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| | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 230 customer reviews )
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500 of 511 found the following review helpful:
 Never going back to my DSLR! Aug 01, 2011
By arkiedan
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 quality is excellent and I can find no flaw in fit and finish. I decided I wanted a mode dial on top, like my SLRs always had (the two I returned used the wheel on the back of the camera), and the HX9V has one, although it's a little difficult gripping it. So, in short, the HX9V first impression is supurb!
This camera does not come with an accessory battery charger (an omission I find rather annoying) so I ordered one, along with a couple spare batteries (the two batteries and the charger cost only $14.00, shipped). I charged the Sony battery in the camera, using the provided power adapter (again, a ridiculous system, since it ties up the camera during charging) and charged the two spares in the tiny little accessory charger. Everything was charged in a couple of hours and I was ready to put this little gem through it's paces.
Operationally, the camera exceeds all of my expectations. First, I've never owned such a long zoom and this thing is terrific, although I doubt I'll use the long end very often. Having used large SLR zooms most of my photographic life, where zooming was done manually, I found this zoom rather slow, a bit gravelly-feeling and hard to control precisely. It requires some getting used to, at least for me anyway, but I believe it will be fine.
Focusing is instantaneous and I experience no lag-time, unless shooting in modes that shoot and blend multiple images together. On those you get the obligatory "Processing" message and, frankly, I see no reason to consider that a negative. The camera is doing some truly sophisticated image blending. Shoot in a single image mode and it's operation is lightning fast. Oh, and did I mention the ability to shoot ten images a second? What a great feature when shooting my dog, Sammy, or a sports event (and yes, you will get the "Processing" message after firing off ten shots).
The Panorama feature is great, producing beautiful wide panoramic images. I've found it really difficult to get less than stellar panos. In other words, it's real hard to mess up!
Video is an area I've never explored before but, after seeing some of my random efforts on my HD TV, I'm completely dazzled by this camera's abilities. This is an area I intend to pursue further.
There are many more special features that I wont go into here but they're all great and very useful. As for the 3-D thing, I have no interest in that but many others will. I can't comment because I don't care about it.
Image quality! You read about it. You scan full-size images on dozens of websites. You pixel-peep endlessly, comparing images from Canon, Nikon, and Sony, until your head feels like it's going to explode. If you're an intelligent, sensible person you conclude that much of the hype you read around the internet is just that - hype! Every P&S camera out there has shortcomings in one area or another and none produce results like a good DSLR! After I came to that conclusion I felt more confortable ordering the Sony. I'm glad I did. I have no intention of blowing any of these images up to poster size. Most will never be printed and those that are will likely be "normal" print sizes. This camera produces excellent images! I have a relatively discerning eye after over fifty years of photography and I'll say again; the Sony HX9V produces excellent images!
The bottom-line is, this camera is chock full of cutting edge technology, with features that put it far out front of most other P&S cameras. It takes great images and the videos are extraordinary.
Mine is a keeper! It's going to be around for many years to come. In fact, it might outlast me, since I'm 73.
Update: April, 2012
Everything I said in the above review stands, in spades, after all these months. That said, I finally taught my wife how to use this camera a couple weeks ago and she took it to one of her DAR conventions. She returned two days later and downloaded several hundred images to her computer. Later, when I watched over her shoulder while she scanned them individually I realized they were all, I mean all, extremely soft, unlike my own results. She seemed happy with them but I knew otherwise so I asked her to go out in the yard with me and take a few shots. We did and I immediately saw her problem. She repeatedly composed the picture on the LCD screen and immediately snapped the shutter, without waiting for the camerea to complete focus. She had forgotten that she should depress the button halfway to allow the autofocus system to work properly. Well, long story longer, she did as I demonstrated and we reviewed the pictures on her computer.Voila! The shots were now sharp and clean. Funny thing was: she then looked at her efforts at the convention and said, "Oh! These are awful!" After this episode I'm convinced that many of the complaints about soft images is a result of "Operator Error." No offence but ain't that always the way.
