General Features
Recording Images
Viewing, Editing and Printing Images
Supplied Software

General Features

Memory Stick Compatibility: This camera is compatible with the following recording media: Memory Stick Duo, MagicGate Memory Stick Duo, and Memory Stick PRO Duo. All compatible Memory Stick Duos can be used to record still pictures and moving images with audio. Although this unit is compatible with MagicGate Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick PRO Duo media, it cannot be used to record or play back music protected by copyright signals.

31 MB Internal Memory: This camera has 31 MB of internal memory. Even when there is no Memory Stick inserted in the camera, you can record images using the internal memory. This memory is not removable.

Image Recording Format: The camera records still images in JPEG format. Moving images with audio (monaural) are recorded in MPEG1.

Imaging Device: For optimal image quality, the camera uses a 7.18mm (1/2.5" type), 8.1 Mega-Pixel (Effective) Super HAD color CCD imaging device with approximately 8.286-million gross pixels and 8.083-million effective pixels. More megapixels give you more detail and definition when you make big prints or crop in tight on your subject.

Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens: The Vario-Tessar lens is specially produced for very compact cameras. This specialized design allows quick auto-focus, appealing zoom range while still maintaining a compact design.

Bionz Processor: The camera is powered by the exclusive Sony Bionz high-speed processing engine which preserves image data in bright highlights and reveals more detail in the shadows or backlit areas to give you great results in very difficult lighting conditions.

LCD Screen: The DSC-H7 has a 2.5" color LCD screen with 115,200 pixels (resolution 480 x 240). The LCD screen allows you to view an image before taking a picture and replay images that have been stored in memory. For best viewing, you can adjust the brightness of the LCD monitor, and increase the amount of backlight in the monitor when using the camera outdoors.

Viewfinder: In addition to the LCD screen, the camera has an electronic, 0.2" LCD color viewfinder with 200,000 pixels that allows you to shoot in traditional camera style, and save battery power by turning off the LCD screen. The viewfinder has an adjustable diopter that allows you to change the focus of the viewfinder to your vision. A button on the back of the camera lets you switch between the LCD screen and the viewfinder as desired.

Lens: The lens has a 15x optical zoom and a focal length of 5.2mm to 78mm, which is equivalent to 31mm to 465mm in 35mm photography. It has an aperture range of f/2.7-5.6 (W), f/4.5-10 (T).

Digital Zoom: The camera has a Precision Digital Zoom of 2x. Combined with the 15x optical zoom, the maximum total zoom is 30x.

Smart Zoom: The "Smart" zoom intelligently uses the full CCD to let you zoom into the portion of interest by cropping the image size, thus avoiding the image degradation found in most digital zooms. The maximum zoom scale depends upon the image size. When the image is VGA size (640 x 480), the digital zoom is 5x, and coupled with the optical zoom gives you a total zoom of 76x. For larger images, the digital zoom (and total zoom) is less. When the image is 8M (3264 x 2448) or 3:2 (3264 x 2176), the Smart (digital) zoom does not function, leaving you with only the optical and/or the precision digital zoom.

Function Guide: An on-screen function guide text/icon display makes it easy to learn the camera functions that give you greater creative freedom to adjust photo settings. The function guide can be turned on or off as desired.

Face Detection: When activated, the Face Detection function detects the faces of your subject and adjusts the focus, strobe, exposure, white balance, and pre-strobe for red-eye reduction. Face Detection helps make skin tones look more natural and eliminates harsh facial glare.

Double Anti-Blur Solution: With Super SteadyShot and high sensitivity (ISO 3200), the DSC-H7 compensates for shaky hands, minimizes blur, brightens images, and allows flash-free shooting to preserve the mood. The Clear RAW Noise Reduction reduces the picture noise that can ruin low-light shots.

Focusing Methods: The Sony DSC-H7 gives you four methods of focusing:

• Multi-Point AF: The camera has a 9-area multi-point autofocus. The camera calculates the distance in nine areas in three rows of three points around the center of the frame. This method is helpful when your subject is not centered in the frame.
• Center AF: The camera focuses only on the subject framed in the AF range finder in the center of the image
• Flexible Spot AF: The camera focuses on an extremely small subject or a narrow area. You can move the AF range finder around the frame to the point where you want to focus.
• Manual: You can focus manually, guided by a distance bar in the display.

