Customer Reviews

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H55 14.1MP Digital Camera with 10x Wide Angle Optical Zoom with SteadyShot Image Stabilization and 3.0 inch LCD (Black)

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Having owned many pro-level cameras in the past, it was difficult for me to find a solid and versatile point-and-shoot. This camera has everything I was looking for and just a bit more.

Pros:
I am impressed with the amount of control the H55 gives me.
Panoramic imaging built in (its nice to see the results right away rather than just eyeballing it) .
Image quality - wow @ 14MP, the images are gorgeous.
Color accuracy is great with good lighting.
The camera handles quite nicely and is very easy to navigate.
The wide angle lens is fantastic at this price. As a pro I would have spent a couple hundred on the lens alone.
Excellent range on zoom. I was quite happily surprised.
Battery life seems much more adequate than the W330 I previously purchased and returned.

Cons:
The flash is far from balanced and seems too hot to be used for fill. I'm new on this camera and I'm used to pro-level equipment, so I'm sure I'm expecting too much here. That, or I just don't yet have the hang of it.
Color accuracy breaks down at lower light levels. Since I didn't have a real meter with me, I couldn't tell at which precise number breakdown begins to occur. I would guess around 4 lux is about as good as it gets. Beyond around that, it gets pretty noisy. I'll experiment with some night shooting when I have it on a tripod. But I won't get my hopes up.
Doesn't seem to allow you to manually close the lens. Not a dealbreaker, but it would seem a fairly simple feature to offer.

This camera has an excellent Optical 10X zoom, images can be seen clearly and with rich colours. Also using the 20X digital zoom photos have many details, you can apreciate like lines in a wall or symbols in a stone. 720p video looks great when played in my laptop and it does not have blur or moving lines like in other camera's brands, thanks for the mp4 format, very, very portable. Nice panoramic photos, I use them as wallpapers. Only one thing I couldn't do with this camera was shooting the moon or filming it, may be I have to
read the manual with more calm. SD Cards supported, nice move!

Good: outdoor lighting, fantastic - nice color saturation, quick response, sharp images, panoramic motion interesting
Bad: slow, slow, slow in low light or indoor conditions

There was a noticeable lag especially in lower lighting when the flash went off. I have never returned a camera, and this one went back. I was disappointed in the indoor condition performance as compared to previous W-series Sony Cybershots and Canon PowerShots especially. I returned the H55 for a Canon S90. It's too bad because the outdoor lighting photos came out beautifully.

I have been looking for a replacement to my previous Sony 5.1 MP camera for which i paid the same amount that I paid for this camera. It's amazing to see a sea change in the quality of the pictures especially under relatively lower light conditions and outdoors. The zoom is outstanding. I can agree with the previous reviewer that the picture blurs, but I have a different take. If the object moves or if the hand shakes a little. In my view this is OK becasue multi-burst function has been disabled by default. But, I have taken moving pictures and it comes out fine most of the time.

A word of caustion that do not purchase this camera primarily becasue it has HD recording. The picture quality of HD recording indoor under medium to low light is noisy. And even in outdoor, the movie function can't replace what a full blown HD camcorder can do.

I recommed this camera to anyone who is looking for shooting great quality indoor/outdoor pictures. The smaller pocket size of the camera is really a big plus compared to it's predecessor, H-20 model.

I haven't utilized all it's features. I will right more when get to know more about this camera. One last thing that the black plastic housing looks cheap. I wish Sony had added some metal and hardness to the body of the camera. Overall, I give it 5 stars becasue the camera excels in its bottom line functionality which is to take excellent shots.

Well, I have some bad news. After a week of use, I noticed that the camera is washing away the colors if the person is wearing lighter colored clothings like light blue, light green, light yellow, or cream colors. It happens when taking pictures indoor. The lighers-colors in iMode settings don't come exactly the same. They appear whashed away. I am having a second thoughts about this camera. Not to mention that the outdoor pictures are perfect and even the indoor pictures are great if the person is in dark colored clothes.

This has been covered to death, so a few brief comments on my personal experience. I bought this to use as a point-&-shoot, and did not expect to get more than I paid for, but was pleasantly surprised.

1 - extremely easy to set up and use. Charge the battery, install a media card, and turn it on.