By the way, there are several comments attached to this post, one by a fellow who doesn't own the camera and who obviously has an agenda. His first negative post even implied, in a smarmy, underhanded way, that my review is worthless because I once used Pentax cameras, ignoring the fact that Pentax has earned, over the years, an excellent reputation. He has gone on to point out certain professional reviews that are unfavorable to the camera, ignoring those that heap accolades on it. I frankly, could not care less about his opinions but I will bet that I've been shooting images for more years than he's been alive. Anyway, as I said in the review, it's my opinion, and can be ignored completely if one chooses to do so. If you own this fine camera, enjoy!
arkiedan
245 of 254 found the following review helpful:
Impressive zoom, photo quality, panoramic mode and video Jun 15, 2011
By Robin
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.
242 of 252 found the following review helpful:
Great camera but not perfect (but then, what is?) Apr 26, 2011
By Thomas Hyatt
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
81 of 84 found the following review helpful:
Perfect Concert Point-and-shoot camera - Finally! Sep 10, 2011
By D. Brodsky
Background: I am an advanced amateur photographer. I have owned most of Canon/Nikon DSLRS in the last 10 years. I shoot with Full Frame Nikon D700, and have shot with Every Nikon DSLR except D3s. I have thousands of dollars invested in lenses. I also shoot with Canon 7D, and i have shot with every recent Canon DSLR including 5DM2. I have owned in excess of 30 point-and-shoot and bridge cameras over the last 10 years. I am also a pixel-peeper and I am very critical. So this is not a review from someone who has never shot with anything but a Canon elph. My current point-and-shoots are Panasonic ZS3 and LX3 and Sony TX1.
If you don't have a media pass, they will not let you in to concert arenas with DSLR gear in 99% of arenas/venues. But they will most of the time let you in with a smaller point-and-shoot. Many venues have a photography policy of "personal cameras with non-removable lenses' only.
The key to taking pictures from your seat at a concert are:
1) large zoom - unless you can afford front row seats
2) fast autofocus in low light - this one is big
3) good metering so the camera won't constantly blow out performers faces
4) shutter speed priority - don't even bother without it
5) decent battery life - or multiple batteries.
With that in mind, the last decent small point-and-shoot camera that could have been used for that purpose was PANASONIC ZS3 (TZ7 in Europe). While no manual mode, you can kinda work around the issue by being able to set a minimum shutter speed. Before it, it was Panasonic TZ5. I owned Panasonic TZ3, TZ5, and ZS3. As everyone know, after ZS3, all the subsequent models in that series sucked. In fact they have gotten worse and worse. Finally dpreview, dcresource, and other sites acknowledged it. You can read reviewed of the latest panasonics in that series - the image quality went to crap.
ZS3 was decent, but it did not have shutter priority mode, and its battery life wasn't great and its 25-300 zoom was probably good in 2009, but we are in 2011.
I've done extensive research including reading all the professional reviews, with paying specific attention to things I cared about, like autofocus speed at full tele, etc. It was between this Sony and Canon 230. Canon 230 has two key problems, one - slow autofocus in low light and small battery life. Canon point-and-shoots are known for slow autofocus; I once bought their heralded S95, and promptly returned it in couple of days, after it refused to autofocus in nightclub settings: I should have read the reviews on that point. Whats the point of good ISO performance if your camera cannot focus? Slow af or no af and your subject gets frustrated, or you lose a moment. Fast AF Speed is the key to many types of photography.
Imaging-resource reviews are helpful, as they actually test and check AF speeds at wide and tele and in low light. HX9 speeds are twice as fast as Canon SX230. I also knew going in that when looking at 100%, with Sony I will see smearing and all the other unpretty things; it would be like Pixel peeping Fuji FXX cameras. But with 16MP, I figured I won't need to pixel-peep that often, and if you don't at 100%, it is not bad.