AF Mode: You can choose from the following AF modes:

• Single AF: This mode is useful for shooting stationary subjects.
• Monitor AF: This mode shortens the time needed for focusing. The camera automatically adjusts the focus before you press and hold the shutter button halfway down, letting you compose images with the focus already adjusted.

AF Illuminator: The AF (auto focus) Illuminator briefly provides fill light to focus more easily on a subject in dark surroundings. Optimal focusing distance with the AF Illuminator is up to approximately 12' 5-5/8" with the zoom set to wide and up to 9' 10-1/8" with the zoom set to telephoto.

AE/AF Lock: If you have difficulty focusing on an off-center subject, you can set and lock the focus and exposure on the subject by pressing the shutter button halfway with the subject in the AF rangefinder, then recompose the shot and press the shutter button fully to take the picture. 

Macro Focus: For close-ups of small objects such as flowers and insects, this camera has macro focus capability. With the zoom set all the way to wide, the camera can focus on objects as close as 13/32". With the zoom set all the way to telephoto, the camera can focus on objects down to 3' 11-1/4" from the lens (macro).

Auto Power-Off: If you do not operate the camera for approximately 3 minutes, it will turn off automatically to conserve battery power.

Date and Time: Each time you take a picture, the camera records the date and time on the still image. The date and time do not appear on the LCD screen or in the viewfinder while you are shooting. Instead, the date and time appear when you replay the stored image. This feature can be turned off.

Remote Control: The camera includes the RMT-DSC1 wireless remote control. The remote control enables you to access and navigate through the menu, operate the zoom, start and stop a slide show, and operate the shutter release. The remote is powered by a CR2025 Lithium battery.

Lens Hood/Adapter Ring: The camera includes an adapter ring and lens hood. The lens hood is recommended when you're shooting in bright lighting conditions, such as outdoors, to reduce the image quality deterioration caused by unnecessary light. The lens hood, as well as optional conversion lenses, requires the use of the adapter ring. When not in use, the lens hood can be mounted on the camera in reverse.

Battery Information: The DSC-H7 comes with the NP-BG1 lithium-ion rechargeable battery and BC-CSGB battery charger. This battery takes approximately 5.5 hours to fully charge. It can reach a "practical charge" in approximately 4.5 hours.

Battery Performance: Under normal operating conditions the battery has the following capacity:

Recording Images

Shooting Modes: The camera features the following shooting modes:

• Auto Adjustment: The camera automatically adjusts the focus, exposure and white balance.
• Program Auto: This mode allows you to shoot with the exposure adjusted automatically.
• Shutter Speed Priority: You set the shutter speed manually between 1/4000 and 30 seconds, and the camera sets the aperture value for the best exposure.
• Aperture Priority: You set the aperture manually between F2.7 to F8 (W) or F4.5 to F8 (T), and the camera sets the shutter speed for the best exposure.
• Manual Exposure: You set the aperture and shutter speed manually
• Scene Selection Modes: You can choose from the following Scene Selection modes:
  • High Sensitivity: The camera shoots without flash in low light, reducing blur.
  • Portrait: The camera softly blurs the background to accent the person in the foreground.
  • Advanced Sports Shooting: This setting is suitable for shooting scenes with fast movement such as sports. While the shutter is pressed halfway down, the movement of the subject is predicted and the focus is adjusted.
  • Twilight Portrait: This mode is used for shooting people in the foreground at night.
  • Landscape: This mode is used for shooting landscapes at a distance.
  • Twilight: This mode is used for shooting a distant subject at night.
  • Beach: This mode is for shooting at seaside or the lakeside.
  • Snow: This mode shoots whitish scenes brightly.
  • Fireworks: This mode allows you to record fireworks in all their splendor.

Picture Effects: When desired, you can select one of the following picture effects:

• Normal: Image is shot with normal color tones.
• Vivid: Sets the image to bright and deep color.
• Natural: The image has quiet color.
• B & W: The image is recorded in monochrome.
• Sepia: The picture is sepia-toned like an old photograph.

Continuous Shooting Modes: You can select whether the camera captures one image or multiple images at a time. The Continuous Shooting Modes include:

• Normal: Shoots only one frame when the shutter button is pressed.
• Burst: Shoots up to 100 images in succession when you press and hold down the shutter button. The recording interval is approximately 0.46 seconds, longer depending upon the image size setting.
• Exposure Bracket: Records a series of three images with the exposure values automatically shifted. One photo is taken under exposed, one is taken over exposed, and the third is taken at the set exposure. You can select a bracket shift of +/-0.3EV, +/-0.7EV, or +/-1.0EV.

