Review rated by 23 Ciao members on average: very helpful
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I started researching for a new camera a few months ago as I decided my Canon Powershot S30 was showing it's age and I'd got nearly 5 years use out of it without a hitch. I was looking for a long zoom - the 3x zoom on my old Canon was ok for getting the family pics right, but for airshows and the like it just wasn't enough. I also wanted more megapixels - 3MP used to be loads, but after seeing 4 and 5 MP camera samples, the superior image quality was obvious.
So with a decent zoom and pixel count as starting points I set my budget (£250) and went to work. A superb review site http://www.dpreview.com basically gave me all the info I needed and immediately I reduced the field to two cameras after eliminating offerings from Panasonic, Olympus and others due to various shortcomings like excessive noise or poor image quality. It was either the Canon Powershot S2 or the
Sony DSC-H2. The Canon was very similar in specs but trailed behind the Sony in several areas - 5MP as opposed to the Sony's 6 mainly, but they all added up to give the Sony superiority in the image quality department, which was evident from the site's samples when comparing those of both cameras.
Initially though I wasn't sure about the Sony - I knew Canons track record was top notch, while the original Sony Cybershots weren't too clever at all. I also preferred the look of the Canon and new that I'd already be familiar with its controls and menus. However the image quality of the Sony was something I couldn't ignore so I went for it.
I also went for a 6 pack 2700mah nimh rechargable battery kit - the camera comes with 2x AA rechargables and a charger but thats only good for a few hours of use or 400 pics I believe, which ever comes first! So for holidays a few more batteries are needed. Also the Camera doesn't come with a memory card. The H2 uses Sony's memory sticks so I ordered a 1GB model of those.
Initial impressions....
Well it's certainly smaller than I thought it would be! Not pocketable, at least not in your trousers, but not a great lump either. The main downside was the enormous multi-piece lens cap which has to be so big as to accomadate the large Carl Zeisszoom lens.
Starting up was pretty easy, although I found things to be a bit fiddly compared to my Canon. A few minutes use ironed out most of the problems and I was soon snapping away.
The zoom really is impressive. Rated at 12x or equivalent to around 400mm lens on a traditional film camera, even planes coming out on the flight path of Heathrow 20 miles away and several thousand feet up were an easy target. Wide angle and Macro were equally impressive, with Macro producing a fantastic shot of a yellow flower the size of a daisy which blew up so big I now have it as my desktop wallpaper!!!
The most impressive feature though is the image stabiliser. these have been incorporated into digicams for a while now. basically they all but eliminate camera shake and are especially useful on powerful zoom cameras like the Sony. The result of this gadget is that you can use maximum zoom without a tripod and still get pin-sharp pictures. Even my Canon at only 3x zoom suffered from camera shake occasionally, especially if someone bumps into you or you breath while taking a shot. But the Sony produces pics at 12x zoom as if it were at 1x with a tripod, it's that good.
I won't go into all the features as I'll be here for hours and hopefully I've maintained a fairly non-tecnobable style of writing so even someone who has limited knowledge on the subject might find it useful! Briefly though, the video mode was also impressive - with sound and vastly superior to my old Canon.
There is also an array of manual modes and features allowing you to control exposures up to 30 seconds and ISO speeds up to 1000. Metering allows you to control the point of focus in a shot and you can easily change all these and more settings like sharpness, image resolution and colour mode within a single submenu using various buttons. Another cool feature was the viewfinder - this is actually a digital image projected into the view finder. Although this can only be used while the main rear viewscreen is off, it is very comfortable to use and reduces drain on the batteries.
So to sum up, in my opinion having done the research and seen the results from the camera first hand, this is without doubt the best semi compact digital camera out there between £200 and £250. The Canon S2 is a close runner up, but it's a year older than the Sony and shows it. There is the Canon S3 which is probably on par if not slightly better, however it's much more expensive - closer to £300 than the £230 I paid for the H2. There are other makes out there for less and boasting more pixels etc, but while I wanted more pixels in the beginning, more doesn't mean better in this business, it's the overall quality of the camera that counts and the Sony wins that contest easily.
Great review, sometimes all the tec' info detracts from from what it feels like to operate and use the camera, I too was in a very similar position to you when trying to decide which camera to get next, had a canon A75 for 2 years and cant fault it.... but have settled on the Sony H5 (same as yours, but 7.1mp) ... nearly went for the canon S3, but the quality was hard to ignore on the H5! ..... cheers ...Terry.
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by (4%):
09.04.2007 23:31
clear, concise review - many thanks!
26.10.2006 19:28
Great review, sometimes all the tec' info detracts from from what it feels like to operate and use the camera, I too was in a very similar position to you when trying to decide which camera to get next, had a canon A75 for 2 years and cant fault it.... but have settled on the Sony H5 (same as yours, but 7.1mp) ... nearly went for the canon S3, but the quality was hard to ignore on the H5! ..... cheers ...Terry.
17.10.2006 21:11
good,concise and very informative review.