Sony DSC-H5 Review

Overview

Sony DSC-H5 Overview

by Mike Pasini
Review Date: 07/14/2006

In early 2005, Sony launched the first in its new H-series of digital cameras, marking their return into a market segment from which they'd been conspicuously absent -- the long zoom digital camera. The H1 proved popular, and at the Spring 2006 Photo Marketing Association tradeshow the company launched two new cameras to follow in the H1's footsteps: the Sony DSC-H2 and DSC-H5.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 offers a sensor resolution of seven megapixels along with a new Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 12x optical zoom lens with 58mm threading and Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization. Other features include ISO sensitivity from ISO 80 to 1,000, a choice of both aperture- and shutter-priority plus a fully manual mode, 32MB of internal memory, and a three-inch LCD display. Battery life is rated at 340 shots.

The Sony DSC-H5's images are framed and reviewed on either a whopping 3.0" LCD display with 230,000 pixels, or a 0.3" LCD-based electronic viewfinder with 115,000 pixels. The Sony DSC-H5's LCD features Sony's Clear Photo LCD Plus technology, reducing reflections and improving visibility, as well as increasing the viewing angle. The Sony H5 uses contrast detection autofocusing, with 3 focusing points and an AF assist lamp to help out in difficult lighting conditions. Image exposures are determined with multi-pattern metering by default, and both center-weighted or spot metering modes are also on offer. As well as the internal memory, a Memory Stick Duo slot (compatible with PRO Duo cards as well) lets you expand capacity to meet your needs. Available in both black and silver body colors, the Sony DSC-H5 is priced at $500. Read on for the whole story.

Sony DSC-H5 User Report

Cyber-shot H5

It seems like just yesterday (or the day before) that the only long zoom digicam -- the Olympus C-2100 Ultra Zoom -- was discontinued because "consumers prefer the little cameras." There were a lot fewer digicam buyers in those days, apparently. But that 2-megapixel long zoom had some devoted fans ready to buy a long zoom with a larger sensor. Just wait, they were told, just wait.

And in fact, if you happen to be a Long Zoom Procrastinator, this is the Golden Age. Not only are we seeing 10x and 12x zooms from a number of manufacturers, but several are offering more than one model. I myself have recently reviewed offerings from Fujifilm, Kodak (regular size and a subcompact 10x zoom) and Canon (a real gem) -- and there are others I haven't seen from Panasonic and, of course, Olympus. Not to be left out of the chase, Sony has doubled its offerings this year with the previously reviewed DSC-H2 and the DSC-H5 that's the subject of this review.

The good news about several of these new long zooms (but unfortunately not all) is that they include image stabilization. While shooting hand-held at 380mm or more requires stabilization, the benefits of image stabilization don't stop there. It significantly enhances available light shooting, making hand-held shutter speeds of about 1/15 second feasible (and 1/4 possible), and consequently helps macro shooting where added depth of field can make the image.

Sony has a long track record with image stabilization in its camcorders, but we are starting to see its Super SteadyShot image stabilization system employed in its still cameras. A button to the left of the Sony DSC-H5's Power button toggles it on and off, simple as that. And a menu option determines whether it's active during framing, or just when the Shutter button is pressed.

Also tossed into the Sony DSC-H5 bundle are some high ISO equivalents. The H5 can shoot as high as ISO 1,000, obviating the need for flash and its inherent red-eye.

3.0-inch LCD. Note the live histogram (bottom right of the LCD).

Design. Sony endowed the H5 with the mini-SLR form factor so many long zooms use. While the H2 is sheathed in silver, the DSC-H5 sports a less reflective black body. It feels well-balanced in the hand and not at all too heavy to carry.

Wrist Hold. Carrying the H5 in the shooting position wore out my finger tips (there's not much room around the grip), so I came up with a more comfortable approach.

It's as nice a grip as any other long zoom, certainly, but it illustrates a problem I had over and over again with the H5: It seems designed from drawings, not sculpted from clay (unlike the Canon S3 IS, which was nicely sculpted). The Sony DSC-H5 is an attractive design, certainly, and not impossible to learn, but it just didn't work for me.

The grip wasn't the only issue. More troubling was the Sony DSC-H5's control placement. The thumb pad on the rear of the body is just below, but exactly as deep as the zoom toggle above it. Guess what? Right, I kept resting my thumb on the zoom toggle. It was just a little "too" convenient.

Controls. The Sony DSC-H5 was little too convenient for me. My thumb is above the grip but the zoom toggle is just above that and the navigator just below, all on the same plane. Plus there are some important buttons right alongside. It's easy to hit the wrong thing.

Oddly enough, the one set of controls I wanted to find by touch on the Sony DSC-H5, the four-way navigation controller, was hard to find by touch because it was as smooth as the rest of the back panel. I had to look for it.

Two controls I did like were the Shutter button, angled toward the front, and where it should be on the grip, and the Command dial just below it. Sony has used Command dials on its digicams going back to 1998. I liked them then and I like them now. Twirl to your setting and press to activate it.

Diopter Adjustment. It's underneath the EVF's eyepiece. But that means the eyepiece protrudes, snagging on camera bags and coat pockets. Or just jabbing you in the chest (hence my preference for a wrist strap).

On the lens end, Sony includes a lens hood and a hood adapter. The adapter screws into the body and protects the extended lens from the lens cap attached to it. The hood locks onto the end of the adapter in either its working position or its reversed storage position. The Sony DSC-H5 is quite a bit more compact without the hood assembly, but I left it on. I tend to shoot into the sun quite a bit.

With the adapter in place, however, the pop-up flash is useless, creating a lovely shadow of the hood assembly in every wide angle shot. It's one or the other, flash or natural light; although if Sony had designed the pop-up flash so it rose just a little higher, the whole problem would have been avoided. Note that if you remove the Sony DSC-H5's lens hood and leave the adapter in place, no shadow is cast by the flash, though the combination looks rather unfinished.

Lens Hood & Adapter. I was so glad to have it that I kept it on all the time, but the flash wasn't tall enough to peek over it.

