Firstly, the camera pictured top left on this page, comes in black and silver.
I bought this camera as an upgrade to the trusty and superb Canon A75. I'd still have the old camera were it not for the fact that I popped into Jessops (superb camera shop) one Sunday afternoon a few weeks back… "Just for a look" definitely wasn't going to buy anything, but you know how the story goes!

First impressions of the Sony H5 will impress on you the physical size of the machine compared to the small and light compacts you and I may have been used to.
The wonderful 3" lcd screen dominates the back of the camera making framing and reviewing of shots a pleasure on the eyes, the image is super clear and accurate.
It took me a while to suss out all the controls and settings as I'd been used to the Canon's control system but once mastered you'll find it quick and easy to capture the perfect shot.
The jog wheel under the shutter release button (similar to SLR cameras) makes changing aperture and shutter speed settings a breeze, especially while using the EVF, means you don't need to take your eye away to look at the buttons, the same information is displayed in the EVF (electronic view finder). Once you get to know the other buttons function and position off by heart these can be used the same way too.

The impressive 12X zoom is a real bonus and saves you having to buy lens adapters and extra screw on lenses. This equates to fitting a 400mm film type add-on zoom lens.
Sony even includes a lens adapter and a nice lens cover (the camera will let you know if you forget to remove it!) in the box should you wish to push the cameras limits further, but personally I'd use this for some nice filter effects, these can be bought separately and are 58mm in diameter.
The high zooming capability will of course mean camera shake, but the H5 copes well due to its built in "super steady shot" image stabilisation, sometimes it will get caught out and a blurry shot will appear but this is a rare event, and will be reduced even more provided you set the camera up correctly.
I've noticed too that distant dark objects set against a bright sky or high contrast area of the shot will show some purple fringing or shadowing around the object, but is usually only noticeable when cropping tightly in on the picture or large blow ups of distant detail.

Battery life I've not been that impressed with, although the claimed figures would suggest otherwise, it is supplied with two 2500mAh batteries, which are good, but would recommend getting 2700mAh Ni-MH or higher rechargeable ones to keep it going strong, especially as you'll be using that huge screen, using the EVF will make the batteries last longer (but that's boring!) one of the reasons for buying the H5 was because of that BIG screen, and is great if your eyes are not as good as they used to be.
I recommend also a 1Gig memory stick pro duo card, this will give you approx 275 shots in max resolution (7.2 mp) and approx 385 on the 5mp setting. I generally use the 5mp as I find this resolution more than enough for everything, only switching to 7.2mp if I really want to crop out some fine detail, but it's your personal choice as to how you want to use it.
Remember that there is a mega pixel war on with all cameras at the moment, and this doesn't always translate into better looking shots, it has more to do with the lens, and quality of the CCD sensor.

Overall I'm very happy with this camera; I love the build quality, the huge rear screen, the huge zoom range and the cracking pictures it produces. The more I use it the more Functions I find to take better pictures, I think I still have a lot more to discover about this camera yet.