Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7
Digital Camera Review
Jun 11, 2007
- By Emily Raymond
2.4
The ultra-zoom segment of the digital camera market is expanding as consumers seek more than the standard compact 3x lens and lust for the double digit optics. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7 will satiate zoom cravers with its 8.1 megapixels and 15x optical zoom lens. The H7 is the less expensive sibling of the Sony H9, which has a bigger fold-out LCD monitor. The Sony H7 might be overshadowed by its big brother, but still provides a decent set of features at a reasonable price. The H7 will retail for $399 when it is shipped in June.
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Picture Quality / Size Options (8.0)
At the top of the recording menu is a list of image sizes: 8M, 3:2, 5M, 3M, VGA, and 16:9. The JPEG images are recorded at fine compression only; there is no option to record standard or basic compressed files like on most other digital cameras. That’s probably just fine though because increasing compression decreases the quality. This way, users are guaranteed high quality pictures. A help box appears that specifies how large each resolution can be printed. The top 8-megapixel image size can print up to 11 x 17 inches.
Picture Effects Mode (7.5)
There are plenty of picture effects available on the Sony H7, although they are scattered throughout the recording and playback modes. Before shooting, the color mode can be changed to black-and-white, natural, sepia, and vivid. There is a live view when scrolling through these, and they aren’t accessible in the auto or scene modes. Also in the recording menu are options to adjust the contrast and sharpness to +, Normal, or -. The contrast menu also has a DRO (dynamic range optimizer) option that automatically adjusts the exposure to get the absolute widest range of highlights and shadows and everything in between. In the playback mode, there are several effects that can be applied through the “retouch” option: soft focus, partial color, fisheye lens, cross filter, and red eye correction. These don’t produce professional results all the time but are better than the majority of in-camera effects offered on other digital cameras. Users can manually select where the subject is and then adjust the picture around it. For example, users can choose the point of focus in the soft focus mode and then everything around that point is blurred.
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Connectivity / Extras |
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