Sony H400/B 20 MP Digital Camera

After schlepping around Europe and losing my interchangeable Alpha Sony in a German airport I just bought this camera for a travel option. The 63x zoom sold me. My husband and I have always traveled with multiple lens cameras and thought we might simplify our lives. This sony has a great feel, not exactly compact, so simple to use and the zoom is incredible. We are impressed with the clarity and image detail-THE ZOOM! The negatives are no manual focus, no remote, wifi or GPS but for the price we can do without. This will probably be the camera we grab first in our bag of of DSLRs.Two months later....After using this for a while I have a lot of peeves. The color is pretty bad. The A for aperture setting that is my favorite portrait setting is simply a black fuzzy frame around subject. The focus can be exasperating but for birds and mountain peaks I still love it.

When I first received this camera I almost sent it back. Then I decided to put it to the test just to see what it could accomplish. I am glad I kept this camera. The color renditions are spot on. You have to learn not to go too deep into the zoom, because the 20+ megapixel processor lets you crop your images and get a closer shot without loss of clarity. Kind of disappointed that it has not got a dedicated macro mode, but being able to get clear focus at just a few inches makes up for it. All around good bridge camera. I would have given it a five star if it were not for the LCD screen being too bright no matter what setting you put it on. That's why I almost sent it back. I learned that a refocus of the shot helps this problem, but sometimes to get a good shot you do not always have time to refocus. Still I am pretty impressed with this camera. Think its a good purchase.

Perfect. Like new.My 1st one wouldn’t make contact with the battery anymore (after 4 years) and the cost to repair. Was more than getting a new one.

love this camera! It's a DLSR type camera that has 720p HD recording and a whopping 20MP!!! and a crazy 60 zoom lens that is amazing! I travel alot and this does both the photo and recording needs I have. A great combo buy in one camera! easy to setup, download the software for your pc or laptop and pretty eassy to use as well. suggested for anyone who loves taking pictures or travels alot or a little looking to have a great camera and camcorder all-in-one! does both very well!

I should have heeded the negative reviews of the model camera, but I was soooo looking forward to the big optical zoom of this camera as well as the fact that this a 20 megapixel camera, too, plus it has a large LCD screen and viewfinder for those times when yoy can't see the LCD screen in bright light.But the operation of this camera is ridiculous.And I can't beleive all of the better and glowing reviews of this Sony H400.This Sony camera model disappoints on soooo many levels.First, Screw the users who bought this camera and are telling people that you shouldn't use the full auto shoot mode and learn to use this camera manually to get, sorta past, this cameras big shortcomings.Really???...When I buy a what I perceive to be a good quality point and shoot camera with full auto shooting features, I expect it to perform fantanstic when using this mode.I may explore the manual photo taking features later as I get used to the camera and all of its feature set, but initially, for awhile, I expect flawless performance of auto shooting camera that touts great peformance and pictures using auto mode!This camera has some sort of issue as the delay in pressing the shutter button and when the shutter actually responds is a good second, maybe two, before the picture is taken.It's a very noticeable lag and I feel this is unacceptable from any good digital camera and very surprised to see this defect in a brand, like Sony.I actually have the hold the camera steady for an additional second or two AFTER I have already pushed the shutter button?I own three Sony digital cameras and one Nikon digital and there is no such shutter lag in Auto mode in any of those cameras.There goes trying to capture ANYTHING that is moving. I would need to try and anticipate when a moving object will reach the camera lens and try to time it so the shot gets taken within that two second delay of pushing the shutter button.Also, both the Electronic viewfinder, as well as the LCD screen are NOT very crisp and clear.The LCD screen ( compared to my other cameras) is very coarse and grainy looking and make it hard to see if the image yoy took is really a good image or not.The color of the images, overall, is good, but still not what I expect from a Sony product and from a company whose products are design for capturing the best images possible in all pricing levels.Also, I tried taking videos (which I realised, that the audio being recorded is only in Monoaural sound and not stereo.And, the video I took which were being taken in good bright sunlight exhibited some strange vertical color streaking/banding effects like either the lens (which is NOT a Carl Zeiss lens I have come to, automatically, expect in their higher priced camera lineups, but a Sony designed lens) couldn't handle the strong sunlight or the Super HAD CCD chip on the backside of the lens was not capable of dealing with the strong sunlight.I have an older, but higher end Sony digital camera and a newer Nikon Bridge camera that take 720p video and neither exhibited this vertical banding/striping/streaking while video-ing a bright sunlight.The video capture of this Sony H400 just couldn't do a video without introducing some weird light artifacts/abborations.It could be either a limitation of the lens or the lower end CCD where newer digital cameras use the more commonly found digital CMOS chips for capturing light.I bought this used, but still paid close to $200.So disappointed and really so unimpressed and upset that Sony created and sells this sub par camera.I will be returning this very soon and pay a little more for something better.Stay away from both the H300 and H400 Sony camera models.I think I am going to spend a little more on Sony's HX camera models, instead or look at other slightly more expensive Nikon models.The Sony HX camera models look to be what the H models should have been.