I bought this camera and thoroughly tested it. I took it to a recent rock concert where I was sitting all the way in the back. I am happy the report that this camera is a little gem. Amazing!
Autofocus speed was superb at tele end. Ability to set a shutter speed in Manual Mode was super helpful. I setup the custom button as ISO which gave me a one button ISO access. I took 450 photos and 10 videos of lengths from 1 to 5 minutes. My battery only lost one out of three bars. That is 450 photos. Yes you may say that flash is not used in this type of photography. But using continuous autofocus depletes battery too, and I was still able to take 450 photos. Please note that I also did not turn on GPS. I know it depletes batteries. In fact, using GPS will deplete your cell phone too. I don't see a need for me to know exact longitude of where a particular photo was taken. I know where the photo was taken.
The photos came great, better than I usually would get with ZS3, and will less effort.
I also have used the camera at daylight but who cares about that, all point-and-shoots are great at daylight, it does not tell you anything. Abilities in low light, that is what separates boys from men.
Odd things about this camera:
1) no charger - like the Fuji F10/30/31 - you plug the camera in the wall to charge. I've heard third party chargers exist
2) no macro mode. that is the first time I've ever handled a camera that does not have a dedicated macro mode/scene/button. It does do macro, but it is automatic. It took me a while to figure it out as I was looking for it. It is odd
3) Going from one setting to another takes longer than in typical point-and-shoot. Like going from camera to play mode, or going from one setting to another. I knew it from the reviews beforehands.
4) I knocked off the star for Sony's handling of noise/digital artifacts when viewing at 100%. Canon does better. Or include RAW so I can deal with this myself in pp.
So this is now officially my main point-and-shoot. It does everything a point-and-shoot should. It obviously won't replace my DSLRs, but it will accompany me often.
142 of 154 found the following review helpful:
 HX9V packed with features but image quality could be improved May 30, 2011
By michfan1
I've been testing the camera for several days now, and whilst the features and technical aspects of the hx9V are great, I regret to say, I just couldn't get past the 'average' image quality. This was the deal breaker for me. Suffice it to say, it did not meet my total expectations; the camera was returned today. Pictures of buildings, people, grass, trees, landscape shots, for example, all look a bit washed out (at times look hazy and smudgy), almost like a watercolor effect. This is all due to Sony's aggressive NR software built into the camera, which has been noted by expert reviewers and actual owners of the HX9V. Buildings and flesh tones on caucasian skins, especially, look too smoothed out (aka over-processed appearance). Don't get me wrong, pictures do come out pretty sharp in good lighting but they lack the punch to make the images pop and don't really retain strong details. Pictures rather look flat and dull. Furthermore, the white balance and color rendition are not really accurate (i.e. color red looks too red and fake). Also beware when shooting pictures in the direction of the sun (not AT the sun), you will see the inevitable series of purple dots on your picture (i.e. building with the sun the backdrop). This is not a manufacturer defect I was told, rather the way the lens was made by Sony.
Burst speed is very impressive (one feature I'm really going to miss) but it comes at a sacrifice of having to wait several seconds before you can take another picture (longer if you always shoot at the highest 16 MP level). This can get annoying because you might miss that "money shot." Other positive features of the camera are the focusing speed (when you shoot in scene mode and choose action mode with high burst speed, the camera does an excellent job at freezing the moving subject in a series of shots - this will come very handy when shooting sporting events), panorama mode, background defocus mode, low light pictures (in good lighting; otherwise, expect to see a lot detail smudging and noise), and last but not least, the video. If you are really into shooting a lot of videos, then you can't go wrong with the Sony HX9V. The camera is well built, I have to admit. A bit thick and heavy but aesthetically it looks very nice.
FWIW: I ended up getting the Canon SX230, and I couldn't be happier with the decision. The video feature may not be as good as the Sony's, but image quality is more important to me.
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