The Sony DSC-H55 comes in black or silver finish. The design is simple and elegant. Except for the lens mount that is made in my opinion, made of metal, the housing consists of plastic, but makes a very well-made, valued and stable impression. Everything fits, is easily accessible and because nothing wobbles: the zoom lever on the trigger, which has a nice pressure point, the slightly recessed Power button and the motive dial on the camera's top side as well as joystick and three other small keys within reach of thumb. The latter, however, are so small that they are pressed usually with a fingernail. Due to its size, the camera is still very handy, but it is still not so tiny that it would be for men's hands no longer good to use. A recessed handle on the front and a smaller one for the thumb to give generous support. With battery and memory card matches the Sony DSC-H55, less than 200 g on the scales: This is still a lightweight in a pocket or backpack, but one feels when taking even that one which holds in his hand.
The display takes plenty of two-thirds of the rear panel. His brightness shall be regulated afloat on the joystick. In brighter mode, the motive can be further satisfactorily assessed also in full sunlight. Especially with macro shots display for successful focus is useful.
It is nice that Sony has adopted this new camera generation of its special path for memory cards: the DSC-H55 accepts now next to the hotel's own Memory Stick and the favorable, generally available SD card. For me a reason to buy, because I am not willing to switch to every other new camera on a new storage solution. Card slot and battery on the camera bottom side is protected by a little too smooth for my taste coverage.
The battery life is average: A full charge will last for approximately 200 photos and concise 40 minutes film. That's only to be expected in the fairly dainty battery. For the overpriced original spare batteries, there are viable budget options.
For image quality:
It remains the ultimate selling point for me. And it was the biggest surprise in this camera: despite the huge number of 14 million pixels (which, incidentally, no one needs) on the tiny sensor noise is amazingly low and the small Sony DSC-H55 delivers amazingly detailed, color beautiful photos , Excellent working the image stabilization, which still provides acceptable results even with shutter speeds of 1/15 second of his free hand in the wide-angle! This pocket-camera is also suitable for a lover of photography with available light! The video quality is quite usable. One should of course be aware that the photo quality to the one digital SLR can not reach, such as the video quality with a true-HD video camera is not comparable.
Pretty gimmick is the ability to create panoramic images by moving the camera. This requires a tripod: After triggering pulling the camera evenly over the subject, and several internal recordings are assembled directly to a panoramic image.
Is so nice that during the preview of the image just made the trigger is blocked. So far I have not found a way to turn off this feature.
GPS equipment as a feature you're looking for the way in which Sony DSC-H55 in vain: the stay of its bigger brother reserved, which is more available for around 100.
The side issues:
The camera delivers plenty of (11) Motif programs ('Scene Selection') of the sporting and low-light over pet to 'gourmet' and Fireworks Photography. If desired, the camera recognizes the scene automatically ('Intelligent Auto'). To what extent it works and is practicable, I have not tried. Besides there is the possibility to adjust settings themselves: In addition to the base automatic and manual choice of aperture and shutter speed is possible.
Class usual comes Camera with Face Detection.
The manual comes as a paperback of about 500 pages in 19 languages (!) - And contains only the information allergrundlegendsten. The actual manual is in PDF format. So learning for the holidays features by heart or pack laptop!
In addition to the battery charger Sony supplies a multi-function cable for connection to PC / Mac and your TV or printer.
Brief summary of the pros and cons:
+ Simple, elegant design
+ Good workmanship
+ Small, light, handy
+ 24-240 with very variable focal length range with a large wide-angle
+ Very good image quality for a camera of this class
+ Useful video feature
+ Einblendbares lattice grid
- Long preview during which blocked the trigger
- In case of accidental activation of the playback button, the camera turns on and the lens extends
- No printed manual
- Included software for PC only, not for Mac
Conclusion:
Chic little take-along camera without unnecessary frills that provides very useful results!
