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Now that DSLR cameras have come in terms of price so low, camera manufacturers had to come up with a solution to preserve the intermediate category between real compacts -i.e.: pocketable- and DSLRs. Superzooms seem to be -for now- the answer. Dpreview reviews the Sony DSC-H10 in order to check whether there have been improvements over its predecessor the DSC-H3 that was review only in January.

Apperently, apart from the larger 3 inch screen, there is hardly any real difference between the two models. Resolution remains the same 8 megapixels, results are good and sharp, while metering and stabilisation do their part in a satisfactory way. What I found disappointing was that manual options do not work so great and for better results the user is limited to the automatic mode. High ISO performance is acceptable, but not much different to all cameras with small size sensors.

At a price of $300 you get a massive zoom range of 38-380mm -35mm equivalent- but bear in mind that you have in your hands a real problem with wide angles. If you like to shoot landscapes or indoors, you are going to have real trouble.

What happened with compact cameras, is now happening with superzooms. We start to see some uniformity across the category in terms of characteristics and pricing. Upgrades start to become very slight increments. After all, zoom is the main attraction and there is only so far one can go…

Link: dpreview