Great Prosumer Camera. Review on Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H50/B

I got this camera few days back. After lot of research on the internet and after getting confused what to buy a DSLR or a Point and Shoot camera. I got this one. I am an amature photographer with intension of doing some serious photography. I would say, I am happy with the "little beast". I have mentioned the features below, I would like to add that you can add a lens to the camera. The only "drawback" is it shoots in JPEG(as all other Point and Shoot camera does), Sony could have also thought of RAW mode shooting.

The camera also incorporates intelligent features that help you take better pictures more easily. They include improved smile shutter and face detection technologies with child or adult priority recognition, as well as, intelligent scene recognition with standard and advanced modes to analyze shooting conditions and select the optimal setting automatically. Sony's Double Anti-Blur solution helps keep your images blur-free.

The DSC-H50 completes the package with a 3.0" ClearPhoto LCD Plus display that lets you easily view your images and menu options.

Features:

Sensor - 1/2.3 " Super HAD Type

CCD - Approx 10.3 million pixels total - 9.1 million effective pixels

Image sizes

• 9M(3, 456 x 2, 592)

  
  




• 5M(2, 592 x 1, 944)

  
  




• 3M(2, 048 x 1, 536)

  
  




• VGA(640 x 480)

  
  




• 3:2(3, 456 x 2, 304)

  
  




• 16:9(3, 456 x 1, 944) /(1, 920 x 1, 080)

  
  

Movie clips

• MPEG VX Fine / Standard(640 x 480 @ 30 / 16.6 fps MPEG-1 with audio)

  
  




• 320 x 240 @ 8.3 fps - Optical zoom can be used during movie recording

  
  

File formats

• Still: JPEG

  
  




• Movie: MPEG VX(MPEG-1)

  
  

Lens

• Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar - 31-465mm(35mm equiv)

  
  




• 15x optical zoom

  
  




• F2.7-4.5 - 13 elements in 8 groups(including 1ED glass element and 4 aspheric elements)

  
  

Image stabilization Super SteadyShot®

Conversion lenses Yes

Digital zoom** - Up to 30x Smart Zoom(dependent on selected resolution)

Focus** - Auto - Manual - Macro - Single - Monitoring

AF area modes - 9 Area Multi-Point AF - Center AF - Flexible spot AF - Contrast detect

AF assist lamp Yes

Focus distance

• Normal: 50cm(19.7 in) minimum(W), 120cm(47.25 in) minimum(T)

  
  




• Macro: 1cm(0.4 in) wide only

  
  

Metering

• Multi-pattern(49 zone)

  
  




• Center weighted

  
  




• Spot

  
  

ISO sensitivity

• Auto - ISO 80, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1600, ISO 3200

Exposure compensation

-+/-2EV - 1/3 EV steps

Exposure bracketing

+/- 0.3, 0.7, 1.0 EV

Shutter speed

• Auto: 1/4-1/4000sec

  
  




• P: 1"-1/4000sec

  
  




• S: 30"-1/4000sec

  
  




• A: 8"-1/2000sec

  
  




• M: 30"-1/4000sec

  
  

Aperture

F2.7-F8(W)

Modes*

• Program(with program shift)

  
  




• Easy Shooting Auto

  
  




• Aperture priority

  
  




• Shutter priority

  
  




• Manual

  
  




• Scene modes

  
  

Scene modes

• Twilight - Twilight Portrait - Portrait - Landscape - Beach - Snow - Fireworks - High Sensitivity - Advanced Sports Shooting - Smile Shutter

Face Detection

• Off / Auto / Child / Adult - 8 faces - Smile detection

White balance

• Auto - Daylight - Cloudy - Fluorescent 1, 2, 3 - Incandescent -

Flash WB - One Push

Manual Self timer

• 10 or 2 secs

Continuous shooting

100 shots, 1.6fps, 9MP(max)

Image parameters

Vivid, Real, Sepia, B&W, Sharpness, Contrast, DRO, Saturation, Color Filter,

NR Flash

• Auto - On - Slow Synch - Off - Red-eye reduction - Front/rear synch - Auto/Daylight synch

  
  




• Range: 0.2 - 9.1m(wide) 1.2 - 5.5m(tele)

  
  

Viewfinder

• 0.2" EVF - 201K pixels

LCD monitor

• 3.0-inch tilting TFT - 230K pixels

  
  




• Clear Photo LCD Plus

  
  

*Connectivity

*- USB 2.0 high speed

• HDTV(requires optional component lead)

  
  




• AV w/multi-jack

  
  




• DC in

  
  

Print compliance

PictBridge,

DPOF Storage

• Memory Stick Duo / Pro Duo compatible *(comes with 1 GB Sony Memory Stick with 5 yrs warranty)

- 15MB internal memory

Power

• Lithium-ion NP-BG1 battery

  
  




• BC-CSG Charger Weight(inc batt) 547 g(1 lb 3.3 oz)

  
  

Dimensions

116.1 x 81.4 x 86.0 mm(4.6 x 3.2 x 3.4in)

Other features

• Playback effects

  
  




• Face search

  
  




• In-camera retouch

  
  




• NightShot

  
  




• Remote Control

  
  




• Histogram

  
  




• White balance and color mode bracketing

  
  




• three level noise reduction setting

  
  

Price: Rs. 19, 990 (I felt very competitive pricing from Sony)