Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7

Sony changed quite a few details, inside and out, between the Cyber-shot DSC-H5 and Sony's latest megazooms, the Cyber-shot DSC-H9 and DSC-H7. An f/2.7-4.5 31mm-465mm 15x supersedes the 12x zoom on last year's, and the resolution kicks up a notch from 7 to 8 megapixels. Say goodbye to AA batteries and hello to a proprietary lithium ion.

Two features differentiate the H9 and H7: The H9 retains the same excellent 3-inch flip-up LCD as the H5, while the H7 uses a fixed 2.5-inch version, and the H9 includes Sony's NightShot infrared mode. They are otherwise identical.

Design
The plastic body feels a bit cheap, and the grip -- a bit larger than the H5's -- could use more of a rubbery texture. Sony also "improves" upon the simple four-way-plus-set navigation controls of the H5 by adding a scroll wheel and now-Sony-standard Home and Menu buttons. We love the scroll wheel, but it takes a little while to get used to the operation for adjusting shooting settings. You toggle between changing the particular setting and changing the settings values with the OK/Set button; the changeable option turns yellow. In theory, it's all very logical. But in the heat of the shoot, it requires a little too much thinking. Still, it makes sense, so it shouldn't take long to adapt.

And after using several Sonys, we're still not thrilled with the Home button. When you press it, the first item it shows you is Shooting; but when you select that, it displays the current mode dial setting and tells you to use the Menu button to change the current settings. In other words, telling you that you've pressed the wrong button. If it's that confusing, perhaps it needs some restructuring. On the other hand, you have to scroll over four categories and down a level to get to settings such as AF illuminator and AF mode, then down another level to change the flash-sync mode. (Especially since you can get to these more easily via the Menu button.) True, these aren't settings you want to change frequently, but why bury them quite so deeply and keep the useless info close to the surface?

The H7 and H9 offer a typical set of manual, semimanual, and automatic exposure options, including scene modes for high ISO, portrait, twilight portrait, landscape, twilight, beach, snow, and fireworks. (Inexplicably, on the H7, the metering and bracketing/continuous shooting must be changed via the LCD, while on the H9, they have dedicated buttons.) There are also more sophisticated choices such as Face Detection and Advanced Sports Shooting. Face Detection only operates within full automatic mode, and you have no control over which faces it sees or selects. The advanced sports mode sets the camera to a fast shutter speed and uses a continuous autofocus.

Performance
If you don't count the slog through the menus, the H7 delivers good speed for its class. (Though the results vary slightly from those of the H9, they are all well within a 3 percent margin of error.) Based on CNET Labs' test results, it wakes up and shoots in a reasonable 2.2 seconds, with a shutter lag of 0.5 second and 1.2 seconds in bright and dim light, respectively. It can shoot consecutive single images 1.5 seconds apart, growing to a modest 2.8 seconds with flash enabled. Continuous shooting is fixed at about two frames per second (fps), regardless of image size, and can run for about 18 shots before it starts to slow. We were a bit disappointed by the surprisingly small electronic viewfinder. Sony's Super SteadyShot optical image stabilisation, as ever, works very well.

Shooting speed (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)

Typical shot-to-shot time

Time to first shot

Shutter lag (dim)

Shutter lag (typical)

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7

1.5 

2.2 

1.2 

0.5 

Canon PowerShot S5 IS

1.6 

1.3 

0.8 

0.5 

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9

1.4 

2.1 

1.3 

0.6 

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8

1.8 

2.7 

1.3 

0.6 

Image quality
Under the right circumstances, the photos look very good. Those include shooting at sensitivity settings of ISO 200 or lower, in bright sunlight. Thanks to the fast continuous shooting, solid stabilisation and reliable center-point focus, the H7's sibling the H9 delivered the best results we've had so far shooting dogs in the park. The EVF updates quickly enough to make it possible. The automatic white balance does a solid job, if a bit cool, and colours look bright and saturated.

At its widest angle, the H7 shows vignetting (darkening) at the corners of the photo.

As with other megazoom lenses, however, the Sony's displays some distortion, chromatic aberration (edge discoloration) on the sides of the photo, as well as purple fringing on high-contrast edges. In general, the Canon PowerShot S5 IS exhibits better sharpness both in the center and from side-to-side. As for shots at medium-to-high sensitivities, we suggest you avoid them.

Despite boasting support for up to ISO 3,200, the jump between ISO 200 and ISO 400 reveals serious detail loss and notable increase in artifacts. Though it produces better noise measurements than the S5 at the higher ISO settings, the Sony has more apparent image degradation.

For movie capture, Sony makes a slightly better trade-off than most between file size and movie quality. Though they're not quite as sharp, its 30fps VGA MPEG movies require about 1.3MB/sec of storage -- far less than the Canon's 2MB/sec M-JPEG recordings. One disappointment here is the tiny microphone that records muted audio.

If you shoot primarily outdoors in daytime -- especially sports, children, and animals -- and don't find the interface quite as crazy-making as we do, the H7 is a good choice. The AU$100 difference in street prices between the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7 and DSC-H9 makes your choice simple: If you can forgo the infrared and the flexible LCD, then buy the cheaper model.

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