Megapixels and Zoom
The Sony DSC H9 is an eight megapixel camera with a 15x optical zoom lens. This is one of the longest lenses you will find on a compact, consumer level digital camera. Smart zoom also increases the zoom capacity available. Up to 25x smart zoom is available at resolutions above VGA level.
The focal length of the lens is equivalent to 31 - 465mm in 35mm format. The maximum aperture is f2.7 (wide) f4.5 (tele).
Image stabilisation is available.
Basics
For when you would like to appear in the photo there is a self timer with a two or ten second delay.
There are special resolutions ideal for playing back photos on a widescreen television and for making 6 x 4" prints.
You can adjust the levels of sharpness and contrast before you take a photo. A range of colour settings are also available. These are: vivid, quiet, sepia and black and white.
Focusing
Manual focus is available as is face detection focusing. The auto focus methods are single and monitoring. The auto focus areas are multi point, centre weighted and flexible spot.
For close up work the DSC H9 can focus from 1cm away from the subject.
LCD
The LCD screen is a super size 3 inches. This is made up of around 230,000 pixels. The monitor also tilts 90 degrees. An electronic viewfinder is available too. The screen also has a special infra red setting to help it in lowlight.
Flash
The pop up flash unit has a range of 9.8m (wide) 6m (tele). The flash modes are Auto, Forced Flash, Slow Syncro and No Flash. Red eye reduction can be turned on and off. You can adjust the intensity of the flash unit.
Scene Modes
A small selection of preprogrammed scene modes are available. These are Twilight, Twilight portrait, Portrait, Landscape, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, High Sensitivity and Advanced Sports Shooting. By selecting a specific scene the camera recognises the type of photo you are about to take and adjusts its settings accordingly.
Movies
The maximum resolution for a movie is 640 x 480 pixels. A top speed of 30 frames per second is available. Sound can be recorded and the full 15x zoom is available while shooting the movie.
Advanced Features
The DSC H9 offers fully manual exposure. Aperture priority and shutter priority can be selected as well. The shutter speed can be set in the range 30 - 1/4000 seconds.
Other advanced features include exposure compensation (+/-2.0 EV, 1/ 3 EV step), white balance (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent1,Fluorescent2,Fluorescent3, Incandescent, Flash, One push
Automatic White Balance), metering (Multi Pattern, Centre weighted, Spot), sensitivity (Auto,80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200) and bracketing.
There is also a burst mode. This can reel off up to 100 shots at a rate of one shot every 0.46 seconds.
Computer - Printers - Television
All you need to connect the DSC H9 to a computer, television and PictBridge compatible printer.
Extras
The lens is compatible with a small number of Sony conversion lenses. The lens has a 74mm filter thread.
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