Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10 (black)

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10 is extremely similar to the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H3 and shares most of the features, specifications, and attributes with the latter model. It is a little over an ounce heavier, likely due to the 3-inch LCD instead of the 2.5-inch screen of the prior model. By itself that is a nice upgrade.
The H10 still has a Carl Zeiss 10x zoom (38-380mm in 35mm terms). These high-quality optics distinguish the H10 from other models in this crowded field of 8-plus megapixel compact cameras

FEATURES OVERVIEW

The Sony H10 is an 8.1 megapixel camera that uses a rechargeable battery and accepts only the Memory Stick Pro and Memory Stick Pro Duo memory cards. In addition, it has approximately 31 MB of internal memory, so limited shooting may be done without a memory card. The camera comes in a black or silver finish. On the silver model the hand grip and the extended lens are black.

The lens is a 10x optical zoom with Carl Zeiss glass. It has a variable aperture ranging from f/3.5 at the wide angle end to f/4.4 at the telephoto end. Digital zoom is also available via the menus. Shutter speeds range from 1/2000 to 30 seconds, depending on the exposure mode selected.

The Sony H10 provides the versatile shooting modes we have all come to expect:

Auto: For point-and-shoot purposes.
Program: For point-and-shoot purposes with some user overrides.
Manual: Permits user control of both shutter speed and aperture.
Movie: The H10 shoots movies with sound at up to 640x480/30 fps.
Scene: Six scene preset options, including Sony's Soft Snap portrait mode, are available.

FORM, FIT, AND FEEL

Styling and Build Quality

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10 H10 comes in either silver or black.

The case is plastic with a slightly slippery texture. When turned off the lens retracts into a raised surface on the face of the camera. The LCD is almost flush with the back and is fixed; it does not rotate nor pivot.

Ergonomics and Interface

The control layout is simple and mostly intuitive. There are two buttons on the back, one labeled MENU and the other HOME. The HOME button seems unnecessary; it would be better if it were a submenu of the MENU.

The menu system is slow and cumbersome. Additionally, when the end of a set of selections is reached, one must go back, rather than wrapping around back to the beginning.

Display/Viewfinder

The LCD is 3.0 inches. This appears to be the major difference between this camera and the older H3 model.

Lens and Zoom

The lens is a quite respectable 10x optical zoom range of 38-380mm (in 35mm-equivalent terms).

The lens traverses the range from wide to telephoto (and vice-versa) evenly, albeit fairly slowly. This permits fine adjustments without much effort.

Auto Focus

The auto focus in this camera was quite good, except in macro mode, where the subject was difficult to keep in focus. When it was, the results were quite good. There are preset focus ranges that could be used in this situation, but a tripod would help more.

As with most cameras, AF (and exposure) can be locked by holding the shutter button part way down, then, without letting it up, recomposing and pressing the shutter release.

There are a number of selectable AF modes: multi-area, center, spot, three approximate distance modes, and infinity.

Flash

The flash seems a bit slower than most, as a maximum power discharge takes 8.15 seconds; however, average performance was closer to three seconds.

There is a setting for flash compensation. The flash may be adjusted +/- 2.0EV in 0.3EV increments. This is a nice feature for tweaking fill flash that is not present on every camera in this class.

Image Stabilization

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H10 has image stabilization to compensate for shake to minimize blur. The literature speaks about a built-in gyro sensor that sends correcting signals to a stabilization lens. It seems to work, too.

Battery Life