Whoa, this is a smokin' hot camera! But is it too much for some?

It was like something out of a silent-era Buster Keaton film. I was at my daughter's dance recital and I brought along my six year old Olympus 3.3 megapixel camera. Just as I dropped the lens cap, some kid stepped on it - CRACK! As I was picking it up, my $200 sunglasses fell off of my head and was nearly stepped on. My panic started up again - just as fast as it subsided. Another kid brushed by me and the extended camera lens actually bent! That's right, it bent so far to one side that it would not go back in. The camera was done at that moment. My chuckling wife, in all her wisdom says, "Oh well, you wanted a new camera anyway." But I was going to give that camera to my daughter to use. (shrugs)

Off to Best Buy I went. There were no reviews of the DSC H9 on Epinions at that point, so I used the knowledge of two camera geeks who were looking at buying this model. I listened to them talk about this camera's features and how it's better than last year's model, blah, blah, blah. I was sold. Problem was, so were many other people - that they were sold out. I got on my cell and found out that another Best Buy (14 miles away) had four of them. This actually means they might have three since one was the display model. The camera geeks heard me tell my wife about the other Best Buy and the race was on. It was like toy hunting at Christmas time. They were in their brand new Land Rover - me in my three year old GMC.

So we're at the other Best Buy and our salesperson has our camera in her hands. Apparently, they don't trust customers to walk them to the register. That's great business tactics. Anyway, we were talking about an extra battery and 2-gig memory stick when in walk the camera geeks. I said, "You took the freeway, huh?" It was packed - my GPS guided me on the back streets. It's good to be the King...LOL

The Epinions display photo depicts the silver model and to my understanding, only available through Sony or Ebay. I have the black model and I like it better because it looks more like an SLR (single lens reflex).


Please Note:
In all my time here at Epinions, I have never been so nervous about writing a review as I have with this one. Why? Because this camera is so multi-faceted and so advanced that I wanted to make sure I did the review justice before publishing it for all to see. FYI: I started writing this review back in May of '07.

Also, a bit about my photography background. I'm a graduate of one of the best photography schools in the world - although I was a film production major. Art Center College of Design taught me how to compose a shot and how to see differently. I'm not suggesting that I'm a fabulous photographer, but I'm told my shots are pretty great - even by professional photographers. Why do I mention all of this? Simple. You need to know what level of photographer you are before you purchase a camera. Why spend a grip of cash on a camera that's far more advanced than the shots you take? In other words, if all you do is take family & pet photos for memories, buy an inexpensive 1-4 megapixel camera. If you like getting out and shooting landscapes, still life, sporting events or go on road trips for the photo ops, then buy a better camera with better optics and a higher megapixel rate - like this one. However, if you're a pro shutterbug and you earn a living with your photos, buy a high-end digital SLR. I equate this Sony H9 camera as a high-end consumer-level camera. Remember, the larger you wish to enlarge your photos, the higher the megapixel rate the camera should be. Just as with film cameras, a 35mm will not produce a better image than, let's say, a 4x5 or 8x10 format camera. This is because when you enlarge an image, the greater chance you won't get pixelation (digital squares or pixels in digital photography) that distorts the image.


What Comes In the Box:
The camera, a battery, a wall charger, a quick guide, a remote, a software CD, a lens shade, a lens shade extender, a multi cable (for connecting the camera to a PC or a television) and a Sony camera strap.


Highlighted Features:
There are several scene selections to be made in still mode. They include shooting in high sensitivity to light, portrait (actually blurs the background for you), advanced sports shooting where the camera actually anticipates movement and adjusts focus, twilight portrait for shooting in low light and not losing the background, landscape, twilight, beach, snow and fireworks.

There are also several exposure modes that include:

Program Shift: for changing the aperture and shutter speed while keeping the brightness.

Shutter Speed Priority: Adjust the shutter speed manually if, say, you're using a light meter.

Aperture Mode: The ability to alter the amount of light that passes through the lens.

Manual Exposure Mode: Adjust the shutter and the aperture.

ISO Mode: Selects a light sensitivity for various lighting conditions. The larger the number, the more light sensitive it is.

Focus Mode: Over-ride the camera's auto focus feature for tough focus shots.


