Performance
Images are pleasingly crisp in images captured by the H50. Although images get gritty from ISO 400 upwards, up to ISO 1,600 noise is kept under control without sacrificing too much detail. Colour suffers more than detail, as images taken at higher ISO speeds become seriously washed out.
Dynamic range may be a buzzword in the digital camera market, but we struggle to see much difference in the dynamic range settings available. Blown highlights seem unaffected by the enhanced dynamic range setting, which seems in some pictures to have simply lightened the whole image.
The H50 does reasonably well in low light. The adjustable flash makes a big difference in preventing bleached-out subjects, helped by a tendency towards warmer skin tones in most light. The nightshot feature is fun, but quality is actually worse than steadying the camera on a wall or furniture and firing the shot in normal mode.
Burst mode fires a creditable 0.9 frames per second, with 100 images captured in 90 seconds. The screen doesn't go blank during this sequence, which we like. That 100 shots knocked a whole quarter bar off the battery indicator, so don't do it too often.
Conclusion
Proprietary formats and connections are never a good start, but even with this handicap, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50 won us over. There's a wealth of features in the sturdy body, all of which can be tweaked. Images look great and even the gimmicky additions like nightshot kept us entertained.
The fold-out screen puts this one up on other superzooms -- but the equally excellent Fujifilm FinePix S8100fd has an SD slot alongside its obsolete proprietary slot. If you like the screen enough to buy into a rarefied and expensive memory format, the H50 won't disappoint.
Edited by Shannon Doubleday
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