The Sony DSC H50 is a 9 megapixel digital camera with a 15x optical zoom lens. Even more zoom becomes available when shooting at lower resolution with a feature called smart zoom. Digital zoom is also available.

The focal length of the lens is equivalent to 31 - 465mm in 35mm format.

Conversion lenses are another way to enhance the wide angle and zoom capabilities of the camera. The DSC H50 has a 74mm filter diameter thread.

• Special resolution for widescreen television playback
• Special resolution for 6 x 4 inch prints
• Image stabilisation
• Self timer 2 or 10 seconds
• Colour options - vivid, sepia and black and white
• Colour filters - red, green , blue, warm and cool
• Smile shutter setting. Automatically takes a picture if the camera detects a smile
• Set sharpness, saturation and contrast levels

Focusing options include face detection, manual focusing and a macro mode that allows you to focus as close as 1cm from the subject.

The LCD screen is 3 inches in size. It is made up of around 230,000 dots. What makes this LCD screen different is that it can be pulled away from the body. This can help if you are in a difficult shooting position or the sun is shining directly onto the screen. An electric viewfinder is available too.

The flash unit pops up on the top of the camera. This can be useful for helping to control problems such as red eye. The flash modes are on, off, automatic and slow sync. Red eye reduction can be turned on and off via the menu. The maximum range of the flash is 9.1m when the zoom is not in use. When the zoom is fully extended this falls to 5.5m. The power of the flash can be adjusted as required.

The scene modes available are: Twilight, Twilight portrait, Soft snap, Landscape, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, High Sensitivity, Advanved Sports shooting and Smile Shutter.

Movies with a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and a top speed of 30 frames per second can be recorded. Sound is captured as well and zoom can be applied while the movie is being recorded.

Sony have built a full set of exposure controls into the DSC H50. These are fully manual, aperture priority and shutter priority. The aperture can be set in the range is f2.7 - f8 (wide) and f4.5 - f8 (tele). Shutter speeds work in the range 30 seconds to 1/2000 seconds

Other advanced controls include exposure compensation (+/- 2.0 EV, 1/ 3 EV step), white balance (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent1, Fluorescent2, Fluorescent3, Incandescent, Flash, One Push), ISO (Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200),

In burst mode you can fire off up to 100 shots. Bracketing is also available.

Special settings are available to reduce noise and to improve the amount of detail captured in shady areas.

All the necessary cables and software are supplied to attach the Sony DSC H50 to a computer, television set and compatible printer. Sony DSC H50

Description:	9 megapixels and a 15x optical zoom lens
Ease of Use:	8
Features:	9
Colour:	8
Macro:	8
Indoors:	8
Value for Money:	8
Style:	8
Movie Mode:	9
Image Quality:	8
Build Quality:	8
Total:	82
Verdict:	Overall I was impressed by this camera. Picture quality is good and although the camera has a number of advanced features Sony have been able to make the camera as easy to use as possible. When it comes to shutter lag this is one of the fastest cameras around.
Review Date:	May 2008
Related Pages:	Sony DSC H50 Specification Sony DSC H50 Sample Images Sony DSC H50 Features

Click a flag for prices from other countries:

Camera	Rating
Fuji Finepix S200EXR	87
Panasonic DMC FZ38	87
Canon Powershot SX1 IS	87
Sony DSC HX1	85
Canon Powershot SX10 IS	85
Canon Powershot SX20 IS	84
Olympus SP-590 UZ	83
Nikon Coolpix P90	83

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Sony DSC H50