2 - Battery / memory card door is pretty cheesy.

3 - takes good pictures. pics have good color and brightness, need little to no post-processing.

4 - low light pictures are -really- good (for low-light pictures), waay better than I expected. Bravo twilight mode.

5 - panorama mode works well and is priceless if you do much shooting in tight quarters, or of large groups - however, no zoom. Wide-angle only, which maximizes cylindrical distortion. I still love it.

6 - I do mostly stills and had little interest in movie mode. Very much appreciated saving $100+ from the HX5V.

7 - Works as advertised. If this is what you want, buy with confidence.
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The camera has some nice features but also some problems. First the flash is too strong. The photos with the flash at a normal distance come out too white. There is no setting to adjust the strength of the flash. The metering system gives a setting of overexposure. At 0EV the graph curve is usually slightly to the right and the photo comes out overexposed. I find myselft having to adjust the setting to -0.3EV or more to get the correct exposure. This is the biggest problem with this camera, maybe it's a defective problem with the one I have.

The nice feature is the panoramic feature where you can easily take a panoramic photo and it comes out really great. The wide angle and zoom features are also a plus along with the HD video.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC -H 55.
I have owned two other cameras in the past. My last Camera, before this one, was a 12 Megapixel. And I thought it, at first to be ALL THAT. This was only because my previous camera had been a four Megapixel. I was so impressed with the increase in the resolution that is all I could see was the ability to crop photos to a better end then I had been able to. After the newness had worn off I began to realize the Cameron was just a lemon. So with this camera, that mistake will not happen again. The (14 Megapixel) of this Sony camera is not that different from my (12 Megapixel) camera that I am replacing. So I will look past the resolution difference with ease.
However the (10 x) zoom lens is NEW. Not only to me, but to all (point and shoot) cameras I have ever seen. Now, the 10 x zoom lens that I am talking about is NOT digital zoom. But rather, purely optical. There is a digital zoom offered in the menus of this camera. But I simply turned this feature off. If I want to do any digital zoom, I'll do it in Photoshop on my own time.
Other perks include; a battery and charger. The battery is lithium. And knowing that a lithium battery must be conditioned before its true capacity can ever be obtained. And even before the battery had been `conditioned' it was still able to take approximately 400 shots. And of course four or five HRS of me playing around in the menus with the features. And I know from past experience this can be one of the biggest power drains on a camera battery. And this is only the first cycle. I don't foresee a need in my future to buy a spear battery.
While I am on the subject of batteries, I need to mention. The battery charger is a cute little thing. The part of the plug that actually goes into the wall will fold into the plastic housing. So it is not a burdensome piece of machinery to store. And the whole thing is extremely small. It is only 3"x2"x1". To me that sounds ridiculously small, and if it were not right here in front of me I might not even believe. But it is true. It will fit in my small camera case, instead of the drawer. I already have enough mess around my room.
Also about batteries, there is a handy little gauge, on the LCD screen, that reports the amount of battery left by a four bar indicator (like a cell phone).
I spoke earlier about the massive zoom lens. But I didn't even tell how this camera can also take a macro picture up to about 8" away at full wide angle (zoom out). The 8" I just spoke could be off a little by + or - an inch. The manual that could tell me for sure is over there in that box, and I am over here. And I'm a lazy person.
I'm really impressed at how small this camera is. It will fit very nicely, with lots of room to spare, in my chest pocket. I do wear a 2X shirt, but there is so much room left over, I bet you could fit this camera in a large size pocket. I haven't had a chance to test it; I'm just using my best estimate. On outings, being able to tuck this camera away in my pocket will be way awesome. And it is so light weight.
And it weighs very, very little for such a nice camera. I have a cordless optical mouse hooked up to this computer. So by comparing weight, the mouse is the more heavy of the two.
I think I have touched on the biggest topics I can think of at this sitting, but to sum this up. This is the best camera I (personally) have ever owned. This would include 2 other digital cameras (one SLR type & one point and shoot) and a couple `film cameras' 110 and a 35mm SLR my uncle left to me. And after comparing it with all the other ones available at the stores, it IS the best. I compare every time a store has a display, to see if mine is still better. Even some of the `better' SLR types that sell for $100's, fall short. I would be really upset to see that a little `point & shoot' can beat my $800 `SLR type' camera.
At $225 and $25 3 year extended warranty from Samsclub, I have a new gizmo and I did not break the bank.

