Hi
I finally bought a H9 today. Here are my comments
from the perspective of an experienced photographer
, I use Nikon D2XS and A Canon 30D. I stayed away
from other H series because they had no night shot.
My purpose of getting this camera is that I wanted
a nice night shot mode which I can use to spot
animals at night also (eg waiting for parent owl to feed young)
and for the purpose of movie shooting and the occasional
macro.
Also to leave it in my car in case got accident, then can
also take photo, day or night. Would also like to try
driving in foggy conditions , connect H9 to Large
LCD screen with powerful IR illunimator aiming ahead.
no idea about what will happen but will experiment
and report back.
1) I like the movie mode very well, can zoom and take movie
in Night Shot and Day mode. Night mode can adjust +EV
2) Video mode 4 gig mem stick can get 50 mins FINE HD mode
3) ISO 1600 very clean. ISO 800 beats my Nikon D2Xs DSLR.
ISO 3200 can use in daytime to capture high speed action
when you set your shutter to S mode.
Max Shutter is 1/4000 at F4.0
4) Manual mode v easy to use.
5) Works PERFECTLY with my Epson P3000, movie plays back
perfectly, jpg files transfer fast. Only drawback, stupid thick
unusual cable. I am sure it will also work with the $55 Thecus
USB OTG (on the go devices) so you can extract out the
contents of the memory stick to the portable HD. The Eastgear
people has an accelerated OTG device which may suit
movie users better.
6) Instant Metering button
7) can easily go from auto to manual focus with decreasing
focus area
8) has spot metering, center weight and matrix
8.1) FPS around 2.5 I think, more than 10 shots
can be taken in fine mode before it slow down.
9.0) U get 465MM optical zoom
Macro Mode:
10) Can shoot macros in night shot mode, great for those
spiders. However no manual focus is allowed in NS mode.
11) Min is 1 CM, cannot use MAX ZOOM to do macro. I am
not sure where the sweet spot is yet, but I am sure someone
here will find out soon.
12) When manual focusing, the LCD shows the subject
zoomed up 4X I think.
Downside
=======
A) No Raw
B) Memory stick V V Xpensive
C) Lens cap pops up when you turn camera on
D) Awkward lens adaptor ring.
E) No flash shoe
F) Customized USB VIDEO AUDIO All combined into 1 strange cable
g) NO shutter release jack , only IR control
H) Non Intuitive digital selection ring
I) LCD screen does not twist, only look up and down
so cannot frame yourself.
J) NO laser pattern subject illuminator like F717,F707
K) Subject illuminator is BLOCKed when you use the funny
lens adaptor
L) Original spare battery is $77.00, no clones yet
but some other shop sell for $55.00, you need to go and
ask .. all in sim lim sq
M) Need to remove lens cap at night because the IR illumination
LED is in the IR control area.
N) Viewfinder small , literally useless.
****
O) Shutter Button is TOO Sensitive, one light touch
will fire the shutter
****
P) Remote control for shutter release is NOT a suitable
to control the shutter, I perfer a shutter release cord.
will be making my own Radio wireless version later. It
SEEMS to work from behind, but I you need to trackdown where
the IR receiver is from behind so that you dont cover it up.
Q) Movie is MPEG-1 only not MPEG 4 H.264 hor.. just in case
you need to be aware of this for Apple users. I am sure
can convert.
R) No manual focus ring
S) Lens VERY EASY TO GET DUSTY because it protrudes out.
Need to keep awkward lens adaptor on, But small dust particles
should not affect sharpness, maybe with macro that could
be an issue.
I know everyone is looking for the 'perfect' camera.
My only major gripe is that it has no RAW, But looking back
at using raw for Nikon and canon, if you
allow the H9 to have raw, it may take a lot of fun out
of using the sony H9 because people may want to push
the camera beyond its design goals and there will be a lot
of complaints, but I prefer to let the user decide.
For those wanting to shoot fantastic macros, you have super steady shot..
but you need to test this with multiple stacked lenses to see
if you can blow up that 1mm hairy catapiller.. I am sure others
in the world will be messing around with that.
Adaptor rings: I am sure
www.ckcpower.com will come out
with some special rings for this camera or someone else
where will redesign a purpose built ring to place stacked
lenses or other things.. some others will come out
with an ugly but useable jig to do your stuff ..
The above info is just from the 1 hr I have
handling the camera, pls don't flame me if
I am incorrect.
so far I like the camera very much..
Oh BTW, you get a SONY DYE SUB printer bundled.
I prefer the Canon Selphy, but I am not allowed to
exchange it for a memory stick.
Each Sony print costs SG$0.35 cents, I think the selphy
prints are cheaper.. I am not sure which printer prints out
'better' photos. but at post card size, I dont really care.
The sony printer is the NO LCD version.
Allan
