Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10 Review
Review Date: August 4th 2008
Author: Zoltan Arva-Toth
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Conclusion
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Ratings
(out of 5) |
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| Design | 3.5 |
| Features | 4 |
| Ease-of-Use | 4 |
| Image Quality | 4 |
| Value for Money | 4.5 |
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10, an evolutionary upgrade to last year's H3, is a compact, responsive and versatile superzoom with an effective image-stabilisation system. If the strangely shaped hand-grip and the plastic body do not inspire confidence at first, don't let these initial impressions fool you: this is the type of camera that grows on you as you use it more and more. The lack of an eye-level viewfinder may also be strange at first if you are used to 35mm film cameras, but the huge LCD is really one of the best I have used, in terms of viewing angle and daylight visibility. So long as you use the camera as a point and shoot, you will have hardly any complaints about responsiveness and operational speed. It's only when you want to take control that you'll find the restricted number of external controls a bit of a pain, as this means you have to dive into the menu to set almost anything. But in the case of a compact digicam like this, the mere possibility to set so many things counts as an asset, and to be frank, the dimensions of the camera do not really allow much more external controls to be crammed onto its body.
Given that the lens' widest angle corresponds to that of a 38mm optic on a 35mm camera, the H10 isn't quite the tool to shoot dramatic ultra-wide landscapes or to take group shots in cramped rooms. Nevertheless, its huge zoom still gives you enormous flexibility to take various kinds of photo, from macros to candids to portraits and so on. The lens exhibits visible barrelling at the wide end and isn't exactly free of chromatic aberrations either, but its resolving power is high enough to be a match for the tiny but high-resolution sensor.
The H10's most obvious rival is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5, which boasts a slimmer and overall slightly smaller metal body, a higher-resolution screen, an all-around better movie mode and a wider lens with less distortion. On the other hand, the DSC-H10 offers manual exposure control, a better flash and a lens with longer reach for those who take most of their pictures in the ultra-telephoto range. So in the end it all boils down to what kind of photographer you are � but if it matches your shooting style, expectations and requirements, you can't go too far wrong with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10.
Our review unit of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10 was kindly provided by http://www.ccsfoto.hu/
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