What I Like:
Number one: the amazing color-rich images this camera takes. Maybe it's the combination of the Zeiss lens and Sony's electronics, but I am really impressed with the saturated color this camera captures. Skies are rendered a deep blue, reds are vivid and grass is greener than any homeowner would envy.

Another amazing feature is its rapid fire image capture. Let's say you're shooting a sporting event. One image is not going to capture the essence of the event. With the simple press of a button, you can shoot shot after shot as fast as you can press the trigger. It's like having a built-in power winder on an old SLR camera. You can get creative and use this feature to shoot a stop motion animated short. When you play back the images they seem to come alive in a cinematic kind of way.

This camera utilizes "face detection." When I depress the shutter button half way, not only does the camera's electronics focus, but it actually recognizes faces and makes it a priority. Of course, with manual over-rides alternative effects can be achieved like soft background focus, etc.

You can also shoot stills and video in total darkness with the camera's built-in infrared illumination.

The fastest shutter speed is 1/4000th of a second. That'll stop hummingbird wings for sure. I doubt it'll capture a bullet in flight but 1/4000th of a second is pretty darn fast.

The camera has a built-in slideshow function and can play back images with pans, fades and wipe transitions all set to music - bonus!

I love that I can shoot fully manual and fully automatic or any combination of the two with the various auto modes.

I love that this camera is so lightweight, yet so professional looking.

I love that I can shoot hi-quality video. The duration depends on available memory. In this case, bigger is better.

Another great feature is "Super Steady Shot." It comes in handy if you'd prefer NOT to make your audience sick while watching your video.


What I'm on the Fence About:
Battery life. Sony has decided, in its infinite wisdom, to make proprietary batteries - in other words, you can only use their batteries. While you can find better deals on Ebay and other online merchants, it's a bit restrictive. The battery life seems to be average, so, again, keep a spare or two on hand.

One minor quibble: If I need to turn it on in a hurry and get that amazing action shot, it won't happen. The camera needs to boot up so there's a slight delay.

To view shots I've taken, there are a few too many buttons to press in order to access the library on the storage card.

The camera's internal memory is a mere 31 mb. This forces you to buy a large memory card or cards, especially if you shoot video.


What I Don't Like:
There's no manual! At this price point you'd think Sony would include one. No such luck, but that seems to be a cost-cutting trend across the board with other manufacturers as well. I opted to go online and download the .pdf file from Sony's website and I can access it on my PC. I also printed one copy (on half pages) then took the pages to get spiral bound at Office Depot. It's nice to have a copy in my camera bag because there are so many selections and options for this camera. It's also very nice to have during the familiarization period.

I don't like the fact that I have to remove the lens shade when using flash or there's a shadow in half of my image. Sony could have designed the flash unit better or higher up so this would not be an issue.


Accessories I'd Recommend:

Case/Bag: First and foremost, you need a good camera bag/case. Expect to spend anywhere from $19 to $60. I went with a Canon bag with all sorts of zippered storage areas. You'll need room to carry the camera, lenses, extra battery, filters, the manual, A/C adapter(s), USB cords, extra storage cards, canned air, etc. There are more expensive bags, but you won't need them. You also might not want a heavier metal case. Funny story, when at Best Buy to buy a camera bag, the employee was baffled by my choice to purchase a Canon brand bag for a Sony brand camera. "Canon bags are for Canon cameras." I guess she had a hard time realizing that it doesn't matter.

Tripod(s). I like having a larger tripod for long exposures or group shots and I carry a tiny desktop tripod for guerilla photography or eBay product shots.

Batteries: You definitely want an extra battery or two. Since these are Sony's proprietary batteries, look on eBay or other internet sites for deals. Sometimes you can score a 2-pak for a much better deal.

Chargers: In addition to the supplied wall charger, you will want the cigarette adapter charger for charging batteries on the road - especially if you like nature shots and road trips.

Storage cards: You'll want at least two cards. The camera doesn't come with one and the internal memory is barely enough to shoot a dozen pics in high resolution. I purchased 2-gig and 1-gig cards. Storage cards come in all sizes, so buy according to your anticipated need. Again, these are Sony proprietary products but you can find third party storage cards on the net.

