Best Digital Cameras, Customer Reviews

Review by E. A. Brown Jr.:

I just purchased the new Sony DSC-W50 and wanted a case to protect it. This is a great case in my opinion. Soft and plush inside, but firm and protective on the outside. The camera is held firmly in place from the moment you first slide it in the pocket. The additional small zippered pocket on the outside is handy for extra memory sticks, or maybe even an extra battery. The belt loop is very handy, and there is even a metal ring so that you can attach it to a carabiner or something of the like if desired. However, what I like most is that it will protect your investment and look good doing it. I think it’s one of the best buys out there. It can be had for less than delivered from several sellers through Amazon.

Review by BlueMonkeyBrains:

I bought this case for my Canon SD300 that I had recently purchased. I was looking for a small compact camera case that still have some type of padding or support. While at the store, I compared the case meant for the Canon to many others. I picked up this one mainly because it had much more protection compared to the Canon case, and it came with an extra zipper in the front, perfect for that extra memory card/battery you need to carry around. Even the inner lining of the case is exceptional, with fuzzy material soft enough not to scratch the LCD screen. My SD300 fits perfectly in the case, and although they may not be the same brand, it definitely was a great buy.

Review by Petra:

I am no expert when it comes to photography but enjoy taking good pictures of my family and friends. I have kids in sports and I like to take my own pictures for picture giving. I read many reviews (for hours) on various cameras and endet up with this one here. I first was going to get the DSC-H50 (one step up from the DSC-H20). When I went to the store to buy it, however, it was to large for my taste. It was to big to fit in a pants pocket and even for my small purse it was quite large. Here are the main reasons why this camera is awesome!

This camera here is not as compact as your typical slim camera (due to the 10x zoom), but it is small enough to fit in a purse or even a jacket/pants pocket if need be.

This camera has a burst mode so you can hold down the shutter and the camera will take numerous pictures, thus making it ideal for action shots. I took it to a Volleyball tournament and got unbelievable shots of my daughter serving and hitting! I cought her in mid air more then a few times…just what I had hoped for. I also took pictures at a track meet and got kids jumping hurdles…the pictures look almost like magazine shots!

This camera is extremely easy to use in the easy and auto adjust mode! It tells you everything on the screen. You can start shooting pretty much right away…it’s that easy! The manual is good to have for reference and questions and if you really want to get to know your camera.

The zoom is great and plenty! I took pictures from the mezzanine onto the Volleyball courts and could get nice close up shots! 10x is plenty for me!

The battery life is also impressive, as long as you keep your screen on a regular bright setting. First I had it set to “bright” and the battery didn’t do well. Then I set it to normal and it lasts a long time. I took about 150 shots and not a single bar was missing from the battery!

It has a rechargebale battery so you don’t have to keep buying regular batteries. Also, it does say that you can get a international charger so the battery charger can be plugged in anywhere in the world. (Still have to get that myself). What a nice option.

The quality of the pictures is also great! I took a team photo and my daughter took it to a practice to show the others. They choose the picture to use in a frame as a gift to the coaches. It turned out so good and all I did was push a button!

When shooting pictures, it has a option for the file size you select. If you know you want to email pictures, or for example if you sell on eBay and want to download pictures onto the ebay site, you select the small file size and shoot pictures that way for working with them online. For pictures that you use for portraits for example, you choose a larger file (pixels I guess), and that way it does not distort the picture when you enlarge it. That is also extremely easy to figure out!

Last but not least…I plugged it into my pc with the supplied USB cord and retrieved the photos the same way I always did in the past. I have not yet added the picture cd that came with it, but my guess is that it will work very good. I also took the 2GB SD card to Wal mart and made nice prints (you have to purchase the pro duo stick seperate…look for the “Sony pro-Duo Stick” cost about -). The 2 GB is plenty for me, I think it holds about 400 pictures).

Great camera…I have not found a flaw yet!