MPEG Movie VX: Besides recording still images, you can also record moving images with sound. Moving images are recorded in MPEG1 format. The following image sizes are available: 640 x 480 @ approximately 30 frames per second (Fine), 640 x 480 @ approximately 17 frames per second (Standard), and 320 x 240 @ approximately 8 frames per second (Mail). You can also record movies in macro mode for excellent closeups. If you want to be in the movie, you can use the camera's self-timer feature. Movies with the size set to 640 x 480 (Fine) can only be recorded on a Memory Stick PRO Duo.

Flash Modes: The flash can be set to Auto, Forced Flash, Slow Synchro, or No Flash. In Auto mode, the flash automatically strobes when the surroundings are dark. When the flash is set to Forced Flash, it strobes with every shot. In Slow Synchro, the flash is used regardless of the amount of ambient light, but the shutter speed is slower under dark conditions, allowing you to clearly shoot a background that is out of the flash-lit area. In addition, this camera has a "red-eye reduction" setting, which causes the flash to pre-strobe before shooting to reduce the red-eye phenomenon.

Flash Range: The recommended distance using the flash is 7-7/8" to 32' 1-7/8" with the zoom set to wide and 3' 11-1/4" to 19' 8-1/4" with the zoom set to telephoto.

High Sensitivity Mode: For better shots in low light, or when you can't use flash, you can set the camera to the high sensitivity mode of ISO 3200. The ISO speed can be also be set to Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1600. When shooting under dark conditions or shooting a fast-moving subject, you should use a high number setting. When recording high-quality images, use a low number setting.

Metering Modes: You can select Spot, Center-weighted, or Multi-pattern Metering. Spot metering lets you adjust the exposure to the subject, even when the subject is a backlit or when there is strong contrast between the subject and the background. Center-weighted metering measures the center of the image and determines the exposure based on the brightness of the subject. When multi-pattern metering is used, the image is divided into multiple regions and metering is performed in each region. The camera judges the subject position and background brightness, and determines a well-balanced exposure.

White Balance: When the white balance is set to auto, the white balance is set automatically in response to the condition of the subject, and the overall color balance is adjusted. When shooting under special lighting conditions, you can select the settings manually. When using flash, you can select the flash white balance mode. In addition to Auto and Flash, the white balance can be set to Incandescent, Fluorescent 1 (white fluorescent), Fluorescent 2 (natural white fluorescent), Fluorescent 3 (day white fluorescent), One Push, One Push Set, Daylight, and Cloudy.

Exposure Adjustment: Besides auto exposure, you can adjust the exposure from +2.0EV to -2.0EV in steps of 1/3EV.

Approximate Still Image Recording Capacity:

Approximate Movie Recording Capacity:

Viewing, Editing and Printing Images

Viewing Images: Still and moving images can be played back on the camera's color LCD screen, or the images may be transferred to a computer, where they can be displayed or manipulated with the use of compatible software. In addition, the images can be played back on a television (NTSC or PAL), if the television has an RCA composite video input.

Index Mode: In addition to viewing images one-by-one in full screen, you can view multiple images at once in the index mode. This feature lets you to display images in rows of three or rows of four, allowing you to easily find the image you want.

Slide Show: The Slide Show function lets you play back images one after the other. You can select from 5 slide show effects (Simple, Nostalgic, Stylish, Active, and Normal). Each effect has a default preset music soundtrack, or you can choose from the 4 selections. The interval between the pictures can be adjusted, allowing you to choose 3, 5, 10, and 30 seconds, 1 minute, or automatic to suit the selected effect. You can select Folder play (all images in the selected folder) or All play (all images on the Memory Stick Duo). When repeat is selected, the images are replayed in a continuous loop.

Music Transfer: You can change the music files that are preset at the factory with your own music, using the Music Transfer program in the supplied CD-ROM.

Deleting/Protecting Images: You can delete a selected image, or you can delete all the unprotected images at once. In order to avoid accidentally deleting an image, it can be protected.