Lenses: Speaking of, I found out that there are (at this time) two optional add-on lenses for this camera. It "almost" has an SLR feel to it. Mind you, they screw into the threaded end of the fixed lens of the camera and you have to tell the camera that you're using the add-on lens so it can calibrate. The lenses consist of the Wide-Angle lens (0.45X), 2.2 times wider and the Tele-Photo lens (2.0X) which basically doubles the effectiveness of your 15X optical zoom. You can view them at the Sony website and they cost about $150-$160 respectively. However, I found them much cheaper on eBay from a guy in Asia. Mind you, these lenses are not the higher-quality optics you'd find from Sony, but they are made in Japan and I don't use these lenses enough to warrant spending that kind of cash. The lenses I purchased from the guy on eBay are pretty decent optics though. For those prices they're pretty darn good actually.

One more important thing. The LCD screen is quite large - large like some PDA screens. I would strongly suggest using a screen protector on this camera's LCD screen.


Specs:

Sony DSC-H9 and DSC-H7 specifications are identical with exception of weight, a larger articulated (tilt-up) screen, improved focus system, faster performance and a remote control. This translates to about an $80 difference.

Sensor
• 1/2.5 " Type CCD
• 8.1 million effective pixels

Image sizes
• 3264 x 2448
• 2592 x 1944
• 2048 x 1536
• 640 x 480
• 3264 x 2176 (3:2)
• 1920 x 1080 (16:9)

Movie clips
• MPEG VX Fine / Standard
(640 x 480 @ 30 / 16 fps MPEG-1 with audio)

File formats
• JPEG
• DPOF

Lens
• Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar
• 31-465mm (35mm equivalent)
• 15x optical zoom
• F2.7-4.5

Image stabilization Super Steady Shot
Conversion lenses available
Digital zoom: Precision 2x, TTL 30x

Focus
• Auto
• Macro
• Single
• Monitoring

AF area modes
• 9-point
• Face Detection

AF assist lamp
Focus distance 50cm

Metering
• Multi-pattern
• Center-weighted
• Spot

ISO sensitivity
• Auto
• ISO 80
• ISO 100
• ISO 200
• ISO 400
• ISO 800
• ISO 1600
• ISO 3200

Exposure compensation /- 2EV in 1/3EV stop increments

Exposure bracketing
• Sharpness Setting: /-1EV in 1 step increments
• Contrast Setting: /-1EV i n step increments
• 3 frames, /-0.3/0.7/1.0EV

Shuttter speed
• Auto: 1/4 - 1/4000sec
• P: 1 second - 1/4000sec
• S: 30 seconds - 1/4000sec
• A: 8 seconds - 1/2000sec
• M: 30 seconds - 1/4000sec

Aperture F2.7 - 5.6 (w) F4.5 - 8 (t)

Modes
• Auto
• Program
• Shutter Priority
• Aperture Priority
• Manual
• Scene

Scene modes
• Twilight
• Twilight Portrait
• Portrait
• Landscape
• Beach
• Snow
• Fireworks
• High Sensitivity
• Advanced Sports Shooting

White balance
• Auto
• Daylight
• Cloudy
• Fluorescent 1, 2, 3
• Incandescent
• Flash WB
• Manual

Self timer 2 or 10sec

Continuous shooting 100 shots, 2.2fps, 8MP (max)

Image parameters Color Modes:
Natural, Vivid, Sepia, B&W

Flash
• Auto
• On
• Slow Synch
• Off
• Red-eye reduction
• Front/rear synch
• Auto/Daylight synch
• Range: 0.2 - 9.8m (wide) 1.2 - 6m (tele)

Viewfinder EVF
LCD monitor
• 3.0-inch tilt
• 230,000 pixels • 2.5-inch
• 115,000 pixels

Connectivity
• USB
• HD
• AV w/multi-jack
• DC in

Print compliance PictBridge

Storage
• Memory Stick / Pro Duo
• 31MB internal

Power
• Lithium-ion NP-BG1 battery
• BC-CSG Charger

Weight (no batt)
H9 - 407 g (14.3 oz)
H7 - 375 g (13.2 oz)

Dimensions
109.5 x 83.4 x 85.7mm (4-5/16 x 3-5/16 x 3-3/8in)



The bottom line is if you consider yourself an above-average consumer photographer who actually uses a camera for more than family, friends & pet photos, this camera is for you. If you think it may be a bit too advanced for you, try a lower - less expensive model with fewer features. If you'll never use things like the manual settings, why pay for the options?