Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H20

Pros: Excellent picture quality, high zoom, great movie quality, overall great bang for the buck

Cons: No HDMI output, manual lens cap

Summary: I bought this camera after getting a brand-new Casio that took very blurry pictures right out of the box. The Sony DSC-H20 is by far the finest camera I've ever owned when taking into consideration the features and price. The Carl Zeiss lens is of course one of the best selling points of this camera, as it offers optical image stabilization in addition to digital image stabilization rather than relying wholly on the internal processor to handle the stabilization.

The pictures are very sharp, with great color definition no noticeable blur, and pristine detail. Th internal red-eye reduction feature also works very well, and does not overwrite the original, but rather saves as a new file. I didn't find the zoom to be overly noisy, but as a point of information, the lens does not take very wide shots at 1x. This isn't a negative for me, just something that might displease some people.

Movie mode impressed me greatly. I have a nice Panasonic MiniDV camcorder, and the video quality with the DSC-H20 blows it out of the water. I couldn't believe the audio quality, and the video quality was very good for the price of this camera. Many cameras that cost twice the DSC-H20 didn't offer HD video recording, which again puts this camera up at the top for its class. The zoom is fully-functioning in movie mode, though it operates much slower than when taking photos. Some complain that the audio is only mono, when the video is 720p. I would understand this as a valid concern if this was a $2000 video camera, but it's not. I paid twice the cost of this camera for my camcorder, and now that camcorder is going up on eBay, along with the Flip Video Camera.

As a few final notes, there is no HDMI output on this camera. This may be a drawback, but as a HD component cable is available, no big deal. It would be nice to have that option for the convenience of playback when visiting relatives or friends, but personally I like to edit and burn my videos, so for me, no points lost in that department. Some complain about the high cost of batteries. Why this is, I don't know. If you can write a review, you can search eBay. I found 2 high-quality generic brand batteries for $10 each. The batteries use Japanese cells and have an internal microchip, and offer a longer life than the Sony brand battery. Memory Stick Pro DUO cards were also very cheap on eBay. I picked up 2 Sony brand 16GB cards for a whopping $45, including shipping. Can't beat that! So to all those who were dissatisfied with this camera, beats me what you're complaining about. This camera rocks, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone trying to find a high-quality camera that won't break the bank.