Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 Digital Camera Review

by Alex Burack
Published on January 01, 2004

Navigation
Intro	Testing / Performance
Physical Tour	Components
Design / Layout	Modes
Control Options	Image Parameters
Connectivity / Extras	Overall Impressions
Conclusion	Specs / Ratings

Likes

- Powerful flash - Huge LCD screen - Optical image stabilization - Lens works in movie mode - Big mode dial - Comfortable handling

Dislikes

- Slow burst mode - Plastic body - Poor battery life - Tiny viewfinder - Terrible software

 

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 has a great feature set that includes 7.1 megapixels, a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 12x optical zoom lens, an optical image stabilization system, and full manual functionality. This digital camera has the lure of a sexy compact, with its enormous 3-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD monitor and its seven simple scene modes. It also draws design elements from DSLRs such as the protruding viewfinder, chunky measurements, and powerful built-in flash. Perhaps one of its best features is an optical image stabilization system, which works wonders in keeping the shakes to a minimum in movie mode and helps keep still images from blurring. . This image stabilization system is not a want, but a necessity.

 

The Sony H5 is not without flaws though. All of its goodness comes at a price – and the $499 retail isn’t the worst of it. The large LCD screen and excellent stabilization system are great, but they suck the AA batteries dry too quickly. If users want to actually employ the functional manual mode and all of the camera’s settings and features, they’ll need bags full of batteries just to get through a day of shooting. A few other drawbacks include the included archaic software that is extremely limited in its capabilities and the burst mode that is more typical of a compact camera from five years ago. Still, no camera is without its skeletons. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 just seems to hide its skeletons well with its professional-looking body and hot feature set.