Sony H-50 Just Average
Posted on: Fri, 06/20/2008 - 9:00am
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Sony H-50 Just Average
After handling the H-50 at a local retailer for about an hour or so, I came to about the same conclusion as Imaging Resource (we have been agreeing on reviews quite often lately ;)..) on this review. It seems that Sony has all but abandoned the glory days of the F505 thru the R-1 era with its new offerings (the heart beat is there, but thats about it).
While the DSLRS just keep rolling out and getting better (thank goodness), the prosumer P/S market (although booming according to Sony) seems to be lacking some of the zing and pop of the earlier models ever since the acquisition of KM.
The H50 looked great on paper, and I almost reviewed one here for the heck of it as a lightweight alternative backup to your DSLR kit. But after handling it, I opted not. Not to say the H50 isn't a decent camera, it is, and it offers quite a bit overall to the new era users, however.... the F828, V3, and R1 still remain Sony's best p/s DSLR alternative offerings. In fact IR took care of my opinion for me, we basically agree on everything I found.
The H50 felt really comfy, and had a really kickass LCD (better than the A300/350's) but I found the user interface a step backward in comparison to the DSLRS. Had too much of a sales staff influenced design to it. And thats the best way to put it. You can almost see where the designers had their say and the sales staff had theirs. I am not accustomed to that sort of design philosophy from Sony. With the V3/R1/F828, they really seemed to be in tune with photographers much more than the new models that are rolling out.
I am a bit disappointed with that. This isn't the Sony camera division (in this segment) that drew me to Sony in the first place. They have lost something here that was tangible and real before, and it seems a pity that Sony is following that trend like many manufacturers seem to be doing nowadays for sake of sales and public opinion.
I say build the best damn camera you can and the people will adapt and learn to love them automatically, in short "build it, and they will come...". Sony, please don't lose what we loved about you in this segment of cameras, that would be a real pity.
Here is the review at IR if you are interested (Mike, great job):
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/H50/H50A.HTM
Cheers,
Carl
__________________
-AlphaMountWorld Chef-
"You can't legislate morality or common sense."
Grin.
Carl
-AlphaMountWorld Chef-
"You can't legislate morality or common sense."
I agree, although the h50 is SO easy to sell, its almost scary ;)
And besides that, its not like the competitive brands have much better stuff imho, fz18 is mwoah, 560/70 from oly are battery driven(so is the S5) and the fuji just doesnt sell very well where i work for some reason.(am i forgetting one, please correct me if i do, we dont sell kodak... so i've got no clue there)
Asking question, demanding awnsers!
Gee thanks Carl,
This is quite unique, just today, I was having this same conversation with a collogue of mine and you have certainly hit the nail on the head. Sony H-50, not to say it’s not a decent camera for the proconsumer, it does lack the anticipation and zing of the earlier models. I think the design philosophy behind this camera (among a few others) is poor, well maybe not poor but lacking. It is apparently obvious Sony does have somewhat of a philosophy of, what I call “Empowerment of its people.” Intentionally asking the employees at the counter and others selling them what’s your opinion. Sure Mr. John Doe gets some really fantastic shots of the baby and shares it with the kinfolk then the whole neighborhood goes nuts. And the revenues pour in to Sony. I think they should include some feedback from Pro photographers in all cameras and designs just as Leia did with the Range Finder M-3 (Film), M-7 (Digital) and Cannon with the G-9.
It no doubt that Sony is a very huge company in electronics. However is it Sony’s philosophy to be the Best,………….. or sell the Most???
With this in mind, (being the best or selling the most), take a good look at the video camera market. It took Sony many/many years to get into the position they are in now in the video camera market. Today they sell the most and are “Among” the best. One thing we all need to keep in mind (myself included) is the fact that Sony is so new to the slr or dslr market, many years behind Minolta, Leica K/M, Mamiya, Nikon and Cannon.
Because I have the complete collection of Minolta, Konica/Minolta SLR/DSLR 1986-2006 collection of lenses and cameras, its is very much my hopes that Sony will address the Pro Photographer, (not so much the collector), but those gifted enough and who have the aspiration to become great photographers.
Then again I’m what you call an Minolta Konica Sony Lensoholic
My name is AJ and I’m a lensoholic, LOL.
Thanks for letting me share.
Eric and Carl thanks for such a great Sight!!!!
AJ Gressette
agressette@coxwood.com
Hey this looks dangerous……..You go first!
If at first you don't succeed, Skydiving is not for you!