Review by sheeroses:

After much research and trying out a few cameras (Panasonic Zs1 being its main competitor) I am settling for this sony H20. The picture quality in the H20 was just much more clear. The Panasonic Lumix Zs1 had inconsistent performance and I found some pictures to be very grainy and unpleasing. I was lured in by the Panasonic’s wide angle lens and several scene selection modes, but in the end none of those matter if your picture is grainy and not of printable quality. The biggest positive about this camera is its consistently good picture quality and performance. I took this camera with me to Southeast Asia and was able to get good pictures out of a moving car and at all zooms both indoors and outdoors. I was able to get some stunning pics with the lumix but only at times and for each good pic I had about 20 bad ones, and when your traveling or trying to capture a moment you just don’t have time to shoot 20-30 frames to get a good one. For this Sony camera to be truly perfect I really wish it had a wide angle lens, a panoramic assist function (like the Sony HX1 which is much bigger and not much better pic quality but the panoramic function is incredible), a more compact design with a built in lens cap and flash so the cap doesn’t pop off every time you take a picture. I looked and looked for the perfect camera and with those added features this would be it, but for now I will settle for this camera and hopefully sony will add those functions and improve this camera in its next upgrade. If you are looking for a compact travel camera that is several steps up from the normal 3x zoom and takes consistently good crisp pictures in various settings I would recommend this camera. It is not nearly as bulky as DSLRs making it a very easy travel companion, and it takes better pics than the other competing cameras in its range as well as some mega zoom cameras.

UPDATE: November 2009-

Before I left on my trip to Turkey and Europe I ended up purchasing another camera, the Canon Sx10is. This camera was more expensive and bigger both things I was initially trying to fight against, but I am so glad I went for this extra investment because the pictures I have been able to take on my trip (panoramic and regular) have come out absolutely stunning, all on auto setting, and using the panoramic assist function. It is a little bulkier then the sony but it still fits in my purse and the results in the pic quality are incredible.I figure I will probably not come back to these places and get the opportunity to take stunning pics again, so the slightly more money and bulk ended up being no bother when I will have very memorable pictures to look back on my trips. Look for my review and uploaded pics on the canon powershot page. If you can afford it and can take slightly more bulk, this camera ended up being the ultimate winner for me, and was everything I was trying to force the sony to be. I wanted to offer this option to those who are looking for something a little more then the sony has to offer. check out this canon before deciding.

Review by Andrew J. Marton:

I was looking for a new digital camera to replace my Leica V-Lux 1 which a bought a couple of years ago. I sold the Leica and was planning to use the money to buy a current camera. My dilemma was whether to stay with a super zoom camera (flaws and all) or take a step toward an entry model DSLR. I also wanted a 2009 model as I wanted the most current technology available so I would be less inclined to feel the need to buy an “upgrade” in another year or so. Ultimately, I narrowed my search down to the Sony HX1, Canon SX1, Panasonic G1 and Sony a300. For me, build quality and feel, size (travel convenience) and lens versatility were my main priorities (not necessarily in that order). I think it is very important to figure out exactly what you really want out of your camera so you get a good fit that matches your expectations. So for me, low light picture quality was not a major concern as I expected to use the camera mostly outdoors or in good lighting situations. And in-door shots were probably going to be portraits or museum shots so again it was not a big concern for me.

Initially, I really liked the form factor of the SX10 (SX1 was not out yet) and its feel in my hands and layout. But I did want a reusable intelligent battery vs. AAs and I was not that impressed with the screen resolution and EVF. Reviews of the SX1 were also a little disappointing so I decided to pass on the Canon. I next explored the DSLRs. I really liked the Sony a300 but in the end couldn’t justify the cost (this is a minor hobby for me and kids are teenagers so there are a lot less Kodak moments for m) and I didn’t want to lug lenses around as I did that most of my life when I had old fashioned film cameras like the Nikon FE2 / N6006. The G1 was very intriguing but I was leaving on a summer vacation in early June and did not want to wait too long as I wanted to be completely familiar with the camera before the trip and know how to “work” the camera so I got good results (experience has taught me that there is a learning curve on getting descent pictures from a particular model) so I passed on the G1 as its release date was in June. In the end, I “talked” myself out of buying a DSLR system for one main reason – I simply was not ready or committed to traveling around with all the lenses I would want – wide angle and zoom. Basically I went with convenience / ease of use over picture perfection. For ME the step up in picture quality was not worth the trouble of walking around with all that gear. I do a fair amount of camping and scenic trips so I like to keep my load light. HD video was not an issue at all as I have the Canon HV30 which is simply an amazing camcorder. It also takes incredible video in low light situations. I highly recommend it.

