I have been searching for a good, pocket-able travel zoom camera for a few months and have looked at a number of different models including the Fujifilm 550exr. I settled on the Sony for its specs and the reputation that Sony has for making state-of-the-art cameras. I have to say I have not been disappointed. I am most interested in the out-of-the-box image quality since I know that on most occasions my approach is to take a series of shots without too much fuss and let the camera do most of the work for me. This is certainly the case when I am traveling since I am usually trying to get the most of the experience I am having rather than focusing too much on tinkering with camera controls.
So I compared the images from the HX9V to a Sony NEX5 and to an older Panasonic. I used the IA settings on all three cameras. I have to say I was very pleased with the results. The HX9 gave consistently good images from its Intelligent Auto and Superior Auto modes that in some cases came close to the shots from the NEX5. Where it could not compete (and this makes perfect sense because of the different sizes of the image sensor) was in low light. Not that the HX9 didn't have pretty good low-light capability, but it just could not pull the shadow details of color clarity of the NEX5. What was always interesting to me in comparing the images was how sharp and crisp the images were from the HX9. Moving closer to the pixel level it was apparent that this came at the expense of overall smoothness of the image, particularly in shadows and at the edges where images elements came together. However, in many cases, the overall visual detail and contrasts in the shadow areas of pictures taken in daylight was surprisingly good and rivaled the NEX5 for clarity. Where things got a little ugly was in the shadow areas of images taken in low light. But overall, I was very impressed with the flexibility of the camera and how balanced the photos generally were.
So here is my check list of pros and cons:
Pros:
- Stunning display with beautiful color and resolution
- very crisp images with vibrant color
- great zoom, good sharpness at all levels of zoom
- nice menu system, easy to use. Great display makes menus seem even better
- good controls (except for on/off button which is a little too flat/small)
- lots of fun and useful image and shooting options
- smooth and easy image scrolling in playback
- nice feel to body, very well constructed, scroll wheel and buttons have a quality feel
- nice options for multiple/burst shots of image to increase image fidelity/clarity
Cons
- a little chunky for a true pocket/travel camera
- don't like the in-camera charging method. What's the benefit in that?
- slight lag in zoom/review of in-camera images
- Extra sharpness of images comes at some cost to smoothness Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V 16.2 MP Exmor R CMOS Digital Still Camera with 16x Optical Zoom G Lens, 3D Sweep Panorama and Full HD 1080/60p Video
From my personal experience in the last 2 weeks since I received Sony's HX9V camera:
Overall I am happy with my purchase and consider that Sony's camera is competitive compared with similar offerings available from other manufacturers (see below).
Pros
- Wide angle lens and optical zoom (16x) are great: 24mm to 384mm in 35mm film equivalent
- Excellent clear display (3", 921k)
- Great panoramic mode - you sweep the camera around in one motion and it makes a single photo. You can sweep up and down too if the focal length doesn't change too much.
- Generally good photo quality for a pocket megazoom camera.
- Can easily fit in a jacket pocket or squeeze in a trouser one (camera is 4.2 x 1.4 x 2.4 inches ; 8.6 ounces)
- Video stabilizer is exceptionally good and quality is decent too
- GPS records your location
- Reasonably quick start-up for photo shooting - about 1 second
- Works fine with the 16 GB SDHC Class 10 card I have (I believe Class 6 works fine too)
- Auto backlight correction helps to get details with difficult lighting
- Background defocus mode can produce some dramatic results.
- Reasonable battery life - about 240 photos and some short videos.
Cons
- Slow to change between photo modes or video/photo mode - about 7 seconds - you may miss the moment!
- Colors can appear too saturated on the display
- Colors can also be a bit saturated on the photos, but using 'P' mode and 'natural' colors helps. Also, reducing color saturation in the 'P' mode can help reduce yellow color in low light.
- Photo review zoom in is slow to get going.
- GPS can be a bit slow to find you and it only gives lat/long info, not location name as some other GPS camera systems do.
- Flash can be a bit bright leading to overexposure if objects are close with a dark background. (also happened with my last 2 point and shoot digital cameras by other manufacturers). Slow sync flash can help, but camera needs to be held very steady to avoid blurring.
- Video start button is a bit small but works ok when you get used to it.
- Pop up flash can be annoying. You have to remember to hold the camera differently to avoid having your finger on top of it. Also, whenever you ask someone else to take an indoor photo, you have to warn them about the flash and how to hold the camera.
- Video is great but eats up your memory card! High quality fills 16 GB in less than 1 hr. Might be worth getting a second 16 GB card or a larger card if you plan to do much video in the high quality setting.
From reading reviews, alternatives compact ultra-zoom cameras I considered buying were:
- Canon PowerShot SX230 HS - high photo quality, 14x optical zoom, 3" 460k display, more manual controls, but it also has a pop-up flash, is a bit slow start on start-up and has a short battery life. Wide angle lens is 28mm equivalent, so not as wide as the HX9V's 24mm.
- Ricoh CX3 - High photo quality (not over-saturated tendencies like Sony, nor grainy tendencies like Panasonic), excellent macro mode, 10.7x optical zoom, 3" 920k display, 10 megapixel, but no manual controls and cannot zoom beyond 2.8x during filming.
- Panasonic ZS10 (or TZ20) - 16x optical zoom, 24mm equivalent wide-angle, quick start-up, 3" 460k display, GPS gives name of location, flash is not pop-up (good), but photo quality is average, battery life is not so good and worse with GPS on, the touch screen only does some functions while other have to be done with buttons in a strange mixture.'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