I am a fan of Sony cameras, first off. I use the NEX system and love it. I have two Fujifilm point and shoot super-zoom cameras similar to this one (a 28x S4450 and a 42x S8350), and really like them. The reason I wanted another one was to get an even longer zoom, and this Sony is the longest available on the market right now. I found this camera to be too entry level in its technical sophistication for my use.My other two super-zoom cameras were made of metal and are solid cameras, and the focusing and image quality are both excellent on them. They were about the same price as this Sony, but of much, much higher quality, and the images were better out of the Fujifilm cameras, as well. The Sony H400/B has a plastic housing, with rubberized trim, and it's very hard to navigate around the menu. Each time you choose a setting on the menu, you then have to go back into the menu and scroll down to the next setting you want to change. You can't just set everything at once. It's not an easy camera to use, despite it being at an entry level. And, you would think, with all that plastic versus metal on the body, that it would be lighter weight. It's not (although it's no where near as heavy as a DSLR).I took it out to shoot some flowers to test it out, and had intended to play with the long zoom as well. It's focusing mechanism is really bad. The specs said it could shoot as close as 1 cm, but I couldn't get it to focus closer than about 20", even after playing with both the f/stop and the three different focus options to try to get it to respond. It does not have a flower or macro setting, so I never did figure out how to use it for closer up work. I had to turn up the ISO to 800 to get the lens to even register an image at full zoom. I have never had to change the ISO on either Fujifilm to use the zoom in a situation with comparable scene lighting.The other thing that I didn't like at all was the limited range of the aperture. I shot in Aperture priority, Manual priority, and a Program/automatic setting. On all of them, the maximum aperture was about f/8. To get the light I needed to shoot the flowers, I had to use it on f/4, at about 1/80 second, which was really pushing the limits of handheld. Even still, there was very limited bokeh behind the subjects at that wide open aperture because the lens is so slow. I shot the same exact gardens last week under very similar lighting conditions, at about the same time of day, and was able to get a faster shutter speed and a smaller f/stop with the Fujifilm (S-8350).It turned out not to be worth the extra zoom length for me to go backwards in convenience. I returned the camera to Amazon the day after it was delivered. Once the refund is processed, I will be ordering the 50x Fujifilm Finepix S-1. I'm hoping it will give me the convenience of the single lens (rather than traveling with interchangeable lenses), and give me the additional zoom I want. (And it will allow me to shoot raw files, which I had compromised on with the Sony.)I'm still a huge fan of Sony, just not of this particular model. I would suggest you opt for a different camera in this price and feature range.

I needed a fairly basic digital camera for general photography and selected this digital camera. It's got enough stuff in it to take fairly decent photos including a long 63x optical zoom, manual & program modes plus Auto modes. Other stuff this camera has includes tripod mount, built in flash, HD video [no 4K video], uses SD thru SDHC cards, panoramic mode, various scene modes, manual & automatic modes, oddly set up complete menu system, & 460K optical viewfinder & 460K fixed rear LCD viewfinder.This camera lacks a external flash hot shoe, cannot shoot in RAW photos, miserable high speed shooting, no wifi capability, non-movable tilt/swivel rear LCD view finder just to name a few. This is really a basic digital camera with a huge optical zoom lens.Menu system on this camera is simply disorganized. It takes a bit of time to find things on this menu system on this camera, you will find what you are looking for eventually.This camera is geared for casual photographers & for family/vacation types of photos. It's actually got a solid feel to it....the same for my other Sony digital camera too.Photo qualities are all the way around not very good with this camera....regardless indoors or outdoors. Really this camera could have been made to do a better job, but for under $300, you get what you pay for.This camera has an CCD sensor...something I have not had in any digital camera in a few years as most cameras of this type uses CMOS sensors. Also, high speed picture taking with this camera is very slow. The auto focus on this camera is extremely slow. There is no way to adjust the volume on this camera at all.Video quality indoors & outdoors for this camera seems pretty good. I may just use this as a video camera only since videos seems to come out quite good.It comes with a battery but no charger. I ended up buying spare batteries & a charger for this camera...... otherwise, you will have to charge the batteries in the camera.IF you really need a fairly basic digital camera with a long-sized optical zoom, auto & manual settings possible, good video performance, with basic features under $300 that takes just so-so photos overall, this could be the camera for you. But don't expect very good performance or good photos with this camera.

I like it! As a disclaimer I still have a lot to learn when it comes to photography! I have only been shooting in Auto mode so far. I was looking to replace my old Cybershot that I believe was 10.1 MP & had around 20x zoom (can't find the model for the life of me). It also had the Carl Zeiss lens. It seems this camera's dynamic range is different, so if you are very picky about your dynamic range the hx400 may be worth the upgrade. However, for my purposes: a birthday present to myself with which I can take pictures of birds, it works great!Some people are complaining about the lack of 'auto-focus' but I rather enjoy the fun of pressing the button half-way, trying to get the focus just right and then snapping the picture. It may take some getting used to but I think I would prefer telling it when to adjust the focus to the subject than it auto-focusing wherever it pleases. There is a slight 'lag' when taking the photo but it doesn't seem very significant. Someone said 1-2 seconds. It's more like 200ms. Again, I just consider it a fun handicap. The panorama function is very fun and the included strap feels nice and sturdy.

Some tips from me:This camera is excellent in 20k budget. Good zoom. Good photo quality. Good video quality. Very easy to operate. But careful about charging, don't use inverter power at the time of load shading while charging. Very good camera. All the best Sony. My love for you. And thanks to Amazon for their excellent delivery style and great packaging.

All good for me

The camera is great 👍 I haven't got a chance to use it yet, but looking forward to it 😊 My old camera is a Sony 300, I still use it & Love it's quality of pictures so I'm looking forward to seeing how my new camera does 😊 I texted Xtreme Optics because FedEx said camera was being delivered April 4th & didn't show up 😲 Danny from Xtreme Optics called FedEx & asked what was happening with my shipment 🤔 It finally showed up April 11th but it was all intact. Danny went the extra to keep his customer happy 😊

Poor not worth the money. Camera was not new. Returning arrived in burst packaging.

The camera fits nicely in the hand and is easy to use. Pictures are sharp and well defined. The only option I miss is the ability to do time lapse photography. Other than that it is an excellent camera.