Main Features
- CCD: 8.1 mega pixels (MP)
- Optical Zoom: 15xl
- 2.5" LCD screen
- Image stabilization
A recent supplement to the growing ultra-zoom segment in digital camera market, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7 is designed with an 8.1 mega pixel and 15x optical zoom lens. This digital camera is less costly than its high-priced sibling Sony H9, which sports a larger fold-out LCD monitor. However, the attractive quality about the H7 is that it has decent set of features and that too at a fair price ($399).
Features of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7
Front
You will see the chrome-plated Sony brand name adorning the flash unit. Just beneath the flash unit is located the 15x optical zoom lens titled "Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 2.7-4.5/5.2-78" about its rim. The black lens is bordered by a chrome ring into which conversion lenses can be fitted. On the upper left-side of the lens as a shiny black oval is the wireless remote sensor.
Just beneath this is the somewhat small auto focus (assist / self-timer) lamp. These attributes are sited in a depression between the lens and hand grip. On the left corner of H7 camera’s facade is a hand grip area fully enclosed in a rubber material that resembles leather. Near the top of the hand grip is a cradle for a finger, again above which is the jutting shutter release switch. On the whole, H7’s front isn’t all that striking.
Back
The back of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7 also look odd. The left corner at the back of H7 is arched like the lens barrel, whereas the right side is straight. The upper left-side of H7’s back contains a plastic eyecup with an electronic viewfinder. Beneath viewfinder is LCD screen of 2.5 inch. On upper right-side of the LCD are two switches for shifting the picture and accessing the playback mode.
To the far right on the back of Sony’s H7 digital camera is the plastic zoom control. This feature and the minor dip in the center assists the users to distinguish the sides without having to see the control directly. Moreover, ‘W’ is etched on the left-side and ‘T’ on the right to symbolize broad and telephoto ends of the zoom spectrum. To the right of the LCD screen are a few more controls. Menu button is found at the top and the ‘home’ one below. In the middle part is a multi-selector / rotary dial combination.
Top
The hand grip of H7 does not seem quite as broad when looked from the top-side. It gets dwarfed by the thick lens barrel located to on the left side. The topmost portion of the lens barrel underscores its capability to keep images stable as it reads ‘Super SteadyShot.’ The rounded left corner of the H7 camera and both eyelets can be viewed from the top.
Though the eyelets are not equably positioned across each other, they can be revolved to any angle making the handling a little more comfy. Near the left side atop the lens is the flash / viewfinder shaft. Behind it are two tags - ‘MPEG Movie VX’ and ‘DSC-H7’ as well as the viewfinder eyecup. Then just less than an inch beneath the viewfinder shaft is the button for microphone and power.
On the corner-most right-side of the top of the Sony H7 camera is the mode dial that looks jumbled with text and icons indicating its vast number of exposure modes. The right corner side of the Sony H7’s top curls up into a convenient hand grip with the shutter release switch positioned on the top a projecting chrome platform.