In the end, I decided on the HX1 because of the features that I thought were cool and would inspire creativity on my part. For me, convenience is a big factor. At some point, my enthusiasm drops off in direct relationship to whether or not it is a PIA to do something. This is a character flaw for me but worth considering if you have similar tendencies over time. Interestingly, this also happens to be my first Sony camera although I have had several Sony camcorders in the past – so I don’t believe that brand loyalty or familiarity with Sony played a part in my decision (aside from my confidence that Sony products made in Japan are exceptionally well made). The panoramic picture, twilight and anti-blur features and burst picture mode (10 frames) ultimately swayed. I thought that all of these features, despite some valid weaknesses added value to the camera and would enhance my digital camera experience. I also really liked the build quality, menu structure and ergonomics. As for the features, the panoramic picture feature works well once you understand how to use it and recognize its limitations. So far I have been very happy with the results. I am working on sharpening the picture as I think it is a little soft for my tastes. But it is so easy to use and I use it often just for fun! I find myself exploring options – something I would not do before and certainly not during post production when I am trying to tweak the 100s of pictures that I have taken during some adventure. Same for the twilight and anti-blur features. I find myself trying out each feature and comparing the results. Again, I am very happy with the results. Is it exceptional – no, but pictures turn out better than if you did not have the option and I am not overly critical as it looks great on the screen or 4×6 print out. Even 8×10 is respectable. Quite frankly, it’s really nice not to have to do all that editing in “post production”. (I use Adobe CS.) I think the lens quality is exceptional and like the way the camera lens extends out when you power up the camera – as it pushes off the lens cap. A small cute feature that everyone seems to have overlooked in their reviews. But quite easy to get used to – like all the little auto on features in your car (and the lens has a strap so it safely hangs by the side of the camera). I am not sure if that is an intended result but I love it.

I wish the initial start up was a tad faster but it’s not slow – I just wish it was faster. Zooming in and out is average. Nothing to write home about but not necessarily slow. My recollection is that the Panasonic Z26 I had at one time was faster. I also wish the lens was slightly wider than 28mm but it will have to do. (I am spoiled on this point as my son has a Nikon 10.5mm lens on his Nikon D2H and it is amazing when taking close ups of flowers, etc. – I love the distortion). But on the flip side the zoom is amazing on the HX1 and the anti-shake feature seems to do the job. I love the way I can pull a subject in to fill the screen! So overall I am very happy with the lens’ performance. The EVF is small but has nice resolution. The 3″ screen is beautiful and much better than what I saw on the SX10. The Sony screen reminds me of HD TV – it is that smooth and the colors are fantastic. It appears to have a very good anti-reflective coating. Hopefully it will last. I wish it had a swivel mount like the canon so I could turn in the screen to protect it when it is put away but the articulating stem is better than nothing.

Menu navigation is relatively easy for me with the HX1 and I prefer it to the Canon menu for some reason – even though I have HV30 camcorder. I think Sony started from scratch on this menu or adopted the basic scheme from the a300/a350 series and it makes sense and is intuitive. I like it better than the menu tree on my past Nikons, Canons and Panasonics.

All in all, I am extremely happy with the HX1 (only had it for a week so far) and strongly recommend that you check out the camera in person as I read every (and I mean every) pre-sale review on it and found that a lot of the criticisms were overly hyper-technical or ultimately less significant during my test of the camera.

Review by vlim:

** Modified 05-08-09 by adding nitpick #5 ***

I had been a digital point-and-shoot camera person for about 12 years, since the Canon Powershot 100. Over that time, I’ve upgraded to various Powershot models until 2 years ago, got a Sony A100 DSLR. I love that camera and have lots of fun taking pictures with it.