Retouching Images: The Retouch Menu allows you to make adjustments of a still image or apply special effects. The following effects can be applied to still images:

• Soft Focus: you can blur the periphery around a chosen point.
• Partial Color: you can surround a chosen point in monochrome
• Fisheye Lens: you can apply a fisheye effect around a chosen point
• Cross Filter: you can add a starburst effect to bright points in the image
• Trimming: you can crop images to remove unwanted portions
• Red Eye Correction: removes red-eye effect caused by flash

Playback Zoom: You can enlarge a recorded still image up to five times the size of the original image. You can also record the enlarged item as a new file. To select the area to be enlarged, you can move the enlargement "frame" up/down/left/right with the arrow buttons, and adjust the zoom with the W/T button. You cannot enlarge movies or images recorded in multi-burst mode.

Print Mark: You can place a print mark on still images recorded with this camera. This mark is convenient when you have images printed at a shop that conforms to the DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) standard.

Exif Print (Exif 2.21): The DSC-H7 conforms to "Exif Print," a worldwide standard. Vital camera settings (such as: exposure mode, white balance, exposure time) and scene data are recorded to the image file when it is captured. Printers compatible with "Exif Print" are able to use this information to produce high quality photographs, exactly the way they were intended at the time of capture. This intelligent communication process also allows the printer to correct for poor lighting or mistakes, resulting in photos that can be even better than the originals.

PictBridge Printing Capability: Using the supplied USB cable, you can connect this camera directly to a PictBridge compliant printer. PictBridge is a new standard that allows you to connect a PictBridge compliant camera directly to a PictBridge compliant printer and make prints, regardless of brand.

PRINT Image Matching III: PRINT Image Matching III (P.I.M. III), a technology developed--and recently updated--by Seiko Epson Corporation, ensures that P.I.M. III-enabled digital cameras and printers work together perfectly to produce the best possible prints. After an image is captured, the camera automatically tags the picture with 14 optimal image settings and includes it as part of the Exif Print header in the JPEG file. A P.I.M. III-enabled photo printer reads and utilizes the information in order to make the most accurate print.

Supplied Software

Software: The DSC-H7 comes with CD-ROM software, which contains the following:

• Picture Motion Browser (Ver.2.0.05): This software allows you to:
  • View images saved on your computer
  • View photos organized by date
  • Edit images
  • Display the shooting locations of still images on maps online (Internet connection required)
  • Create a new data disc (CD burner drive or DVD burner drive required)
  • Print or save still images with the date
• Music Transfer: allows you to change the music files on the camera and replace them with your own selections. You can upload MP3s from your computer or music from CDs.
• Cyber-shot Handbook: a detailed instruction booklet (PDFs)
• Product Registration: allows you to register your camera online
• ImageStation XPRESS Upload Software: allows you to easily upload your pictures to your computer

System Requirements: You can copy images from the DSC-W80 to a Windows PC or a Macintosh computer. The supplied Picture Motion Browser software can only be used on a Windows PC; it cannot be used on a Macintosh. The supplied Music Transfer software can be used on both a Windows PC and a Macintosh. The minimum requirements are:

• Copying Images: The recommended environment for copying images includes:
  • Windows: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, or Windows XP Professional, and a USB jack
  • Macintosh: Mac OS 9.1, 9.2, Mac OS X (v10.1 to v10.4) and a USB jack
• Picture Motion Browser: The recommended environment for using Picture Motion Browser includes:
  • OS (pre-installed): Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, or Windows XP Professional
  • Sound Card: 16-bit stereo sound card with stereo speakers
  • CPU: Pentium III 500 MHz or faster (Pentium III 800 MHz recommended)
  • Memory: 128 MB or more (256 MB or more is recommended)
  • Software: DirectX 9.0c or later
  • Hard Disk: 200 MB or more (required for installation)
  • Display: Screen resolution: 1024 x 768 dots or more colors; High Color (16-bit color) or more
• Music Transfer: The recommended environment for using Music Transfer on a Windows PC is the same as for Picture Motion Browser (above). The recommended environment for using Music Transfer on a Macintosh includes:
  • OS (pre-installed): Mac OS X (v10.3 to v10.4)
  • CPU: iMac, eMac, iBook, PowerBook, PowerMac G3/G4/G5 series, Mac mini
  • Memory: 64 MB or more (128 MB or more is recommended)
  • Hard Disk: Disk space required for installation--approximately 250 MB