Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5

To see just how close each of the 24 colors are to the original palette, Imatest created the next chart. The ideal colors are shown as squares, and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5’s colors are depicted as circles.

The warm red and orange colors look oversaturated and inaccurate, with more discrepancies in the green and blue portions of the spectrum. The mean color error is 6.45, with saturation reaching 109.45 percent. This produces an overall color score of 7.14, which falls far short of the Sony H1’s 9.23 score. The Cyber-shot H5 performs more in the range of the Sony compact W-series of cameras; this is disappointing for a digital camera aimed for enthusiasts.

Still Life Scene
Below is a shot of our classic still life assemblage, recorded with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5.

Click on the thumbnail above to view the full resolution image

Resolution (4.41)
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H5 comes with more megapixels than its predecessor. With 7.2 total megapixels on its Super HAD CCD, the H5 is poised to snap high-resolution shots. The image sensor, however, is the same size as the one on the H1: 1/2.5 inches. We used the Sony H5 to take several shots of an industry standard resolution chart in optimal lighting. Imatest output the results in units of line widths per picture height (lw/ph), which measures how many equally thick black and white lines can fit across the frame horizontally and vertically without blending together into a black and white soup.

Click on the thumbnail above to view the full resolution files

The sharpest image came from a shot taken at a focal length of 17.5 mm and an aperture of f/4. It resolved 1793 lw/ph horizontally, with 14.1 percent oversharpening, and 1577 lw/ph vertically, with 7.52 percent oversharpening. At first glance, these scores are disappointing compared to the 5.1-megapixel Sony H1. The H1 read 1723 lw/ph horizontally and 1835 lw/ph vertically. However, the Sony Cyber-shot H5 imposed much less in-camera sharpening, so it allows users more flexibility in the post-production process – unlike its predecessor. The H1 received an overall resolution score of 4.19, while the H5 brings in a 4.41.

Noise – Auto ISO (5.82)
The Sony Cyber-shot H5 has an Automatic ISO setting, which we put to the test to see how much noise it produces in great lighting. In the optimal settings, the camera produces approximately the amount of noise that would be found at the Manual ISO 100 setting. This tells us the camera’s metering system is healthy and can keep noise to a minimum when the lights are on. The H5 received an overall Automatic ISO noise score of 5.82, which is lower than the H1’s 6.8 score, but still respectable.

Noise – Manual ISO (8.21)
The H5’s Manual ISO range is far wider than the H1’s. The first flagship had a top sensitivity of 400, which is a joke for most true enthusiasts. Fortunately, Sony included a much larger range on the Cyber-shot H5. The options range from ISO 80 to 1000, and the accompanying noise levels are shown below. The horizontal axis displays the manual ISO settings, and the vertical axis shows the amount of noise at each sensitivity.