Gadgets Manual

A day after Canon came out with their new models of digital cameras, including the professional EOS 1Ds Mark III and the advanced EOS 40D, Sony announces three new Cyber shot compacts. Let’s start with the long-zoom model. The new Cyber-shot DSC-H3 boasts a 10x optical zoom lens that benefits from the Super Steady Shot technology compensating for unwanted camera motion. Unfortunately, despite being manufactured by Carl Zeiss, the lens itself is not something to brag about. The main problems lies in the maximum aperture performance. At the wide angle, the 6.3-63mm (with a picture angle equivalent to that of a 38-380mm lens mounted on a 35mm camera) lens can’t open the aperture more than f/3.5 and at the tele end it stops at f/4.4.

In terms of ISO sensitivity, the H3 can go between 100 and 3000, but keep in mind that small sensors, like the 1/2.5-inch one found in this Sony, generate a lot of noise when used over ISO 400 or even ISO 200. Speaking of image quality, the good news is that the camera benefits from the Dynamic Range Optimizer, which was originally developed for the Alpha digital SLR system. As the press release informs, this technology “can analyze captured image data, and instantly determine the best exposure and tonality of each picture before JPEG compression”.

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