Reviews4,313 Reviews

All Reviews > Hardware > Cameras > Compact cameras

June 13, 2008

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 review

Its Carl Zeiss telephoto lens and manual features are strong, but the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50's focus-lock is erratic, and startup is slow.

Sony's new Cyber-shot DSC-H50 has some outstanding features. But it also has a few kinks that may or may not hang you up, depending on how picky you are about certain functions.

Any list of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50's strengths begins with its Carl Zeiss 15X zoom lens. In 35mm terms, that's a whopping 465mm when the DSC-H50 is zoomed in as tight as it can be, and 15X is an impressive telephoto capability, given the size and weight of the camera.

Shooting on the street, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50's lens opened up a world of subjects that otherwise would have been too distant for us to capture. We used the telephoto constantly, often shooting from the hip using the tilting LCD display (another great feature) to remain incognito. Sony's Super SteadyShot image stabilisation kept most of the photos surprisingly sharp, even when we had the lens cranked to 15X on a cloudy day.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50's manual capabilities include aperture priority, shutter speed priority, and a fully manual mode, as well as bracketing modes for exposure, colour, and white balance.

Visit PC Advisor's dedicated Games website to download hundreds of the latest titles, to read gaming news and reviews and to pick up tips and discuss your favourite games in the popular PC Advisor Games forum

You can even choose the amount of noise reduction applied to your photos in-camera. Two of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50's features we found particularly handy were the adjustable flash and the dedicated light-metering button. Notching the flash intensity down made for warmly lit indoor photos sans the blown-out-face problem so typical of on-camera flashes. And the metering button, located directly behind the shutter release, made switching between full-scene, centre, and spot metering a cinch.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 has plenty of other virtues, too. In our lab tests it scored as well as or better than its competitors in image quality, especially sharpness.

In burst mode, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 shoots 1.6 frames per second (fps), faster than the cameras we compared it with. The H50's mode dial is user friendly, making the manual functions and 12 scene modes easy to access. With a macro range of 1cm, the camera takes superb close-ups. And the video (640 by 480 resolution at 30fps) is excellent for its class.

Finally, there's the smile sensor. Whether it's ultimately useful or not, setting the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 on a tripod and having the shutter trigger when everyone smiles is definitely great for laughs.

NEXT PAGE: the down sides, and our expert verdict > >

Visit Photo Advisor for reviews of the latest cameras, and digital photography and video hardware and software products.

Continued...
1 | 2 | 3 | NEXT >

Independent customer reviews from

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 scored:
8.9 out of 10 100% real reviews

The 2 most helpful reviews based on 19 reviews:

14 May 2008 Steph, Bristol

9

Good Points

Excellent combination of zoom and pixel quality and very, very light. Perfect for the dabbling photographer that wants a bit more than the snap & shoot camera (which i still carry around for every day use) but you don't want or need to go for the SLR option. All round a great camera - totally reccommended.

Bad Points

Would have given 10/10 but for the fact you can't put a datestamp on the photos (as sometimes i like to do). If you don't want to do that then it's great. Only other small niggle is that with such a large LCD screen it can drain power and you need to take the battery out of the camera to charge. Nothing majorly wrong with it - would buy it again tomorrow.

09 Dec 2008 Kerrie, Camberley, Surrey

9

Good Points

Sony quality and build. Lots of useful features like smile detection and image stabilization. Looks good too! Bought the camera for taking to sporting events - it has very fast shutter speeds.

Bad Points

Would have been nice to have a case included. The instruction manual is on a cd - would have liked a paper version. I had to print it out - thats alot of paper (and ink).

See more Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 reviews on Reevoo.com

null

Keep up to date by adding PC Advisor Reviews to your iGoogle home page or Google Reader

What is this?

Subscribe to PC Advisor now and claim your FREE gift

Question of the day!

Does your smartphone replace your need for a laptop when on the move?

Question of the day!

Does your smartphone replace your need for a laptop when on the move?

% of PC Advisor readers agree with you

Yes
TBC
No
TBC

Which parts of the desktop PC/laptop experience can't you get on your smartphone?

119 characters remaining

Follow the conversation at @SmartphoneFocus

web browsing, search facilities, voip, email, word processing everything RT @Graham_D_C

Mainly email but getting better at spreadsheets etc, RT @IDGdan

Total reviews: 4,313

See product specs

expert rating

Build quality

3.5/5

Features

4.5/5

Value for money

4/5

Overall

4/5

expert rating

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50

READER REVIEWS


Google


Recent reviews

Reviews index


Latest reader reviews

Latest reader reviews


Top news

News index


Latest blog entries

Blogs index


Sponsored Content

  • Take the internet to new places with the Nokia N800
    Communicate how you want to, where you want to with instant messaging, email and internet calling. View movies, browse the internet wirelessly and watch TV on the high-resolution screen and listen through high-quality stereo speakers with headphone jack.
    Buy now