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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

All you need to connect the DSC H9 to a computer, television and PictBridge compatible printer.

The lens is compatible with a small number of Sony conversion lenses. The lens has a 74mm filter thread.

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 H9

Description:	8 megapixels and a 15x optical zoom lens
Ease of Use:	9
Features:	9
Colour:	9
Macro:	7
Indoors:	7
Value for Money:	8
Style:	8
Movie Mode:	8
Image Quality:	8
Build Quality:	8
Total:	81
Verdict:	The Sony DSC H9 has a fifteen times optical zoom lens. This is one of the largest zooms you will find on a consumer digital camera. I found the picture quality to be good and I was impressed at the way Sony managed to handle all the features to ensure that the DSC H9 remained easy enough to use. Shutter lag times are minimal.
Review Date:	June 2007
Related Pages:	Sony DSC H9 Specification Sony DSC H9 Sample Images Sony DSC H9 Features

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 H9