I’m a proud owner of this great product from Sony. I always had a passion of photography, but could not own a camera till May 2007 due to various reasons. I consulted with many of my friends who are keen about photography, and most of them suggested me to go with Canon. Still I opted for this one mainly because of two reasons. First, I had used it’s predecessor H5, which gave me a good impression. Second, at that time, this was the only camera with 8.1 MPx resolution and 15x optical zoom. And cost was$360(Dell online store) then. Without a second thought I bought it. And I never regretted for this.
I’m not a professional photographer, but am very keen in photography. I don’t know the techniques, but many of the photos come out good. I usually use manual mode(when I don’t have time to do settings, I use auto). There are many photos in my picasa album shot with this camera. https://picasaweb.google.com/vidyadutt(Don’t forget to comment the photos if you liked).
The best features I liked about this camera are it’s zoom, resolution, different modes(which you may not even use), easiness to handle, good grip, big LCD(I consider 2.5" as a big screen), battery life(I still have a backup battery), just one cable satisfies all your connectivity needs - for your PC and TV, remote, etc. The shutter delay(I don’t know whether I’m using the correct term. What I mean is the delay between your click and actual capture of picture) is very minimal. Some editing functions have been incorporated with the camera itself(like trimming, soft focus, etc). The "steadyshot" feature(which minimize the shake when you click) is excellent. I hardly get any "shaken" photos with the full zoom on(15x). There are some unexplored features, though I’ve been using this cam for last one year.
So, guys, go ahead if you want to buy this. But one suggestion, don’t let others handle your camera(be it H7 or not). Nobody cares as you do.