The HX10V is a solidly built and solidly performing camera. Is it perfect? No. As one reviewer remarks, the color accuracy is not entirely accurate. To my eye, over saturated and having difficulty with gradations of blue and red. Reminds me a bit of Fuji Velvia. Color can be adjusted, though it is a minor hassle. I find the camera also has a bit of trouble with a yellow/green shift in indoor lighting-less than ideal white balance in tungsten and fluorescent light. Using flash or fill flash eliminates the issue. Flash exposure is decent in low light. Fill flash is very good in bright light. The camera's flash has quite a bit of punch for a P&S. The camera has a bit more noise reduction than I prefer. In fact, the noise reduction reduces the effective sharpness of the lens. The lens on the 10V is quite impressive, especially when considering it is 16x. It is resistant to straight on flare, but tangential flare is an issue. If only the lens had a provision for a lens hood... The distortion in the lens is well controlled. It isn't up to full on architectural work, but who would use a P&S for architecture? All in all, an impressive and ambitious optic. The i modes of the 10V are the real deal. They slow down some of the responsiveness of the camera, but they deliver superior results in specialized situations. Personally, I love the background blur mode. Excellent pseudo-bokeh. The AF system is very speedy and tracks very well for a P&S. Facial recognition is excellent. The camera's video modes are quite competent. I am not a video expert, but the image stabilization, sound, and resolution are excellent considering it is a P&S. When looked at as a complete package, the 10V is well worth the price of admission.Addition 8/2012: After using the camera for a few months, I have found more quibbles: difficult getting a good sunset exposure, wishing there was more manual over rides, AVCHD eats up hard drive space on a Mac. On the plus side, I really have to praise the optics on the camera again. Great optic for the zoom range. The camera is quite fun to use and competent with a very high percentage of shooting conditions.
I gave four stars mostly for the design. The flash on the top pops up when you are holding the camera. Of course my finger is always over it. The big screen on the back is nice, but if you drop the camera on the corner just right there is nothing that is going to protect it from cracking. And lastly, although all Cyber-shots have the same dial, my finger struggles to hit the middle button just right.
Other than that. Great camera!
UPDATE-12-5-12 Camera display stopped working. The very concern I mentioned above regarding the screen cracking and being to close to corner has proven to be a worthy concern. Camera was in protective Caselogic case and never dropped. Screen just went blank. Had to send it back to Sony for repair. Waiting for repairs. I'll keep you posted on costs.
Conclusion 1-15-12 Camera back and fixed. Sony didn't charge me for repair. Took two weeks. I had to pay for shipping to Sony. Camera works great. Only problem with repairs is a hair on the screen in the casing. Drives me nuts but doesn't seem to effect camera. Plus I don't want to be without it for another 2 weeks. Just live with it. Sony was very responsive. Positive customer service experience.It's a Sony. The HX10 is a great point and shoot camera. It is impressive and feature packed. The specs are well documented. This takes Great Pictures! You will love this camera.
The 16x optical zoom can go to 32x with digital zoom. You get 18.2 megapixel sensor. High def 1080i videos look awesome. This is why you want this over a cell phone camera.
The Ion Lithium battery can take 320 pics. Great battery life but I recommend a spare battery and charger available on Amazon. Note: The battery can also be charged in the camera with supplied cable.
The camera is well built and solid made in Japan by Sony.
This camera will make you forget about buying a DLSR.
You won't go wrong purchasing this camera. It is a good value.I have had a steady shot before and I loved it! But this one is so much better! It recognizes when I am taking a picture of an infant. Its playback options are so fun. The shutter speed is so fast! And no blurring. I Love the option of taking video and it is great quality! I baught this to replac emy video camera and my old digital camera and I am so pleased! So easy to use! The zoom is amazing and so clear when used to take a picture! Its screen is a great size and I like that the button in the back turns like a wheel to scroll through pictures. You can turn the volume up and down and I like that it has a help guide on the camera so you dont always need your book to troubleshoot. I cant say enough nice things! Love sony and I love this camera I just cant stop playing with it!!!NOTE: Right before my 30 days was up, the on/off button quit working, but I love this model so much I'm getting a replacement. Hopefully, just a fluke with the camera I had. Update: Received my replacement today, I decided to order a different color instead of the white like I had before. Apparently, it depends on which color you choose where the camera is made. The white camera I returned was made in China, the black and red cameras are made in Japan, not sure where the silver cameras are made.