For work, we had been using my A100 to take product photos. It was nice having a remote, and all of the great DSLR features that come along with that camera. But, I have been without my A100 for a while, and was missing it dearly, so I decided to get another camera for work, and was having trouble deciding between the DSC-HX1 and the A200 DSLR.

I’ve been playing with both, and have decided to return the A200 and keep the DSC-HX1. Here’s why:

1. The other people helping me take these product photos don’t have any DSLR experience, and don’t share my enthusiasm for photography. They prefer point-and-shoot. So from an ease of use standpoint, the DSC-HX1 is a better choice, especially with the live view. The A200 doesn’t have that, and although the A350 does, it does cost 0 more.

2. The HX1 has enough features on it to allow us to play with settings to get a great shot. You can control aperture, shutter speed, etc, just like on a DSLR. Manual focusing is available, but using the selective focusing is much more accurate for our non-moving subject. We just move the cursor to highlight the area that should be in focus, and the camera does the rest. Otherwise, there are lots of DSLR-like features.

3. The picture quality is pretty good. The JPG only shooting mode may put off more serious photographers who want RAW, but is fine for those moving up from lesser cameras. The large lens and CMOS

4. Live histogram view is nice to make sure you get a good exposure.

5. The optical zoom is great. I turn off digital zoom, since I don’t really like it.

6. It’s very light, much lighter than the A200 and even more so than my A100 setup.

7. The panorama feature is nice, but we won’t be using it at the office.

8. The noise reduction modes are nice, but we won’t be using it, since we have a lightbox and tripod setup for our needs. However, at a birthday party, I could see how this would be a nice feature.

There are some drawbacks that I would like to see addressed in future models:

1. I wish I could manually focus with a dial. The manual and semi-manual focusing on this thing has you move a scroll wheel to select a distance, and doesn’t give the fine focusing of an actual lense dial on a DSLR. The selective focus is a nice feature that allows us to compensate for it, but this won’t work well with moving subjects, but the semi-manual mode is a decent compromise.

2. There is a slight lag with the live view that I’m not used to coming from a DSLR. However, the tilting ability of the screen helps is nice, and makes up for this minor drawback.

3. With a tripod mount fitted, it’s impossible to access the memory card slot. The DSLRs had this on the side of the camera.

4. Even with a tripod, it’s possible to get blurry pictures when you press the shutter button. I thought that I read a review of the camera somewhere that said it had a remote. I didn’t see mention of one in the manual, and of course there wasn’t one in the box. However, it would be a great feature. The 2 second timer is ok, but not as convenient.

*** ADDED 05-08-09 ***

5. Although this camera has a great zoom lens for a non-DSLR, I found that it had difficulty focusing on close objects with a high zoom. Taking close-ups from about 2.5 feet away, I found it difficult to go beyond 3x zoom. Just another difference between this and a DSLR with a huge telephoto lens. Of course, moving the product closer, and reducing the zoom did the trick. Most people probably wouldn’t be using the zoom lens this way, and probably won’t have an issue with this limitation.

***

Overall, I would choose this camera over the A200 for many applications, but mainly for ease of use. The quality is great, and it has lots of features. Unless you need to change lenses or need precise manual focusing, it’s hard to go wrong with this camera. It’s for someone who likes to take pictures, wants good quality photos, but doesn’t want the heft nor the bulk of a DSLR.

Review by J. Handy:

Having owned many pro-level cameras in the past, it was difficult for me to find a solid and versatile point-and-shoot. This camera has everything I was looking for and just a bit more.

Pros:

I am impressed with the amount of control the H55 gives me.

Panoramic imaging built in (its nice to see the results right away rather than just eyeballing it) .

Image quality – wow @ 14MP, the images are gorgeous.

Color accuracy is great with good lighting.

The camera handles quite nicely and is very easy to navigate.

The wide angle lens is fantastic at this price. As a pro I would have spent a couple hundred on the lens alone.

Excellent range on zoom. I was quite happily surprised.

Battery life seems much more adequate than the W330 I previously purchased and returned.

Cons:

The flash is far from balanced and seems too hot to be used for fill. I’m new on this camera and I’m used to pro-level equipment, so I’m sure I’m expecting too much here. That, or I just don’t yet have the hang of it.

