Sony DSC-H1 Review

The Cyber-shot H1 features a Sony 12x, 6 to 72mm (36 to 432mm in 35mm equivalent), F2.8 - F3.7 zoom lens. It is constructed of 11 elements in 9 groups with 1 ED glass element and 1 aspheric element. Sony's Super Steady Shot optical image stabilization feature counteracts camera-shake to ensure sharp images. This feature also benefits low-light photography by allowing the use of longer shutter speeds with reduced risk of image blur from camera-shake.

Equipped with a low-light AF-assist lamp, the contrast detection autofocus system has a range of 19.7" (50cm) - infinity in normal mode and from 3/4" (2cm) - infinity in Macro focus mode.

Supplied with a lens hood and 58mm filter adapter, the H1 is compatible with the Sony VCL-DH0758 model 0.7x wide angle conversion lens which provides a wider field of view and the Sony VCL-DH1758 1.7x telephoto conversion lens which offers greater magnification. Both lenses will be available by mid-June 2005 for about $150 each.

The auto popup speedlight has modes for: Auto, Red-eye Reduction, Fill-in and Slow-sync. The working range at ISO Auto in wideangle is 0.3-6.8 m (~1.0-22 ft) and 0.9-5.2 m (~3.0-17 ft) in telephoto. The flash squelches down nicely for macro exposures and has 3 power output settings.

The H1 has an eyelevel electronic viewfinder (EVF). This is a tiny 0.75cm color LCD monitor with 115,000 pixels and a magnified eyepiece. The diopter adjustment lever is underneath. The EVF can be used for framing, review and menu operations. The FINDER/LCD button switches the active display from EVF to the large color LCD - the information displayed on both monitors is identical.

Back Controls: The FINDER/LCD button selects the active display. The "Hand" icon button turns the Super Steady Shot image stabilizer on/off. The Zoom Lens controls for Wide and Telephoto - also function as Index and Magnify when in review mode. The MENU button calls up and dismisses menu screens. The 4-way controller is for navigating menus, changing settings and selecting playback images. The center button accepts menu selections. In record mode the 4-way buttons are used for: "Up" change flash modes, "Down" enable selftimer, "Left" is Quick View for reviewing the last image captured and "Right" is for Macro focus mode. The MONITOR button controls the amount of information displayed on EVF or LCD. The TRASHCAN button is for image deletion in review mode and is used to select the Image Resolution in record mode.

Top controls: Out in front of the shutter release button is the Jog Dial (used to change settings in the manual modes.) The Power on/off button. The FOCUS button selects the desired focus mode (Multi point AF, Center AF, Flexible Spot AF, Manual Focus). The BRK button selects the drive mode (Single, Burst, AE Bracketing, Multi Burst). The Mode Dial with positions for: AUTO, Program AE, Shutter-speed priority AE, Aperture priority AE, Manual, Scene Modes (Night, Night Portrait, Candle, Beach, Sports, Landscape, Portrait) Movie and Playback.

On the left side are the I/O ports:

A/V output, video is NTSC or PAL, audio is monaural

USB 2.0 (high speed) data port.

The H1 stores its data on ~30MB of internal memory and optional Memory Stick and Memory Stick PRO Cards. Memory Stick PRO media is required for capturing the MPEG-VX Fine mode 30fps motion video clips.

The Cyber-shot H1 is powered by two AA type batteries. Sony recommends -only- the use of NiMH rechargeables and supplies a pair of high-capacity cells with the camera. We recommend NiMH for financial as well as ecological reasons - they're reusable hundreds of times. Check out our Rechargeable Battery Page for info and prices on high-capacity NiMH AA cells.

The H1 comes with two high-capacity Sony NiMH batteries and a compact AC charger.