Viewfinder. Like all long zooms, the Sony DSC-H5 uses an electronic viewfinder. And it's a nice enough EVF that I almost always used it rather than the glorious 3.0-inch LCD. I persuaded myself that it gave me a little more battery life. But since I was shooting mainly in bright sun, I could better see what I was doing using the EVF (although the LCD is pretty bright in full sun).

But for playback, the Sony DSC-H5's large LCD was a real winner. This is much larger than the 2.0-inch screen on the H2, but to really appreciate the difference, count the pixels. I counted approximately 230,400 pixels on the H5 compared to the H2's 84,960.

But then, that's another reason I preferred the EVF. I didn't want anyone else to see what I was shooting.

Battery Compartment. Just two AAs are all it takes. But these were 2500 mAh NiMHs.

Card Compartment. Same compartment, but you don't have to lose power just to switch cards. A little half-door lets you access the card without bothering the batteries. Smart.

Zoom was not as smooth as butter on a summer afternoon, but it was controllable. I was able to compose my images without tapping the Zoom toggle back and forth. And the Zoom level is pressure sensitive, so I could quickly get to one end or the other by pressing harder.

Shot-to-shot speed was good in Burst mode. A tiny button behind the Sony DSC-H5's Shutter button cycles through Normal / Burst / Bracketing / Multiburst modes. Multiburst records a series of shots without the shutter sound, more like a video capture.

The live histogram is a real blessing, partly because it's difficult to appreciate your exposure on the LCD/EVF displays. I was constantly surprised to see how well the H5 had done when I reviewed the images on a computer. Using the EVF -- and even the Sony DSC-H5's LCD -- to evaluate the pictures, surprisingly didn't do them justice. They looked more washed out and overbright (which they tend to be anyway) on the camera than they did on the computer. But camera LCDs are not 24-bit color displays, so don't be too surprised.

I've been impressed recently by how well some long zooms do with digital zoom, a feature I had gotten into the habit of avoiding. So I've retrained myself (with relish and the odd hot dog) to turn it on when a new camera arrives because the results are much better than they used to be.

Sony pioneered intelligent digital zoom with its Smart Zoom, which just avoids resampling the zoom crop to the full file size. The Sony DSC-H5 provides the latest generation of that wonder as well as the sort of digital zoom you usually get: resizing. Both were usable, which is saying something. The H5's range with digital zoom is fairly modest compared to its competitors, but still gets into spotting scope range.

Zoom Range

Wide Angle. This is at 6mm, as wide as it gets.

Digital Zoom. And here I am zooming all the way in at 72mm (a few steps left of the above shot) -- but I was standing in a strong wind that blew the evergreen branches in and out of the image and even made me unsteady as I tried to center the Palace of Fine Arts. Still, it's a sharp image with SteadyShot.

Shooting. I had some aggravating experiences while shooting with the Sony DSC-H5. I suspect that they fall more in the Quibbles Department than Defects Division, things I'd eventually have gotten used to, but they were impediments.

The Sony DSC-H5's EV setting for one. It's on the controller I found difficult to find. So, peering through the eyepiece at the EVF, I would realize I needed some exposure compensation and have to take my eye away from the scene to find the controller, activate EV, snuggle up to the EVF again and slide the command dial around to set it.

Available Light

Slow Shutter. At 1/13 second but only ISO 320 (minimizing noise).

High ISO. Shutter up to 1/40 second with ISO at 1,000. Not bad.

Probably most annoying, though, whenever I powered the Sony H5 on in Program mode, it always selected a shutter speed of 1/1,000 second. I was constantly fiddling with the Command dial to lower the shutter speed to get a reasonably sharp f-stop setting. Why couldn't it just remember the last setting?

Also right up there in the nuisance category was the lack of an auto rotate function. You can indeed manually rotate images during Playback, but the Sony DSC-H5 has no orientation sensor. That meant a lot of extra work for me. I shoot a lot of portrait-oriented images.

Finally, the autofocus illuminator was not only visible in the EVF when I half-pressed the Shutter button, but it caused otherwise shy bystanders to stare at me as if I were doing laser eye surgery without a license. You can turn it off, but then it's not a feature any more.

Daylight. Program AE always liked 1/1,000 second, here at f/5 and ISO 125.

I always like to see a 16:9 image size option. And the Sony DSC-H5 did not disappoint me.

It also lets you set the Flash Sync to either rear or front curtain. That's an unusual option in a digicam but a welcomed one. Front is a bit more responsive, firing the flash when the shutter opens. But Rear, which fires the DSC-H5's flash right before the shutter closes, is essential when shooting moving objects so the blur captured with ambient light doesn't precede them.

Bird Watching. Caught with digital zoom at 72mm.

And I can't overlook the full exposure control available with Programmed Auto, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Manual modes leading the list. But there's also a simple Auto mode and seven Scene modes (High Sensitivity (ISO), Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Beach, High-Speed Shutter (Sports), Landscape, and Portrait).

Sony packs two Stamina 2500-mAh NiMH AAs with the DSC-H5. On our longest outing, shooting 80 pictures, I got the low battery warning, but the camera kept shooting. Sony includes a charger with the H5, an unusual but appreciated touch.

And a good thing, too, because as I used the H5, I enjoyed it. Especially when I got home and had a look at what it had done.

Summary. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 is an attractive camera but it stuck me as designed on a computer, rather than sculpted in clay. It is handsome, but awkward to use. Its awkwardness would, I suspect, take only a few days to overcome, but it marred my otherwise happy experience with this camera whose images were a delight to review on the computer.

The high sensitivity of ISO 1,000 brings with it plenty of noise, but also delivers shots you wouldn't otherwise get. With image stabilization and a good noise filter in your editing software, you won't mind.

The double digital zoom option was welcome as well. Smart Zoom is restricted by the image size you've selected (unavailable at the largest sizes), so it's nice to have Precision Zoom available as an option on the Sony DSC-H5. And being able to select the Flash sync front or rear curtain was a delightful surprise, too.

But the real thrill of a long zoom is its extended optical zoom. The Sony DSC-H5 brought back some crisp, colorful images that are beyond the reach of many other digicams. No complaints about that!

