Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H200 Pro Reviews

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H200 is an affordable, if rather unexciting, super-zoom camera that we'd be happy to recommend as a budget option, if it wasn't for the so-so image quality. Sadly, with only a usable ISO range of 80-400 due to noise artifacts, this is not a camera for low-light shooting, something that's accentuated further when using the extreme reaches of the focal range. In daylight we were able to achieve sharp results shooting handheld with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H200, but once the light levels fall, it's tricky to keep the subject in focus, unless you use a high ISO speed and accept that your images will be very noisy. Video quality is also disappointingly limited to 720p, rather than full 1080 HD as most cameras' seem to offer these days.

Seemingly any advantage of using a 20 megapixel CCD sensor has been obliterated by the amount of noise shown in all images. In fact, it's difficult to see any additional detail in images from this camera than a good 16 megapixel camera, and in fact, a 12 megapixel mirrorless camera can shoot a similarly detailed shot, but with much less noise. While these cameras are not directly comparable as such, featuring different zoom and price points, it's to show that the megapixel race when used in compact cameras with small sensors sometimes gives us little real gain in image quality, instead simply delivering larger, noisier files. With many other models available for less, or with additional zoom or features, it's difficult to recommend the Sony Cyber-shot H200, however it does look quite good, as well as having good colour reproduction. If you would like a wider than normal lens, are patient, shoot in bright conditions (sticking to lower ISO settings), and are familiar with setting exposure compensation, then you might like the H200, but in all honesty you'd be better off looking at one of the other cameras listed above.