Sony has taken its big zoom formula, shrunken the body and produced a compact 10x optical zoom camera that suits nearly everyone’s shooting appetites. But will it satisfy yours?

A far-off view

The lens is yet another adaptation from the Carl Zeiss stable covering from 38mm wide angle through to 380mm telephoto. It’s a useful range for the soccer mum wanting to capture the action without having to break a heel running up the sideline, or as a work camera that will focus as close as two centimetres.

Marry this with Sony’s Super Steady Shot image stabiliser and you have a camera that will perform even in limited light. Sony has also included a High Sensitivity setting that whisks the ISO range up to 3200 if the light gets too low, allowing you to shoot at a higher shutter speed. However, the increase in ISO does diminish picture quality, so in reality you are best to fall back on the flash in low-light situations. It does a satisfactory job but there is some fringing at the telephoto end of the zoom range.

Flash with punch

The built-in automatic flash is this little wonder’s biggest asset, and it will happily produce enough light right through the focal range. It is a shame the handbook is so pitiful, giving scant information and guidance when it should be informing you that the flash is the next best defence against low-light camera shake.

Bells and whistles

The menu system is painless to stroll through and, thanks to the written confirmation of each function, saves you from repeatedly referring to the handbook. The H3 can play music when reviewing images in the slide show setting. There are four tracks included and you can change these to your own music mix to add that special flavour to the images. It even makes slick transitions as it changes from one image to the next.

High definition

There is a dual connection cable in the box that allows you to plug into your TV or computer with USB and RCA connections on the one cable. For a few dollars more you can get an HD (high definition) cable for connection to your shiny new HDTV. If all you’ll ever do is show your images on your big HDTV, there is a 1080 HD 16:9 setting at which you can shoot your images. However, be mindful that this gives images of about two million pixels. If your goal is to enlarge your shots then you’ll want to take advantage of the full eight million pixels this camera produces.

Conclusion

The Sony DSC-H3 is for most a conveniently sized 10x optical zoom camera with a bunch of clever tricks that make it more fun than most other mid-range zooms on the market. The flash range is brilliant, as is the battery life from the rechargeable Lithium-ion battery. Image quality when printed small (up to A4) won’t be questionable. But start blowing up pictures taken at the maximum zoom and you may be disappointed with the fringing. 

Specs

• Manufacturer: Sony
• Effective Pixels: 8.1 million
• Lens: 10x Optical Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 6.3-63mm
• LCD Monitor: 2.5-inch TFT (115,200 pixels)
• Shutter: 30 sec – 2000 sec
• Aperture: f3.5 – f4.4
• ISO: Auto, 100 – 3200
• Shooting Modes: Auto, Program, Manual, Movie, Twilight and others 
• Metering: Multi, centre, spot
• Focus: Multi, centre, spot, face
• Media: 31MB internal memory, Memory Stick Duo
• File Format: JPEG, MPEG-1
• Flash: Built-in
• Interface: USB2.0
• Batteries: Lithium-ion rechargeable
• Dimensions: 106 x 68.5 x 47.5mm
• Weight: 380g

Profile

Contact

www.sony.co.nz

Rating

Pros

• Great flash range

• Your music for slide show

• 2cm macro

Cons 

• Fringing at maximum telephoto

• No 1080 cable

Fraser Kitt

(No Ratings Yet)
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