Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 7.1 Megapixel Bridge Camera - Black - Outdoor Photographer

The best non-DSLR camera on the market!

Strengths: 12x zoom, works well in low light (might need to manual set), great presets for point and shoot, the anti-shake feature is a must have, takes great sport pictures, and the colors are awsome.

Weakness: Size (Has to be with the 12x opt). The is a must get camera.

I had a olympus 500uz for about 1 year and it is a good camera. The major problems were: it never worked in low light (Blured pics) because of very bad ISO speeds, not a point and shot camera (My wife never touched it), it never saved presets and the flash was useless. It had 10x opt zoom with 24 presets with only ISO from 100-400. It broke and I went looking for another model. The DSLR I want is...
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By icboone - Oct 12, 2006

Extremely nice camera

Strengths: Battery life, MP, Manual settings, Long range flash, Super range zoom, Image stabilization, Huge LCD, Good quality video, Carl Ziess lens

Weakness: Grainy at high ISO's, Burst mode is lacking

This is a great consumer level camera for the person looking for a simple point and shoot camera that also has manual settings. It has the same kind of small digital sensor that is found on all the point and shoot camera's, so it doesn't get the same quality as an SLR, but for the typical non-professional, it's a great camera. The 12x optical zoom is really nice and because of the optical image...
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This is a great consumer level camera for the person looking for a simple point and shoot camera that also has manual settings. It has the same kind of small digital sensor that is found on all the point and shoot camera's, so it doesn't get the same quality as an SLR, but for the typical non-professional, it's a great camera. The 12x optical zoom is really nice and because of the optical image stabilization, those zoomed in shots are less likely to be blurry. It can go up to ISO 1000 so you can take shots in low light (again aided by the stabilization). This camera touts what sony calls Clear RAW technology which is supposed to make the pictures taken at a high ISO setting less grainy. But what ever it's doing, it's not very effective. If you take a picture at above 400 ISO, it's quite grainy looking. It's still better than using a flash if you want a more natural look to the picture, but it's not great if you want to make large prints or anything. It takes 2AA's which is handy and the 2500mA NiMH batteries that it comes with last a long time. It also comes with a simple charger which is OK, but it's only really meant for charging 2500mA because it seems to be just a simple timer based charger. It charges the batteries in something like 4 hours. If you don't want to be bothered by all the manual settings, you just have to turn the dial to the point and shoot mode and everything is automatic, so it's very easy to use for the novice. But if you want to make manual adjustments to get the picture just right, you have all the settings you need. It even has a white balance feature which I find extremely useful. In any lighting condition that doesn't look quite right, just point the camera at something pure white or grey and tell it to adjust the white balance, and Viola!, all the colors are perfectly adjusted. The flash works really well up close and at long distances. And perhaps the most stunning and eye catching feature of the camera is of course it's 3" LCD on the back which is as spectacular as it sounds. It's a high resolution screen too which makes it easy to see details in your pictures. The other nice thing about this camera that prompted me to buy it is the fact that it can take 640x480 video at 30 frames per second with sound. It's a great substitute for a video camera if you don't want to carry both with you. The video is noticeably lower quality that a typical video camera because of the high compression algorithm but it's not bad at all for what it is. I bought a 2GB memory stick for it and it can hold close to 600 photos or about a half hour of video. I would definitely suggest this camera to others!

By StevenDoggart - Jun 22, 2006

Excellent Camera

Strengths: Great zoom lens and anti-shake.

Weakness: Volume to be louder on play back of video

I have compared this camera with the Canon S3. The Canon is limited to 1 Gig space for video. Roughly 25 minutes. The Sony can go to 2 Gig with up to 1 Hr 35 minutes of video. Now I do not need a video cam. The menu is more user frendly and the 3 inch display is big enough to see good without a magnifing glass. Canon has a 1.8 inch which put a strain on my 50 year old eyes. Manual mode seems to...
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By rfaucette - Jul 31, 2006

Biggest Bang for the Buck

Strengths: Image Stabilization, Zoom capability, ease of use, size, picture quality, speed

Weakness: controls a bit too close together, some very, very slight purple fringing with lighter telephoto shots

This is one great camera. I've taken over a thousand shots so far and I would give the H5 a 98 out of a possible 100. It is actually difficult coming up with anything negative to say about this camera. I was given this camera as a gift and also own a Canon Powershot Pro. The quality of the pics I get from the H5 are absolutely outstanding and I would rate them superior to the Powershot every...
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By CameraNut2 - Mar 5, 2007

Good choice between price and quality

Strengths: 1. huge 12x Zoom 2. large 3" LCD 3. 7.2 Megapixles 4. nice price for all above

Weakness: 1. Takes time to get used to control elements 2. Noticeable noise at higher ISO when shooting w/o flash 3. Lacks of hot shoe

It is been a while prior I decided to buy this camera few weeks ago. I was looking for an average pre-SLR digital camera on a budget under $500. As more I read about Sony H2/H5 on the Internet more I liked to buy this camera. Sony DSC-H5 met all criteria I’d set up to my future camera: - not expensive; - good resolution to keep more details; - high zoom to shoot farther; - image stabilization...
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It is been a while prior I decided to buy this camera few weeks ago. I was looking for an average pre-SLR digital camera on a budget under $500. As more I read about Sony H2/H5 on the Internet more I liked to buy this camera. Sony DSC-H5 met all criteria I’d set up to my future camera:
- not expensive;
- good resolution to keep more details;
- high zoom to shoot farther;
- image stabilization and high ISO for capture dark scenes.

This is my second camera after Olympus Stylus/Mju 400 which I used for about 2 years, shooting average quality pictures and mostly using it as a starter camera. With Sony DSC-H5 as a pre-SLR camera I want to level up my experience with digital photography and at the same time save money before trying professional, high-end SLR cameras.

After making a first dozen of pictures with this camera I found my self that I really like it. Images were perfect during daylight shooting outdoor. And what I like most of all, finally I was able to get sharp enough pictures in darkened indoor, which was hassle to do with Olympus Styles 400 camera.

I really mad of 12x zoom, which in combination with image stabilization allow me to shoot sights from far distance, especially when you cannot reach the object due to natural obstacles on it way(in my case it was Statue of Liberty in Hudson River, New York).

That fact, that you need only 2 AA batteries to run Sony DCS-H5, makes camera one of most light weighted SLR-style cameras. This will really save your more space in your camera bag and make it easy to carry. Sure, this camera won’t slip into your pocked, but it will not make your pant after a while on your sightseeing tour. At the same time, I found this camera comfortable in my hands, not cheep plastic toy, but a solid camera with a good balance.

For those who don’t want or don’t have enough money to buy SLR camera, I would definitely recommend to buy Sony H5, as it’s really a good purchase in terms of price/quality, worth every penny.

By Slava Lovkiy - Sep 8, 2006