Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H55: Conclusions

CONCLUSIONS
In my opinion, the H55 is a little pricey, but I liked it and I had fun shooting with it. Overall, the H55 did a good job for me and with the exception of its abysmal shot-to-shot times I have no major complaints about the camera. The H55 is obviously targeted toward photo enthusiasts rather than casual photographers and that presents something of a quandary.

A 14 megapixel point-and-shoot with a manual exposure mode and a 10x zoom should be capable of capturing near pro quality images - and the H55 delivers excellent image quality and colors that remind me of classic Kodachrome slide film, but a 2.5 to 3.5 second shot-to-shot time isn't conducive to capturing the decisive moment. As it is, the Sony Cyber-shot H55 would be an almost ideal choice to replace an aging first digital camera, an excellent choice as a family camera, and a very good choice for travelers who want a small, lightweight, easy to use digicam, but I don't believe it is a good choice for photo enthusiasts.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Compact 
• First rate optics 
• Excellent image quality 
• Very good feature set

Cons:

• Slow - especially shot to shot
• No optical viewfinder 
• Battery life could be better 
• Pricey

Individual Ratings: *

Image/Video Quality 
Features 
Design/Ease of Use 
Performance 
* Ratings averaged to produce final score