Labs

The H9 has some exciting specifications, including a 3in hinged screen and a 15x zoom. The latter goes further in both wide-angle and telephoto directions than most others here, although not as far as the Panasonic FZ18. Optical zoom is available during video capture but the tinny sound and erratic auto-exposure let the video mode down. A Night Shot switch activates an infrared lamp for shooting video or stills

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in total darkness.

The 2fps continuous shooting is the joint fastest of the ultra-zoom cameras. Adjusting key settings is quick, too, thanks to a wheel around the navigation pad that adjusts ISO and shutter speeds, aperture, EV and focus. Auto-focus is generally quick and reliable, but the camera can't give an audible indication of successful focus without also accompanying every button push with an irritating bleep (a problem shared with the H3).

Sadly, the large zoom range results in strong barrel distortion at the wide end of the zoom, giving subjects a bloated, fisheye-lens appearance. We also saw chromatic aberrations in the corners, where the red, green and blue elements of pictures didn't line up properly. As with the H3, detail was a little soft compared with images from the other ultra-zoom cameras, but not disastrously so, and noise levels at high ISO speeds were low.

Overall, the H9 is a likeable camera, but it's beaten in most respects by the Panasonic FZ18.