Product Description

Shoot dramatic close-ups and sharp fast-action shots with the 8.1 megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-H7 digital camera. The Carl Zeiss 15X optical zoom and Advanced Sports Mode with high shutter speed are perfect for crisp long shots and excellent detail when shooting at sporting events. Super SteadyShot image stabilization and high-sensitivity (ISO 3200) mode reduce blur when shooting without a flash and Face Detection technology brings out the best in faces. You can also manually control the exposure and focus of the DSC-H7, making it ideal for more artistic shots. And with HD (high definition) output, photos can look even more spectacular when you share them with friends and family on HDTV screens.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15883 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Sony
• Model: DSCH7/B
• Released on: 2007-05-11
• Dimensions: 1.00" h x 2.50" w x 4.00" l, 1.00 pounds
• Display size: 2.5

Features

• 8.1-megapixel Super HAD CCD captures enough detail for photo-quality 16 x 22-inch prints
• Carl Zeiss 15x optical zoom lens; 2.5-inch LCD display
• High Sensitivity Mode (ISO 3200) allows for shooting even in low-light conditions
• MPEG Movie VX Fine mode captures VGA (640 x 480) audio/video clips at high frame rate
• 76x Smart Zoom feature gives you an amazing ultra-close crop

Manufacturer Description
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7 camera combines 8.1-megapixel resolution and a powerful Carl Zeiss 15x optical zoom lens with new features for long-distance and fast-action shooting -- including Advanced Sports mode with high shutter speed (1/4000 seconds), powerful flash, Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization and High Sensitivity mode (ISO 3200) to reduce blur even in low light. There’s more: an electronic color viewfinder, manual exposure and focus, remote control with supplied controller, Face Detection to bring out the best in faces -- even an HD output for sharing memories with family and friends in spectacular high-definition clarity on compatible HDTV screens.

Cyber-shot DSC-H7 Highlights

High-power Carl Zeiss 15x optical zoom A superb lens for bringing long-distance subjects up close, the pro-quality Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens design of the DSC-H7 provides 15x optical zoom design -- with 25x HD digital zoom to enlarge the center portion of the picture so you see even more detail.

8.1-megapixel Super HAD CCD More megapixels give you more detail and definition for editing, cropping, and making large digital prints. Sony’s advanced Super HAD (Hole Accumulated Diode) CCD design allows more light to pass to each pixel, increasing sensitivity and reducing noise.

Advanced Sports mode To capture fast-moving subjects in split-second detail, the DSC-H7 provides a Sports shooting mode that combines high shutter speed (1/4000 seconds) with intelligent continuous AF that responds more quickly to rapid motion -- a great way to catch the perfect moment in sports, children’s games, pet tricks and more.

Long-distance flash A powerful flash provides extra illumination to light up subjects farther from your camera, with precise light control and the ability to adjust flash for both front and rear sync when shooting at low-speed sync setting.

Super SteadyShot optical image stabilization Other image stabilization systems crop in to compensate for "camera shake" -- but with the Super SteadyShot system, optical sensors detect camera movement and send correcting signals to a stabilization lens that allows even ultra-long-distance digital photos to capture more detail with less camera shake distortion.

High Sensitivity mode With Super SteadyShot image stabilization to minimize blur, High Sensitivity mode (ISO 3200) lets the DSC-H7 shoot effectively in low light without flash to preserve the mood -- and Sony’s original Clear RAW NR (Noise Reduction) image processing technology helps suppress the color noise that can accompany high-sensitivity shooting.

Face detection By automatically controlling focus, exposure, color and flash, this new Sony feature helps reveal faces in shadow, makes skin tones look more natural and minimizes harsh facial glare -- to help bring out every expression on every face in every shot, so you’ll capture the personalities and emotions that make memories come alive.

HD output Thanks to Sony, your photo album can go high-def -- with direct HD output to compatible HDTV screens, so you can view DSC-H7 still photos in spectacular high definition clarity and detail. Your life never looked so exciting!
_{Note: HD output requires an optional Sony HD connector cable; HDTV sold separately}

HD slide show with music It’s the high-definition viewing experience that makes photos come alive on compatible HDTV screens, accompanied by your choice of visual effects and any of four preset musical selections stored in memory or your favorite MP3 tunes downloaded from PC to your camera for use as background music.

9-Point Auto Focus Because an off-center subject can make your shot more interesting, the DSC-H7 can measure auto-focus precision at 9 points on your screen -- giving you greater creative freedom to compose your image.