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This is my second Sony camera, the first Sony I tried 2 years ago got LOUSY pet shots on the Pet scene setting, but was a good camera otherwise. I returned it since shooting pictures of my cats is the reason I purchased it Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-WX9 16.2 MP Exmor R CMOS Digital Still Camera with Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 5x Wide-Angle Optical Zoom Lens and Full HD 1080/60i Video (Black).
Let me tell you this HX10V runs rings around the WX9 (all these model numbers get confusing after awhile!). The camera feels solidly built. Several camera blog/review sites say it's metal, but it feels like plastic to me, although sometimes aluminum feels plastic-like so I will give them the benefit of the doubt. The tripod mount is metal, and the battery/SD card door feels a little flimsy like most do, just be careful with it and you should be OK.
This is a KEEPER! On the Pet setting, it takes excellent photos and the default setting keeps the flash and also the focus assist button turned off these usually will bother your pet's eyes if left on so this is an excellent decision on Sony's part...for instance: I'm a Panasonic camera lover usually and Panasonic's Pet setting leaves the default flash on auto and the red-lamp (focus assist) is also turned on and it's hard to get a photo where my cats' eyes aren't shut. Sony put some thought into the set-up here.
And me being a Panasonic lover (in the not too distant past) I was never satisifed with the softness of a Panasonic camera photo. I always had to tweek them in Picasa to sharpen them up a bit, as well as make the colors a little brighter. Not with this Sony. I have done no post-processing other than cropping.
PROS:
> Photos almost always turn out PERFECT! Just the right amount of color and sharpness!
> BEST VIDEO of any point & shoot camera, even expensive $600.00+ cameras I have tried! In fact, if you set the HD to the highest setting on this camera, it gives you a warning that if you are burning to a DVD, you need to make it Blu-Ray it's so good.
> Solid build, although mine was made in China. I think some are made in Japan, some China.
> LCD screen is amazing, 921,000 dots, the reviews of the pictures looking at it on the camera almost look better than on your PC monitor.
> Sony G Lens...an excellent lens used on their more expensive cameras.
> Easy user-interface on the menus. I have only had to look at the manual once (looking for the macro setting).
> Background Defocus...No need for a full manual camera to achieve the blurred backgrounds; this does a great job but you have to be around 30cm (approx. 12 inches) from subject for it to turn out well.
> Battery life is excellent.
> For those of you who don't want to fuss with a bunch of different settings, you can set this camera to EASY SHOOTING mode, it gives you all the "basics" to get great photos, but the wording on the LCD screen is in larger print, making it easier to read, and since you don't have many shooting options, very easy to take a photo and still have it turn out exceptional. The EASY SHOOTING mode is PERFECT for anyone new to digital cameras (there may still be a few!)
CONS:
> I don't like having to charge the battery inside the camera, but that is remedied by buying a separate battery charger.
> LCD screen glare is a little iffy outdoors, I may pick up a matte screen protector to help.
> 18 MegaPixels! Really, this is a con with a sensor this size, you don't need over 12 MP in a camera, more is not better in this case; but I will have to say, it doesn't seem to affect quality much on this camera.
THE ZOOM: This camera has 16X optical, it will show on the screen when it starts becoming digital (digital is known for being horrible quality)...with either optical or digital, to look good you will need a tripod. The digital goes to 32X but photo quality will be poor with digital. (You can disable the digital zoom in the Tools Menu).
GPS: Once you take your camera outdoors or near a door/window, that will trigger the GPS to initialize. Personally I don't care if I have GPS, whenever I upload a photo online, I don't want people to gather even MORE information about me, like my latitude/longitude coordinates. So I disabled this feature in the Tools Menu.
RE: SUPERIOR AUTO VS. INTELLIGENT AUTO (on the Mode Dial). You have more settings to choose from on Superior, but I have noticed the camera processes more slowly between shots. On Intelligent Auto I get better results and the camera processes between shots seconds faster, almost instantly.
SOFTWARE: There is no CD in the box; the software is stored inside the camera. Once you plug the camera into your PC for the first time, it will download and also get the latest updates off the web. PlayMemories is the name of the software and I like it almost as much as Photoshop Elements.
For good quality video and fast camera processing I recommend a Class 10 SDHC card:
Sony SF16NX/TQM 16GB SDHC Class 10 Memory Card
If you're looking for a well-made case and don't want to pay the high price for a Sony OEM case:
Case Logic TBC-312 Pocket Video Camcorder Case with Storage (Black)
Keep checking back, I'm in the process of uploading photos, but it takes awhile for Amazon to approve them.
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