well sony h50 is a good camera but its battery dont last long i.e u get to click less images(300 images) compared to lets say the canon SX10IS(600 images),panasonic FZ28(460 images) and u will need to invest in their propietary memory stic card.otherwise the sony H50 takes great images.
things u will miss in H50 compared to canon SX10iS is the extra 5x optical zoom and a wider 28mm lens,in panasonic u get extra 3x optical zoom and again a wider 27mm lens.panasonic also takes HD videos which however is in quicktime format.
image quality wise the sony H50 is realy great and matches its competitors produces better image then sx10is with punchy colors,sx10is is however faster.
the panasonic fz28 takes better images then sx10is ,but compareble to H50 ,h50 still produces punchier colors thanks to carl zeiss lens,however fz28 has RAW so if u tinkre with photoshop u can get better images then h50.
the fz28 looses to low light performance compared to h50,also the h50 can take images in zero light without flash with its infra red night vision the images will look greenish like those u see in animal planet.
so all theses camera are great ,see which fits ur requirement more.