New User w/ H7, introduction, review, and pics.

[obscenities1]

First Post,
My name is Tim, I am 25, in the Navy, and currently stationed in Sicily, Italy. My current location gives me a good enough chance to take some descent pictures, so I went out and bought the new Sony DSC-H7/B, researched a bit but have a limited selection being overseas, got the camera yesterday and would like to share my review of the camera and the first couple of pics I have taken and liked.

I wanted a camera that took great pictures, but did not have all the work attached to it, the pics from a DSLR are unbelievable, artistic, and detailed... but for me would be too much work, I allready have a PS3, Xbox 360, HD everything, computer, kids, a dog, a job...... don't have the time to be in photoshop, or learn how to correctly use a DSLR. Price wasn't much of an issue, but I would much rather spend $400 than $1200. I didn't want another true point-and-shoot cyber-shot camera that was over-priced for the pics it took, wanted something that looked proffesional, complex, and expensive.... If I wasn't going to take great pictures, at least from a distance one would think I am.

So I got it out of the box, was asthetically pleasing, sturdy yet fragile looking. The LCD screen is pretty bland and not a true representation of the pictures that come out of it, I was blown away at the quality of the pictures, the detail, as soon as I saw the first picture load onto the computer screen, a pleasant surprise for the amount of work put into taking the picture. The software that came iwth the disk does a great job, more than enough for me, had photoshop before, too much of a learning curve. The software does a great job of collecting and sorting all the pics on my computer and a great job at finishing the picture with minimal effort.

I shot a lot today, finished a couple pics of my dog, sure other cameras and photo editing could blow these pics away, but again, well worth the amount of effort.

My dog on the couch:



Another:



This pic was taken off my balcony, the castle I would say is about 3/4 of a mile away.



Some flowers about 2 stories bleow my apartment:



I live by Mt. Etna, the largest active Valcano in Europe, it is right off the back of my balcony , it was a bit too overcast today to get a good shot, will wait till the clouds clear a bit, or when I notice it erupting and will post some pics, there are also many very old churches and stuff so I will try to get some more pics up if I get out into town this weekend.

Overall I love the camera, perfect for my needs, easy enough all though there are many features I am trying to learn, also complicated enough to know I am not yet getting the best pictures I likely will with practice.

Constructive critism and comments appreciated, grazie, ciao.

[polarbeardiggers]

i'm a new owner of the sony h5 for a few months now,and the pictures that come out are superb,without having to mess around with photoshop as well,they call these camera's a prosumer digitals,which means they have the same or almost even qualities as a DSLR,but in the point and shoot group, the sony h7 came out the very next month after my purchase, i wished i would of waited alittle more for the longer digital zoom feature.