bought a used one after reading many reviews. seemed complex at first but easy one I got used to the menu's and features. probably the best of the Sony H series. sometimes searches for focus in manual modes with long zooms. great overall performance, sharp photos with good color.

The camera takes excellent images when it works right. It has known focus issues and the shutter release button releases itself from the camera without warning. Very expensive to have repaired and Sony doesn't care to address the problem. I had the same problemw it the Sony H1 .. the flaw is in the design.

this is a fab camera - love it overall and anything better would get you into DSLR territory.

its downside is anything to do with low light situations. i.e - high iso, use of flash, quality of pics with flash etc.

used with a tripod its great.
movie mode is good too.

i am upgrading to the canon 450D (xsi) but will always keep and find a use for this camera.
Zoom is great.

dont go for this guy, it has major autofocus flaw, and sony service center wont help you out with this, they cant give you permanent solution to the problem so you have to visit them too often.
Worst camera of my life

overall it is a great camera—especially in natural settigs
picture quality is superb outdoors
good indoors
okay in low light
but if have shots you can't miss, or moving objects in low light either try another camera or set it on sports setting and hope for the best

I bought this H2 for an excursion in the Amazon rain forest in January 07. The 12X zoom was wonderful, and envied by other p&s camera users. Resolution is very good, day and night, and I have some great shots of birds and wild life from distances otherwise only accessible by binoculars. The camera lives up to all the specs claimed. My only complaint is in slow reaction time between shots, especially moving action. Invariably when I take a scenic shot from a moving tour bus window, I get the next utility pole in the middle of the photo. But the overall quality of my photos is excellent, under a variety of light conditions.

Sony to a certain degree make hardware quite well, they do not make good software. One shouldn't purchase Sony hardware and expect a full software suite to be made available to them, on the off chance of something like that ocouring, its a definite bonus. Go download Google's Picasa if you want brilliantly designed and highly intuitive software to manage your image collection...

Back to the camera itself:
Like many of the reviews already posted, I have found the flash recharge time to be so slow as to miss 99.9% of opportunities for low light image capture. The camera, although wonderful in the majority of aspects, fails to capture any decent low light images at all, regardless of the settings. I bring a camera to every gig I attend and the Sony H2 takes the worst, grainy noise filled images in the absence of any form of decent light source, unless you want to blind the performers with your intrusive flash; something I refuse to do out of respect.

In decent light, the H2 takes vividly crisp images, I have captured some wonderful images of moving water (sea/rivers), animal on the move (humming birds/dogs running/cats leaping/snakes), nature in all its glory (from bright snow filled mountain vistas in Tuscon to achingly red rock canyons in Sedona to the flowing green hills of Ireland) and multiple portraits of humans and still life objects.

I would recommend this camera to anyone who will be doing the majority of their shooting during the day or with adequate light sources available. Its a fine point-and-shoot model and has enough automatic options to keep most of us happy for the price.

The design has provided zero issues for either myself or my wife, we share the camera so its in use almost daily. It suits both of us in terms of functionality and results!
(We got ours for a substantial saving through best buy by purchasing on their online store for in store pick up)

i fix cameras that only happens 2 ways only obvious drop a inned or a month latter flies out or if you are not pushing that button soft and slow awy they go on all cameras

This camera takes great pictures; zoom is great & fun to use. The Sony software is not user friendly. Everything I do (sending pictures, saving to a disk, and printing) is painful. Previously used Kodak Easy Share. That software is so easy to use. I would never buy another Sony.

This is the third Sony camera I have owned. I have had no major problems and have liked the quality of this camera until my shutter release button flew away. I use this in my work so this was a major problem. Shipping the camera off for repair is a terrible option. Now I have read that this is a fairly common occurance. Duct tape on my $30 replacement button seems likely.

Shutter button broke off by itself in the case.

Shutter button is under constant pressure by a spring beneath it. The shaft for the button is very narrow, and it breaks after awhile.

Check the internet (Keywords dsc-h2 shutter problem). It is all there.

The Sony CyberShot H2 is the 4th digital camera I`ve owned and, so far, the best. Before digital cameras came along I used Minolta and Nikon SLRs. My only complaint with the Sony is how quickly the batteries go dead. If they could come with a portable battery pack that lasted longer I would like the Sony a lot more. If I had the money I would buy a Canon digital SLR, but, for the price the Sony does a good job. It takes excellent pictures.

