459 of 469 people found the following review helpful
Never going back to my DSLR!,
August 1, 2011 This review is from: 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 (Camera)
I beat my brains out for the past month, trying to decide on a P&S camera to replace my Pentax DSLR. I've decided, rather late in life, to go with a small pocket camera to replace my bulky SLR and several lenses, including the huge camera bag I carried them around in. So I've been reading every review and scanning every consumer review site (such as Amazon's) searching for the perfect P&S camera. I even bought (and returned) two cameras that ultimately did not work for me. I agonized over the HX9V for a couple weeks before finally biting the bullet and ordering it. I'm extremely happy I did!
From the moment I opened the box I knew the HX9V was going to be a winner. Unlike the two cameras I returned, the size and handling of the HX9V was about perfect for me. The two I returned were simply too small to handle efficiently, even in my relatively small hands, but this one was ideal (for me) with a great grip and controls that seemed to fall right under my fingers. The build...
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231 of 239 people found the following review helpful
Impressive zoom, photo quality, panoramic mode and video,
June 15, 2011 This review is from: 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 (Camera)
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...
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Was this review helpful to you? 240 of 249 people found the following review helpful
Great camera but not perfect (but then, what is?),
April 26, 2011 This review is from: 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 (Camera)
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...
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