Basic Features

• 7.2-megapixel CCD
• 12x zoom lens (equivalent to a 36-432mm lens on a 35mm camera)
• Max 16-52x digital Smart Zoom (depending on selected resolution) plus 24x Precision Digital zoom.
• Electronic optical viewfinder
• 3.0-inch color LCD monitor
• Full Manual through Automatic exposure available, including Aperture and Shutter priority and seven Scene modes
• Built-in flash with five modes and an intensity adjustment
• 32MB internal memory
• Sony Memory Stick Duo storage (no card included), compatible with Memory Stick Pro Duo.
• USB 2.0 computer connection
• Two AA NiMH rechargeable batteries and charger included
• Software for Mac and PC

Special Features

• Super Steady Shot optical image stabilization for steady shots at telephoto focal lengths
• High Sensitivity, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Beach, High-speed shutter, Landscape and Portrait preset modes
• Movie recording mode (with sound)
• Multi-Burst slow motion mode and Burst continuous shooting mode
• Email modes
• Shutter speeds from 1/2,000 to 1/4 sec in Auto mode, 1/2,000 to one second in Program mode; and 1/1,000 to 30 seconds in Manual mode.
• Aperture range from f2.8 to f8, depending on zoom position
• Image Sharpness and Contrast adjustments, plus Image Color options
• Self-timer for delayed shutter release
• Macro (close-up) lens adjustment
• Spot, Center-Weighted, and Multi-Metering modes
• Adjustable AF area and four AF modes
• Auto ISO setting or 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1,000 ISO equivalents
• White balance (color) adjustment with seven options, including a manual setting
• DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) and PictBridge printing compatibility

In the Box

The retail package contains the following items:

• Sony DSC-H5 camera
• Shoulder strap
• Two NiMH AA batteries, a case, and charger
• USB cable
• AV cable
• Lens Adapter ring
• Lens Hood
• Lens Cap and strap
• Software CD containing Picture Package (ver. 1.6 for Windows), Pixela ImageMixer VCD2 (for Mac), a PC-based tutorial and USB drivers.
• Quick-guide manuals and registration information

Recommended Accessories

• Extra NiMH batteries. (Read my NiMH battery shootout page to see which batteries currently on the market are the best.)
• Large capacity Memory Stick Duo or Large capacity Memory Stick Duo PRO. (Memory Stick PRO versions can handle high-res movie data and give faster download times.) This should be used for all current Sony cameras.

Conclusion

Like the preceding Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H1, the Sony DSC-H5 offers optical image stabilization with a very long zoom lens. The Sony H5 provides more manual exposure control than many other long zoom digital cameras, yet is easy to use in full-auto mode, and its seven pre-programmed scene modes help with tricky subjects. The design and layout of the H5 is very user-friendly, and the camera boasts accurate EVF and LCD displays. Occasionally modes can get confusing to those more familiar with Sony's other point-and-shoot models, but a brief look at the manual will quickly make it all clear. The Sony DSC-H5 is fairly fast on the draw, with faster than average shutter response, a smooth and responsive zoom, and very good shot-to-shot cycle times. Optical quality is very good, but we were disappointed with the high chromatic aberration and softness in the corners at telephoto; that's part of the tradeoff found in a very long zoom that we think most will find acceptable. That the Sony H5 does all its tricks with two AA batteries is impressive. Overall, given the low price and good performance, the Sony H5 is a bargain in a 7.2-megapixel 12X zoom, and a clear Dave's Pick.

Design

Sony DSC-H5 Design

Similar in style and design to the original Sony DSC-H1 digital camera, the Sony DSC-H5 is compact, stylish, and ready to go anywhere, with a somewhat chunky body style similar to other long zoom digital cameras on the market. Its black metal body is big enough for easy control with either one or two hands. Measuring 4.5 x 3.38 x 3.75 inches (113 x 83 x 94 millimeters) and weighing 19.5 ounces (554 grams) with the batteries and memory card installed, the Sony H5 won't slip into a pocket, but it's one of those cameras you'd rather have strapped over a shoulder so it's always ready for action. The telescoping zoom lens retracts neatly inside the body when you power the camera off. But if you use the lens hood and adapter, you don't have to wait. But don't skip the hood. Hoods are commonly shipped with dSLR lenses but rare is the digicam with an included hood -- and they are a blessing, ensuring higher contrast images. The lens cap, with its spring-loaded retractable cap retention cams, is just as serious as the rest of the camera. Despite the Sony H5's heft, it's well-balanced and a delight to hold (if not carry), though its eyepiece and lens protrusions are likely to snag a bit in a coat pocket.

The Sony DSC-H5 has a good but small grip up front and a reasonably clear area for your thumb on the back. The 12x, 6-72mm zoom lens (equivalent to a 36-432mm zoom on a 35mm camera) dominates the camera's left side (when held from the back), with a small and very bright orange lamp on the upper right of it, to help with focusing in low-light conditions. (This lamp also blinks less brightly when the self-timer is in use, flashing faster to let you know when the camera is about to snap the picture.) Left of the orange lamp are two holes for the microphone. The flash is above the lens, concealed in a pop-up assembly. The Jog dial is located under the Shutter button on the handgrip.

The right side of the camera (as viewed from the rear) has a small, soft plastic door that opens to reveal a small opening into the battery compartment to accommodate the AC adapter cord. Above that is one of the neckstrap eyelets. You can also see the edge of the battery compartment door at the bottom of the panel.

The left side has a large plastic door that flips out toward the front and reveals the A/V and USB jacks. A second neckstrap eyelet is located above the curve of the lens barrel.

The camera's top panel includes a smattering of controls, including the Shutter button, Focus and Continuous/Bracketing buttons, and the Mode dial. To the left of the Mode dial are the Power and Steady Shot buttons, with the Finder/LCD and Playback buttons behind these, angled down toward the rear panel.