Color accuracy breaks down at lower light levels. Since I didn’t have a real meter with me, I couldn’t tell at which precise number breakdown begins to occur. I would guess around 4 lux is about as good as it gets. Beyond around that, it gets pretty noisy. I’ll experiment with some night shooting when I have it on a tripod. But I won’t get my hopes up.

Doesn’t seem to allow you to manually close the lens. Not a dealbreaker, but it would seem a fairly simple feature to offer.

Review by Everything´s Posible:

This camera has an excellent Optical 10X zoom, images can be seen clearly and with rich colours. Also using the 20X digital zoom photos have many details, you can apreciate like lines in a wall or symbols in a stone. 720p video looks great when played in my laptop and it does not have blur or moving lines like in other camera’s brands, thanks for the mp4 format, very, very portable. Nice panoramic photos, I use them as wallpapers. Only one thing I couldn’t do with this camera was shooting the moon or filming it, may be I have to

read the manual with more calm. SD Cards supported, nice move!

Review by Ann T:

I went by the ratings and also word of mouth before buying this camera and I actually bought 2 cameras… one Panasonic Lumix 12 MP and this Sony 14.1 MP. Upon first site, the Panasonic appears to be built better. The buttons were larger and the camera was a little heavier. I thought, for sure, I’d keep the Panasonic. Well, after trying both of them simultaneously the Sony took better pictures. The Sony has a Carl Zeiss lense which is a very good lense. Of course, all cameras have brightness adjustments, etc, but the Sony knew when to let more light in when there was not enough light (great for dim light pics) and to let less light in when there was too much. I’m sure the Panasonic could do the same if you want to keep adjusting the lighting, but I want a camera that is going to take great pics with pointing and shooting and this camera does just that. The reason the imaging takes longer to see clearly on the LCD when you go back to view pics, I would assume, is because it is a 14.1 Mega Pixel (a lot of information) at a great price so it takes a 1/4 sec to focus the pic in clearly! I don’t mind it. I’d rather have great pics when transporting them onto a computer, viewing them on the computer or TV or printing them. Also, when you go into a photo editor, the clarity is scary. You can see every little detail. If you want to spend another there’s also the Sony W350, which will allow for viewing high def videos on your high def TV, but I viewed a video I took with the W350 and the clarity is still great.

Review by F. A. Kazi:

I bought this for my wife and she just loves it. The 14.1 mega pixels let us blow up pictures of our baby and still keeps it clear.

The only reason i gave it a 4 star and not a five is because the auto smile shutter is not as accurate as a samsung we purchased and the menu features are not as intutive as those on some other cameras. Also the battery has to be removed for charging and one has to purchase a charger from sony if you dont decide to remove the battery. i think the charger needs to come with it.

I like the fact that it uses a SD card and has other options.

The LCD screen is really nice and big compared to other cameras.

Has great pictures even in low light.

Other than that it is a great point and shoot and one of the best we had. I recently purchased a samsung for my mother in law but i think this is better.

Also Amazon got me a better deal than sony direct and even shipped a lot faster full marks to you amazon thats why we are loyal.

Cheers and good luck on the camera.

Review by R. Bellamy:

NOTE: IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT PURCHASING THIS PRODUCT, SEE WARNING BELOW!

My wife and I are planning a long vacation trip and needed a compact, but versatile, alternative to a full blown DSLR. I’ve owned this little camera for just 20 hours, but can offer some first impressions. We bought a Canon SX110IS at Christmas for our daughter. Compared to the jewel-like Sony, the Canon’s build quality seems substantially less. However, it has a 10X optical zoom compared to Sony’s 5x, but 9 mega pixel resolution compared to 12.1 on the Sony. I doubt that the image quality difference will be notable, but I will update this when I can make a valid comparison.

One of the main reasons I picked the Sony over the Canon is that it is truly compact. While the Canon is small, the Sony is flat – less than 1″ thick – and hardly shows in a pocket (although I have ordered a case). Comparatively speaking, its LCD screen is huge and bright (but does not swivel like some Canons). BTW, neither camera has a viewfinder, so I am not confident that either will be easy to see in bright sunlight.

