharp pictures, ideal for low-light conditions or telephoto shots. There's also a long, two-piece lens hood that screws onto the lens, but strangely, I found it to cast an ugly shadow on wide-angle shots that I took with the camera's built-in flash.
Onto the controls. Sony's positioned controls cleverly on this model. However, I did find the small zoom rocker switch tricky to operate precisely. There's a large dial fitted on top of the rubberized grip that lets you select the shooting mode. Options comprise seven scene modes optimized for portraits, candle-lit dinners, sports or other subjects; adjustment of shutter-priority, aperture-priority and the full-manual mode.
A small dial in front of the shutter release provides easy adjustment of the shutter speed and aperture size while using manual modes. Surprisingly, the camera's menus
don't offer any help text or explanatory diagrams whatsoever and the manual must be consulted off and on. Despite that, navigation through the various menus isn't too taxing.
Onto picture quality. I wasn't particularly impressed with the DSC-H1's output, especially with the flash on, for pictures tend to be a bit overexposed in most of the cases. The sharpness was just about average too. Daylight shots are pleasing though, especially with the zoom set to it's maximum. This, I feel, is something that will really suit
nature lovers as well as sports photographers. Additional accessories, such as a telephoto converter from Sony can also be bought to augment the magnification to beyond 20x.
The DSC-H1 derives it power from 2 AA batteries. Battery life was really quite impressive and I could get 280-290 shots on a single charge. The unit comes with 2100 mAh NiMH batteries and a separate battery charger that can also be used to charge AAA batteries, but is terribly slow. Owing to the absence of a bundled memory stick in the box, only a handful of images, 12 to be precise, can be stored at the camera's highest resolution in its 32MB of memory. Thus, purchasing Sony-proprietary Memory Stick media becomes a must.
Although it may not win any prizes for it's bulkiness, the DSC-H1's long image-stabilized zoom lens, gargantuan LCD screen and amazing battery life are enough reasons that make me recommend this camera to anyone.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 450
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
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Epinions.com ID:
camlover
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Member: Tom M
Location: El Dorado, AR
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 3 members
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