The Sony DSC-H5's rear panel holds the remaining camera controls and function buttons, along with a 3.0-inch color LCD monitor for previewing and playing back images, and the electronic viewfinder window with its diopter adjustment below it. The LCD display reports a variety of camera and exposure settings, including the aperture and shutter speed settings and a three-stage battery gauge. The EVF is located above the LCD monitor. The camera's Zoom control is in the upper right corner, and the Display and Menu buttons are down and right of it. In the lower right corner is a Five-way Arrow pad, with small arrows pointing in four directions (Up, Down, Left, and Right) and an unlabeled OK button in the middle. Each serves multiple functions, navigating onscreen menus, scrolling between captured images in Playback mode, or activating different camera functions (Flash, Exposure Compensation, Self-Timer, and Macro). Below and left of the Arrow pad is the Image Resolution/Erase button, and in the very bottom right corner is a tiny LED that lights whenever the camera is accessing the memory.

Finally, the Sony H5's flat bottom holds the threaded metal tripod screw mount, a speaker for audio playback, and the shared Memory Stick/battery compartment with a clever door arrangement. And it is possible to change the batteries while the camera is mounted on most tripods.

The Sony DSC-H5 has two items that are not commonly included: an accessory extension tube for attaching accessory lenses, and a lens hood that attaches to the extension tube. Unfortunately, the lens hood blocks the flash when shooting at wide angle, but it's still useful for helping eliminate glare and lens flare.

Sony DSC-H5 External Controls

Shutter Button: Placed at an angle out on the grip's leading edge, this button sets focus and exposure when halfway pressed, and fires the shutter when fully pressed.

Front Jog Dial: This ridged dial on the very front of the handgrip controls aperture and shutter speed settings in Aperture and Shutter Priority exposure modes. In Manual mode, turning the dial highlights either the aperture or shutter speed setting, while pressing the dial selects the setting for adjustment (by turning the dial again). This dial also adjusts Exposure Value setting.


Continuous/Bracket Button: Selects among Normal, Burst, Exposure Bracketing, and Multi Burst modes. Multi Burst fires 16 frames and saves them as a 4x4 matrix of 16 images in one frame.

Mode Dial: Perched high on the right side of the camera's top, this ribbed dial sets the camera's operating mode, offering Auto, Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual, High Sensitivity, Twilight, Twilight portrait, Beach, High-speed shutter, Landscape, Portrait, and Movie modes. (See menus and descriptions below.)

Power Button: Located just left of the Mode dial on the camera's top panel, this well-recessed oblong button turns the camera on and off.

Steady Shot Button: To the left of the Power button, this button cancels and re-activates Super SteadyShot mode.

Finder/LCD Button: Angled down toward the rear panel, this button switches the display between the 3.0-inch LCD and the electronic viewfinder.

Playback Button: To the right of the Finder/LCD button, this button puts the camera into Playback mode. If the camera is off, pressing this button turns the camera on in Playback mode.


Zoom Control: Positioned in the top right corner of the rear panel, this two-way rocker button controls optical zoom and, when enabled via the Setup menu, Sony's "Smart Zoom" or Precision Zoom option.

In Playback mode, this button controls the digital enlargement of a captured image, which can go as high as 5x. (Very handy for checking focus or the expressions on people's faces in group shots.) Also in Playback mode, the wide-angle end of the button activates the Index Display mode, which displays either nine or 16 thumbnail images on the screen at one time. (Pressing the "W" end once pulls up the nine-image display, and a second press pulls up the 16-image display.)

Display/LCD On/Off Button: Below right of the Zoom control, this button controls the LCD display, cycling through the image with information display, the image with information and live histogram display, the image with limited information display (in all Record modes). In Playback mode, it cycles through the same series.

Menu Button: Below the Display button, this button activates the settings menu in any camera mode. The Menu button also turns off the menu display.


Five-Way Arrow Pad: Located in the lower right corner of the rear panel, this four-way rocker button features four arrow buttons, each pointing in a different direction (Up, Down, Left, and Right), with an unlabeled OK button in the middle. In all settings menus, these arrow keys navigate through menu options. Pressing the center button confirms selections.

In any record mode, the Up button controls the Flash mode, cycling through Auto, Forced, Slow-Sync, and Suppressed modes. The Right arrow turns the Macro (close-up) mode on and off, and the Left arrow accesses the Exposure Compensation adjustment. The Down arrow accesses the Self-Timer mode.

In Playback mode, the Right and Left arrows scroll through captured images. When Playback zoom is enabled, all four arrows scroll around within the enlarged view, while pressing the center button returns to the normal, 1x display. In Manual mode, the four arrows can control aperture and shutter speed after the middle button is pressed.


Image Resolution/Erase Button: Lower left of the Five-way Arrow pad, this button displays the available resolutions in any record mode. Choices are 7M (3,072 x 2,304), 3:2 (3,072 x 2,048), 5M (2,592 x 1944), 3M (2,048 x 1,536), 2M (1,632 x 1,224), VGA (640 x 480), and 16:9 (1,920 x 1,080). Movie resolutions are MPEG Fine 640 x 480 at 30 fps (requires Memory Stick Pro), MPEG Standard 640 x 480 at 17 fps, and 160 x 112 at 8 fps.

In Playback mode, this button lets you erase the currently displayed image or movie.

Operation

Sony DSC-H5 Operation

Operating the Sony DSC-H5 in any of its automatic modes is straightforward, with only two additional controls when you enter Aperture, Shutter, or Manual modes. The Mode dial on top of the camera controls the main operating modes, with options for Auto, Program, Aperture, Shutter, Manual, High Sensitivity, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Beach, High-speed shutter, Landscape, Portrait, and Movie modes. A button visible from both the rear and top panel accesses Playback mode. In all Record modes, the DSC-H5 provides an onscreen LCD menu (activated by the Menu button), with a variety of options for adjusting image quality or adding special effects. An optional Function Guide displays short help information. The four arrows of the arrow pad are used to scroll through menu options, while the button in the center of the pad confirms selections. When in Record mode, the arrows adjust flash settings, Macro mode, the self-timer, and exposure compensation. In Aperture, Shutter, or Manual modes, turning the Jog Dial on the front of the grip makes shutter, aperture, and EV adjustments, and pushing the dial in activates the selection after selecting it by spinning the dial. When in Manual mode, information on the LCD to the right of these values tells you by how many EV units it thinks your exposure is off, up to plus or minus 2 EV.

