Sony H5 vs Canon S3 IS vs Panasonic FZ7: Head-to-Head-to-Head Digital Camera Review

by Patrick Singleton
Published on July 31, 2006

Navigation
Intro	Metering / Exposure / Focus
Still Imaging Performance / Image Quality	Video Capture
Components	Model Design / Physical Tour
Spec Comparison	Overall Impressions / Conclusion

Metering (Advantage: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5)

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5, the Canon PowerShot S3 IS and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7 all have the three metering patterns that are typical of digital cameras from the most elaborate to the most basic. These are: Spot, Multi-pattern and Center-weighted averaging. Spot takes a single measurement in a small area at the center of the frame. Multi-pattern takes several measurements all over the frame, and compares them, using an algorithm which should recognize and account for difficult lighting. Center-weighted takes a single measurement from a large area at the center of the frame, with decreasing sensitivity toward the edges of the frame.

 

We shot a bag of chips in the windowsill to see how the patterns handled backlighting. All three cameras' spot metering modes measured the bag exclusively – as they should have – and blew out the background, which is expected. The proper exposure for the bag should leave the background mostly white, or “blown out.” The PowerShot S3 IS was the most extreme, while the Cyber-shot DSC-H5 was the least. The PowerShot S3 IS pattern and center-weighted readings were identical, while both the Lumix FZ7 and the Cyber-shot DSC-H5 brightened the exposure about 1/3 of a stop with the multi-pattern setting, compared to center-weighted. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5's multi-pattern setting produced the best detail in both the chips and the background.

Exposure (Advantage: Draw)

We shot a few scenes with each camera on manual, relying on a handheld ambient light meter to set the camera's exposure. We found that each camera delivered good exposure with ambient readings, indicating that the camera's ISO settings are well-calibrated. Because we did not see a significant difference between the cameras, none has an advantage in this category.

Focus
Autofocus (Advantage: Panasonic Lumix FZ7)
The Sony H5 has a cool feature – the autofocus point can be moved around the frame with the 4-way controller. Unfortunately, the H5 did not perform well in our low-light autofocus test, delivering a much less sharp image than the other two cameras. We also had trouble getting the H5 to focus on low-contrast subjects. The Canon S3 IS also offers a moveable AF point, which can be moved to 273 different spots around the frame, and also had trouble in low contrast. Its autofocus sensors are small, and we had to move the camera slightly to get it to pick up a bright or contrasty detail.

The Panasonic FZ7 did best in our tests. It hunted less in low light than the other cameras, and generally hit focus faster in most situations. 

Manual Focus (Advantage: Canon PowerShot S3 IS)
Electronic display cameras typically don't do well with manual focus. Any SLR camera is easier to focus manually than these three cameras.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 magnifies part of the live preview to improve manual focus, and the enlarged area takes up the full frame, so the user can't see the edges of the image while focusing. The magnification is significant and helpful, but the live preview is so noisy and aliased that it is hard to see details small enough to judge focus, even on the H5's enormous LCD. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7 shows a small magnified patch in the center of the viewfinder, leaving the edges of the frame unmagnified. Since the FZ7 has the smallest LCD of the bunch, the focusing area looks very small, but it's useful to be able to see the corners of the image all the time so users can properly frame subjects. It was difficult to focus at the wide-angle setting. When the camera was close to the correct focus, small changes in the focus setting didn't change the view on the display, but they would be visible in the final shots.

The Canon PowerShot S3 IS also magnifies a small area in the center of the frame, but with a larger display and better display performance than either the H5 or the FZ7, it was easier to see the effect of small changes in the focus setting. The PowerShot S3 IS has an advantage in manual focus.