The problems that I ran into with the Sony DSC-H9 fall into two broad categories:

1. Manufacturing defects that affect individual cameras. My first DSC-H9 had a number of image problems, including color fringing (sometimes referred to as "chromatic aberration"), poor sharpness, and bad exposure. Cameras with this type of fault can be exchanged until you find a good one. Internet forums are a good venue for ferreting out this sort of problem and building a standard for comparison.

2. Design flaws that affect all of the cameras of this model. These flaws affect every camera and can't be fixed by exchanging the camera for another one. I listed some of the flaws in my last post. There also seem to be some issues regarding how the image is compressed and whether the noise-reduction firmware is too aggressive, which can leave some parts of the image with poorly-rendered detail.

On the Internet forums, a number of people have stated that they are returning their DSC-H9s, disappointed with the images they got, or with particular features of the camera that turned them off. I originally was going to return mine, but found out that the Sonystyle stores charge a 15% restocking fee for digital cameras, even broken ones. As a result, there was nothing to lose by exchanging the camera for another one.

So now I have a camera without the "type 1" problems, but will the "type 2" problems render it unusable?

Let's step back for a minute, from all of the technical examination of the camera's individual faults, and remember that the ultimate goal of this exercise is to make pictures.

I used to subscribe to a French photography magazine called "Chasseur d'Images (Image Hunter). When they reviewed a camera, whey went through all of the technical tests and evaluation that most photography magazines do, then they added an additional rating called "Possibilities."

What it means is this: Will someone looking through your pictures be able to spot the ones made with the new camera because they stand out in some way from the others? If not, then why are you buying this camera?

So what are the features of the DSC-H9 that add new possibilities? First and foremost, is the new LCD viewfinder -- it's huge and it tilts and swivels, letting me use the camera from positions where I couldn't use a camera before. My former DSC-F707 had a swiveling body that did this, but the screen was too small for practical use. The DSC-H9 also brings back "Nightshot" infrared photography. The picture at the top of the page was made using the Nightshot feature on my old DSC-F707.

There's also the unique way that Sony renders color, contrast, detail, and other image qualities. This is one of the things that drew me to my first Sony camera. The new DSC-H9 also has these qualities, which I like very much. Another thing that convinced me were the spectacular pictures made by other DSC-H9 owners, that were posted on the Internet

So I've decided to keep my new camera, in spite of some of the "type 2" problems that have turned off others.

Where I originally saw problems, I now see the possibilities.