By Damian Koh
10/04/2006
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/digitalcameras/0,39005881,39116560p,00.htm

Modeled after the Cyber-shot H1 but with the killer looks of the Cyber-shot R1, the 7.2-megapixel Cyber-shot H5 is capable of holding its own as a compact 12x optical zoom shooter. Camera aside, we feel the H5 can possibly pass off as one of the most futuristic-looking digicams in the market today. Alternatively, if you prefer a smaller 2-inch LCD, the 6-megapixel Cyber-shot H2 would suit your fancy.

Design
With a full load of two 2,500mAh nickel-metal-hydride rechargeable batteries and our benchmark SanDisk Ultra II 1GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, the weight of the Cyber-shot DSC-H5 provides a substantial and solid feel without straining our hands.

The H5 retains most of the design set found on the previous H1. The rotating mode dial sits prominently on the top edge of the camera. A wealth of controls occupies the areas above, as well as to the left of the mode dial. Here, you can find the shutter, focus, continuous/bracket, power, optical image stabilization, finder/LCD and playback buttons evenly spaced among the limited estate on the top of the camera. In addition, there's a jog dial nestled on the front of the hand grip where your first finger rests when holding the shooter.

	The diopter adjuster hides under the viewfinder.

One major gripe we have with the H5 is its vertically challenged stature. When we picked up the unit, our pinky slid under the camera conveniently. Not much of a problem initially, but during prolonged one-hand use, we realized the shooter was, in fact, resting on our last finger, giving it undue strain. We had to consciously command our digit to move back up to the hand grip.

A 3-inch LCD occupies most of the rear estate on the H5. There's also an electronic viewfinder (EVF) above the monitor. Most people would miss this, which we initially did as well, but the rotating diopter adjuster sits right beneath the protruding viewfinder. The zoom lever, display, menu, resolution/delete and directional controls occupy whatever space that's left on the back of the camera. What we didn't really care for was the very cramped feeling which usually results in unintended key presses on the unit.

Most impressive on the H5 (as well as on its predecessor, the H1) is the dual-hinged cover for the Memory Stick Duo and battery compartments. You can open the media card cover without risk of your batteries falling out when you are switching cards. It also makes the changing of batteries and memory cards a whole lot easier when your camera is on a tripod.

Features
In terms of features, the H5 is more of an incremental upgrade to the H1 than a whole new camera by itself. According to Sony, the H5 (and H2) are the first Cyber-shots with long-range zooms to feature the double anti-blur technology. That aside, we've already witnessed the compact Cyber-shot DSC-T9 sporting this feature.

The double anti-blur technology on the H5 uses Sony's Steady Shot (image stabilizer) and a high-sensitivity setting. Gyro sensors in the camera detect the angles and speed of hand shake and move the internal shift lens to compensate for the movement. In addition, users can select the maximum sensitivity setting of ISO 1,000 for capturing subjects at a faster shutter speed. Sony also claims its Clear RAW NR system has an improved signal-to-noise ratio which reduces color and luminance noise. If you recall, Panasonic uses a similar two-prong approach for eliminating blurriness in photos. The Lumix DMC-FX01 and the Lumix DMC-TZ1 are two cameras equipped with the company's high ISO and MEGA Optical Image Stabilizer (O.I.S).

	The dual-hinged cover allows you to pop open the media card cover without risk of your batteries falling out when you are switching cards.

There are two avenues for accessing the high-sensitivity option on the H5. A more idiot-proof method is to rotate the mode dial to the ISO position and the camera will automatically determine the suitable ISO level to use. However, if you prefer to do the work yourself, you can manually select the various sensitivity levels (ISO 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1,000) in the other modes.

The 12x optical zoom lens works between the 36mm-to-432mm (35mm equivalent) range for long distance photography sans lens changing (on a digital SLR). It helps that the lens doesn't extend a lot further than the lens barrel--approximately 31mm--at the telephoto end.

Having a large 3-inch LCD monitor comes in useful when you are sharing recently taken pictures on the camera, but it's also a fingerprint magnet. In addition, if you use the EVF often, chances are you will transfer marks from your greasy face onto the screen. Keep a soft cloth handy to clean your LCD.

There's a fair bit of creative features (aperture, shutter priority and full manual) onboard the H5 to keep an enthusiast happy. We like how the mode dial appears as an overlay on the camera's monitor when we are changing settings. That gives us a bit of leeway especially when we have our eyes glued to the screen. What's even better (in a way that makes us feel Sony wants us to have our sight fixed on the LCD) is that we are able to change exposure settings by using the jog dial, which also doubles as a selection control in the creative modes.

That's not all. There are customizable settings when you go into the menus which include the color mode, metering, white balance, picture quality, flash level, contrast and sharpness. What we find useful, however, is the flexible spot autofocus option which allows us to select our desired AF point by using the directional control as a pointing device. The manual focus mode, on the other hand, may be baffling for first-timers.

Performance
Performance-wise, it's nothing to shout about, but the H5 should meet the demands of the casual snapshooter. What we didn't care for was the 0.5-second lag from the time the shutter was fully pressed until the image is captured.

The H5 took 2.1 seconds to power up and this was including the time the lens took to extend fully. Shutting down the unit took approximately the same amount of time.

We managed to fire off our first shot 3 seconds after turning on the camera. Subsequently, shooting intervals without flash averaged 1.8 seconds and 3 seconds with flash. You can snap away every 4 seconds with red eye-reduction turned on.

Burst mode was a mixed bag. First, at the maximum resolution of 7.2 megapixels in Fine quality, we could take only five shots at an approximate rate of 1fps. After we dropped to 5 megapixels, we got an extra frame. We went further down to 3 megapixels and had a total of nine images. Finally, at VGA resolution (Fine quality), we held our breath and clocked 85 pictures. Seriously, we would love to see a continuous shooting mode at the maximum resolution in the highest-quality setting, which was sorely missed in the H5.

If you press the zoom lever hard enough, you can actually get to the telephoto end (12x optical zoom) within 1.8 seconds. But if you decide to depress it "normally", it would take about 4 seconds to reach 12x zoom.

Image Quality
We didn't notice any other major flaws in image quality except for rampant purple fringing in some of our high-contrast shots and very slight barrel distortions at the wide end of the zoom. However, the casual shooter would find these effects minimal.

	Purple fringing in some high-contrast shots.

Other than the issues mentioned above, the Cyber-shot H5 delivered respectable overall photo quality. Colors were generally well-balanced and users can also select from various color modes ranging from Vivid, Natural, Sepia to black and white for that creative touch. There was also a good amount of details in the shadows and highlights so long as the difference was not too extreme.

Noise levels (we're not referring to those generated by toddlers) were largely contained between ISO 80 and ISO 400. However, at ISO 800 and ISO 1,000, noise was more evident, but we figured it shouldn't matter if you're making only small prints.