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The 8.1-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H3 features an optically stabilized f/3.5-4.4, 38mm-380mm (35mm equivalent) 10x Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar zoom lens and 115,000-pixel, 2.5-inch LCD screen. In addition to the lens, the camera's design, resolution, and price put it into close competition with Canon's PowerShot SX100 IS. The H3 offers manual and automatic exposure modes, but does not provide priority modes. For automatic shooting, the H3 provides nine scene modes, including an Advanced Sports Mode that speeds up autofocus. It has a shutter speed range of 1/2000 to 30 seconds and a top light-sensitivity setting of ISO 3200 (at full resolution). In our lab tests, the H3 received an Excellent image quality rating at ISO 100-200, a Very Low noise rating for ISO 100-1600, and a Moderately Low noise rating at ISO 3200. While resolution scores were Extremely High at ISO 100, they dropped to Acceptable at ISO 1600 and Unacceptable at ISO 3200, with a reduction in resolution caused by noise filtering.
The camera's exposure controls include spot and center-weighted metering modes. For flash exposures, there is an adjustable output level, slow-sync, and redeye correction. The flash on the H3 is powerful, and we had no problems lighting up a framed print from 25 feet away at 380mm at ISO 3200 in our test. Exposure problems can also be addressed through image processing by Sony's Dynamic Range Optimizer, which opens up dark shadow areas. In addition to center autofocus, the camera provides nine-point and continuous AF modes. Other automatic tools include a face-detection mode that can identify as many as eight faces in a photo and accordingly adjust exposure, focus, flash intensity, and white balance, but face-detection is only available in "Soft Snap" and Full Auto modes.
For high-speed photography, the camera provides a 2-frame-per-second continuous shooting mode. The Advanced Sports mode offered impressive performance in our tests, and it did a good job of tracking and capturing subjects that were moving at a constant speed. The H3 records VGA video with sound, and can play photo slide shows with music and customized transitions, but despite the included HDMI output, no widescreen video shooting mode is available. Optical zoom is not an option during video capture. Like other recent H-series models, the H3 can apply photo effects such as fisheye distortion, a star filter, a partial color filter that retains color in the subject and converts the background to black-and-white, and a soft-edge filter that blurs the background. The Cyber-shot DSC-H3 is available with a MSRP of $299.95.
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| Slowest Shutter Speed |
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30 |
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| Fastest Shutter Speed |
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2000 |
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| Screen Size |
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2.5 in |
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| Screen Resolution |
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115,000 |
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| Screen Type |
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LCD |
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| Maximum ISO |
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3200 |
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| Widest Focal Length |
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38 mm |
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| Longest Focal Length |
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380 mm |
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| Maximum Aperture |
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f/3.5 |
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| Zoom |
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10 |
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| Video Resolution |
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Up to 640x480 |
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| Video Frames per second |
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30 |
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| Battery |
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Rechargeable Lithium-ion |
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| Battery Life |
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Approx. 330 shots |
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| Width |
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4.2 in |
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| Height |
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2.7 in |
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| Depth |
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1.9 in |
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| Weight |
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9.3 oz |
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| Release Date |
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September 2007 |
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User Reviews
Here's how our visitors have reviewed this camera.
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RATING SCALE: 1 = WORST 10 = BEST |
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