This model does NOT employ a touch screen (which I did not value), but the controls (though small) are simple and generally intuitive once you learn Sony’s ops language (different from Canon’s). I will admit, if you happen to be a bit ham-fisted, you may not be willing to struggle with such tiny controls which are suited more to a child’s hand than an adults. Also, because they are so small, the two adjustable dials are hard to read – not so handy when your eyes start to fail as are mine.

The special features (many on this camera) all seem like they may be useful, but the “smile” feature seems a bit useless to me. The facial recognition works great – even when I pointed it at a TV image. It takes longer than I am used to to auto focus (I normally shoot with a Canon full frame 5D that uses focus motors in the lenses – hardly a fair comparison).

Also, if you plan to use this camera to record full 12.1 mega pixel images, you will have to buy plenty of Memory Stick storage, although it will shoot at much lower resolutions, it has limited internal memory. I bought two 16GB Sony brand Pro Duo sticks on eBay for each to be able to do so. BTW, that is much cheaper than Amazon, say. Also, since this camera shoots HD (720P) video in MPEG4 format – one of the features I plan to exploit – you’ll want plenty of extra storage anyhow.

I’ll have to reserve my opinions on picture quality until I can do a real world test, but the images I shot indoors with the built-in flash were crisp and noiseless at 12.1 mega pixels, less so, of course as I tried lower resolutions.

And did I mention that the Sony’s “anodized” blue finish trimmed in “black chrome” is elegant and stunning?

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

Shortly after writing this review, I decided to double-check my “cheap” memory purchase. What I found was disturbing. It is very likely that the Pro Duo memory sticks I bought on eBay are FAKES! I’m telling you this so you won’t make the same mistake I probably did (my Memory Sticks have not yet been delivered). If you will check out this eBay link BEFORE you buy memory for your new camera (or other Sony device), you may be able to save yourself a lot of trouble (and $$$).

http://reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-Sony-Memory-Stick-Pro-Duo-MagicGate-Cards-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001236041

Like they say, “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is”. I know better, and now, so do you. I will confirm the results after I have had a chance to try them out. Incidentally, just shot some outside images of our flowering crabapple blossoms. Pictures look great and I could see the LCD in “cloudy bright” afternoon sunlight.

4-28-09

As promised, an update. The Memory Sticks from Hong Kong did indeed turn out to be bogus. They look exactly like Sony products, including the very detailed packaging, but they simply didn’t work. The Sandisk Ultra 4GB version I bought at Staples works great, even when recording “HD fine” video. Playback looks beautiful (considering the source) on the computer, but not nearly as sharp on an HDTV when using the composite cable that came with the camera. I now have no qualms about substituting this for my miniDV camcorder on the next trip, however.

The “smile” function actually works, but I could live without it. The camera makes it really difficult to mess up exposure. I’ve even tried fooling it with extremely harsh back lighting and it still exposed faces properly. 12.1GB images are not as sharp as I’d like when I carefully examine the detail, and there is some noise present. Keep in mind, however, that I typically shoot with a Canon full frame DSLR. I will, however, compare it to a Nikon Coolpix I used a couple of years ago. The Nikon was substantially sharper in similar situations. If the ultimate picture quality is high on your priority list, look at the comparably priced Nikons and Canons. For the features I wanted, this Sony remains the best choice for me. Finally, Sony make two affordable underwater housings for this camera. One for snorkeling and one for diving.

Review by J. Grignon:

I had just purchased the new Canon 880is, ive always owned Canon cameras,

and was not that impressed. My Canon 710 was much better. Anyways, thought I would try this new Sony 290. I am pretty impressed. The few photos I have taken, indoor and outdoor, have been really good. The colors and clarity are nice. Low light were consistently still (not blurred). The 880is blurred in the low light occasionally. The face and smile recognition works very well.

I never write reviews but after all the slamming Sony gets, as far as point and shoot cameras, I felt that this camera is as good or better than the Canon 880is and Im the first to defend Canon.