When you cannot or do not want to take your SLR, Take the SONY DSC-H55 instead. The range of features lets you take advantage of a wide variety of situations. In a darkened room with stage lights, the photos are well-balanced in color and contrast. Also, the movement is captured without blurring. The panoramic feature is great although it takes a little practice to "get it right" and not cut off the panorama too soon. HD video results in a nice capture of movement even for as short a period as 10 seconds but it does burn a lot of battery energy. Get yourself a spare.(I didn't but I will.) Macro shots are a little difficult to capture "in the wild" but indoors, nice photos can be captured. The 10X zoom is big improvement over 3-4X zoom. When I wanted details from a distance, I got them. Wide angle shots were good within limits. Size-wise, the camera fits in the smallest of pockets. I've only had this camera a few months but I keep it with me all the time. Still learning to exercise its features, especially manual control of the lens.

This truly is the best camera I have ever owned. I have bought probably 10 cameras on Amazon. I am not a professional by any means but I love photography.
This camera is truly amazing. The pictures are crisp, clear and the colors are brilliant. I literally bobbed the camera as I walked and took pictures at a car show. Every single picture came out perfect. I have nothing bad to say about this camera. It reigns supreme.

We're a Sony family. And recently we bought this newer cybershot...NOT as a replacement, but we wanted the two new features: the 14.1 MP and the 180-landscape.We're disappointed.
1) On Amazon, the camera listed the lens as CARL ZEISS...IT IS NOT...I went to the Sony website, found out the real facts, wrote Amazon, they updated the listing...and lss: the lens just is not the par of Zeiss...I know, I know, Sony says they did this, to me anyway, because it is equal quality...and maybe they'll say Zeiss makes it...but it's just not as crisp as our 10.1 or 12 cybershots with the Zeiss.
2) The cameras focusing is slippery...whether I use auto focus and no matter how we set it up, there is NOT consistency in same shots as far as how the shots are focused. Further, the lens makes a lot of noise trying to focus. Also, when videoing (forgetaboutit) much too much of my videos are blurry...again, the camera cannot focus. yes, even using the image stabilization we still get blurry shots or focus that is not on target (relying on the focus feature where the grid does show up on the LCD).
3) The noise mentioned in #2...There is a slight, but discernable eletronic grinding noise...Sony via phone service was concerned...'this should not occur' so I sent it in for service...I was called, SONY IS GREAT when it comes to service, and they said, 'this is normal'...so there you have it. I have a normally 'louder than no-sound' cybershot that doesn't focus well and makes a ton of noise.
4) Inconsistent...of course #1 and #2 makes for inconsistent shots, BUT that's just plain irritating and disappointing...and it's NOT what Sony's known for ----so we're primarilly keeping with our older Sonys and only use this for the landscape mode, however NOTE...
5) The landscape mode, which is very, very awesome in concept is just not implemented well yet. I'd not buy until maybe next or 3rd generation. The camera allows you to set your 180 swing to go from left-to-right, up-to-down or visa versa of either of these. GREAT concept...Further, the camera's smarts tell you when you're not doing the swing smoothly enough, per se, or perhaps you moved too much off the center and it will tell you, essentially it isn't taking the shot, and you can retry. Okay, sounds good. BUT there are times when I've taken the picture and the shot is broken into slices and so the photo is a long landscape, but with blank spots between portions of the whole image. This does not happen every time, but too many times and frankly, not what the camera should be doing. So again, "DON'T DO IT...don't buy this version!"

We paid full retail from an Amazon dealer ($250)...and bummer, it's been serviced once, we were told there's nothing out of the norm' with our camera...and so, we have what Sony knows they produced...a bit sub-standard...and we're knowing it was more or less a loss of money.

We say at this point if you really want to buy a Cybershot: DON'T buy this one. Get one with Carl Zeiss lens, and for now, stick to the old fashion way of making a huge landscape...many shots, and cut and paste in your choice of photo management tool! And btw, our 2nd choice is the Olmypus Stylus 550(water resistant if you have kids it's a real smart camera to own for all the shots from sprinklers and tubs to oceans, fishing, rain play etc.)