Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9 vs Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9 results continued…

Outdoor / Resolution / Noise / Noise 2 / Corner sharpness / Fringe & macro / Distortion / Vignetting

outdoor scene

  To compare real-life performance we shot the same scene with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8 within a few moments using their lowest ISO settings.

The zoom lenses of each camera were adjusted to deliver the same field of view; the FZ8 crops show a slightly larger field due to its slightly lower resolution.

The image left was taken with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9 at 6mm f5.6 and with a sensitivity of 80 ISO; the original JPEG measured 2.19MB. The crops are taken from the top left, centre and lower right areas.

The Sony Cyber-shot H9 may have an extra Megapixel over the Panasonic FZ8, but this doesn’t result in perceptively greater detail in this result. On the next page our studio charts reveal the H9 has a slight edge in resolving power, but as seen here, you’re unlikely to notice it in real life.

While the middle row of crops from the H9 and FZ8 show similar degrees of detail though, the first and third rows reveal some of the issues facing the Sony. In the first row, coloured fringing is clearly visible on the mountain ridge and snow patches from the Sony crop and our results show this also affects the H9 when zoomed-in or with a smaller aperture. To be fair, the Sony H9’s lens range is both slightly wider and longer than the Panasonic’s, but there’s clearly some compromise as a result.

The third row of crops also show the H9 resolves far less fine detail in the foliage areas than the FZ8, even at a slightly lower sensitivity of 80 ISO. This is due to higher compression and greater noise reduction, neither of which are adjustable on the H9.

So even at its lowest sensitivity under the best conditions, the Sony H9 images have several worrying issues. If you like to view results on-screen at 100% or make large prints, the H9’s results can disappoint. For more samples, visit our Sony H9 Gallery. For more results and analysis, click onto our resolution results page.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9
 
Panasonic Lumix FZ8
f5.6, 80 ISO
f5.6, 100 ISO
f5.6, 80 ISO
f5.6, 100 ISO
f5.6, 80 ISO
f5.6, 100 ISO
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