The Image Resolution button displays the available resolution settings, removing this item from the main menu system, making it much quicker to access. The Zoom control in the top right corner of the back panel adjusts both optical and digital zoom (when the latter is activated through the Setup menu). Sony was indeed efficient with the H5 control layout, especially considering the large number of external controls and the large LCD, but my fingers seemed to find the wrong one at the wrong time all the time.

Record Mode Display
In record mode, the LCD monitor displays the subject with a fair amount of information, indicating approximate battery life remaining (graphically), flash mode, focus mode (macro or normal), autofocus mode setting, any currently-selected exposure compensation setting, ISO setting, the current size/quality setting, and number of images that can be stored on the remaining Memory Stick space at the current size/quality. It also warns when Super SteadyShot is off. Half-pressing the Shutter button causes the camera to display the shutter speed and aperture setting it has chosen for the current lighting conditions. Pressing the Display button once adds a small "live" histogram display to the information, pressing it again removes most of the information overlay, and pressing it a third time restores the default display. Pressing the Finder/LCD button right of the EVF switches between the LCD and EVF.

Playback Mode Display
In Playback mode, the default image display shows the most recently captured image, with a modest information overlay present. Pressing the Display button once adds the exposure information and a small histogram to the overlay, pressing it again removes the information overlay entirely, and pressing it a third time returns to the default view. Pressing the wide-angle side of the zoom lever takes you to a display showing images on the Memory Stick in groups of nine small thumbnails. You can navigate a yellow outline cursor over these thumbnails by using the four arrow keys. Pressing the telephoto side of the zoom lever will bring the currently-selected image up full-screen. Pressing the telephoto side of the zoom lever when viewing an image full-size on the LCD screen will zoom in on the image, in 17 variable-sized increments up to a maximum magnification of 5x.

Sony DSC-H5 Modes and Menus

Scene Modes: Marked on the Mode dial with a series of white icons representing each mode's function, these modes are for capturing images in specific situations. Seven Scene modes are available, including High Sensitivity, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Beach, High-speed shutter, Landscape, and Portrait. High Sensitivity mode raises the camera's ISO setting to 1,000, while enabling a noise reduction setting to reduce the effect of image noise. Both Twilight modes capture images in low light, although the Twilight Portrait mode automatically enables the Red-Eye Reduction flash mode, combining it with a slower shutter speed to let ambient lighting brighten the background as well. Because the camera employs a slower shutter speed in both Twilight modes, a tripod is highly recommended to prevent blurring from camera movement. Beach mode optimizes the camera for bright situations and prevents color loss from overexposure. High Speed Shutter mode biases the shutter speed to better capture action. Landscape mode sets the focus at infinity and uses a smaller lens aperture to capture sharp details both near and far away. Portrait mode biases exposure toward wider apertures for sharp subjects isolated against a blurred background.

Manual Mode: This mode provides complete control over the exposure, with independent settings for aperture and shutter speed. Apertures range from f/2.8 to f/8 (depending on the zoom position), and the camera is capable of shutter speeds from 30 seconds to 1/2,000.

Aperture Priority Mode: Marked with an "A," this mode gives user control of aperture from f/2.8 to f/8 using the Jog Dial, while the camera selects the shutter speed.

Shutter Priority Mode: Marked with an "S," this mode allows the user to control the shutter speed, from 30 seconds to 1/2,000 second.

Program Mode: This mode is marked on the Mode dial with a black camera icon and a "P." In this mode, the camera selects shutter speed and aperture, while you control all other exposure variables.

Automatic Mode: Indicated on the Mode dial with a green camera icon, this mode puts the camera in control over the exposure and everything except Macro, Image Size and Quality, Zoom, Flash, and the Self-Timer.

Playback Mode: Playback mode is noted on the Mode dial with the traditional Playback symbol (a right arrow enclosed within a black rectangle outline). In this mode, you can scroll through captured images, delete them, write-protect them, and set them up for printing on PictBridge-compatible printers. You can also copy, resize, and rotate images.

Movie Mode: A filmstrip icon marks this mode on the Mode dial. In Movie mode, you can record moving images and sound, for as long as the Memory Stick or internal memory has space. Resolution and quality choices are 640 x 480 Fine (30 fps), 640 x 480 Normal (17 fps), or 160 x 112 (8 fps). While recording, a timer appears in the LCD monitor to let you know how many minutes and/or seconds are remaining on the Memory Stick, and how long you've been recording, so you'll have some idea of how much time you have left. Recording in 640 x 480 Fine (30 fps) mode is only available with a Memory Stick Duo Pro card.

The H5 offers a Multi Burst mode separate from the movie mode and selected in the menu in Auto, Program, Shutter, Aperture, Manual, and Scene modes, which captures an extremely rapid 16-frame burst of images, at a selectable rate of 7.5, 15, or 30 frames per second. Multi Burst shots are played back as a slow-motion animation on the camera, but appear as a single large file with 16 sub-images in it when viewed on a computer. (This would be a fun way to catch someone crossing a finish line during a race, or to analyze golf and tennis swings.) A Burst mode is also available, and captures a rapid series of images for as long as the Shutter button is held down. Frame rates and the maximum number of images depends on the image quality and resolution settings, as well as the amount of available memory space.

Record Menu: Available in all Record modes but Auto by pressing the Menu button, the Record menu offers the following options (some options are not available in all modes):

• Color Mode: Adjusts the saturation and brightness of color, with a couple of special effects options. Choices include Normal (default), Vivid, Natural, Sepia, and Black & White.
• Metering Mode: Chooses between Multi-Metering, Center-Weighted, and Spot modes. Spot metering reads the exposure from the very center of the frame (identified by a cross hair target on the monitor). Spot metering is handy for backlit subjects, or any time the subject and background have very different brightness levels. Center-Weighted also reads from the center of the frame, but from a larger area than Spot. Multi-Metering mode reads the entire frame to determine exposure.
• White Balance: Adjusts the overall color balance of the image, to suit the light source. Options are Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Flash, One-Push, and Set One-Push. The last item takes a reading from whatever the camera is viewing when selected and saves it as the setting for "One-Push." (Aim it at a white or neutral gray object to set the white balance for your current light source.)
• ISO: (Not available in Scene modes.) Adjusts the camera's light sensitivity. Options are Auto, or 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,000 ISO equivalents.
• P.Quality: Sets image compression/picture quality to either Standard or Fine.
• Bracket Step (BRK): Sets exposure step size when Bracketing mode is in use. Options are +/- 0.3, 0.7, or 1.0 EV. Bracketing is handy as a way to quickly get three different exposures, for times when you're not sure what the best exposure might be.