D-Range Optimization Powered by the exclusive Sony Bionz high-speed processing engine, D-Range Optimization preserves image data in bright highlights and reveals more detail in shadows or backlit areas -- for great results even in difficult lighting conditions.

In-camera retouching The DSC-H7 lets you add creative effects to photos after you shoot -- including soft edge filter to soften backgrounds, cross filter to place starry "dazzles" at highlight points, partial color filter to mute surrounding colors, even fish-eye filter to create interesting fish-eye lens effects.

In-Camera Red-Eye Reduction Irritating "glowing eyes" can ruin even the most creative photos -- so the DSC-H7 gives you in-camera correction at the touch of a button to reduce lingering red-eye effect that other systems might miss.

2.5-inch LCD screen, simple controls The DSC-H7 provides a large, bright LCD screen that makes it easy to compose shots, check results and read menus even in bright sunlight -- plus simple camera menus, a new GUI Home button, and Function Guide display that makes it easier to learn camera setup operations.

Electronic color viewfinder In addition to its 2.5-inch LCD screen, the DSC-H7 has a built-in electronic color viewfinder that lets you shoot in traditional camera style and save battery power by turning your LCD screen off.

Remote control function In both shooting and play mode, you can use a supplied remote control unit to control basic camera functions -- including zoom, menu settings, etc. -- so you can put yourself in the picture when shooting with a tripod or sit back and enjoy the show when you share images on your home TV screen.

Wheel dial for manual exposure modes For more creative freedom, a simple wheel-dial control lets you quickly change camera settings in manual modes (shutter speed priority, aperture priority, manual exposure) and also control ISO sensitivity, focus area, and exposure value. In play mode, the wheel dial provides a quick way to view your next or previous shot.

31 MB internal memory The DSC-H7 allows you to capture shots in-camera for later transfer to PC or Memory Stick Duo media -- so even if you forget your flash memory card, you can always get the shot.

Memory Stick Duo Media The DSC-H7 has a built-in slot for optional Memory Stick Duo media or higher-capacity Memory Stick Pro Duo media -- the ultra-compact media for shooting, storing and sharing your photo images.

76x Smart Zoom feature Sony’s Smart Zoom feature gives you an amazing ultra-close crop on the central portion of interest in your photo while avoiding the image degradation of other digital zooms.

MPEG Movie VX Fine Mode The DSC-H7 can capture VGA (640 x 480) audio/video clips at high frame rate (up to 30 frames per second) -- with optical zoom in movie mode to let you zoom in or pull back while taking action shots.

Stamina battery power The DSC-H7 provides up to 250 shots with a fully-charged NP-BG1 Lithium-ion battery -- enough shooting capacity to cover a long weekend or a whole vacation.

Customer Reviews

Great camera, very fast shots.
Out of the box impressions: Ultimate point and shoot. There may be downsides for those into serious digital photography but for semi-advanced idiot shooters like me, this is tops. Biggest advance for me: No shoot-the-head-get-the-tail lag in sports mode. 15X zoom is great. Movie mode works seamlessly and seems of high quality. I've seen critiques of the H9 on Amazon that were long and scathing and so I was somewhat skeptical. Those with concerns about advanced color and a real need for 8 mp should check them out. They're well done. But the serious critiques seem to come from those looking for a pro SLR, not a point and shoot. Which to me is like saying a great family car isn't like a sports car. Two different animals. But for my needs, which include some shots for publication and web publishing, this is an enormously big camera at a reasonable price. Battery pack works great. Strobe is big. One annoyance: not sure if sound-effects can be shut off. Serious problem for wildlife fotogs. Updates...See comments on how sound can be turned off. Also, after a few months of use, still feel great about the camera. Con: On close photo shots, if you have the lens attachment on, the lens attachment will throw a shadow as it blocks the strobe.

A Feature Loaded Compact Camera
This is by far one of the best value-for-money compact Sony Cybershot in the market, along with all the H series from Sony. Granted the H series does not perform very well optically, (there's wheel barrel distortion at wide end zoom and visible purple fringing), but the recent upgrade in terms of megapixels and increased optical zooming in the H7 (and H9) plus remote control and improved processing speed (thanks to the BIONZ processor) really makes this compact worth a second look.

Surely the quality of the Carl-Zeiss lens on the H7 can in no way compare with those of either the R1 or the Alpha, but please bear in mind that the H7 is after all a compact point and shoot camera. I have previously owned a W600, a P100 and a P200 from Sony. The resolution of these cameras were of course lower than 8.1MP, and the cameras were of course slower than the H7, but generally these cameras could not out-perform the H7, especially when it comes to picture reproduction. The purple fringing is visible on all models under bright light, the wheel barrel distortion is horrible on the W600 but less visible on the P100 and P200, but most of all these compacts do not provide extensive manual handling (W600 doesn't provide any), which makes them unfavorable under alot of shooting conditions.

