I just bought a DSC-H& and for the first time, I removed the battery to charge it. When I put the battery back in and turn the camera on, it powers up in initialization mode and all of my settings including date and time are gone.

I set the date and time and a few basic camera settings, take a few shots then turn if off and remove the battery for only a few seconds and then put it back in and power it up. Same problem...date and time and all settings are gone.

I pull out my wife's DSC-W80 and it does not have this problem when I test it in the same manner.

Sony chat and phone support say this is normal, but I have a very hard time believing that as I have never had this problem before with any Sony camera.

Can someone with a DSC-H7 confirm that this is "normal"? Any help is appreciated!

The main battery pack charges the memory back-up battery when it is in the camera. Try leaving a charged battery in the camera for a day or two then remove it for a little while and see if the settings hold. If it resets again then there is a problem with the back-up battery.

That's what I thought, but I am not sure how the backup battery is bad when the main battery wasn't fully depleted (AFAIK). I was just charging it so I can use it a lot tomorrow.

I will give it a try. Do you have a DSC-H7? I am only asking in case I have to return it, I want solid proof to back up the idea that it is definitely not normal for this camera.

Thank you!:-)

I have the H1 and it does notbehave like yours. I haven't left the camera w/o batteries for too long but I can certainly replace them w/o loosing the settings. So, since I do not have the H7, I can't say whether this is normal behavior or your camera has a problem. But, there is an easy way to find out. Take a fresh set of batteries to a local camera store and test on their floor sample. Good luck.

Despite the fact that Sony's online chat support and phone support claim that it is "normal", it is indeed not normal. I exchanged the camera for another of the exact same model from the exact same store, and it does not have the problem, just as I thought.

Thanks for the advice, everyone.