• Interval: When Multi Burst mode is selected, sets the interval between shots, with choices of 1/30, 1/15, and 1/7.5 second.
• Flash level: Sets flash power to Normal, or adjusts the intensity to +/- 2 EV.
• Contrast: Alters the level of contrast in images with plus, normal, and minus settings.
• Sharpness: Controls the overall image sharpness or softness with plus, normal, and minus settings.
• Setup: Takes you to the Setup Menu.

Playback Menu:

• Folder: Selects the folder for recording and playing back images.
• Protect: Write-protects the current image (or removes protection), preventing it from being deleted or manipulated in any way except with card formatting.
• DPOF: Marks the current image for printing on a DPOF-compatible printer. Also removes the print mark.
• Print: Prints images if the camera is connected to a PictBridge-compatible printer. Options are All images in the folder, DPOF-marked images, a selected image, or the current image.
• Slide: Plays back images in an automatic slide show. You can set the time interval, whether or not the sequence of images repeats, and choose between different folders on the Memory Stick or in the internal memory, if multiple folders exist.
• Resize: Resizes the image to 7M (3,072 x 2,304), 3:2 (3,072 x 2,048), 5M (2,592 x 1944), 3M (2,048 x 1,536), 2M (1,632 x 1,224), or VGA (640 x 480). When an image is resized, the original image is left in place, and a new copy is made at the selected size.
  
• Rotate: Rotates the image 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.
• Divide: Allows you to trim material from the beginning or end of a recorded movie, or to extract an interesting bit of action from the middle of a longer clip.
• Setup: Takes you to the setup menu.
• Trimming (only available during playback zoom): This option lets you crop an image and save the cropped section as a separate file.

Setup Mode: This mode allows you to change a variety of camera settings, and is accessible through each of the camera menus.

• Camera 1:
  • AF Mode: Sets the focus mode to Single, Monitor, or Continuous. Monitor continuously adjusts the focus until you half-press the shutter button. Continuous does the same, but continues to adjust focus after the shutter button has been half-pressed and held.
  • Digital Zoom: Switches between the Smart Zoom and Precision Zoom, or turns digital enlargement off. Smart Zoom restricts the digital zoom range to that which can be achieved without interpolating the image data. No Smart Zoom is available at the full six-megapixel resolution, progressively more is available as you reduce the image size. Precision Zoom interpolates the image as needed to fill the currently selected pixel dimensions with the subject.
  • Function Guide: Enables or disables an onscreen function guide that appears on the LCD display, offering short help text for the operation at hand.
  • Red Eye Reduction: Enables or disables the Red Eye Reduction flash mode, affecting both Auto and Forced flash modes.
  • AF Illuminator: Sets the AF Assist light Auto or off. If set to Auto, the light automatically illuminates in dark shooting conditions to help the camera focus.
  • Auto Review: Immediately plays captured image onscreen for two seconds.
  
  
• Camera 2:
• Expanded Focus: Zooms the view on the LCD screen by 2x when focusing in Manual Focus mode.
• Flash Sync: Sets the flash sync to the front or rear curtain. Front curtain sync fires the flash at the beginning of the exposure, while rear curtain sync fires at the end.
• Steady Shot: Selects between Shooting and Continuous SteadyShot modes. Shooting mode activates SteadyShot only when shutter is pressed. Continuous mode leaves the SteadyShot active at all times, which results in increased battery consumption, but may make it easier to see what's going on in the viewfinder at long telephoto settings.
• Conversion Lens: Must be set according to the accessory lens that is attached to the camera, to permit the camera to focus properly with the conversion lenses in place. Choices are Close-up, Tele, Wide, or Off.

• Internal Memory Tool (no screenshot, appears only when no Memory Stick is present):
• Format: Formats the internal memory, erasing all files (even protected ones).
• Memory Stick Tool:
  • Format: Formats the Memory Stick, erasing all files (even protected ones).
  • Create REC Folder: Creates a new folder for recording images.
  • Change REC Folder: Changes the folder that images are recorded to.
  • Copy: Copies images from the internal memory to a Memory Stick.

• Setup 1:
  
  • LCD Backlight: Adjusts the LCD viewfinder's brightness setting, offering Bright and Normal.
  • EVF Backlight: Adjusts the electronic viewfinder's brightness setting, offering Bright and Normal.
  • Beep: Controls the camera's beep sounds, turning them on or off. A Shutter option enables only the shutter noise.
  • Language: Selects the language for the LCD menu display.
  • Initialize: Resets the camera to its default settings.
  
  
• Setup 2:
  • File Number: Chooses between Series (continuing the shot number indefinitely, between cards or between memory format operations) or Reset, which resets the frame number by folder or whenever the Memory Stick or internal memory is reformatted.
  • USB Connect: Sets the USB connection type to PictBridge, PTP, Mass Storage, or Auto.
  • Video Out: Sets the timing of the video output signal to either NTSC or PAL.
  • Clock Set: Sets the camera's internal clock and calendar.

Optics

Sony DSC-H5 Optics

Ranging from a 36-432mm equivalent (12x), the Sony H5's Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar provides just enough wide angle to capture most of a room while reaching easily across a baseball field from the stands.

Power-on time is not fast but the zoom is responsive and controllable as it steps through its focal lengths. The zoom toggle responds to pressure, moving faster the harder you press. Focus is very quick.

It can be impossible to compose an image at long focal lengths and the resulting shots can be blurry without the help of either a tripod or image stabilization. Sony gave the H5 the company's Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization technology for rock steady images (taken even in high wind). It also allows for shooting in lower light, which means you can hand hold shutter speeds as low as 1/4 second. Long zooms without any image stabilization are less expensive but there should be a law against them.

