Overview

The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 is a compact digital point-and-shoot (at only 2.8 cm thick) with a10x optical, wide-angle zoom and a focal range of 25-250mm. Other features of the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC- H55 include a 14.1megapixel sensor, a 3 inch LCD screen, image stabilization, 720p HD video recording, Smile Shutter technology and manual exposure settings as well as Sony’s trademark ‘Sweep Panorama’ feature.

Looking at the design, the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 is slim, has well positioned curves for better grip and is lightweight, making it a great travel and pocket camera.

There are curves in the right places for comfortable grip and the only drawback of the front design is that the flash is positioned perhaps a little bit too close to where your hand grips the camera, making for occasional problems if your hand slips a bit.

The battery compartment also houses the memory card slots and although this makes for a smaller design, the battery compartment flap is perhaps a little bit flimsy for all the opening and closing that needs to be done for removing and inserting memory cards as well. Battery life itself is good, not exceptional but definitely lasts longer than the compact cameras which take penlight batteries and the like.

The buttons and menu placement are well positioned and user friendly for all the features the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 has to offer. An especially useful feature is the Trademark ‘Sweep Panorama’ feature which allows you to slowly pan over a scene and converts it to a panoramic style image instead of one having to stitch images together afterwards.

In terms of image quality, I found that the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 produces sharp images with decent noise reduction for low light shots. As in all compact point and shoots, the noise grain does seem quite pronounced, and is made more visible via the 3” Screen with takes up the majority of the back panel. Most compact cameras these days have a large LCD to replace the traditional viewfinder – Which I always find slightly disappointing – and although this allows for smoother design, and will not be a problem for most users who are used to viewing their subject via the live view screen.

The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 Lens

As with all Sony cameras, The lens quality and build is sturdy, and the Sony G lens in the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 is comprised of 10 elements in seven groups with four aspherical elements and an aperture range of f/3.5 to f/8. The lens also includes Sony’s Optical Steady-Shot stabilization. All this as well as the high performance 10 x optical zoom – which is impressive for a camera of this size – makes for very good quality images.

Using the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55

The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 powers up in less than two seconds and on the top right you will find the mode dial allowing you to shoot in a range of automatic settings or completely manual – which is great thing to have on a compact point and shoot.

The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 also comes equipped with face detection and many focusing options to make sure you get your desired effect.

Most image adjustment settings are reached easily through the menu button which opens up a toolbar on the left of the screen. Exposure (E/V) and ISO as well as the focusing and the White balance settings. All of these options are easy to reach, well laid out and make picture taking with the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 very simple. It is also useful to have buttons on the main control for turning on and off the flash options, self-timer and smile detection.

As with many long zoom cameras the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 does struggle a bit to keep up with fast pace shooting at about 1.8 frames per second. There is an option of using ‘burst’ mode, but this doesn’t help very much. As long as you’re not planning on becoming a pro documentary or sport photographer, you should be able to get away with the shooting speed.

The Video recording capabilities of the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 are very good for the size and price range of this type of camera. While shooting in MPEG- 4 format at 1280 x 720 and 30 frames per second, you are able to zoom, adjust White Balance and exposure and although the video quality is not quite HD, it is decent for everyday fun video recording.

Summary

The Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 is a good value for money compact digital camera, with top of the line lens components and trademark Sony features such as the panoramic sweep and smile detection technology, along with fully auto or manual modes for the beginner or more advanced users. I found the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 to be easy to handle, easily customizable as well as affordable for what you get. The only negative aspects I could find to the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 was the increase in noise if using any ISO over 400 in low light and the slightly slow response in shutter performance on fast moving subjects.

Apart from those few, there are a lot of pro’s to this camera too. The Panorama Sweep feature is well worth it for capturing those holiday or landscape shots you were too lazy to ‘stitch’ together yourself, and the manual modes make you feel like you can control the outcome of your images a little better than always relying on Auto to bail you out. Beginners shouldn’t be put off the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H55 though, it is user friendly, small and packed with extras for your money.