The H7 captures and focuses at an amazing speed (with the help of the new processor I presume), and it also has enough processing power to do full resolution bursts up to 100 pictures per burst (which i find amazing considering the price of the camera). My R1 can only do 3 bursts at one click and has to stop to to clear its buffer for a few seconds (to process and store the images), and although the images are almost flawless (the T coated CZ lens is unbelievably sharp, corner to corner), the inability of the R1 to continuously capture images has cost me alot of precious "kodak" moments, and the R1 is a USD999 camera. The USD350 H7 can snap away like a crazy ADD kid on adrenaline capturing every moment in 8.1MP without needing a breather... (personally i can't hold my finger down for 100 shots) :)

This camera of course has it's limitations: the burst mode limits the ISO setting to only 400 (you wouldn't want anything more than that anyway because the images tend to get really noisy after ISO 400), and certain shutter speeds (max is 1/4000 sec, impressive since even my R1 could only do 1/2000) are only available under certain aperture sizes and certain zoom ranges. Also, the images are generally noisy in darker, shadowy areas (then again it's no more than any other compact cameras and even those cameras with APS-C sensors suffer from picture noise as well; they're just a bit less visible on screen (due to the size of the sensor) but you'll see them alright) and the H7 does not come with a hot shoe for you to use external flashes to do those beautiful bounce-flash photography or super long range flash photography (it's actually pointless anyway because the optical zoom on the H7 is so powerful (up to 475mm) that there's no external flash in the market that could reach as far as the camera).

If you're looking for a compact point and shoot that has enough features and manual controls to drive you crazy while shooting pictures of the moon all the way to your kid's sports game, look no further. The H7 is a steal :) Manual controls found on D-SLRs like Aperture Priority, Full Manual and Shuttle Priority can all be found here, just like the R1 and Alpha, and although the picture quality of the H7 cannot compete with those from the R1 or Alpha, it compensates well with a built-in mega zoom lens (the R1 can only go from 24mm to 120mm whereas the Alpha requires multiple lenses) that goes from 31mm to 475mm, light weight and a very compact chassis (for a compact with such a powerful built-in zoom lens) and speedy responses that match those of the Sony Alpha (they both use the new BIONZ processor). Can't wait to see what Sony will introduce for the H series family next year..

Great "Bridge" Camera
I did a lot of research on "bridge" cameras (digital cameras that fall between "point and shoot" and DSLRs) and finally decided on the H7 for two reasons. First, I owned a 3.2 mp Sony camera prior to this one. I was pleased with the way it worked and found the in-camera menus easy to use. I wanted to upgrade to more megapixels and larger optical zoom, but still have an "easy to use" camera. Second, Sony cameras had ALL the features I wanted (steady shot, face recognition, high ISO, etc) whereas other brands tended to only have one or two of these options.

The camera was easy to set up and I started taking pictures within 5 minutes (the battery was 2/3 charged out of the box). The camera came with a remote, carrying strap, lens cover, and lens shade. You have to buy a memory stick, but I just used my extra one from my PSP.

Pros:
-8.1 megapixels with 15x Optical zoom: These two features are hard to find together in a camera. I found with other cameras I had to compromise on one or the other. The mix of these two features creates some great pictures.

-Steady Shot: Like other reviewers said, I found this helps a lot when you are at maximum zoom

-Face recognition: It takes some fiddling to make it work right, but it does help center your pictures on the people rather than the background.

-Menus: Having owned a Sony camera before, learning the in camera menus wasn't that hard. However, it may take some time for folks not used to Sony products.

Cons:
-LCD screen: The screen smudges very easily and quickly. The resolution on the screen isn't very good for what I expected from Sony and is the main reason I can't give this product 5 stars.

-Body style: While the construction of the camera gives a very professional look, it can be hard to hold. You will probably need two hands if you're doing a lot of shots.

-Accessories must be Sony made: As with all Sony products, you must buy only their accessories. I know this is a big factor for folks who already own a large collection of lenses.

-Action shots: I probably need to work the settings on the camera, but all my action shots seem to come out blurry. I had seen some reviews of this camera that said this was an issue.

All in all, this is a great camera. As a previous reviewer said this camera is not for folks looking for a DSLR. It is a step above the first generation of "point and shoots." However, for all the features you get, it is a great value.