Lens

Zoom
A generous 12x optical zoom range, with excellent performance. Digital zoom is also well done.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 optical zoom covers the equivalent of a 36-432mm range, outstanding among consumer digital cameras. Results were quite good at wide angle, though some corner softness and coma distortion was present. Sony's Precision Digital Zoom did much better than average at holding onto detail, which is often greatly compromised with digital enlargement. Though fine details were soft with digital zoom, overall results were better than we'd normally expect.

Macro
A tiny macro area with excellent detail and high resolution. Flash exposure was very uneven up close.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5's macro setting performed well, capturing a very small minimum area of 1.45 x 1.09 inches (37 x 28 millimeters). Detail and resolution were both very good, though there's a fair amount of softening in the corners from the lens. (Most cameras have some softening in the corners in macro mode.) The flash produced a very uneven exposure here, partially blocked by the lens with a strong overexposure in the top of the frame. (Plan on using external lighting for your closest macro shots with the DSC-H5.)

Distortion
Moderate barrel distortion, though very low pincushion.

Barrel distortion at 36mm is 0.85%

Pincushion at 432mm is less than 0.00%

This is the tendency for the lens to bend straight lines outward (like a barrel -- usually at wide angle) or inward (like a pincushion -- usually at telephoto). The Cyber-shot DSC-H5's 0.85% barrel distortion at wide angle is about average among the cameras we've tested, although still uncomfortably high. At the telephoto end, the H5's distortion was unmeasurable, less than a full pixel.

Chromatic aberration
High, very noticeable effect on images at edges, not uncommon among long zooms.

Chromatic aberration is rather high at both wide angle and telephoto, showing about 7-8 pixels of very bright coloration on either side of the target lines. (This distortion is visible as a very slight colored fringe around the objects at the edges of the field of view on the resolution target.) The effect is pretty noticeable in several of our test shots.

Corner Sharpness
Some softening in the corners of the frame.

The Sony DSC-H5 produced slightly soft corners in a few shots. At wide angle, corners were only slightly soft, compared to the center of the frame. At telephoto, corners showed stronger blurring.

Viewfinder

Coverage
Good accuracy with both the EVF and LCD monitor.

The Sony DSC-H5's electronic optical viewfinder (EVF) and LCD monitor produced identical results here (not surprising since they're essentially the same view), with right about 100% accuracy at both zoom settings. Good results overall.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 Photo Gallery .

Exposure

Sony DSC-H5 Exposure

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Good overall color, though often a slight warm cast. Slight oversaturation of strong reds and blues, but very good results overall.

In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located towards the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center.

Most consumer digital cameras produce color that's more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life. The Sony DSC-H5 does oversaturate the strong red tones, and certain blues a little, but not as much as do many cameras, and the results are pleasing. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it's very easy for these "memory colors" to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc. Here, the H5 did render skin tones a bit on the warm, orange side in most cases, but many consumers find slightly warm skin tones pleasing. (Warmer skin tones are definitely more pleasing than those on the cool or magenta side.)

The other important part of color rendition is hue accuracy. Hue is "what color" the color is. Though the DSC-H5 often produced a slightly warm color balance (especially outdoors), and pushed reds toward orange slightly, overall results were quite accurate.

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Good color with the Manual white balance setting, though a hint warm. A little more positive exposure compensation required than usual.

Color balance indoors under incandescent lighting was pretty warm with both the Auto and Incandescent white balance settings, though the Manual option produced more accurate results. The Sony DSC-H5 required a little more than the average amount of positive exposure compensation here, at +1.3 EV. Despite the slight warm cast, overall color with the Manual white balance setting is excellent, without strong purple tints in the blue flowers. (Many digital cameras reproduce these flowers with a dark, purplish tint, so the H5 performed very well indeed here.) Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.

Outdoors, daylight
Bright colors overall, though a tendency toward a warm cast and high contrast under harsh lighting. About average exposure accuracy.

Outdoors, the Sony DSC-H5 tended toward a warmer color balance, though overall color was generally pretty good. The H5 performed about average in terms of exposure, requiring the typical amount (or slightly less) of positive compensation we're accustomed to seeing among consumer digital cameras. The H5's default contrast is rather high, producing washed-out highlights and dark shadows under the deliberately harsh lighting of our "Sunlit" portrait test shown above right. Like other recent Sony cameras, the low contrast option helps with harsh lighting like this, but produces undesirable saturation variations in Caucasian skin tones, rendering some tones almost grey - For that reason, the sample of the "Sunlit" portrait test shown above was shot with the default contrast setting.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
High resolution, 1,350 lines of strong detail.

Our laboratory resolution chart revealed sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 1,350 lines per picture height, with extinction at around 1,700. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail. Beware that while you might be able to make out what looks like distinct lines at numbers higher than those we've mentioned here, the camera is just doing its best to continue interpreting the lines. If you zoom in and follow them from the wider portions, you'll see the lines converge and reappear several times, so the lines you see at 1,600 and higher are really only artifacts generated by the camera's imaging system.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Reasonably sharp images overall, though some edge-enhancement on high-contrast subjects. Noise suppression limits detail in the shadows.

The Sony DSC-H5 captures fairly sharp images, albeit with some visible edge enhancement artifacts on high-contrast subjects such as the crop above left. (Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.)

Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost "watercolor" look appears. The crop above right shows this, with darker areas of Marti's hair showing only limited detail. At low ISO settings though, the H5's detail preservation was average to better than average.

ISO & Noise Performance
Low to moderate noise at the normal sensitivity settings, though a big jump in noise with strong blurring at the high settings.

Noise levels are low to moderate at the Sony DSC-H5's lower sensitivity settings, with higher noise at ISO 400 (as you'd expect). That said, shots captured at ISO 400 don't look bad when printed at 8x10 inches and under. At ISOs 800 and 1,000, however, noise levels increase dramatically, with a strong pattern and strong blurring, and a general desaturation of colors. ISO 800 and 1000 shots are only usable to about 5x7 inches under daylight-balanced lighting, or 4x6 inches under incandescent light sources.