I agree with your assessment. My experience with the H50 was a bit of disappointment in IQ area I thought it had excessive purple fringing (I know that my expectation where high) but then again it is a point and shoot. After shooting with it for a couple of days I decided not to mess with a P&S and got a A-200 for my back up daily shooter. I do have a pocket camera but after shooting dslr it is very hard to justify the price and lesser quality of a P&S.. My opinion.. no offense to those that want to shoot with a P&S..:)
Happy Shooting
Kevin
Although I love both my A700 and my Maxxum 5, they are rather hard to fit into a shirt pocket or purse like my wife's Canon SD 850IS, which we almost carry with us, either instead of or in addition to my SLR/DSLR. There simply are a lot of places where it's not practical to haul around an SLR or DSLR. The tiny Canon takes pretty decent images, and it's convenience has generated a lot of treasured images that we would not have otherwise been able to obtain. To my way of thinking, an image taken with a P&S is better than no image at all.
I must confess that the 850IS and its lower-mp predecessor have saved me a number of times on vacation trips when, to my deep chagrin, my wife captured better images of certain subjects than I was able to get with my Maxxum or A700. All those buttons, knobs, control wheels, joysticks, etc. on SLRs or DSLRs can sometimes prove a two-edged sword when one is shooting on the run, whereas P&S's can be very forgiving in general shooting situations.
Andy
Andy you have a very valid point. I too have a fuji f50fd that takes very nice shots for what it is ( I have got some very nice macro shots). But the size of a long zoom P&S is not that much smaller than a dslr and for sure will not fit in your pocket. So my point is I want the flexibility and higher quality of a dslr.. :)
Kevin
I agree with you on the long-zoom Point & Shoots, Kevin, such as the H-50. I haven't cared much for the build quality of such cameras when I have looked at them in stores. However, there are times when I'm lugging my camera bag around or cleaning the dust off my sensor or adding up the cost of all my camera equipment that I can empathize with why people buy such cameras. Maybe I'll change my mind someday when Sony comes up with a 20mp, low-noise, 6400 ISO version with an 18-500mm (35mm equivalent) f2.8 lens--all in a 16-ounce package.
Andy
Yes indeed!! I am with you and if any one will come up with such a tool it will be Sony!!
Happy Shooting
Many of you agreeing with me.
In this thread I narrowed down a pocket camera (the 850is was considered), and my only hesitation was the IQ.
http://www.alphamountworld.com/forums/photography-all-brands/ricoh-r8-my...
IMO a 1 1/7 sensor should be no larger than 8mp. Nowadays you get a 1 2/3 sensor going up to 10mp. What gives?
Seems easy enough to me to manufacture. I have a V3 and it has a 7.2mp sensor at 1 2/3. If that sensor was 1 1/7 and had a better processing engine, the images would look nice up to 800 ISO imo.
Carl
-AlphaMountWorld Chef-
"You can't legislate morality or common sense."
I have had a few P&S from canon, sony, panasonic but I must say the best P&S and by no means is it a compact but it is the Fujifilm s6000fd 6.3 mp and 1 1/6 sensor not a perfect camera but by far the best d-range and some very sharp shots where had with this camera. I have in fact sold some 16x20 foam board prints taken with this camera. I need to find another one...:)
If interested here is a link to one shot from it.. I cropped and cloned out a flower only
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28191725@N03/2643876415/
See Ya!!
Kevin
"Vision Is Seeing Beyond Your Sight"
Indeed a good sensor and performance. Too bad the battery door sux so bad :( Really its only sore spot.
Fuji has another pocket cam, the FX30 I believe, that has the same sensor, same good performance.
Carl
-AlphaMountWorld Chef-
"You can't legislate morality or common sense."
As I mentioned in a previous post, Carl, my wife has a Canon SD850 IS (with an invisibleShield protecting the LCD). I think the image quality is pretty good overall, although we certainly don't use it to shoot magazine covers. While I prefer grips like the A700's and that of our old Minolta Freedom 140EX, I have no difficulty at all holding the 850 even with my fairly large hands. And I surely love the way it fits in my shirt pocket. The optical viewfinder is not very accurate, of course, and a wider-angle lens would be very useful (a 28-135mm 35mm-equivalent zoom range would be wonderful).
My biggest gripe with the Canon subcompacts (this is our second) is that there is no provision for fill flash in auto mode. When traveling, my wife and I frequently ask strangers to use the 850 to take our photo standing in front of various attractions. This often results in facial shadows that could easily be avoided if the 850 had a fill flash setting on auto instead of just toggling back and forth between auto flash and no flash. Since some of the scene modes do have the fill flash option, it's not clear to me why Canon cannot include this on auto mode.
In terms of image quality, the 850's biggest shortcoming (typical of subcompacts) is low-light performance. The flash range is too limited even for a medium-sized room. With the flash turned off, one tends to get a lot of motion blur and also blown-out highlights with bright stage lighting. As I'm sure you have observed, darn few Point & Shoot camera users--film or digital--appear to have any idea of their camera's limited flash range.
Andy