A very nice camera with good image output.
But the camera is way too slow when shooting with flash on (flash recharge takes time) - and burst mode does not support flash. So, when needed to take quick images with flash on - this camera would be a shame. For other reasons, its a great camera.

Overall, a great camera. Amazing high-speed shutter action. My first weekend out, I shot pictures out the side of my van while traveling at over 55 mph; perfect clarity. On the other hand, the auto setting is extremely frustrating. I've missed a ton of great shot because the stupid thing just wouldn't take the picture. I'm experimenting now with the manual mode; having better results.

This is my second digital camera. The first being a five year old Canon Powershot. The Canon has always taken very good outdoor pictures, but has never impressed me with its indoor shots. In Canon defense it is only 2.1 megapixels and over five years old. The Sony Cybershot H2 has taken excellent indoor pictures. To me that is the biggest difference I have seen. The outdoor shots are sharp and clear. I highly recommend.

hi

The pictures were excellent and i had no memory problems. But my camera had a problem with the motor inside it stated to sound like a laptop hard drive so i have returned the camera to the dealer....

I read many review and tested out tons of cameras and decided to go with this one. So far I'm really loving it! it snaps pics so fast! which is what I was looking for because I have a very active 2year old and with my old digital and the delay I always missed the great moments.

The flash recharge takes too long to fire - I have missed so many shoots of my kids. Night images are terrible and blurry. The camera is very frustrating and I'm returning it.

I bought this camera a week ago for my wife for Christmas (sorry, I meant to say the holiday) and have had no problem with the 1 gig SanDisk. The zoom is incredible. She can take a shot of a license plate from 200 yards and after digitally zooming into the pic further, can read the expiration date very clearly!!! We haven't even begun to explore the other possibilities this camera has to offer. Thanks Sony for jumping on that SanDisk problem so quick and giving us a killer camera for a great price.

wow!! you will be amazed!!!!!!

I'm still learning all the benefits of this great camera, my favorite is the multi-burst shots. It take a series of 12 pics to break down the motion. This is awesome if you have children in baseball or gymnastics like I do. I was able to watch my sons pitching in slow motion, great training tool! I've had no memory card problems. Only negative is it burns through batteries fast but you have the option of using the rechargeable set it comes with or regular AA batteries. The zoom is amazing, day or night. Its a great camera.

the digcam has 12x zoom but u can zoom it up to 52x for detailed information prety sharp and crisp images......
excelent built

I love this camera. I take ALOT of pictures and haven't had any problems with it at all. I read that alot of people had trouble with the memory sticks. I didn't have any. Maybe i was just lucky. The pictures have all came out very clear and the zoom on this camera is great. It is also very easy to use. This would be good for beginners or experienced users.

I have taken about 900 pictures with my H2. Excellent results. Of course, you gotta know at least basics on camera use! (If U don't, U better get a fixed focus pont & shoot). This one has all you can need for great photos. The zoom is a delight. My wife uses the full auto mode and gets mush better pictures than with smaller digitals. I use program, play around with focal length, aperture, ISO, etc... for great effects and shots. Y got a polarizer lens wich makes outdoor-sunny day pictures extraordinary! I did have a SanDisk incompatibility problem, though (in spite of serial numbre not matching the ones published by Sony), only reason I didn't give it an "excellent" mark. Got a Sony MS and works like a wonder!

It is incredible that Sony continues to sell H2's with the known problem of incompatability with SanDisk memory sticks. Unfortunately I did not know about the problem until I purchased the camera. Sorry, but there is no way I am going to download and reload the firmware on a camera I just bought. Sony should have pulled all the affected cameras from the shelfs and not put customers through this fiasco. Fortunately, the store I bought the camera from gave me a full refund.

its a nice camera to start with decent budget

I have already had to return two cameras to the retailer for "failure to read the memory stick". This third one seems to work, and yes I am using the Sony memory stick. At first I tried using a SanDisk but found after speaking with Sony Customer Service that they are not compatible. The pictures are of a good quality, once you realize that the steady shot and auto focus are not all they are cracked up to be on this camera. Rely more on skill and your eye than technology.