Extremes: Sunlit and low light tests
High resolution with strong overall detail, but high contrast and limited shadow detail. Good low-light performance, capable of capturing bright images under average city street lighting and much darker conditions.

Sunlight:
Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here.)

The Sony DSC-H5 produced high contrast with washed-out highlights and deep shadows under the harsh lighting of the test above. Noise suppression is visible in the shadows, contributing to the loss of detail there. Though some areas look a little dark at +0.7 EV, I preferred it to the image at +1.0 EV, which had too many blown highlights for my preference. (Some readers may prefer the shot at +0.3 EV, although I felt the lower skin tones were a bit dark there. In "real life" though, be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown above; it's better to shoot in the shade when possible.)

	1 fc 11 lux	1/2 fc 5.5 lux	1/4 fc 2.7 lux	1/8 fc 1.3 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux
ISO 80	3 sec f2.8	7 sec f2.8	13 sec f2.8	20 sec f2.8	30 sec f2.8
ISO 100	2.5 sec f2.8	5 sec f2.8	10 sec f2.8	15 sec f2.8	30 sec f2.8
ISO 200	1.3 sec f2.8	2.5 sec f2.8	5 sec f2.8	8 sec f2.8	20 sec f2.8
ISO 400	1/1 sec f2.8	1.3 sec f2.8	2.5 sec f2.8	4 sec f2.8	10 sec f2.8
ISO 800	1/3 sec f2.8	1/1 sec f2.8	1.3 sec f2.8	2 sec f2.8	5 sec f2.8
ISO 1000	1/4 sec f2.8	1/2 sec f2.8	1 sec f2.8	1.6 sec f2.8	4 sec f2.8

Low light:
The Sony DSC-H5 captured bright images down to the 1/8 foot-candle light level (about 1/8 as bright as average city street lighting at night). Though images are fairly bright at the lowest light level, the dimmer exposure resulted in a strong pink color cast. The camera's autofocus system was able to focus on the subject down to just above the 1/8 foot-candle light level even with its AF assist light turned off, which works out well for its exposure system. With the AF-assist light on, it could focus on nearby objects in total darkness. Do keep in mind though, that the very long shutter times necessary here absolutely demand the use of a tripod or other camera support to get sharp photos. (A useful trick is to just prop the camera on a convenient surface, and use its self-timer to release the shutter. This avoids any jiggling from your finger pressing the shutter button, and can work quite well when you don't have a tripod handy.)

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child's ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) For such applications, you may have better luck with a digital SLR camera, but even there, you'll likely need to set the focus manually. For information and reviews on digital SLRs, refer to our SLR review index page.

Flash

Coverage and Range
Dim exposures at the default exposure setting; the camera required average to slightly more than average exposure compensation for flash exposures. Pretty good range though.

Flash coverage was slightly uneven at wide angle, and the flash a bit out of range for our viewfinder accuracy/flash coverage target at telephoto (thanks to the long 12x optical zoom range), despite it's substantial power. Indoors, under incandescent background lighting, the DSC-H5's flash underexposed our subject a fair bit at its default setting, requiring a +1.0 EV exposure compensation adjustment to get bright results. The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode required a little more positive compensation at +1.3 EV, though overall coverage is more even. However, the longer shutter speed results in a stronger orange cast from the background lighting. (Most cameras require about +1.0 EV of exposure boost on this shot, so the H5's performance is about average.)

Flash Range: Wide Angle
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft
1/40 sec f2.8 ISO 100	1/40 sec f2.8 ISO 100	1/40 sec f2.8 ISO 100	1/40 sec f2.8 ISO 100	1/40 sec f2.8 ISO 100
11 ft	12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft
1/40 sec f2.8 ISO 100	1/40 sec f2.8 ISO 100	1/40 sec f2.8 ISO 100	1/40 sec f2.8 ISO 100	1/40 sec f2.8 ISO 100

Flash Range: Telephoto
6 ft	7 ft	8 ft	9 ft	10 ft
1/60 sec f3.7 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.7 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.7 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.7 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.7 ISO 100
11 ft	12 ft	13 ft	14 ft	15 ft
1/60 sec f3.7 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.7 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.7 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.7 ISO 100	1/60 sec f3.7 ISO 100

 The DSC-H5's flash was bright and powerful, with excellent intensity all the way to 14 feet at ISO 100.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
Wide Angle	Telephoto
29 feet ISO 125	22 feet ISO 200

Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 100, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We've now also begun shooting two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims. In the shots above, the H5 seems to perform exactly as Sony says it will, producing good exposures at the rated distances with its ISO set to Auto. These are really excellent range figures. Even allowing for the ISO boost to 200 in telephoto mode, the range here is way beyond what's common for digicams.

Output Quality

Print Quality
Good print quality, great color, good 11x14 inch prints. ISO 400 images are soft but usable at 8x10, ISO 800 and 1000 shots are marginal at 5x7, good at 4x6.

Testing hundreds of digital cameras, we've found that you can only tell just so much about a camera's image quality by viewing its images on-screen. Ultimately, there's no substitute for printing a lot of images and examining them closely. For this reason, we now routinely print sample images from the cameras we test on our Canon i9900 studio printer, and on the Canon iP5200 here in the office. (See the Canon i9900 review for details on that model.)

With the Sony DSC-H5, we found that it had enough resolution to make good looking 11x14 inch prints. At 13x19, its prints were softer looking, but probably fine for wall or table display. At high ISO, image noise levels are held in check up to ISO 400, but the jump to ISO 800 gets quite a bit rougher. ISO 800 shots under daylight-balanced lighting look OK at 5x7 inches, those shot under incandescent lighting are really only usable as 4x6 inch snapshots. (The very warm color balance of incandescent lighting forces the camera's already-noisy blue channel to work harder, producing higher noise.)

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a collection of more pictorial photos, see our Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 Photo Gallery .

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge! Visit our Comparometer(tm) to compare images from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 with those from other cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let your own eyes decide which you like best!

Performance

Sony DSC-H5 Performance